easyJet

[Marko1]

More additions tonight include a fifth weekly split service currently showing for June only.

 

[superking]

With these routes announced it almost feels like someone in EasyJet are looking at gaps in the schedule and filling gaps for work for the aircraft. There were many gaps a few weeks back, but look at the schedule now to compare both would look a lot better.Lets hope with these extra routes does not give crew problems with their hours etc.But nice to see routes extended.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Athens and Stockholm

I've been looking quite regularly at these new routes for this winter, both 2 x weekly.

Athens seems to sell out often according to the seat selector. Tomorrow is another case in point with a 320. Friday's flights are on the 319. For late February this seems very promising.

Stockholm, both weekly rotations on the 319, doesn't seem as popular. Seat selector loads haven't been disastrous with some flights sold out but generally loads seem noticeably lower. easyJet's near 93% year-round load factor which BRS seems able to match, even slightly exceeded in 16/17, will need significantly more on the Stockholm if it is to reach that level consistently on the route.

Of course, we don't know the yields and the seat selector may not be 100% accurate for such calculations.

 

[superking]

I see the A320 neo operating out of BRS . Reg no G UZHB

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Seething passengers only offered '50 per cent' refunds as easyJet cancels more than 30 flights

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/seething-passengers-only-offered-50-1293153

This is always the snag when you can only book single sectors. If your outbound sector is cancelled but the later inbound sector is not easyJet won't refund the cost of the later inbound sector, even though you couldn't reach the 'other end' in order to make use of the inbound sector.

I'm disappointed at the way easyJet has cancelled so many flights at BRS in recent days, at times making a blanket cancellation many hours is advance. The airport was only closed from around 1800 on Thursday until midday on Friday.

In the periods when it was open during the severe weather other airlines operated when easyJet didn't, sometimes on the same route as happened this morning with Geneva and the Canaries. I realise that circumstances outside their control (eg the destination airport closed/reduced arrivals availability or crews unable to get in) were responsible in some of the cases, but in every case this morning when 17 departures were cancelled? Ryanair managed to operate this morning as did TUI and Thomas Cook. In fact I don't think the latter two cancelled any flights durng the entire Arctic period. Some were delayed by many hours and at least one inbound was diverted (to MAN), but they operated.

I've travelled far more from BRS on easyJet than with any other airline. I've generally been very satisfied so the wholesale cancellations are something of a surprise.

Because they are by far the largest airline at BRS their cancellations will always be more numerous than those of other airlines. I'd love to know why it was felt necessary to cancel 17 this morning. It also cancelled more this afternoon after the airport website originally indicated (certainly up until lunchtime whyen I last looked) the times when check-in would be open instead of showing 'cancelled'.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Coming week to the sun

Having a spare ten minutes or so this afternoon I looked at the easyJet seat selector (never 100% reliable in terms of trying to estimate loads, but a reasonable guide nonetheless) and found that most of the sun routes seem heavily booked this week. It's early March and nowhere near school holiday time, so I wonder if the short cold snap has been a factor.

BRS-ALC (8 weekly at this time of year) - the next eight flights are sold out.
ALC-BRS Tuesday and Wednesday sold out.

BRS-AGP (8 weekly at this time of year) - Monday and Wednesday sold out, and one of the two Friday flights sold out.
AGP-BRS Monday sold out.

BRS-PMI (5 weekly at this time of year) - Tuesday and Thursday sold out.
PMI-BRS Monday sold out.

BRS-MJV (3 weekly at this time of year) - Tuesday and Saturday sold out.
MJV-BRS Thursday sold out.

BRS-FAO (8 weekly this time of year) - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday sold out
FAO-BRS Tuesday and Wednesday sold out.

BRS-TFS (3 weekly at this time of year) - Thursday sold out.
TFS-BRS Tuesday and Thursday sold out.

BRS-ACE (3 weekly at this time of year) - Tuesday sold out.
ACE-BRS Tuesday and Thursday sold out.

BRS-FUE (2 weekly this time of year) - Wednesday sold out.
FUE-BRS no sold outs yet.

BRS-LPA (2 weekly at this time of year) - no sold outs yet.
LPA-BRS no sold outs yet.

