Bristol: EasyJet Route News & Base Updates

[TheLocalYokel]

Re my previous post, I forgot to include the average loads to give the percentage figures a context. Rectified below.

Seville 3,064 passengers, average load 170, load factor 91.5%
Genoa 2581 passengers, average load 143.4, load factor 91.9%
Athens 3,245 passengers, average load 180.3, load factor 96.9%
Stockholm 2,650 passengers, average load 147.2, load factor 79.1%
Vienna 2,751 passengers, average load 152.8, load factor 98.0%
Bilbao 4,200 passengers, average load 150, load factor 96.1%
Bordeaux 7,241 passengers, average load 164.6, load factor 94.7%
Rome FCO 10,926 passengers, average load 176.2, load factor 94.7%
Barcelona 20,701 passengers, average load 166.9, load factor 92.9%
Lisbon 7,307 passengers, average load 166.1, load factor 95.6%

 

[Marko1]

I gather there is two 320 neos now based at the airport

 

[Marko1]

Lisbon goes 5 weekly for most of the winter season

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Lisbon goes 5 weekly for most of the winter season

In the past couple of winters easyJet has increased its BRS winter programme considerably and it continues. Apart from increased frequencies on some year-round routes, the winter season has seen expansion in the form of summer routes being made year-round and new routes coming on stream, mainy year-round or just winter only.

Athens, Basel, Stockholm, Vienna and this year Seville have all been introduced as year-round new routes in the recent past, with Turin a relatively new winter recruit and Sofia another this year.

In the past two years the likes of Bilbao, Bordeaux and Copenhagen have increased from summer-only to year-round, and Catania and Naples follow this path this winter.

Ryanair too has bolstered its winter offering in recent years from 55 rotations per week in winter 15/16 to 90 in 18/19. Not only has it increased frequencies on some routes but it has introduced new routes in recent times that are year-round (Cologne and Bucharest for example) and expanded summer routes to year-round such as Knock, Valencia and Limoges that continue through the coming winter. New routes to Seville and Sofia will also commence this winter.

Given TUI's additions too the BRS winters are looking much healthier than they were a few years ago.

In 2013 January the quietest month of the year handled 313,000 passengers and August (the busiest) 708,000. This year January saw 486,000 and August is likely to see around 970,000.

January 2013 compared with January 2018 saw an extra 173,000 passengers this year, a percentage rise of 55.3%. August 2013 compared with the estimated figure for August 2018 saw an extra 262,000 passengers this year, a percentage rise of 37.0%.

This is an encouraging trend as it means BRS winters are beginning to play an increasingly important part in the airport's annual calendar.

 

[superking]

Is there any news that we will see one of the A321 aircraft any time.It would be a good fit on routes that are full flights on a regular basis.If we do see one I would expect it would be like the A320 when that started out of Brs with summer routes and when the winter season starts we went back to a A319. What does any one think about the A321.

 

[Marko1]

I note of nothing yet about the 321 although I was under the impression that they will be based at Gatwick and in Paris.

Given the increases in frequencies on many routes this winter I wonder if they will carry that through to the summer season as well.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Is there any news that we will see one of the A321 aircraft any time.It would be a good fit on routes that are full flights on a regular basis.If we do see one I would expect it would be like the A320 when that started out of Brs with summer routes and when the winter season starts we went back to a A319. What does any one think about the A321.

I note of nothing yet about the 321 although I was under the impression that they will be based at Gatwick and in Paris.

Given the increases in frequencies on many routes this winter I wonder if they will carry that through to the summer season as well.

Jethros Air currently shows two A321s in the fleet with two more due in August this year (the site apparently needs updating), two in September and another 24 merely shown as 'due'.

There is little doubt that an A321 would be viable at BRS in terms of loads with routes such as EDI, CDG, FCO, AMS and others regularly shown as 'sold out', sometimes a week or more ahead of the flight date. This would obviate the need for increased rotations and would also help with apron congestion.

However, despite the fact that the A321 would be well patronised it might be that the airline could get better yields elsewhere. We read this all the time on airport aviation websites: "Why doesn't Airline A increase frequency from Airport Y to destination Z because loads are always excellent?"

 

[Jerry]

I'd imagine that eventually BRS would see Easyjet A321s probably sooner rather than later i'd have thought.

 

[kraktoa]

Barcelona diverted to Gatwick today due to a technical issue. Dont know if they came back later or were coached to Bristol

 

[Marko1]

The summer schedule up to end of June is now available to book. No great surprises other than seville continuing at 3 weekly . Other winter increases not followed through but no obvious reductions. Think there's some increases on domestic services but not entirely sure. The rest of the summer is launched next Thursday so perhaps we get a better picture then but on this status it's hard to see any significant growth out of this , Ryanair , tui and tcx offering so far

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Thank you, Marko. As we know from past years easyJet tends to add frequency on some routes after the initial timetables are published and any new routes for the summer typically are also announced later, often in the October-early December period.

