LACK OF WINTER FLIGHTS

Dear Jason, No winter flights from north east England from the end of October until well into 2012.
With a home in Majorca and our work in the UK we'd be over on the island from the UK every 4 to 6 weeks throughout the winter if the flights were available.

I would have thought the airlines could provide some service and that the island would not be so indifferent to winter tourism! I hope the fight for flights makes some progress.
Regards.
Passenger A.

Hi Jason, Just reading your Viewpoint in the DB today and wanted to mail to say that yes both me and my Mum would use winter flights to the UK. We would prefer Scotland, Edinburgh or Glasgow, but it seems beggars can't be choosers! Good luck with the survey and fingers crossed it helps.
Best regards, Passenger B.

Dear Mr.Moore, We fully support your quest for winter flights to Majorca. We are non-resident, living in the West Midlands and we also own a property in Majorca. We have been travelling backwards and forwards in the winter to our property for the last seven years. This winter we will have to travel to Liverpool for a flight to Majorca. In the early days it was possible to fly to Majorca from Birmingham almost any day of the week. It was apparent and surprising that these flights from Birmingham were very well patronised even in the dead of winter.

As you pointed out in your editoral the offering of a weekly flight from various regional airports would now be much appreciated.
Perhaps another proposal which might be considered would be for a Majorca based airline such as Air Berlin or Spanair to operate flights to diferent UK regional airports on a daily basis.

By this I would suggest that the airline went to Manchester on a Monday, Glasgow on a Tuesday, Birmingham on a Wednesday etc.. I am sure that there would be enthusastic support for such a service from home and business owners in Majorca.

We would also suggest that the airlines should be encouraged to use Majorca Airport by offering reduced landing fees along the lines of the inducements available in Tenerife.

Passenger C.

Hi Jason, I am UK resident but own a place in Majorca and now that I have taken early retirement I spend a lot of time in Majorca and buy the Majorca Bulletin every day.

I am following the topic of winter flights with great interest as we travel between Majorca and UK regularly and welcome your offer to launch a campaign about the reduction of winter flights.

I have written a letter which I have attached which describes our recent visits to other places in winter that have been busy even though the weather in not hot.

Good luck with the campaign
Regards
Passenger D.

Dear Jason, We spend the majority of the winter in Majorca in Pollensa.We would travel back and to to Manchester 3 or 4 times during the winter months if flights were available.

We used the Monarch winter flights last year to and from Manchester and there did not appear to be much of a problem with the load factors,the ones we used were full or nearly full.

Regards
Passenger E.

Dear Sir, We have friends and family who live in Scotland, and we sorely miss the Globespan flights that flew Mons and Fris, allowing people to stay a week, a long weekend, or just the weekdays. We would be more likely to visit them too over the Christmas holidays if we could fly direct.

We don't want to worry about being stuck in a London airport waiting for a flight to Scotland in inclement weather, nor do I wish to drive up there.
If you want to extend this survey, I suggest you write a letter with your email address to the newspapers Daily Record, Glasgow Evening Times and even the Press and Journal. I'm sure you would have a huge response.

What I can't understand is that when I visited my sister, who lives on the Isle of Wight, they had coachloads of pensioners arriving staying at the Warner Hotels...surely they'd be warmer in Majorca ?

During the winter and spring, the Sun newspaper offers Haven Caravan holidays for £1 with coupons from weeks papers, Ryanair offers flights for £1 to other cities...why doesn't someone use any advertising budget they may have to sponser a scheme such as these ?

It MUST be better to have people working in a few hotels over the winter than everyone being on the dole ? If there were more flights people (and their friends and families) with holiday flats and houses would welcome using them during the winter, which would give the retail sector a boost too. Then the resorts wouldn't just die, which doesn't make them very welcoming to the few intrepid tourists from easyjet Gatwick flights ! I've only lived here since 2004 and have noticed the gradual loss of winter flights, and the shorter and shorter season, such a shame for such a beautiful island. I must admit that I do enjoy living here without all the tourists, as must the people of Majorca, but a complete shut down is of no benefit to anyone.

Good luck with your survey and, hopefully, your campaign
Passenger F.

Dear Jason, I sincerely hope that you get support for winter airline connections. I used to be able to fly , year round ,to my family home near Heathrow, the top British airport, since 2 years that connection has been taken away , imagine the capital city of the UK, a hub airport for Britain , and we have not even once a week connection, meanwhile from the UK provincial airports ( Southampton for example) one can fly year round to small places such as Bergerac!!! and not Palma, please make our life easier, even if Scots people have to “hub” in Heathrow at least they can get here.

I used to be able to go to London for the day using the Heathrow, alas this is no longer! If some airline operator could explain why some small destinations are kept going through the winter whilst large cities of the UK are cut out from the end of October to the begin of April.

Could it be the CEO has a property there?
Sincerely
Passenger G.

Dear Jason, Definitely more flights, for the residents and the tourists and Sunday openings and friendly efficient service.
What is wrong with these people? Why will they not understand that Tourism is paramount to Majorca?
How can we encourage people to come to Mjlorca in the cooler months, when there are no flights, nothing open and if there is they can hardly be bothered to serve you, and yet the island itself has the potential to offer so much.

Here's hoping for some changes for the better.
Passenger H.

