Birmingham: General Airport Discussion & Updates

[Ray Finkle]

Click on your user name in the top right hand corner of the forum and in the right hand column there will be 'ignoring'. Click on that and you should be able to undo anything in there.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Click on your user name in the top right hand corner of the forum and in the right hand column there will be 'ignoring'. Click on that and you should be able to undo anything in there.

If viewing from a mobile, you may need to rotate your phone through 90 degrees (landscape not portrait) in order for your name and avatar to show

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

If viewing from a mobile, you may need to rotate your phone through 90 degrees (landscape not portrait) in order for your name and avatar to show

I’ve sorted ray and kev.Thank you so much

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

Hi guys.Just pre warming you that I will be posting frequency posts and commencing restarts for airlines during the weekend (Sunday might be the odd post as I’m back from Wembley with the moors hopefully with EFL status)

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Do you know if the Moors' game will be on the telly?

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

Do you know if the Moors' game will be on the telly?

TNT sports and it’s been showcased at the club aswell.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there all, was speaking to a work colleague today, states that they are flying to Parma Majorca in June 2024, I then replied who with and from which airport. She replied easyJet from Luton airport, I asked why not Birmingham airport, she replied back, too expensive, it would cost another 150.00 pounds extra on top of what I have already paid, thats 600.00 pounds saved between us four.

 

[TM3]

Given the queues that have become the norm at peak times it seems that the airport is maxed out for package holiday flights which means operators can charge a premium for flights out of Birmingham.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

You Are definitely right, thats why only 40% of west midlands and Warwickshire use the airport, where as the other 60% ,use the alternative. So just think if that 60% used Birmingham airport as well, so if current passenger numbers are 12,000,000. An extra 60% extra passengers from there own area would be collusal. That would make 7,200,000 extra passengers, total would be 19,200,000. That would be a great number using the airport, but as we know, that's never going to happen.

 

[nwoody2001]

If that was the case, how do you explain the fact that airport pax figures are growing...?

I personally cant make sense of the above conversation regarding easyjet at BHX vs LTN. BHX has an easyjet base of 3 Aircraft, LTN has an easyjet base of 20+ (?) aircraft. On simply supply and demand, it will always be cheaper to fly from larger bases than it will be smaller bases. easyjet are new to BHX and so will be very popular... get in their early as the current pax figures show most easyjet flights from BHX leaving full!!!

 

[tompo]

Cost v convenience. This old chestnut will never go away and quite frankly, those who cannot afford to fly from BHX are welcome to travel to that shed down the M1.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there nwoody2001, so you say that you can't make sense of the above conversation, it's simple, if travel operators are deliberately diverting business away from Birmingham airport to Luton airport, then that is the way they earn there commission. Obviously Birmingham airport only offers a low commission level ,whereas Luton, ema, and others offer higher commission levels, that is why Birmingham airport has left of a attraction than others. This is why Birmingham airport isn't as busy as it should be.

 

[TM3]

It seems like BHX is really busy but only at peak holiday times.

I know a lot of people look at the peak annual numbers and these holiday flights seem to be easy to attract to the airport but personally I'd like to see more choice in terms of destinations, in particular long haul.

In terms of how much $$$ the airport make the owners probably think these flights give them the best return but they but the airport infrastructure is maybe overstretched at summer, easter, half term etc.

As a passenger I don't really care about hitting record passenger numbers in a year I need the airport to be convenient when I use it.

I agree in terms of demand the airport could hit higher numbers but there may not be enough physical capacity there to deal with the extra flights.

I'd be interested to know what the limiting factors of the airport's capacity is, are all the gates full in summer, easter and half term so might it be better for instance if more package operators like Jet2 used bigger aircraft like an A330 for example?

Cost v convenience. This old chestnut will never go away and quite frankly, those who cannot afford to fly from BHX are welcome to travel to that shed down the M1.

True, but there is a genuine question right now with the queues as to whether there is any real convenience factor attached to flying from BHX.

I appreciate of course there are many people who will not entertain travelling much further than BHX.

You might also consider pax travelling down to LTN as indicator that there is possibly more demand that EMA could tap into.

 

[IanFarquharson]

More a case of its hard to get a seat from BHX, load factors on FR, U2 & LS well into the 90% (so probably full just no shows)

BHX saw its busiest day in 2024 yesterday.

So if they are charging more (big if) then that's great for the 3 airlines BHX bases.

 

[TM3]

More a case of its hard to get a seat from BHX, load factors on FR, U2 & LS well into the 90% (so probably full just no shows)

BHX saw its busiest day in 2024 yesterday.

So if they are charging more (big if) then that's great for the 3 airlines BHX bases.

Maybe the airport should charge more to these carriers at peak times on routes with plenty of coverage so they make the money not these airlines.

 

[Deleted member 8277]

Maybe the airport should charge more to these carriers at peak times on routes with plenty of coverage so they make the money not these airlines.

Then the airlines will pass it on to the passengers making it more expensive and maybe making them look elsewhere when otherwise they wouldn't have.

 

[TM3]

I get that but is it a bad thing, if the airport is making more money out of fewer flights?

In particular I'm talking about the extra flights here not the ones that sustain regular year around services.

 

[Deleted member 8277]

I get that but is it a bad thing, if the airport is making more money out of fewer flights?

In particular I'm talking about the extra flights here not the ones that sustain regular year around services.

Less flights = less passengers, BHX charge more so their happy, but the restaurants/shops etc lose out and profits drop so their unhappy. So in the long term the shops etc may decide to close and then the airport loses rent unless at the same peak times with less passengers the shops etc decide to charge more. So who loses out in the end.....Passengers. Talk about bite off the hand that feeds them.

 

[DaveBham]

I’m a regular flyer out of Birmingham, mostly to the canaries, med and turkey, and for me it’s been years since other airports have come up cheaper than BHX. I find our airport both competitive and convenient, but even if it were slightly more, the cost of parking at MAN, EMA or LTN would mean I got the worst of both worlds.

 

[Jon Dempsey]

I’m a regular flyer out of Birmingham, mostly to the canaries, med and turkey, and for me it’s been years since other airports have come up cheaper than BHX. I find our airport both competitive and convenient, but even if it were slightly more, the cost of parking at MAN, EMA or LTN would mean I got the worst of both worlds.

Flew down to Brisbane just before Christmas, booking the flights just after they were released.
It was actually cheaper flying from Brum than Heathrow.