The airline's UK chief has already said she expects easyJet's BRS passenger numbers to rise from 5 million this year to 5.2 million in 2019.

 

[superking]

Lookig on the dep/arr boards on the web page the flight codes have changed from EZY to U2. The flight numbers not changed as far as I can tell.Any one else noticed this,or wonder what the reason for this.

 

[kraktoa]

Lookig on the dep/arr boards on the web page the flight codes have changed from EZY to U2. The flight numbers not changed as far as I can tell.Any one else noticed this,or wonder what the reason for this.

Is it possible that the airport website which was probably corrupted after the cyber attack is taking information from another source like Flight radar, where the U2 prefix was prevalent for EZY fights? Neverthless the 2 prefixes have been operating for quite a number of years and were interchangeable in various platforms.

 

[Marko1]

I know it's early days but I thought I have a quick look at the base composition for next summer. There is definitely 15 aircraft based ( 8 x319 and 7x 320s ). If that remains there would be a drop in capacity . Also Murcia is not yet on sale which usually fills a morning slot and hence requiring no 16 to be based. I'm assuming there that easyJet are awaiting the move to the new corvera airport

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Lookig on the dep/arr boards on the web page the flight codes have changed from EZY to U2. The flight numbers not changed as far as I can tell.Any one else noticed this,or wonder what the reason for this.

There are two sets of codes for airports and for airlines.

One is issued by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Authority) an agency of the UN, and the other by IATA (International Air Transport Association) which is a trade organisation.

Simplistically put, the ICAO codes are primarily for operational purposes whilst IATA codes relate more to airports and airlines interaction with passengers, with the latter's codes used in such things as public timetables and baggage tagging.

With airports ICAO issues 4-letter codes (Bristol Airport is EGGD) and IATA 3-letter codes (Bristol Airport is BRS).

With airlines ICAO issues 3-letter codes (EZY for easyJet) and IATA 2-letter codes (U2 for easyJet).

Perversely, airports are often better known by the public by their 3-letter IATA code whilst airlines are often better known by the public by their 3-letter ICAO code. Many travellers who aren't aviation aficionados would know that BRS means Bristol Airport but would not have a clue about EGGD, and would be familiar with EZY meaning easyJet whilst U2 would puzzle many.

I note today that the BRS arrivals/departures pages are referring to all airlines by their 2-letter IATA code with, for example, TUI Airlines being BY (historically this stems from Britannia Airways) instead of TOM.

Quite why the change has occurred today I have no idea.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I know it's early days but I thought I have a quick look at the base composition for next summer. There is definitely 15 aircraft based ( 8 x319 and 7x 320s ). If that remains there would be a drop in capacity . Also Murcia is not yet on sale which usually fills a morning slot and hence requiring no 16 to be based. I'm assuming there that easyJet are awaiting the move to the new corvera airport

How did you arrive at the base composition?

 

[Marko1]

How did you arrive at the base composition?

Well I did it quickly but just by going through the desktop dummy booking for Friday 6th of June .

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Well I did it quickly but just by going through the desktop dummy booking for Friday 6th of June .

The reason I asked was that a few years ago I did a similar thing shortly after the programme for the next summer was released. The seat selector showed all flights on A319s even though the BRS base had a small number of A320s at the time. I picked on a particular day at random.

Later and well before the summer season started some of the flights had become A320 operated. I wonder whether the same thing will happen now. It seems an odd step to reduce the 320 complement when easyJet management is speaking of more passengers in 2019.

It will be something to keep an eye on.

 

[Marko1]

Yes particularly given the frequency increases during the winter that have not been carried through. Also Larnaca has a break during April and May for some reason before resuming in June. The rest of the summer is released next Thursday so we should have a better picture then

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Yes particularly given the frequency increases during the winter that have not been carried through. Also Larnaca has a break during April and May for some reason before resuming in June. The rest of the summer is released next Thursday so we should have a better picture then

According to easyJet's website the second batch of summer flights to be released this week (27th) will only be for the period 24 June-1 September. Aviation's 'summer' usually runs until the end of October.

I can't remember easyJet releasing their summer programme in three parts in the past. I don't know why they even did it in two parts in the past. Surely their technology could cope with people booking for the entire summer if the programme was released in one go.

They must lose some passengers to other airlines who release their summer dates earlier.