Dear Editor.
I regularly travel between Leeds-Bradford Airport and Palma taking for example over twenty one way flights already this year.
The majority of flights are with Jet2 with occasional ones being with Ryan Air (if there really is no alternative !)
During the winter months the main options are to drive to Liverpool or East Midlands but I prefer to fly Leeds to Barcelona and then over from BCN to PMI. The main drawback with this is that mostly it entails a wait of over two hours between flights.

Of course should one or more airlines decide to once again start winter flights as Jet2 did at one time then that would be the perfect solution and in the normally closed months I would expect to take at least eight one-way flights.

A Jet2 Captain friend once suggested that a practical solution could be that the airline had two stop flights going to Ibiza via Palma which could then possibly generate the extra passengers they required to make the winter flights viable. This seems a good suggestion even if flights were only once or preferably twice per week.

I wish you the very best of luck in your quest.
Passenger I.

Dear Jason, I have lived in Majorca for 28 years and as I work in reception I can only return to England during the winter period. I haven't been to England for 3 years because of the lack of winter flights.

Passenger J.

Dear Bulletin, We have a property in Cala San Vicente in Pollensa and are regular travellers to and from the UK, including the winter months. The situation regarding winter flights has become a major issue here in the village. There are people here who travel from all over the Uk, including Scotland, who would love to be here more in the winter but cannot unless they travel to airports many miles from their homes. More flights are absolutely necessary so Mallorca can be visited on an all year round basis and flights not restricted to just budget airlines who only run a very restricted service.

What happened to the service operated by AirBerlin to Stansted? We always found it very good and the flights were always full. Maybe they can be persuaded to reinstate the service.

Passenger K.

Dear Jason, Further to your request for a straw poll and ongoing editorials in support of an increase in winter flights (which I strongly support) I believe there is more than ample demand – at least in my experience.

I have owned an apartment in Puerto Pollensa since 2006 and travel between London and Palma regularly 12 months of the year as do other members of my family. When I bought my apartment, BMI operated flights from London Heathrow, British Airways operated flights from London Gatwick and Easyjet operated flights from London Gatwick, Stansted and Luton.

Come 2011/12 three of these services have been cut (BMI, BA and Easyjet from Luton) whilst Easyjet's Stansted service has reduced in frequency. Even the welcome addition of Monarch to the route from London Gatwick will be reduced this winter.

Prior to the BA and BMI flights being cut there were rarely any spare seats on their flights whenever I travelled on them. There is a sizeable community of Britons with homes in Mallorca who work in and around London but want to spend weekends at home in Majorca and the same faces can be seen on weekend flights. Thankfully Easyjet still services this demand but prices have risen given the ‘near' monopoly they now have and their winter flights are usually full to bursting point.

It may take a leap of faith by the airlines but I am sure that, if they analysed the commuting community of British homeowners in Majorca to whom I refer, they will find that there is demand for competition for flights at weekends Thursday-Sunday evening with additional demand for flights around the festive and New Year periods. With reference to the festive and New Year period, I note that Easyjet have already taken the step of increasing the frequency of their flights to and from London Gatwick from one to two per day in between Christmas and the New Year.

Passenger L.

Dear Jason, I read your Viewpoint in the Bulletin with great interest and agree entirely we need winter flights to the UK and especially Scotland! I don't live on the island but have a house there and regularly visit and it has become harder and harder over the winter with going through London really now the only way!! Please keep the campaign going as there are many of us who think the same and who would definetely use winter flights! I have just returned from beautiful Majorca and enjoyed the wonderful Indian summer that the island is having although I know rain is desperately needed and I hope for the Island's sake that it comes soon! Passenger M.

Dear Sir, I could no agree more with the letter from Johnny Carr on 7/10/11. Our business has been around for 25 years and open for every one of those winters. Our numbers over the last 6 years show a gradual but dangerous shortening of the summer season and a correspondingly lengthening of the winter. Majorca is too big a business to allow this to happen. Clients are beginning to leave the island forever and hotels which for years stayed open are now closing for 5 months.

Meanwhile the Balearic Tourism budget has not kept pace with other Autonomons Communication (Blog, Andrew Ede, Valencia 140 million- Balearics 36 million in 2010), Spanair has moved their “Hub” to Barcelona, CityAir in Sweden has been taken over and will not be flying to Majorca this winter. BMI, taken over by Lithuania, no longer flies in and Air Berlin having joined the One World Alliance is likely to lose its focus on our island. It is time to stop depending on outside help. Mainland Spain, Britain, Sweden, Russia and Germany have their own problems, Majorca is very low on their list of priorities.

Willie Walsh says that no single Airport either in UK, Sweden or Germany can support a daily flight to Majorca in the winter. I agree, because only an Airline based on the island and dedicated to Majorca can be viable. “Mallorca Direct” based in Palma, supported by AEONA and the Balearic Government can fly to several destinations a day, starting and ending in their own base in Majorca with pilots sleeping in their own beds every night.

This is a twice a week service could be provided to all those destination where our friends, clients and fellow owners are currently stranded without any direct flights for the whole winter.

Many people I know will pay good money for a reliable service. At present they pay more money to Taxi Drivers in the U.K, getting to Gatwick or Manchester than the cost of their flight.

We have a new Government here in the Baleares and they seem to be making the right noises. I hope they can translate noise into action! G. Kenion