United is beavering away, and has announced the launch of a Manchester <> Washington Dulles Route
Subject to approval, the following flights will operate:
DEPART MAN 12:00 ARRIVE IAD 15:00 DEPART IAD 22:15 ARRIVE MAN 10:20+1 Operates Daily Commencement: May 2012 (Subject to approval) Equipment Booked: CO 757-200
You’ll note the equipment used – a Continental Equipped 757-200. This means unlike a UA “domestic” 757, this will have AVOD on board, Flat seats in business and a reasonably rounded product with 16 seats in BusinessFirst, 159 down the back in Economy (and I’ll be taking a look at this product in the coming month).
United also operates a route from Manchester to Newark (again with a CO 757), and this is a welcome boost for Manchester airport which has felt the effects of the withdrawal of the BMI Transatlantic operations (although Manchester has attracted A380 traffic, TATL traffic has been harder to work with), and provides a welcome option for those who want to connect in the North of England – or from the Midlands who need to connect to IAD.
The timings aren’t perfect and could do with a slightly earlier arrival to make it more attractive to business travellers and going back to IAD, a 3pm arrival isn’t perfect – but will allow reasonable connections, but I’ve seen a lot worse.
The problem with the 3pm IAD arrival is that all of UA’s flights from Europe arrive around the same time, as do flights from LHR and FRA (although these have earlier/later options).
This means huge queues in Immigration, with waits of 2 hours not unknown. As many of the connections from IAD leave around the 5-6pm time, it can be really problematic.