easyJet

[TheLocalYokel]

New routes starting Winter 18/19 from BRS are:
LCA - Larnaca, Cyprus (28 Oct) - 2x weekly
OSD - Åre Östersund, Sweden (9 Dec) - 1x weekly
SOF - Sofia, Bulgaria (8 Dec) - 2x weekly

This takes the total number of easyJet routes from BRS to 68. To give you a comparison, LTN has 70 routes!

54 of these 68 routes will be served during "peak" Winter which is 7 more routes than the same time last year!! These new destinations this Winter are NCE, NAP, CTA, SVQ plus the three just announced LCA, OSD & SOF.

During the whole Winter period, easyJet will operate around 18-21 extra weekly departures from BRS in comparison to last Winter.

Both easyJet and Ryanair have been significantly increasing their winter offering at BRS in recent years which is good to see. It helps to close to a degree the summer/winter differential seen at most regional airports.

I've long thought that Larnaca is underserved from BRS so I hope the new easyJet LCA route will be year-round.

Åre Östersund adds to the already impressive BRS ski programme (did I read a while ago that Lleida is returning this winter ski season having last been operated by Flybe for a tour operator or operators?). Åre Östersund is certainly not a route I ever thought was likely from BRS. From no Swedish routes BRS goes to three in little over a year.

Sofia is a welcome return to the scheduled programme after Wizz axed it. All that was left was the weekly charter in the ski season. easyJet's Sofia looks as though it's ski season only though, whereas Wizz went year-round.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

According to a post on another forum (the poster is usually well informed on MAN matters and used to post to F4), next summer MAN will oust BRS as easyJet's largest UK base outside London when it will have 17 aircraft based there. It will be interesting to see if BRS gets the additional aircraft (would be number 16) in summer 2019 that has been the pattern in recent summers.

 

[kraktoa]

Larnaca in winter is not exactly a warm destination that tourists would flock to. Like other Islandsin the Aegean it must shut most of its activities.

Sweden and Sofia in winter too will attract only the residential traffic with ties to each country. With the Swedish flight being once weekly it may deter city break trippers.

 

[superking]

With the routes announced and rotations increased on some other routes. Does this mean a extra based aircraft or is there enough gaps in what is already based to operate whats been announced.

 

[tpm]

I assumed Östersund was mostly for skiing.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Larnaca in winter is not exactly a warm destination that tourists would flock to. Like other Islandsin the Aegean it must shut most of its activities.

Sweden and Sofia in winter too will attract only the residential traffic with ties to each country. With the Swedish flight being once weekly it may deter city break trippers.

There is no winter Larnaca flight at all from BRS so this should fill a gap. easyJet runs its Paphos flights through each winter so must be satisfied with the yield/market there from BRS.

Åre Östersund and Sofia will be primarily winter sports flights. I doubt there will be much residential traffic to Åre Östersund. Sofia might well pick up some non winter sports passengers. Ryanair operates to Bucharest twice a week year-round with very high load factors and presumably acceptable yields as Ryanair hasn't axed the route. Bucharest has some similarities with Sofia for general traffic. Wizz operated Sofia year-round with high load factors but they clearly were not happy with the yield.

With the routes announced and rotations increased on some other routes. Does this mean a extra based aircraft or is there enough gaps in what is already based to operate whats been announced.

The aircraft are not used as intensively in winter usually so there should be slack within the existing fleet complement.

 

[kraktoa]

The neo aircraft orders must be rolling in from July 2018. I guess this explains the new routes. Plus havent heard that they are retiring any aircraft.

 

[Marko1]

I wonder what easyJet's plans are for next summer. New routes , aircraft etc.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I wonder what easyJet's plans are for next summer. New routes , aircraft etc.

The airport seems to be consistent in his projections that the 10 mppa level will be reached by 2021 or even sooner. That being so they must have some idea of what their customer airlines' thinking is at BRS given that they will rely mainly on them for growth in the foreseeable future. As easyJet provides over half the airport's passenger numbers it must be highly likely that they will be an important part of the future growth in the next 2-3 years.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Press release now on airport website re the three routes announced today.

https://www.bristolairport.co.uk/ab...centre/2018/7/three-new-easyjet-winter-routes

Three new easyJet routes taking flight from Bristol this winter
Created: 12th Jul 2018

easyJet, Europe’s leading airline, has announced three brand new routes from Bristol to Larnaca, Åre Östersund and Sofia which are on sale today.

These form part of the 16 new routes easyJet has put on sale across the UK this morning, including the airline’s historic 1000th route.

Flights to Larnaca will take off from Bristol twice a week from 28th October, providing travellers with Cypriot winter sun. Bristol’s skiing and snowboarding passengers can enjoy Swedish snow on the weekly route to Are Ostersund, starting from 9th December. The new route to Sofia will be popular amongst passengers looking for a city break to the beautiful and historic Bulgarian city, flying twice a week from 8th December.

Fares to the fantastic destinations start at:

• Bristol to Larnaca from £30.74*
• Bristol to Are Ostersund from £36.70*
• Bristol to Sofia from £38.72*

Ali Gayward, easyJet UK Country Manager, said:

“We’re delighted to launch flights from Bristol to Larnaca, Are Ostersund and Sofia.

“With the addition of these three fantastic destinations from Bristol, our passengers can choose snow, sand or city breaks this winter and enjoy low fares and friendly customer service.

“easyJet remains committed to sustainable growth and expansion at Bristol and we are excited for these flights to take off this winter.”

Nigel Scott, Business Development Director, Bristol Airport said:

“We are delighted with easyJet’s exciting news introducing three new routes to Sofia, Are Ostersund (Sweden) and Larnaca. It continues to extend the route network available for passengers in the region.

