Daily Direct Link from BHX to the US

[Paulsstrange]

Name the airport Birmingham Shakespeare International and see what happens.....absolutely nothing lol as people won't see the Shakespeare , just an airports called Birmingham.

Sadly for us, the Americans will only ever worry about London and a little about Edinburgh, failing that forget it for most UK airports.

Add to this the poor exchange rate who can afford to go to the US this end ?

Let's focus on going East think things can expand there

Paul

 

[Ianbutty]

Name the airport Birmingham Shakespeare International and see what happens.....absolutely nothing lol as people won't see the Shakespeare , just an airports called Birmingham.

Sadly for us, the Americans will only ever worry about London and a little about Edinburgh, failing that forget it for most UK airports.

Add to this the poor exchange rate who can afford to go to the US this end ?

Let's focus on going East think things can expand there

Paul

The east and European capital cities. All about the economy.

 

[David_itl]

The pity is that the Birmingham region hasn't also been included in the new Visit Britain initiative where they are specifically targetting USA tourism for Northwest England, Peak District, Yorkshire and North Wales using MAN has the principal airport.

its the collaboration between various regions focusing in on arriving at BHX that needs to be sorted. For me it would be getting West Midlands, East Midlands, Southwest England, Mid and South Wales and around Oxfordshire joining forces. The big problem is that the Welsh government won't like the idea of a non-CWL link but beggars can't be choosers and i'd rather have force of numbers using BHX but heading to Southwest England / South Wales before aiming for a CWL link to the States.

 

[nwoody2001]

The pity is that the Birmingham region hasn't also been included in the new Visit Britain initiative where they are specifically targetting USA tourism for Northwest England, Peak District, Yorkshire and North Wales using MAN has the principal airport.

its the collaboration between various regions focusing in on arriving at BHX that needs to be sorted. For me it would be getting West Midlands, East Midlands, Southwest England, Mid and South Wales and around Oxfordshire joining forces. The big problem is that the Welsh government won't like the idea of a non-CWL link but beggars can't be choosers and i'd rather have force of numbers using BHX but heading to Southwest England / South Wales before aiming for a CWL link to the States.

Anyone can bid for the Visit Britain funding. It isn’t as if Visit Britain has snubbed BHX or the West Midlands region… does anyone know if we even submitted a bid?!

As has been stated before, this initiative is focusing growth from the USA. People may have - understandably - made the decision that routes going east are more worth our time and effort attracting, and I’m inclined to agree!

It’s also worth questioning why would BHX fund or support a tourist initiative that is merely going to push more pax through LHR/MAN? This is an initiative to attract tourists, not airlines. Of adverts went up tomorrow in NYC stating “Visit Birmingham!”, a quick internet search would show they can’t fly to BHX and so - as any tourist would - which is the closest airport I can fly into! Alas airports with existing routes will be the biggest beneficiary’s. Tourist initiatives only work alongside the launch of a new route, they will rarely result in new routes.

 

[jfy1999]

To attract more tourists from places like America I think we would have to to do the following - in order from the easiest thing to the hardest:

1- promote what we have better. Even with the attractions that we do have nearby it seems the West Midlands just generally struggles to promote itself?

Take the Tolkien / Lord of the Rings connection. There could have been any number of museums based on this. Who even knows where Tolkien’s Birmingham residence was? I don’t know anyone outside Birmingham who knows that the Two Towers were inspired by real buildings in Birmingham that still exist today. Instead New Zealand gets all the tourists as it was the location for the films.

And then there is music. I know we don’t have anyone as big as the Beatles, but where are the music museums for our artists?

2- make it easier for tourists to travel around. The presence of a city-wide tram / metro makes an enormous difference for tourists who are on a tighter budget and don’t want a hire car/taxi. Visiting a European city and want to go to an attraction in the next neighbourhood? Go to any city square, find the nearest tram metro stop, and you should be on your way within 10 minutes.

3- restore more of our history. We have to accept that Birmingham’s identity is very different from the kind of city that typically attracts large numbers of tourists from the likes of China and the USA. Unfortunately, as well as being a relatively young city, we’ve demolished a lot of our history, in many cases finishing what the luftwaffe started. I have made friends with many Americans and they tend to want to see places that have hundreds of years of history, especially things that are older than their own country.

