Regional airport service during the pandemic

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  • scott1nthesky
    Participant

    I commute on essential travel between NCL and LHR. Under normal times I do this every week; at the moment that frequency has halved. The airport has stayed open throughout the crisis and provided a work lifeline, for which I’m grateful. But the cut in services in the airport make travelling even more challenging at the moment.

    On my last three flights (over a 6 week period) the airport was essentially shut down. Lounges closed and all airside facilities, except for toilets and smoking area (?!), closed: no coffee shop, no WHSmith or Boots, and no water fountain – I got caught out by this as you can’t take water through security but assumed there’d be some facility to get a drink from. The vending machines were empty of everything except Coca-Cola.

    I’d assumed Boots would pretty much stay open no matter what – when LCY still had domestic flights, they prioritised this shop because it sold medications and water. I contacted NCL about this and they said they’d stopped all services because of low pax numbers but would try and get water into the vending machines. They did so, but that took almost 4 weeks.

    I know aviation is struggling terribly but taking pax revenue, however small, and not being able to provide something as simple as water seems remiss…especially when they can manage to keep the smoking area open. Not sure I agree with their priorities.

    How have your experiences been of other regional travel bases?

    3 users thanked author for this post.

    canucklad
    Participant

    Not sure about Newcastle, but the skies above me are once again silent. I live under the approach path to EDI and ironically the only aircraft I’ve seen / heard is Qatar’s Dreamliner and BA’s LHR flights. Would imagine the airport is about as depressing a place as you’d find anywhere in Scotland.
    And recent recruits into my company have mostly come from the airport, whether it be direct from the airlines or contractors or the retail sector.

    The cliff edge, that is the end of furlough is going to be treacherous and steep unless a proper thought out road map that gives hope , is actively supported by the government. And with the current narrative , I’d suggest that Newcastle is better positioned for regaining its market and investment in jobs than Edinburgh .

    The analogy I’d use to your topic Scott is , our airports have become the equivalent of train stations like Morpeth or Alnwick or Dunbar.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    FormerBA
    Participant

    Glasgow is no better.
    My gripe is Hertz operating at an international airport and doing so Mon-Fri 9-5. They even did this last year in August when the airport was operating at a reasonable level.
    Frustratingly, they demand a significant premium if you wish to pick up or drop off outside office hours.
    The car rental center was busy on my last visit but only for Sixt and Alamo!!

    1 user thanked author for this post.
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