Route Development & Rumours

[Ray Finkle]

Athens, Basel, Bilbao, Lisbon, Gibraltar, Seville, Stockholm, Toulouse, Genoa, Marseille, Olbia, Ostersund and Reykjavik.

All of the above are easyjet routes available from Bristol which are totally unserved from Birmingham!

You could add in Mykonos, Tel Aviv, Tivat and Volos from MAN and suddenly an easyjet base seems very appealing.

As Brum X pointed out they could also boost capacity to the likes of Rome, Berlin, Venice etc which is way down.

This is Birmingham though so expect an announcement of yet another service to Palma

 

[Brum X]

Fair point Brum X, I still think BHX has carriers with the potential to operate those routes if the market was there for it. If there was surely RYR and Flybe would've scooped at least some of these up a long time ago?

However, I would not under any circumstance turn my nose up at easyJet if they decided to launch some routes from BHX because any growth is good growth (I think...)

Nothing against easyJet, I want to fly for them one day. I just think BHX can easily make up those markets with other airlines if the demand is there

But on that list (probably most of them) with the current Flybe model they are out of there reach so Flybe would not really be a realistic carrier to operate Athens or Lisbon or Keflavik on a Dash 8.

Ryanair is a strange airline at BHX full stop, i have no idea what there plans at all. They are totally weird and i scratch my head time and time again over this airline. I mean are they commited to BHX or what ??? I sometimes have my doubts to be honest.

 

[GliderPilot]

That's just what I'm trying to get at Ray

The airport just seems to attract Bucket & Spade routes and I just can't see easyJet being the airline to operate all of those routes despite doing it elsewhere

PROVE ME WRONG EASYJET, PLEEAASSEEEEEEEE

BHX and the airlines that serve it can really be like a lottery sometimes. 99/100 times you're disappointed but sometimes you win £2 on a scratch card (i.e A route to Ibiza just for the summer)

 

[Brum X]

Athens, Basel, Bilbao, Lisbon, Gibraltar, Seville, Stockholm, Toulouse, Genoa, Marseille, Olbia, Ostersund and Reykjavik.

All of the above are easyjet routes available from Bristol which are totally unserved from Birmingham!

You could add in Mykonos, Tel Aviv, Tivat and Volos from MAN and suddenly an easyjet base seems very appealing.

As Brum X pointed out they could also boost capacity to the likes of Rome, Berlin, Venice etc which is way down.

This is Birmingham though so expect an announcement of yet another service to Palma

Or Alicaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaante Ray

 

[IanFarquharson]

As per my purple comment I don’t know anything but I do think WIzz UK will open a second UK base.
Ideal for BHX but I think DSA is probably more likely due to our proximity to LTN

 

[Brum X]

As per my purple comment I don’t know anything but I do think WIzz UK will open a second UK base.
Ideal for BHX but I think DSA is probably more likely due to our proximity to LTN

So we are stuffed again.

Please Gods, move us quick. I am getting rather tired of being in the "Heart of England"

 

[Ray Finkle]

I'd take a couple of new routes from Wizz along with an increase to Budapest.

So we are stuffed again.

Maybe not, keep the faith

 

[58terminus]

Hmm, sounds like good news for those with token easyjet presences then, a la BHX

As you will have noticed Ashwo99 the mere mention of Easyjet on the forum stirs up a hornets nest.
Some think there is a long standing feud between the airport and the airline going back to the Go days.
A bit like two people who wont talk to each other because of an incident years ago but they cannot remember
what it was about.All they know is they don't talk.

 

[IanFarquharson]

I think Jet2 may add more soon

 

[58terminus]

I think Jet2 may add more soon

I guess red could look purplish in the right light

 

[rollo]

So we are stuffed again.

Please Gods, move us quick. I am getting rather tired of being in the "Heart of England"

Just to cheer you up Brum X Scottie Dog has posted on the MAN forum TCX will increase MCO from 9 weekly up to 13 weekly next summer AAGH!

 

[Brum X]

Just to cheer you up Brum X Scottie Dog has posted on the MAN forum TCX will increase MCO from 9 weekly up to 13 weekly next summer AAGH!

Thomas Cook

 

[jfy1999]

The latest from JetBlue on their plans for the future.

Boston, New York, London and Paris are the only cities named but they do say there are "a lot" of destinations they hope to serve. They are also looking at possibly flying A220s to Europe

 

[Brum X]

The latest from JetBlue on their plans for the future.

Boston, New York, London and Paris are the only cities named but they do say there are "a lot" of destinations they hope to serve. They are also looking at possibly flying A220s to Europe

The same cities that Primera Air serve from all of those cities.

Brum X is already.

 

[Coathanger16]

Jetblue were only ever going to start with those big markets. They talk a lot about launching routes to "disrupt" markets that already exist by offering low fares in an otherwise high fare market. That's their current business model and as there currently isn't any market between BHX and the States it's no wonder they aren't looking at BHX as their first destination. Certainly if they have looked at what happened with Primera, Jetblue are definitely only going to go for London/Paris to begin with - that's not to say what Primera did was right or that there isn't demand for a service to the States from BHX.

