Random Stuff!

[JENNYJET]

It is the Health and Safety considerations at play, I own up to being a qualified Risk Assessor and I would have given serious thought to closure once all available information had been considered. Vehicular and pedestrian access added to adequate warmth and comfort facilities for those negatively affected are just a few of the considerations plus the financial liabilities in law should someone seek redress.

 

[superking]

I like the pictures but the thing that concerns me this winter with serious bouts of snow and ice is the possible impact on those trying to get to vaccination centres. I read today that four vaccination centres in Waled had to be closed because of the adverse weather. There is also the danger of people slipping or falling and breaking limbs which adds to the ever-increasing burden with which the NHS is struggling to cope.

So true in what you eay Localyokel. The thing we must not forget it the ones called up for the jab are the older people and also with health problems.1 of the centers in Wales is not far from where either of us live,and i got no snow. Take care one and all stay safe.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Something a little different for Coventry. It'll be interesting to see how it develops.

Govt backing for Coventry's eVTOL port :

www.flyer.co.uk

Coventry is to host the world’s first fully-operational hub for future electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft such as cargo drones and air taxis.

Urban Air Port Air-One is a winner in the UK government’s Future Flight Challenge to develop aviation infrastructure and systems that enable the next generation of electric and autonomous air vehicles

 

[HPsauce]

Sad to hear that Coventry Airport will almost certainly close with the planned Lithium car battery manufacturing site set to get the go ahead very soon.
Over the years Coventry always provided a different experience for enthusiasts. Flying clubs, a regular cargo operation, air museum etc. I remember when it hosted the Kings Cup Air Race, back in the 60's/early 70's. The Constellations and Shackleton over on the scrap area!. More recently Air Atlantique with their Dakotas and Douglas DC6.
In the 1970's it would often take a few diversions from BHX and EMA in foggy conditions. Mainly Viscounts and 1-11's of BA, and Viscounts, F27, and DC9's of BMA. In the mid 2000's Thomsonfly based a B737 operating package holidays!.
With Wellesbourne under threat from housing we are losing a lot of light aircraft fields.

 

[JENNYJET]

Is it planned to dig up a serviceable runway for a factory? As HP said, it can take diversionary traffic if necessary and provides for hobby flyers etc., And where will the museum pieces go? I would like BHX to find some space!

 

[Matt995]

You do have to remember that over the last few years, Coventry has been wound down, ILS removed, terminal closed, its in effect no longer an airport, but an airfield such as Wellesbourne.

It is sad to see, living in Leamington, I used to have a good view of seeing the Thomsonfly 737s, BMA/BAF Viscounts, even the 737 & 757 of Gainjet arriving and departing. It will be missed

 

[JENNYJET]

I think it has become a squandered asset. An active runway can facilitate movement of material, and finished product, keeping off the roads many trucks. Is the airfield the only brown field site in the area? I am not happy for any airfield to disappear without good reason!

 

[rollo]

Is it planned to dig up a serviceable runway for a factory? As HP said, it can take diversionary traffic if necessary and provides for hobby flyers etc., And where will the museum pieces go? I would like BHX to find some space!

If you go on the other airports forum and click on the Coventry forum their are a few posts re the proposal dated 16th April including an image posted by Coathanger16 showing the factory completely covering the length of the existing runway apart from a few metres.

Definitely the end of Baginton if it goes ahead.

 

[Ray Finkle]

In the mid 2000's Thomsonfly based a B737 operating package holidays!.

They also had flights from Wizz for a period, Katowice and Gdansk I think but my memory isn't the best?


Looking at the picture mentioned above it seems as if the Air Museum may survive?

 

[HPsauce]

You may be right there Ray. I vaguely recall Wizz being at Cov although only for a short time. Hopefully the Midland Air Museum will survive then. Any new acquisitions will have to arrive by road sadly.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

And where will the museum pieces go? I would like BHX to find some space!

Sadly, I don't think that BHX management have much time for aviation enthusiasts and are unlikely to do anything to encourage them to visit. On top of that, BHX is extremely constrained regarding space.

Kevin

 

[JENNYJET]

Kevin's words about BHX management chimes with my own thoughts, a flimsy bus shelter is their contribution to enthusiasts. I was just a kid awestruck at the sight of a Wardair DC-10 landing and taxi-ing to the heritage terminal, completely dwarfing the building, and I pledged myself to fly on a jet out of Birmingham. Today, thousands of kids will be thinking of a flight from their home airport yet that airport appears to offer diddly squat to youngsters wanting to cultivate a healthy interest in aviation, keeping them safe and away from shopping centres and housing estates, causing annoyances and risking Police interest and a record of intervention.

