ND From Belgium, joined Feb 2004, 280 posts, RR: 0 Posted (9 years 1 month 2 weeks 11 hours ago) and read 1690 times:
I've always read posts from board members here saying how slots at NRT are valuable and prestigious and yesterday I was analyzing the EK route map only to find NRT not be one of the destinations. Why is this? Is it because they've simply been unable to get a slot?
Also, how hard is it to obtain a slot at NRT relative to getting slots at LHR?
Ba319-131 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 8263 posts, RR: 56 Reply 1, posted (9 years 1 month 2 weeks 5 hours ago) and read 1569 times:
This is a good question,especially since EK has just added a 4th daily LHR flight.
Having visited NRT on spotting trips twice in the last 12 months or so,there are several 'dead' spots where nothing is going in,i'm sure EK could 'squeeze' a flight in,unless the slot times are not good for their onward connections?
Behramjee From Canada, joined Aug 2003, 4439 posts, RR: 43 Reply 3, posted (9 years 1 month 1 week 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 1423 times:
Slots at NRT fetch a very high premium price and are very very difficult to obtain. If EK had managed to purchase NRT slots in the mid 1990s (95-98 timeframe), then we would have seen them flying there now instead of KIX.
However as things now go, KIX was an easier slot to obtain than NRT and make no mistake about it, NRT was always going to be the first choice but somehow due to slot constraints it wasnt meant to be.
In anycase EK codeshare with ANA on the KIX-NRT-KIX route so it aint all that bad.
If you look around, I dont recall any new carrier introducing NRT flights since 2000...many have increased frequency but I cant recall any new entrant since 2000 at NRT!!!
Diesel33 From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 294 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (9 years 1 month 1 week 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 1413 times:
I believe that EK codeshares on the KIX-HND-KIX routing and not the NRT one advised.
ND From Belgium, joined Feb 2004, 280 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (9 years 1 month 1 week 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 1339 times:
You guys mention the money issue, but I don't see that as a problem for EK considering the fact that they've ordered 46 A380s! Airlines are grabbing each other's throats for slots at Heathrow (heck, even Gordon Bethune whined about it) and somehow Emirates manages to get slots so easily. I'm just trying to figure out how they've had such "bad luck" with NRT.
Laxintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22028 posts, RR: 51 Reply 6, posted (9 years 1 month 1 week 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 1312 times:
Slots are extremely valuable at NRT. Several new slots were made available just recently with the opening of the 7100ft 16L/34R runway. Unfortunately the shortness of this runways has limited it to mostly arrival traffic and smaller/lighter aircraft operating on short hops within Asia, not long range intercontinental flights.
In addition the availability of commercially advantages slots can be even more difficult to get than simply getting a slot allocated. I;m aware of a recent three way slot trade between airlines to allow one carrier to operate some semblance of a regular schedule. The slots they were originally allocated were a mix and match of slots thru out the day which obviously does not work from an efficient marketing and aircraft scheduling vantage.
From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California
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