Both the A220 (still can't get used to called it that, doesn't roll off the tongue for me at least, it'll always be the CSeries to me) and the A321NEO have the range to fly TATL, although the A220 can only realistically make Western Europe from New York. With almost 150 of these aircraft on order (60 A220, 85 A321NEO), I'd be surprised if Jetblue only configured a couple for TATL flying, so the odds of them expanding beyond London/Paris are fairly good.

I've no doubt BHX will feature in Jetblue's analysis of future TATL Operations (after London/Paris), just don't expect anything soon from them (probably not until well into the next decade at least).

 

[Coathanger16]

Futher to my last point, if Jetblue do venture into TATL and they start with London/Paris (i.e. anywhere but BHX), then at least if it doesn't work out for them, they won't drag BHX's name through the mud again like some airlines have recently...

 

[Ianbutty]

JetBlue have codebase agreements with Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, Iberia and TAP. I would expect they would opt for a hub of one of those for their first Europe destination. They also codeshare with Icelandair, but the TATL network from their is already well established and the onward connections more limited than the others.

But BHX as good an outside get as any.

 

[mullion]

They also have an agreement with Thomas Cook

 

[Silvercity]

JetBlue have codebase agreements with Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, Iberia and TAP. I would expect they would opt for a hub of one of those for their first Europe destination. They also codeshare with Icelandair, but the TATL network from their is already well established and the onward connections more limited than the others.

But BHX as good an outside get as any.

David Neeleman JetBlues founder is a 45 percent owner of TAP. Lisbon is high on his list as a hub from the US to Europe.

JetBlue’s founder wants to turn a 73-year-old airline and its home in Portugal into the next gateway into Europe

• Benjamin Zhang

• Jun. 24, 2018, 1:57 PM
• 1,020

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TAP Air Portugal boss David Neeleman.David Slotnick/Business Insider

• David Neeleman is best known for his role as either the founder or co-founder of a host of success airlines including WestJet, JetBlue, and Azul.
• Since 2015, Neeleman has been the co-owner TAP Air Portugal.
• Neeleman led a consortium of investors that successfully privatized the debt-ridden government-owned airline.
• TAP's new management is working to build up Portugal as Europe's newest gateway.

David Neeleman has a long history of success in the airline business. He's either founded or co-founded four major airlines and is reportedly working on a fifth.

You may have heard of a few of Neeleman's success stories like WestJet, JetBlue, and Azul.

Even though Neeleman has long departed WestJet and JetBlue, he is still involved in the day-to-day operations of Azul, a burgeoning Brazillian low-cost carrier.

In addition to Azul, Neeleman is also a co-owner of TAP Air Portugal. In 2015, Neeleman led a consortium of investors called Atlantic Gateway in a successful bid to take over Portugal's 73- year-old, government-owned national airline.

The consortium now owns 45% of the airline while the Portuguese government retains a 50% stake. The final 5% belongs to the airline's employees.

Turning TAP around
At the time, TAP was in bad shape and heavily in debt. The airline suffered as a result of European Union regulations that frowned upon state-funded enterprises competing with private industry, Neeleman told us in a recent interview.

In the year prior to Neeleman and Co's takeover, escalating costs due to fuel prices and labor problems only managed to compound the airline's problems — forcing it to declare a loss of around $50 million.

"The way the airline was funded was basically the local Portuguese banks were taking turns putting money in the company," Neeleman said.

David Slotnick/Business Insider
Unfortunately, by 2015, that flow of money had pretty much been tapped out with the airline on the hook for more than $600 million in debt.

In addition, there was another $100 million of "critical receivables" including payroll that needed to be paid, Neeleman said.

And then there's TAP's product. Even though service quality and maintenance were good, the airline's offerings were in dire need of investment.

"Because there had been no new airplanes purchased because there was no capital, the fleet was just very old," he said. "It looked like you were flying around in the 70's in the planes."

As part of the takeover, the consortium agreed to invest as much as $900 million in the airline while working to return TAP to profitability.

"The first thing we did was put in the money and made payroll and then we placed an order with Airbus for 71 brand new airplanes," Neeleman told us.

By the end of 2019, TAP expects its entire wide-body long-haul fleet to consist of either the new next-generation Airbus A330neo or current generation Airbus aircraft with brand new refurbished interiors.

TAP Air Portugal's new Airbus A330-900neo.Airbus
Airbus expected the A330neo to enter service during the last quarter of 2017. But development delays pushed back the debut of the new plane and TAP's turnaround plans.

In fact, the airline only took delivery of its first A330-900neo earlier this week.

Europe's newest gateway
Along with the financial investment, Neeleman and TAP's management team led by CEO Antonoaldo Neves have worked to transform the airline and its home base in Portugal into Europe's newest gateway.