The destruction of Baginton as an airfield will in part be as a result of past inertia by Warwickshire County Council and their decision not to permit a sensible terminal to replace the Third World excuse that ThomsonFly had to endure with the passengers. What might have been, Ryanair, Wizz and others could have allowed Birmingham to court more of the major Legacy carriers, then the activists that disrupted and ended animal exports.

The museum, as I suspect, will be overwhelmed by the size of the factory with the inevitable security preventing much of the current experience, that of seeing exhibits in open surroundings with clouds and blue sky, not corrugated steel panelling and much worse.

I am sure there are possibly areas at BHX that could accommodate a few exhibits, land that is redundant where it is insufficient for building work, the noise bund, threshold of R15 at Sheldon near the golf course, a few aircraft lined up alongside the roads leading to the car parks and terminal, a little imagination and will can go a long way but management cannot see it. A dedicated area can be a revenue source, with cafe and parking fees and provides a diversion for delayed passengers with kids

 

[Ray Finkle]

The destruction of Baginton as an airfield will in part be as a result of past inertia by Warwickshire County Council and their decision not to permit a sensible terminal to replace the Third World excuse that ThomsonFly had to endure with the passengers. What might have been, Ryanair, Wizz and others could have allowed Birmingham to court more of the major Legacy carriers, then the activists that disrupted and ended animal exports.

A friend of mine used Thomsonfly out of CVT and said those Portacabins were an awful experience. Without permission from Warwickshire Council for a permanent terminal building it all seemed destined to fail.

As for growing Coventry, I am certainly no expert but with the runways at BHX and CVT being at almost right angles and only 10 or 11 miles apart I seem to remember it being a bit of a nightmare for ATC at busy periods. I'm not sure how busy Coventry could have become without eventually having an effect on BHX. I vaguely remember Paul Kehoe being quite vocal about it at the time.

 

[JENNYJET]

I am sure some American airports have conflicting runways due to size and busyness. Imagine CVT and BHX as one airport with the advantage of distance between operations hence my suggestion of Coventry as a low cost terminal and Birmingham as a Legacy carriers facility.

Then there are the three Paris airports, all quite close yet serving differing markets. Still, I shall regret the loss of Coventry leaving East Midlands or Halfpenny Green/Cosford as possible emergency fields.

 

[Matty_85]

I know this is a bit random but does anyone know whether BHX will stick to the masterplan and continue the renovations or can we expect something completely different post pandemic with maybe a new plan?

Also, does anyone know if there are any possible plans for this year such as new bases or possible unserved long haul routes? Amsterdam with easyJet was good news but I won’t lie... I was expecting a more significant announcement based on the conversations around Christmas and the flurry of announcements on twitter

 

[JENNYJET]

I recall as a child watching Ask the Family on telly. Might want to try that route as BHX Management tend to keep things in the family!

 

[Ray Finkle]

I know this is a bit random but does anyone know whether BHX will stick to the masterplan and continue the renovations or can we expect something completely different post pandemic with maybe a new plan?

I wonder if even the BHX management know right now as things are so unpredictable?

Job losses potentially affecting peoples ability to travel abroad, possible change in business practices with some meetings done via Zoom instead of expensive trips, how long it will take for an economic recovery etc are all currently unknown quantities. I'm sure things will get there at some point but at the moment it may be just too early to predict when.

Also, does anyone know if there are any possible plans for this year such as new bases or possible unserved long haul routes? Amsterdam with easyJet was good news but I won’t lie... I was expecting a more significant announcement based on the conversations around Christmas and the flurry of announcements on twitter

Talks were held with Wizz about a base but obviously it didn't happen. Whether it will at some point in the future I don't know but they are still adding routes and frequencies to BHX so hope remains.

Only my personal opinion but I think (hope) BHX may have an easyjet base in their sights. I seem to remember Paul Kehoe once commenting that it took 5 years of talks with Jet2 before they committed to a base so plenty of patience may be needed. Some away based routes will do in the meantime and AMS, GLA and EDI are a good start. Now if we can get CDG, BER and MXP I will be very happy indeed

 

[Matty_85]

I wonder if even the BHX management know right now as things are so unpredictable?

