NCL

[Planeenthusiast]

In relation to why not Glasgow. Isn’t the real problem that management teams whether it be at NCL or EDI is better than GLA? Better aggressive marketing teams? Better T&C’s on offer? Better business models? Something has gone badly wrong at GLA. Will the new owners really invest the money required and or hire the right people to deliver results? This comes at a price.

[Iain]

In relation to why not Glasgow. Isn’t the real problem that management teams whether it be at NCL or EDI is better than GLA? Better aggressive marketing teams? Better T&C’s on offer? Better business models? Something has gone badly wrong at GLA. Will the new owners really invest the money required and or hire the right people to deliver results? This comes at a price.

I'm sure it does, but it's maybe not that big a price when set against the £1.5bn they've spent to acquire the airports.

Moreover, why would they have bought GLA if they weren't willing/able to invest in it and didn't think they could improve its performance?

There's certainly no guarantee AviAlliance will be transformational (and there are perhaps other operators I might have preferred), but I think most of us have lost confidence in AGS, so we can at least hope for positive change when the new owners take control.

[bill]

Exactly. No offence to Newcastle, but it has none of the assets Edinburgh has, and it has vastly less foreign visitors than Glasgow, yet GLA is still losing out to it.


The thing is that DY and EW both have large ops at EDI and MAN, so going by that argument surely NCL is served by those and they don't need to open NCL flights. We might also ask why LH started GLA-FRA if Glasgow can be served through EDI? That shows it's not insurmountable (at least for LH group airlines).

The lack of any Scandinavian service at GLA is yet another huge failure imo, particularly CPH as it attracts over 30k pax per month in peak season. I think CPH will have 5 flights per day from EDI on some days in peak summer. And before anyone starts about high yields, DY were offering £68 returns in Jul when I looked the other day.

Market research I read a few years ago showed Scandinavian visitors were more interested in shopping, eating,

drinking

and football than castles,

history and scenery, so GLA should have a reasonable draw even against Edinburgh.

There was a rumour going around that MAG were interested in GLA, but didn't want the other two, so pulled out.

The other airports in AviAlliance's portfolio seem to be medium/large, so ABZ and SOU don't really seem to fit. I wonder if those two might be sold off quite quickly.
[/quote]
Having been lucky enough to share our hotel bar in Fuengirola a few years ago, I can personally testify that Scandinavians can drink. Boy, can they drink. All day and night and never so much as a hint of trouble.

[bill]

Like I have mentioned in other posts, hopefully the new German owners will invest & apply the same kind of infrastructure & surface/public transportation connectivity that we see at most major German airports.

We can only live in hope.

Also maybe AviAlliance will divest themselves of ABZ/SOU once they've bought the whole group.

Who knows - tomorrow is never certain.

Drifted way OT given this is a NCL thread, but we're all saying the same sort of thing

This for me. It's the best way to concentrate on and promote GLA. Not as one of three airports but solo.

[Iain]

Having been lucky enough to share our hotel bar in Fuengirola a few years ago, I can personally testify that Scandinavians can drink. Boy, can they drink. All day and night and never so much as a hint of trouble.

I've had a somewhat different experience tbh!

Leaving that aside, Glasgow has a fairly long history of being fairly popular with Icelandic visitors coming to shop, eat and drink - I remember hearing stories about people checking in at GLA with frozen turkeys to take back to Iceland! In light of that it's difficult to see why the city can't pull in some visitors from other nordic nations too - indeed, I think it did when PIK used to have a lot of flights.

[bill]

Having been lucky enough to share our hotel bar in Fuengirola a few years ago, I can personally testify that Scandinavians can drink. Boy, can they drink. All day and night and never so much as a hint of trouble.

I've had a somewhat different experience tbh!

Leaving that aside, Glasgow has a fairly long history of being fairly popular with Icelandic visitors coming to shop, eat and drink - I remember hearing stories about people checking in at GLA with frozen turkeys to take back to Iceland! In light of that it's difficult to see why the city can't pull in some visitors from other nordic nations too - indeed, I think it did when PIK used to have a lot of flights.

The lack of Scandi flights remains one of life's mysteries. Oh, and to be fair, the Scandi's I mention were mostly female as the guy's were all out downtown!
* Apologies to all for the thread drift. Let's get back to NCL.

[GKirk]

2 weekly Norwegian to CPH is exactly what GLA should be courting.

Agreed, and it’s deeply concerning if NCL’s leadership can present a stronger business case for NCL than GLA can for itself.

TBF NCLbdoesnt have the then Drugs death capital of Europe" mantra hanging over its head. Holds GLA back. That and I suspect numerous airlines have exclusivity deals with EDI not to serve GLA

[egpffqtv]

2 weekly Norwegian to CPH is exactly what GLA should be courting.

Agreed, and it’s deeply concerning if NCL’s leadership can present a stronger business case for NCL than GLA can for itself.

TBF NCLbdoesnt have the then Drugs death capital of Europe" mantra hanging over its head. Holds GLA back. That and I suspect numerous airlines have exclusivity deals with EDI not to serve GLA

Tbh I’m sure that narrative is only used in Scotland and the wider UK, by our ‘media’

[Clive]

Agreed, and it’s deeply concerning if NCL’s leadership can present a stronger business case for NCL than GLA can for itself.

TBF NCLbdoesnt have the then Drugs death capital of Europe" mantra hanging over its head. Holds GLA back. That and I suspect numerous airlines have exclusivity deals with EDI not to serve GLA

Tbh I’m sure that narrative is only used in Scotland and the wider UK, by our ‘media’

Besides, that is Dundee’s claim, not Glasgow’s. But of course drugs deaths are recorded differently in Scotland than elsewhere. Here if drugs are in the system it’s recorded as a drugs deaths even if the drugs were incidental to the person’s demise.

[GKirk]

Agreed that the deaths are measured differently, but visitors reading the press will sadly see that.

I think we all want GLA to be doing a lot better, it is why we are here after all. Hopefully 2025 will see some good news. If Emirates aren't bringing in the 2nd daily again, then getting Turkish in has to be a priority