"Portugal is just so well positioned as a hub to bring people into Europe," Neeleman said. "It's only 3,300 miles from New York. There's no other major city on the European continent that's closer than Lisbon."

As result, the airline is positioned to connect large numbers of passengers from its sizable network in North and South America to destinations in Europe and Africa.

TAP already carries the largest volume of passengers between Europe and Brazil, Neeleman told us.

However, Neeleman also concedes that Portugal's geography poses some challenges.

"The good news about Portugal is that it's on the entrance to Europe, but the bad news about Portugal is that it's far away from Europe," Neeleman said.

To help boost Portugal's prominence as a travel destination, TAP allows passengers to extend their layovers up to five days for free

 

[Coathanger16]

David Neeleman JetBlues founder is a 45 percent owner of TAP. Lisbon is high on his list as a hub from the US to Europe.

JetBlue’s founder wants to turn a 73-year-old airline and its home in Portugal into the next gateway into Europe

• Benjamin Zhang

• Jun. 24, 2018, 1:57 PM
• 1,020

• facebook
• linkedin
• twitter
• email
• print

TAP Air Portugal boss David Neeleman.David Slotnick/Business Insider

• David Neeleman is best known for his role as either the founder or co-founder of a host of success airlines including WestJet, JetBlue, and Azul.
• Since 2015, Neeleman has been the co-owner TAP Air Portugal.
• Neeleman led a consortium of investors that successfully privatized the debt-ridden government-owned airline.
• TAP's new management is working to build up Portugal as Europe's newest gateway.

David Neeleman has a long history of success in the airline business. He's either founded or co-founded four major airlines and is reportedly working on a fifth.

You may have heard of a few of Neeleman's success stories like WestJet, JetBlue, and Azul.

Even though Neeleman has long departed WestJet and JetBlue, he is still involved in the day-to-day operations of Azul, a burgeoning Brazillian low-cost carrier.

In addition to Azul, Neeleman is also a co-owner of TAP Air Portugal. In 2015, Neeleman led a consortium of investors called Atlantic Gateway in a successful bid to take over Portugal's 73- year-old, government-owned national airline.

The consortium now owns 45% of the airline while the Portuguese government retains a 50% stake. The final 5% belongs to the airline's employees.

Turning TAP around
At the time, TAP was in bad shape and heavily in debt. The airline suffered as a result of European Union regulations that frowned upon state-funded enterprises competing with private industry, Neeleman told us in a recent interview.

In the year prior to Neeleman and Co's takeover, escalating costs due to fuel prices and labor problems only managed to compound the airline's problems — forcing it to declare a loss of around $50 million.

"The way the airline was funded was basically the local Portuguese banks were taking turns putting money in the company," Neeleman said.

David Slotnick/Business Insider
Unfortunately, by 2015, that flow of money had pretty much been tapped out with the airline on the hook for more than $600 million in debt.

In addition, there was another $100 million of "critical receivables" including payroll that needed to be paid, Neeleman said.

And then there's TAP's product. Even though service quality and maintenance were good, the airline's offerings were in dire need of investment.

"Because there had been no new airplanes purchased because there was no capital, the fleet was just very old," he said. "It looked like you were flying around in the 70's in the planes."

As part of the takeover, the consortium agreed to invest as much as $900 million in the airline while working to return TAP to profitability.

"The first thing we did was put in the money and made payroll and then we placed an order with Airbus for 71 brand new airplanes," Neeleman told us.

By the end of 2019, TAP expects its entire wide-body long-haul fleet to consist of either the new next-generation Airbus A330neo or current generation Airbus aircraft with brand new refurbished interiors.

TAP Air Portugal's new Airbus A330-900neo.Airbus
Airbus expected the A330neo to enter service during the last quarter of 2017. But development delays pushed back the debut of the new plane and TAP's turnaround plans.

In fact, the airline only took delivery of its first A330-900neo earlier this week.

Europe's newest gateway
Along with the financial investment, Neeleman and TAP's management team led by CEO Antonoaldo Neves have worked to transform the airline and its home base in Portugal into Europe's newest gateway.

"Portugal is just so well positioned as a hub to bring people into Europe," Neeleman said. "It's only 3,300 miles from New York. There's no other major city on the European continent that's closer than Lisbon."

As result, the airline is positioned to connect large numbers of passengers from its sizable network in North and South America to destinations in Europe and Africa.

TAP already carries the largest volume of passengers between Europe and Brazil, Neeleman told us.

However, Neeleman also concedes that Portugal's geography poses some challenges.

"The good news about Portugal is that it's on the entrance to Europe, but the bad news about Portugal is that it's far away from Europe," Neeleman said.

To help boost Portugal's prominence as a travel destination, TAP allows passengers to extend their layovers up to five days for free

If TAP are wanting to make Lisbon into a hub they're going to need feeder flights. As BHX no longer has any TATL flights could that make BHX an attractive destination for TAP?