“These destinations will prove popular for both the business and leisure passengers. We will continue to work with easyJet, enhancing and developing the route network for the future.”

easyJet has flown more than 50 million passengers to and from Bristol since opening the base over 15 years ago. The airline continues to grow and expand in Bristol, while offering low-fares and friendly customer service.

Tickets for these flights are on sale now at www.easyJet.com.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I wonder what easyJet's plans are for next summer. New routes , aircraft etc.

It seems that Manchester will be the place for the major development in 2019 with the airline's UK manager saying: "Our growth of an additional five aircraft next summer will be the biggest single investment easyJet will make in the entire network in 2019........."

How this will impact on any BRS growth remains to be seen. It appears that the disappearance of Monarch is still reverberating around the UK airport system with this huge growth at MAN replacing Monarch to a large degree.

 

[Marko1]

There is going to be further emphasis on developing the easyJet holidays brand so it be interesting to see what impact that would have on the range of frequencies and destinations served from Bristol. I still think Greece is underserved by easyJet for example. It will be a shame if developing Manchester will impact on Bristol and it will be a pity to lose our no 3 in the uk position as well

 

[Marko1]

A rough look at a random Saturday in march 2019 shows that all 15 aircraft will be used.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

There is going to be further emphasis on developing the easyJet holidays brand so it be interesting to see what impact that would have on the range of frequencies and destinations served from Bristol. I still think Greece is underserved by easyJet for example. It will be a shame if developing Manchester will impact on Bristol and it will be a pity to lose our no 3 in the uk position as well

If BRS easyJet growth is negatively impacted by the emphasis being placed heavily on MAN that would clearly be an unwanted situation for West Country travellers and others who use BRS, although losing position number 3 would be of marginal importance in my view so long as BRS growth was maintained at realistic levels and levels that would have been seen whether MAN grew or not.

A rough look at a random Saturday in march 2019 shows that all 15 aircraft will be used.

I've looked at Mayfly for the last winter season Saturday in March this year and it seems that a maximum of 13 aircraft was necessary then, so 15 next March would be a notable step up.

 

[Jerry]

Has there been any instances where Easyjet has stopped growth at BRS to focus on other airport's? As they seem to be steadily growing BRS to me.

 

[Marko1]

I recall them actually withdrawing an aircraft and dropping Venice and Valencia. Not sure when though. It took a long time for Venice to return with easyJet and Valencia has not returned although both now flown with Ryanair

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Has there been any instances where Easyjet has stopped growth at BRS to focus on other airport's? As they seem to be steadily growing BRS to me.

I recall them actually withdrawing an aircraft and dropping Venice and Valencia. Not sure when though. It took a long time for Venice to return with easyJet and Valencia has not returned although both now flown with Ryanair

Since absorbing GoFly in 2002/2003 easyJet has grown steadily and consistently at BRS. There was a hiatus in this continual growth for a couple of years or so when things became fairly static because of the recession (2009-2010), but as an airport BRS was affected later than most regional airports, and nothing like the degree that many suffered, and began its recovery earlier than most.

easyJet has axed routes in the past at BRS but not obviously to move capacity to other airports. This is the list I have of their axed routes at BRS, some later restored and some now operated by other airlines. I don't claim this to be an exhaustive list but I think it covers most of the routes discontinued.

Bilbao axed in 2004, restored in 2015. Since restoration has seen frequency increases and is now also year-round
Copenhagen axed in 2004 when the Danish government imposed a departure tax, restored in 2012 and is year-round
Biarritz operated in 2008 and 2009, no longer operated by anyone at BRS
Budapest axed in 2006, now operated by Ryanair
Gdansk axed in 2008, now operated by Ryanair
Hamburg axed in 2006, now operated by flybmi
Rijeka operated in 2006 and 2007, no longer operated by anyone at BRS
Warsaw Chopin operated in 2008 but axed after one year reportedly because of WAW charges, with Warsaw now operated by Ryanair to Modlin
Valencia axed in 2009, now operated by Ryanair
Venice MP axed in 2009, restored in 2016 and now operated in competiton with Ryanair
Milan Malpensa axed in 2010, now operated by flybmi with Ryanair operating to Bergamo
Bastia axed in 2010 after which there were summer charter routes by other airlines but currently unserved from BRS
Marrakech axed in 2017 having begun it in 2013 after Ryanair pulled out in 2011. TUI will shortly be operating the route

 

[TheLocalYokel]

A320neo

I was wandering around Winter's Lane at lunchtime and amongst the stream of easyJet aircraft landing was a 320neo. I'm not normally interested in registrations but I noted this one which was G-UZHA which Jethro's Fleet Listings tells me is six weeks old.

Does BRS have a regular based neo now or are the based aircraft swapped from time to time with no real emphasis on whether a 320 is a neo or an older version which I've read is now a ceo.

 

[superking]

When the first neo arrived it was operated out of Luton. The reason for luton was to compare the neo against the other A320 aircraft. When they had a few more deliveries of the neo aircraft they based them for a few weeks at English bases that had A320 aircraft based also CDG I think.
Im not sure now if they swap them down line or ferry them in to do a swap at which ever airport.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

When the first neo arrived it was operated out of Luton. The reason for luton was to compare the neo against the other A320 aircraft. When they had a few more deliveries of the neo aircraft they based them for a few weeks at English bases that had A320 aircraft based also CDG I think.
Im not sure now if they swap them down line or ferry them in to do a swap at which ever airport.

Thanks. I know there was one at BRS a while ago as you point out, but whether it's just the luck of the draw when 320s are swapped from base to base, as I imagine they are from time to time, whether they are neos or not.