Route Development & Rumours

[Birmingham Aviation]

I would imagine Istanbul is mostly 'oral' traffic? And connections to Pakistan?

Gonna interesting if Pia do come back.Reading an article earlier which mentioned a potential uk return next summer

Athens I would love to see increase massively.Think the routes got potential to improve bigger especially the helpfulness of jet2

I don’t see why vueling take more interest in starting a new route from Madrid which will be operated by 4 weekly next summer by Ryanair.Barcelona hopefully increases to 10 weekly

 

[laviation]

Vueling do not base in Madrid, route would be done by Iberia Express (think BA Euroflyer) - it's strange, IAG have 3 seperate low cost Spanish divisions.

 

[Matt995]

Gonna interesting if Pia do come back.Reading an article earlier which mentioned a potential uk return next summer

Athens I would love to see increase massively.Think the routes got potential to improve bigger especially the helpfulness of jet2

I don’t see why vueling take more interest in starting a new route from Madrid which will be operated by 4 weekly next summer by Ryanair.Barcelona hopefully increases to 10 weekly

sorry can't see PIA back at Birmingham next year, they are still banned from Europe/UK, plus they have 5 of their 777s out of service, only 7 servicable, and on the PIA forum, talk that some of these 777s out of service, may never fly again, due to the state they are in!

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

sorry can't see PIA back at Birmingham next year, they are still banned from Europe/UK, plus they have 5 of their 777s out of service, only 7 servicable, and on the PIA forum, talk that some of these 777s out of service, may never fly again, due to the state they are in!

Sorry Matt

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

New update
Jet2
Porto 2 weekly -27th March 2025
Pula 2 weekly- 2nd May 2025

Ryanair
Marrakesh 4 weekly -31st March 2024
Agadir 4 weekly -1st April 2024

Also Paris Beauvais goes 7 weekly.Still note that it’s not on sale just yet.This was checked 10 minutes ago

Total flights so far for 2024:64 flights

Means now we have 7 direct flights with Ryanair

 

[whateverg]

I would imagine Istanbul is mostly 'oral' traffic? And connections to Pakistan?

What do you mean by 'oral' traffic?

 

[Scania1800]

sorry can't see PIA back at Birmingham next year, they are still banned from Europe/UK, plus they have 5 of their 777s out of service, only 7 servicable, and on the PIA forum, talk that some of these 777s out of service, may never fly again, due to the state they are in!

It’s not the state they’re in, they are simply not being funded the parts required for each aircraft to be returned to service. They will eventually return but not for the time being, however those 777s will fly again

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

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Credit Sean M

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Interesting that it mentions BHX are in talks with Cathay Pacific and Finnair (although talks with Finnair seem to have been going on for decades).

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

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There’s 2 reasons why I think cathay could work.

1. It’s Popular for its university here in Birmingham.Most southern eastern friends are popular for university studies and it’s useful for train operators too here in the uk means less rammed trains from Manchester and London.
2. Production here in Birmingham has hiked up massively and I’m impressed on how it’s done.B747s,B767s,B757s have all came to Birmingham in the last 6-9 months.Fingers crossed

Finnair:Good for connections and it’s good for business too and good for Lapland

There’s 2 reasons why I think cathay could work.

1. It’s Popular for its university here in Birmingham.Most southern eastern friends are popular for university studies and it’s useful for train operators too here in the uk means less rammed trains from Manchester and London.
2. Production here in Birmingham has hiked up massively and I’m impressed on how it’s done.B747s,B767s,B757s have all came to Birmingham in the last 6-9 months.Fingers crossed

Finnair:Good for connections and it’s good for business too and good for Lapland

Also this is how I would want cathay and finnair if they wanted to operate from bhx
Cathay -3 weekly(Mon,Wed,Sat)A350 and B77W
Finnair-4 weekly(Tues,Thurs,Sat,Sun)E190,A319

 

[nwoody2001]

Both airlines have been named for a number of years as “obvious” new airlines to come to BHX, and I believe both are logical and realistic in the short to medium term. That said, the likes of Qatar, Saudia, Pegasus, Aegean are all airlines that have been talked about, overtaken and delivered routes more recently so we will see if this time is any different.

With regard to Finnair – BHX has historically been underserved with links to Scandinavia as well as their onward links to Asia. Add into that Oneworl connectivity and this an even better prospect. That said, the war in Ukraine has significantly reduced their connection with Asia with a lot of their long-haul fleet being leased to QR to cover their A350 issues. Question is can a BHX-HEL routes be sustained with the reduced Asia connectivity?

With regard to Cathay – BHX has identified Asia as a key focus and again, another Oneworld carrier alongside Qatar and Finnair would make BHX very well connected to Asia and help to meet that goal. That said, starting with the Democracy Protests and then Covid, Cathay has been desimated. Again, half of their fleet has either been retired, leased to QR and their capacity and services standards are no-where near pre-covid levels. Even their MAN-HKG link has not been able to get past 4x weekly flights ever since covid following numerous attempts. This is not to say BHX isn’t possible but its far from certain?!

That said for both airlines, there current situation is not sustainable to exploring new markets and new routes will likely be one option they need to explore to compete. Hopefully BHX plays a part in those options.

Glad to see BHX publicly stating their vision. In such a competitive world, I would be shocked to see BHX make such statements if they weren’t confident. If you had asked me this time last year if BHX would have EK/TK/QR/SV I would have called you out, but now, anything seems possible …certainly one to watch and fingers crossed!

 

[gulftraveller]

There’s 2 reasons why I think cathay could work.