Ryanair competes on ALC, AGP, PMI (but summer-only), FAO, TFS, ACE and LPA.
They have four sold outs this week on the BRS-ALC route, three sold outs on BRS-AGP route, one sold out on BRS-FAO, no sold outs on BRS-TFS (but sectors are selling at £247 in the main so must be close to selling out), three sold outs on BRS-ACE and no sold outs on BRS-LPA.

 

[Marko1]

Ah I could with some nice warm sunshine now. Any idea if and when summers gaps are likely to be filled

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Ah I could with some nice warm sunshine now. Any idea if and when summers gaps are likely to be filled

I don't know. How many gaps are there now?

Re my post #806 above, easyJet has reportedly changed its mind and will be refunding the cost of unused sectors where passengers bought more than one sector but could not use the return because the outbound was cancelled.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/easyjet-u-turns-decision-only-1295406

 

[Marko1]

I don't know. How many gaps are there now?

when I last looked at it a few weeks ago there was 1-2 slots on many early mornings and late arrivals. When I get a chance I will try and look in more detail

 

[Marko1]

There's now a third Wednesdays flight to Malaga

 

[superking]

For some reason they have never done a second daily flight to CDG.

 

[Jerry]

For some reason they have never done a second daily flight to CDG.

They may not think the demand is there or that their yields may be diluted too much for their liking.

 

[superking]

The easy flight is full most days with the BMIR also well loaded. Easy only did 1 rotation per day when they were the only airline offering CDG out of BRS.Its some thing we will never find out the reason I think.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Prior to easyJet starting Paris Cdg in the winter of 2006/2007 the route was operated for many years by Air France and the BA franchisee (in various guises down the years). Air France was on the route 25 years ago with Brit Air F 28s. They then pulled out. In the early years of this century they came back in the form of Air France Regional with E145s against the BA franchisee with similar equipment - up to 6 x daily across both airlines.

easyJet began once daily ( 7 x weekly) against the BA franchisee BAConnect (up to 5 x daily) in winter 06/07 - Air France Regional had left by then. Then in early 2007 Flybe announced they were buying BAConnect and almost the first thing they did was close the 5-aircraft BRS base and they axed most of the routes, including Paris Cdg.

The summer 2007 BRS timetable shows just easyJet on the Paris Cdg route but there was a note saying further Paris services would be announced after the timetable was published. Anyway, by the following winter (07/08) easyJet was operating 2 x daily Mon to Fri and single daily Saturday and Sunday. By then Air France had returned yet again at up to 3 x daily in the form of Airlinair with ATR 42s, later upgraded to ATR 72s. easyJet carried on with 2 x daily, 1 x daily at weekends, in summer 2008 and winter 08/09, as did AF (Airlinair) with its up to 3 x daily.

In summer 2009 easyJet reduced to single daily each day of the week but Air France maintained its up to 3 x daily until 2012. It then reduced to daily but with larger aircraft (Hop! E190 and CityJet ARJ) until it had pulled out altogether by 2013. easyJet carried on at single daily and until bmi regional joined in a couplemof years ago the route had diminished to that single daily easyJet flight.

Is there scope for more easyJet on Cdg? In terms of passenger demand almost certainly, but that they haven't increased the route suggests there are better yields elsewhere at BRS. easyJet is still selling out regularly on Cdg - the outbounds on Thursday, Friday and Monday and the inbound on Thursday are all sold out.

I mentioned yesterday how the BRS easyJet sun routes are currently selling out all over the place. Beyond those a quick glance shows BCN sold out on six sectors within the next week and even Stockholm, until now relatively modest but still rarely below 80% lf is already sold out on the outbound on Thursday. Athen continues to sell out regularly even through one of the weekly rotations has been upped to a 320. Other routes with sold out sectors over the next few days, often more than one, include Vienna, Basel and Amsterdam (and others) showing the huge demand and we are in early March.

Given that BCN has been increased to double daily every day in summer in recent years with increases on other routes that are not just to sun and sand, the big surprise is Rome remaining at daily and the other that Milan Malpensa remains stubbornly unserved by easyJet at BRS. easyJet obviously knows what it's doing with its operation far better than we do and it shows again that just because a route is brimming with passengers it might not be suitable for frequency increases.

