Route Development & Rumours

[tompo]

I wouldn’t take any notice of a rhetoric ‘PR’ article containing scant intention regarding new routes. Analysis reveals little substance with no factual information relating to the airline’s expansionary claims. In ten years time this airline will be bumbling along with exactly the same routes as in the previous 3 decades.

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

Depending on the demand for the Marrakesh and Agadir routes.Jet2,Tui and royal maroc air have massive competition tied

 

[Timberwolf]

Depending on the demand for the Marrakesh and Agadir routes.Jet2,Tui and royal maroc air have massive competition tied

I remember both RAM and Tunis Air used to operate winter charter flights into the old Elndon Terminal for a while.Evrn have a photo of a Tunis Air B737-200 on the apron.

 

[KJAY 786]

There is demand for a African Airline to start Birmingham International Flights - There is a high percentage of passenger needs i am hoping Ethipoian - Somalian and others including Tunisia Airlines aswell as Royal Air Moroc invest more into Birmingham - BHX - (fingers crossed Royal Air Moroc do start Birmingham )

 

[DarloPlaneBoy]

There is demand for a African Airline to start Birmingham International Flights - There is a high percentage of passenger needs i am hoping Ethipoian - Somalian and others including Tunisia Airlines aswell as Royal Air Moroc invest more into Birmingham - BHX - (fingers crossed Royal Air Moroc do start Birmingham )

How do you know there is demand Ethiopian fly out of Manchester already and Heathrow they probably won't bother out of Birmingham. The Ethopian route does make a stop from Manchester to Brussels. Emirates, Qatar, Saudia, Turkish and Lufthansa who are good with African Connections as to are Air France probably have the African demand covered with connecting traffic

 

[mullion]

Ethiopian ex Manchester go via Geneva now and have just said they intend to increase to daily in near future so I guess next step would non stop.

 

[laviation]

I doubt Ethiopian go BHX. If they do it will be a tag-on to another European destination like MAN has

 

[Ryan Kirkpatrick]

Ethiopian would add extra flights to MAN. I doubt we will see an African airlines into bhx in the near future.

 

[Karl C]

Never say never....ever...in the aviation industry

 

[Brum X]

Never say never....ever...in the aviation industry

Exactly, I am sure most on here would of thought the same about Saudia launching flights from BHX only 2 years ago. I never even thought of Saudia. Etihad maybe, but not Saudia.

Why didn't they just expand at MAN ?

Also maybe next Summer 2024, BHX officials need to start talking China, China, China again.

I think it is time once again (NEARLY, LOL) to get this route up and running.

And never mind what MAN is doing, we are a city region of 3 million + people with an international airport.

 

[laviation]

I certainly think China is where BHX should target. But there is still much ground to be made up by the obvious candidate (Hainan) in their existing network. It'd be great to see a 2-3x weekly PEK-BHX in a few year's time.

 

[Scania1800]

Exactly, I am sure most on here would of thought the same about Saudia launching flights from BHX only 2 years ago. I never even thought of Saudia. Etihad maybe, but not Saudia.

Why didn't they just expand at MAN ?

Also maybe next Summer 2024, BHX officials need to start talking China, China, China again.

I think it is time once again (NEARLY, LOL) to get this route up and running.

And never mind what MAN is doing, we are a city region of 3 million + people with an international airport.

And also Birmingham is much larger than Manchester ( not the airports )

 

[Brum X]

And also Birmingham is much larger than Manchester ( not the airports )

Oooooooooh opening up a can of worms with that comment Scania

Anyways, I will be a MOD for 1 second, back to BHX forum and of course lets discuss BHX-China flights

BACK ON TOPIC

Birmingham Airport Celebrates Extended Chinese Flight Series | Aviation Week Network

The new flights are operating twice weekly on Fridays and Mondays, between July 3, 2015 and August 28, 2015 and will carry almost 4,000 Chinese tourists into the UK on package tours and will contribute a forecasted £19 million to the regional economy. The flights will be operated by a 223-seat...

aviationweek.com

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

My predictions for long haul next year:

Air India :
Mumbai 4 weekly
Delhi daily
Amritsar 5 weekly

Qatar:
Doha 10 weekly

Tui:
Melbourne (USA)5 weekly
Montego Bay 4 weekly

Saudia:
Riyadh:1 weekly
Jeddah:4-5 weekly

 

[laviation]

I would say a skeleton 1 p/w RUH is unlikely for now at least. Wait for that Riyadh Air thing to get going, good chance in a couple years. Think Saudia will go 4 weekly though !

 

[tompo]

I note with interest the various comments regarding the potential expansion/ introduction of specific flights from BHX to Saudi Arabia and China. The most important specific factors to be considered are currently :
1 Religion
2 Politics
For simplicity, Jeddah is a stand-alone Islamic destination which is hostile to outsiders. and therefore nearly wholly dependant on the potential of that specific market.
China is currently a political pariah to the Western economies and as a consequence, investment and two-way tourism have ‘fallen off a cliff’.
It follows that air route growth does not necessarily relate to the size of immediate population catchment. One could possibly argue that Jeddah traffic might increase as a transit destination, however, this would be a classic ‘too little too late’ scenario regarding the intense competition.

 

[HPsauce]

And also Birmingham is much larger than Manchester ( not the airports )

More than double these days.

 

[Timberwolf]

My predictions for long haul next year:

Air India :
Mumbai 4 weekly
Delhi daily
Amritsar 5 weekly

Qatar:
Doha 10 weekly

Tui:
Melbourne (USA)5 weekly
Montego Bay 4 weekly

Saudia:
Riyadh:1 weekly
Jeddah:4-5 weekly

Air India have put in slots for Mumbai out of Manchester, not BHX although certainly doesn't mean it will start.

TUI BHX-Melbourne had been reduced to 2 flts a week next summer.

I can see Qatar going up to 10 a week next summer, Emirates back with the 2nd A380 and Saudia adding an extra rotation.Not expecting much else long haul.Outside bet extra flts to Amritsar.

For me those would be an excellent result.

 

[rollo]

Yes TUI will only have two 787 based next summer as per Matt995 detailed post #1058 on the TUI thread with the 789 mostly doing long haul.

Melbourne (Orlando) looks in decline was due to be four weekly this summer but reduced to three and two next year. The swop from Sanford to Melbourne looks another poor decision is a bit like going to Birmingham but landing in Luton then having to drive to Birmingham with a couple of kids in the back after a nine hr flight and the fun of U.S. immigration plus the cost of Disney is now mega bucks.

I think the best bet for 2024 long haul in order are:

Emirates A388 double daily
Qatar ten weekly 787 if loads/yield hold up
Air india to do something but they have always been totally unpredictable

 

[mullion]

HPsauce you know that is a load of tosh of course but no more to say and I won`t answer any more on the subject