1. It’s Popular for its university here in Birmingham.Most southern eastern friends are popular for university studies and it’s useful for train operators too here in the uk means less rammed trains from Manchester and London.
2. Production here in Birmingham has hiked up massively and I’m impressed on how it’s done.B747s,B767s,B757s have all came to Birmingham in the last 6-9 months.Fingers crossed

Finnair:Good for connections and it’s good for business too and good for Lapland


Also this is how I would want cathay and finnair if they wanted to operate from bhx
Cathay -3 weekly(Mon,Wed,Sat)A350 and B77W
Finnair-4 weekly(Tues,Thurs,Sat,Sun)E190,A319

If it happened, CX would not be 77W. I agree with the points above (post #8413). Both will be very hard routes to land given the two airlines’ various problems.

 

[laviation]

I can see Finnair happening at some point as Russia will eventually reopen and make its Far Eastern network much more viable

To be honest, if it wasn’t for the protests/COVID, I’d have imagined BHX could’ve got Hong Kong by now, give or take a couple of years.

But things have changed and HK is far from what it was. Beijing to me seems far more viable imho

 

[nwoody2001]

If it happened, CX would not be 77W. I agree with the points above (post #8413). Both will be very hard routes to land given the two airlines’ various problems.

Wasn't quite the point i was making. I think both routes are realistic, but maybe more in the medium term once they have their fleet and capacity back and able to expand

 

[Scania1800]

To be honest, if it wasn’t for the protests/COVID, I’d have imagined BHX could’ve got Hong Kong by now, give or take a couple of years.

Nope, wouldn’t have happened if Covid came in or not, same with the protests. The airline hasn’t even invested into Manchester and Heathrow enough, that doesn’t make them serve another airport just like that

If it happened, CX would not be 77W. I agree with the points above (post #8413). Both will be very hard routes to land given the two airlines’ various problems.

Not a chance, at most it would be their A350-900

 

[Ray Finkle]

Hong Kong seems to have been a long term target and one that has been mentioned several times in the past. I do remember reading an article saying that, at the time, Birmingham was the second largest unserved market in Europe from Hong Kong, after Geneva. Obviously things have changed since then so that may not be the case now.

These type of routes can take a long time to come to fruition so I wouldn't expect anything for a couple of years at least but it's nice to know that the ambition is there.

When Qatar was announced the first time there was an article from BHX (it may have been William Pearson) stating that they were close to announcing another Oneworld carrier which many of us at the time thought to be Finnair. As said it's one that seems to have dragged on for a very long time so we'll see.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there all, I totally agree, as Cathy Pacific airlines are a major airline for Hong Kong and that part of Asia. But also with massive interest in finance, banking in the West Midlands with HSBC now based in Birmingham, this would be a massive plus for the airport to achieve, as I read a few years ago after HSBC moved to Birmingham, with a very large Asian community in the West Midlands as well, this could provide hugely financial for Birmingham and the West Midlands area itself, but also sending out signals that Birmingham can do as good as anywhere else in the UK, let's just hope and see what happens.

Hi there all, as per my last post, Hong Kong airports total passenger numbers prior to COVID was 72,000,000, which is just lower or higher than Heathrow airport. If that's the case and Cathy Pacific do agree and a route and flights can operate from Birmingham airport on seasonal to start with, then even 5,10, 15 per cent of the airports passenger numbers could be huge for Birmingham, anything one the service got noticed and estimated, could attract anything between 3,000,000 million plus a year onwards, which would prove huge for Birmingham airport, so we will just have to wait and see... AndyC

 

[gulftraveller]

It is less about BHX’s suitability and more about the airline’s strategy over expansion in Europe, currently limited, and their capacity constraints.

 

[HPsauce]

In the short term, a route to Hong Kong would probably work in a small way ( 2 or 3 flights per week) , due to the influx of Hong Kongers into the UK, which is approaching 300,000 and predicted to possibly reach up to 3 million in the near future.
Like many parts of the UK, the West Midlands has seen a rapid increase in the last 12 to 18 months of Hong Kongers settling to live here.
I know many that still go back and forth to visit remaining family and friends still over there.
A modest service may well work, at least in the short term.

 

[Timberwolf]

Hi there all, I totally agree, as Cathy Pacific airlines are a major airline for Hong Kong and that part of Asia. But also with massive interest in finance, banking in the West Midlands with HSBC now based in Birmingham, this would be a massive plus for the airport to achieve, as I read a few years ago after HSBC moved to Birmingham, with a very large Asian community in the West Midlands as well, this could provide hugely financial for Birmingham and the West Midlands area itself, but also sending out signals that Birmingham can do as good as anywhere else in the UK, let's just hope and see what happens.

Hi there all, as per my last post, Hong Kong airports total passenger numbers prior to COVID was 72,000,000, which is just lower or higher than Heathrow airport. If that's the case and Cathy Pacific do agree and a route and flights can operate from Birmingham airport on seasonal to start with, then even 5,10, 15 per cent of the airports passenger numbers could be huge for Birmingham, anything one the service got noticed and estimated, could attract anything between 3,000,000 million plus a year onwards, which would prove huge for Birmingham airport, so we will just have to wait and see... AndyC

I think we have to remember that Cathay Pacific are still not up to the same capacity to pre covid levels to the UK.

They are still only operating 4 flight a week out of Manchester and not even restarted LGW yet.

Even at LHR they are not yet up to the same capacity.

So personally I wouldn't expect to see them start BHX until their previous capacity is at least up to where it was from its current UK airports.

I suppose they could do things differently this time. Keep Manchester below previous levels and launch 3 or 4 a week from BHX. instead but think that's unlikely .

Finnair probably more likely, but as has been said by others ,been years of expectations of them coming to BHX nothing so far.

Fingers crossed this time they will.