Job losses potentially affecting peoples ability to travel abroad, possible change in business practices with some meetings done via Zoom instead of expensive trips, how long it will take for an economic recovery etc are all currently unknown quantities. I'm sure things will get there at some point but at the moment it may be just too early to predict when.




Talks were held with Wizz about a base but obviously it didn't happen. Whether it will at some point in the future I don't know but they are still adding routes and frequencies to BHX so hope remains.

Only my personal opinion but I think (hope) BHX may have an easyjet base in their sights. I seem to remember Paul Kehoe once commenting that it took 5 years of talks with Jet2 before they committed to a base so plenty of patience may be needed. Some away based routes will do in the meantime and AMS, GLA and EDI are a good start. Now if we can get CDG, BER and MXP I will be very happy indeed

Thanks Ray, really appreciate the insight! It’s interesting to see what BHXs plans are post pandemic. It’s great to see more bucket and spade routes but (without being shot down) many of the city routes were unserved pre Covid so it would be great to know there’s a plan to get them back too

 

[Ray Finkle]

many of the city routes were unserved pre Covid so it would be great to know there’s a plan to get them back too

Berlin, Milan, Stockholm, Valencia, Nice, Toulouse, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Hanover, Bordeaux, Lyon, etc....... all still unserved, capacity down on Rome, Prague, Venice, Dusseldorf, Madrid, Amsterdam, Paris, etc means a huge amount of work still to be done.

Lets look at two routes recently reinstated to BHX, Athens and Lisbon.

For my family of four, flight only, Mon-Fri May 2022 school holiday half term week to Lisbon we have*

Jet2 from BHX - choice of two flights per week £1017.00
easyjet - choice of three flights per day* £457.92

* for clarity I chose timings from LTN as close to the BHX timings as I could, the cheapest was another £50 less.

Again May 2022 school holiday half term week for a family of four flight only this time to Athens*

Jet2 from BHX - choice of two flights per week £1661.40
easyjet from Luton - choice of 2-3 flights per day £553.12

This is in no way any slight on Jet2 as their market is to sell packages but it maybe demonstrates why for so long BHX has often been considered an expensive place to fly from, even I would opt to travel to LTN! Recent announcements to LCA, DLM, AYT and PMI are great but have they barely scratched the surface of what's needed?

It feels like BHX is always just so, so far behind


*prices are what I found at time of typing

 

[Matty_85]

Berlin, Milan, Stockholm, Valencia, Nice, Toulouse, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Hanover, Bordeaux, Lyon, etc....... all still unserved, capacity down on Rome, Prague, Venice, Dusseldorf, Madrid, Amsterdam, Paris, etc means a huge amount of work still to be done.

Lets look at two routes recently reinstated to BHX, Athens and Lisbon.

For my family of four, flight only, Mon-Fri next May school holiday half term week to Lisbon we have*

Jet2 from BHX - choice of two flights per week £1017.00
easyjet - choice of three flights per day* £457.92

* for clarity I chose timings from LTN as close to the BHX timings as I could, the cheapest was another £50 less.

Again next May school holiday half term week for a family of four flight only this time to Athens*

Jet2 from BHX - choice of two flights per week £1661.40
easyjet from Luton - choice of 2-3 flights per day £553.12

This is in no way any slight on Jet2 as their market is to sell packages but it maybe demonstrates why for so long BHX has often been considered an expensive place to fly from, even I would opt to travel to LTN! Recent announcements to LCA, DLM, AYT and PMI are great but have they barely scratched the surface of what's needed?

It feels like BHX is always just so, so far behind


*prices are what I found at time of typing

I completely agree Ray.

I’ve booked BHX to Lisbon on its first flight on 30th September with Jet2 but as a package. It’s just not a LCC in the sense of regular weekly flights or if you want to connect via Lisbon it just doesn’t really offer the flexibility. Great for package deals though

I’m also looking at New York for December but I’m weighing up Heathrow or a connection. I’d pay more for a direct local flight but paying more for the privilege of connecting seems a bit backward.

I hope we can get an easyJet and/or Wizz to help build higher frequency on these routes & challenge the perception of BHX being more expensive. From what you said before I’m guessing that’s what they are aiming for at BHX so fingers crossed.

I’m holding out hope for BHX management as I think they have a new opportunity with covid/brexit. The status quo seems to have been reset so I’m hoping there will be some new opportunities to be had by BHX in the future..