BRS does have the critical mass to fuel the economy of scale demanded by the major locos but even this will have its limitations albeit there are many people who often cannot get on flights because they are sold out in advance, quite far in advance in some cases.

 

[Marko1]

I always find it strange that easyJet only serves Paris once daily with low competition whilst serves Amsterdam twice a day with tougher competition from klm . That goes alongside the likes of Rome that surely there's demand for more and the lack of variety with the Greek isles.

Given that many sun routes are sell outs also questions the airports strategy of not encouraging over competition. Jet 2 could easily slot in on some of these routes and I don't think it would effect either of the other two that much

 

[forest1979]

If there is demand I don’t know why Air France have never bothered again with the route.CDG is a sizeable hub and I would have thought there would be some onward travel interest? I’ve said it before but there needs to be more diversity with airlines and a few more state carriers at that. I would like to see swis and Lufthansa rock up. Iberia would be great to Madrid where the South American connections. I suspect most may disagree but in the long run airline mix I feel needs to be achieved. This has been achieved at other regional airports and with a lot less footfall

 

[TheLocalYokel]

If there is demand I don’t know why Air France have never bothered again with the route.CDG is a sizeable hub and I would have thought there would be some onward travel interest? I’ve said it before but there needs to be more diversity with airlines and a few more state carriers at that. I would like to see swis and Lufthansa rock up. Iberia would be great to Madrid where the South American connections. I suspect most may disagree but in the long run airline mix I feel needs to be achieved. This has been achieved at other regional airports and with a lot less footfall

Had Air France not joined up with KLM they probably would have a presence still at BRS, and at a number of other regional airports where they are currently absent.

Looking back to 2008 when easyJet was operating 12 x weekly and AF (Airlinair) up to 3 x daily with ATRs, the annual CDG figures since then are shown below. They show the effect of easyJet reducing to daily in 2009 and AF pulling out altogether after 2013, then bmir joining in during the late spring of 2015.

Given that easyJet hasn't increased frequencies in recent years and always operates at or near capacity the significant jump in numbers last year must be mainly due to bmir improving its loads. These are the annual passenger numbers in the past decade.

2008 199,000
2009 167,000
2010 176,000
2011 184,000
2012 174,000
2013 146,000
2014 120,000
2015 132,000
2016 139,000
2017 153,000

As for Lufthansa, they do have a presence in the shape of the bmir code share. If they did operate in their own right probably through Eurowings the frequency would almost certainly be less than the current 3 x daily with bmir code share on FRA and 2 x daily code share on MUC. That would not be as flexible for passengers, especially those travelling long- haul as long waits at FRA for connections would be unavoidable in many cases.

If Iberia, probably Iberia Express, competed with easyJet on Madrid the latter is highy likely to easily win out on point to point, and would there be enough connecting passengers to justify an Iberia route, especially if it was daily or 6 x weekly as would really be necessary for it to be useful for business passengers?

Swiss is the one that might really benefit the airport given there is no current point to point route to Zurich, although with the success of GVA over many years and the increasing success of Basel (after a slightly faltering start) don't rule out easyJet beginning a ZRH route.

I too would like to see more airlines because in any business the disproportionate reliance on one major customer is a likely route to disaster. The snag is that easyJet has been so good for BRS, and continues to grow, that it is very difficult for other airlines to grab a share of short-haul routes that easyJet operates. Long-haul via hubs, KLM apart, is usually in the hands of code shares or franchises that can provide increased frequencies as with CDG, DUB, FRA, BRU and MUC.

If BRS continues to grow, and their consultation document re the master plan speaks of 12 mppa by 2025, there must surely come a time when that growth cannot be left solely in the hands of existing carriers.

 

[Jerry]

I think the irony with Bristol is that the airline that has helped Bristol get where it is now is the airline that will put off airlines like Air France and Eurowings and Iberia from operating to Bristol as Easyjet are so strong at BRS.

