[AMcWhirter]

[quote quote=987101]The facilities aren’t great, it is a bit of an insult to ask for £10 to be paid. If it was included in the fare then people would not notice.[/quote]

Makes sense. But the airlines refuse to allow this. Hence the development fee (at those airports which charge) is payable separately.

Yes KLM’s fares ex-Norwich can be expensive but then it must be remembered KLM is in the business of carrying transfer traffic … hence it discourages point-to-point travel on *some* routes.

I say *some* because KLM does have much lower point-to-point fares ex-London where it faces competition and has greater capacity.

[McKie]

Back in the 70’s Air Anglia used to have flights from Norwich to Heathrow, Stansted, Birmingham, Stavanger, Leeds, Swansea, Newcastle, as well as Teeside, Humberside, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

Yes, the rail connection nowadays “sounds” reasonable to London from Norwich, but factoring in that a significant chunk of Norwich’s traffic start of in places like Lowestoft or Yarmouth, AND on top of that reliability of rail services is woeful, AND then if travelling longer haul – then a likely onward treck also needed from Liverpool St to Heathrow , then it becomes much more obvious why connections from Norwich Airport are appreciated.

The KLM link with Norwich does help business travellers, but is generally pricey for tourists which probably doesn’t help build critical mass. I think I recall the Norwich-Amsterdam flight being one of the world’s most expensive routes per mile. Some of the east coast economies have taken a battering over recent decades, maybe encouraging better connectivity can play a part in helping business as well as making for far more pleasant travel. I appreciate the population around Norwich isn’t huge but at least one more link to a hub would be nice. Surely someone clever out there can make it work?

[Inthesandpit]

I agree in the past NWI had a 3 times daily link to LHR by Air Anglia on a F27 (Mid to late 1970’s). In those heady days of departing T1 without security with personal boarding calls and a ramp full of Tridents i used to travel oop north home to Teesside (note correct spelling) as i was based in the RAF in the Heathrow area for £12.50 return on a BMA VC8, at the same time there was a departure rush of turbo props, VC8s of BMA to LPL, BHX, MME, LBA and EMA, Air Anglia on the F27 to NWI and Brymon with a Herald to NQY.

Apologies for digressing, however i think NWI is anything but cutoff, and honestly if the pax are not there to use the services then airlines will pull out, as we know they are not charities.

[AMcWhirter]

[quote quote=987168]I think I recall the Norwich-Amsterdam flight being one of the world’s most expensive routes per mile[/quote]

Yes we published a piece on expensive air fares in the past.

Norwich-Amsterdam is roughly 150 miles. If you wanted to book a one-way ticket with KLM for next Moday the fares for each of the three flights are £494, £630 and £494 respectively. And that’s economy class.

[AMcWhirter]

[quote quote=987168]Back in the 70’s Air Anglia used to have flights from Norwich to Heathrow, Stansted, Birmingham, Stavanger, Leeds, Swansea, Newcastle, as well as Teeside, Humberside, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.[/quote]

Thanks. I’d forgotten about Air Anglia.

In later years this airline became a feeder to KLM with flights departing numerous regional airports to Amsterdam.

[GivingupBA]

[postquote quote=987259][/postquote]

Thanks for that. It’s a lot cheaper a week later, not surprisingly.

[SimonS1]

[postquote quote=987088][/postquote]

I would say that more likely there simply isn’t the traffic.

[Author]

Posts