 

[superking]

Zurich is a strange one as years ago crossair operated the route but pulled out due to lack of pax and they started operations from 1 of the London airports. They now operate from LCY. BA as in bacon operated Zurich till they were bought out by flybe. The route was never operated again after flybe dropped all routes from BRS. EasyJet I expect have looked at doing Zurich but with gva doing well and basle doing ok now they perhaps thought they were enough to cover the amount of pax that want to go to Zurich As I said its a strange one as its a city that has a lot of connections with the banking sector

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Zurich is a strange one as years ago crossair operated the route but pulled out due to lack of pax and they started operations from 1 of the London airports. They now operate from LCY. BA as in bacon operated Zurich till they were bought out by flybe. The route was never operated again after flybe dropped all routes from BRS. EasyJet I expect have looked at doing Zurich but with gva doing well and basle doing ok now they perhaps thought they were enough to cover the amount of pax that want to go to Zurich As I said its a strange one as its a city that has a lot of connections with the banking sector

Don't forget Helvetic.

https://www.forums4airports.com/threads/2165/

Helvetic began a ZRH-CWL-ZRH route in spring 2011 with F100 aircraft at 3 x weekly. Loads were never as high as hoped and in December that year the airline introduced BRS into the equation routing ZRH-BRS-CWL-BRS-ZRH. Overall loads obviously improved and to the degree of 2:1 in favour of the BRS end which ratio was seen consistently each month until Helvetic axed the CWL part of the route at the end of summer 2012 (the figures are included in the BRS Helvetic thread at the above link).

ZRH-BRS-ZRH continued until the beginning of winter 2014/2015 when it too was axed. Loads had been building steadily but obviously not to the degree the airline wanted.

I know for a fact that BRS made great efforts to get Helvetic to increase to 6 x weekly which apparently would have enabled a feed into Swiss's long-haul from ZRH. Helvetic from BRS and CWL had always been point to point.

GVA is certainly very popular from BRS, not only in the ski season with 22 weekly rotations but also in summer with ten weekly rotations. I've used the GVA route in summer on a number of occasions for Swiss holidays and it's convenient in the sense that the airport rail station gives access to most parts of Switzerland, albeit some routes such as the Bernese Oberland can take three hours by train from GVA and involve changes en route. Basel is much better situated for that area but at 4 x weekly hasn't got quite the same flexibility.

The difference with Zurich is not only its connectivity to Switzerland's main business centre but also to the possibility of linking into Swiss long haul although that would need a Swiss partner or a code share.

Purely as a point to point business route it might not have been a surprise if bmi regional had taken it on. Given their other BRS routes, they would have survived on half the average loads Helvetic was seeing each month when their route ceased (60-70).

I think the irony with Bristol is that the airline that has helped Bristol get where it is now is the airline that will put off airlines like Air France and Eurowings and Iberia from operating to Bristol as Easyjet are so strong at BRS.

The same could be said of LTN. The only state carrier they have is El Al to Tel Aviv. They do have Iberia Regional to San Sebastian as a seasonal route and TAROM with a route to provincial Romania. Otherwise it's mainly easyJet and Wizz Air, with Vueling, Blue Air, Ryanair, TUI and TCX (the last three with smaller presences than these airlines have at BRS).

LTN doesn't have hub connectivity such as BRS has with AMS, DUB, FRA, BRU, MUC.

Perhaps what BRS lacks in hubs is a decent South American connection but as I said earlier I don't think that MAD would be viable against easyJet. Most of the other easyJet routes operated from BRS aren't likely to be stopping a state carrier or anyone else from pitching up if they wanted to. easyJet's Paris route is not extensive, and hasn't stopped bmir competeing, and would LH operate a Berlin-Bristol route anyway? Very doubtful in my view, easyJet or not. easyJet doesn't operate any other German routes from BRS so they aren't the ones preventing other airlines such as Eurowings coming in on German routes. LH has its presence through bmir and it seems to be working ok so far as we can tell, so they aren't likely to offer Eurowings at what would be a lesser frequency.

Swiss might be the obvious missing link but then again easyJet doesn't operate to Zurich from BRS.

Nothing is perfect in life and although I, like a number of others, would like to see more airlines at BRS I would not want it to be at the cost of an easyJet reduction because I wonder if other airlines would offer the same frequencies or the same fares if they were unchallenged.

I am in no doubt that many smaller airports around the UK would jump at the chance of a BRS-type easyJet operation even if it did come with one or two cons.