In the old town in Budapest, which I visited very recently, they’re building replicas of the old buildings that were destroyed in WWII instead of allowing modern stuff to take over. It would be amazing if we could restore some of the buildings that were lost to the 60s concrete jungle. (Although i think Budapest is being done with government money so it might be a pipe dream in the UK)

(Incidentally, Budapest has a very good range of flights to Asia and the Far East, but no US carriers. The same goes for Vienna, I was surprised to see VIE entirely depends on Austrian for US flights. It certainly shows that the current trend is eastward.)

 

[Hassaan]

To attract more tourists from places like America I think we would have to to do the following - in order from the easiest thing to the hardest:

1- promote what we have better. Even with the attractions that we do have nearby it seems the West Midlands just generally struggles to promote itself?

The amount of roadworks don't help but we had the Commonwealth Games just three years ago. We shout about Peaky Blinders quite a bit.

 

[Hassaan]

I emailed Andrew Pelham (Aviation Development Manager) about this, just expressing some thoughts. Here's what he said:

You are correct the proposition of BHX US route to major hub is a strong one, and reestablishing connectivity is a key priority for BHX.

(we do still have seasonal services with TUI linking BHX with Orlando).

The biggest challenge we face is demonstrating the strength and depth of the BHX market, considering our proximity to London.

Passengers from the Midlands are well used to travelling on direct services from London and to a lesser extent Manchester (known as surface leakage).

Airlines can easily see passenger data to show the volume of passenger flying from other airports, but are less trusting and confident on data sources attempting to evidence the surface leakage.

The more passengers can use BHX as departure point to travel to the US and North America with the likes of Aer Lingus, KLM, Air France etc. via their respective hubs would helpful to demonstrating the true market demand, however direct flights from London remain popular, even though the UK traffic can be problematic the perception is that travelling to London is more reliable and less risky than a flight connection.

Rest assured that we are actively engaged with airlines on the proposition who we think have the future potential and appetite to serve BHX – we are optimistic that new aircraft types such as the A321-XLR are a good fit to open up new transatlantic markets like BHX in the future.

Of course, a lot of this we knew already, but I thought this might be interesting to share.

 

[IanFarquharson]

I emailed Andrew Pelham (Aviation Development Manager) about this, just expressing some thoughts. Here's what he said:

Of course, a lot of this we knew already, but I thought this might be interesting to share.

We even loose Orlando after this year !

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

We even loose Orlando after this year !

And I think London airports and Manchester have boosted capacity for 2025 2026

 

[David_itl]

MAN is losing the 5 weekly Houston by Singapore Airlines with Virgin having Atlanta/JFK frequency reductions so that the Las Vegas service still runs - I would rather have the frequency in place of maybe 20 or 30 seats extra on the remaining services.

The hard sell is telling airlines that demand to London itself may be increasing but you are handicapping yourselves by having passengers on those services who ultimately are driving/taking the train to Midlands and Southwest England or connecting to BA;s NCL and MAN services occupying seats that should be for purely London bound passengers

 

[gulftraveller]

I don’t buy that. The constraint is the collapse in demand in UK tourism to US. And it’s set to get worse. Coupled with that, US airlines still seem to be focusing on tourist routes from US, though that market is also weakening.

 

[Hassaan]

I don’t buy that. The constraint is the collapse in demand in UK tourism to US. And it’s set to get worse. Coupled with that, US airlines still seem to be focusing on tourist routes from US, though that market is also weakening.

Yeah, I'm not sure I buy that either. I do believe there are many valid reasons but I don't understand that one.

 

[Ianbutty]

I don’t buy that. The constraint is the collapse in demand in UK tourism to US. And it’s set to get worse. Coupled with that, US airlines still seem to be focusing on tourist routes from US, though that market is also weakening.

US airlines have always focused on getting Americans to Europe. And Americans will use American airlines. Expect demand to drop dramatically. Europe hates Trump = Europe hates america. And therefore Americans will generally not go where they are not liked. So Europe will be off the travel itinerary. Shame as most Americans even most MAGAs are welcoming people. Once Trump goes they will return.

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

I know we’ve discussed it before and I know it creates debates however
I want to discuss translantic flights to America and which airline would fly.

For me I think Delta has 75% chance of operating a route between here bhx and EWR or JFK not because of blues but because it’s better than being delayed on the M40,M25 or on Trains through London
Breeze rumours were a load of nonsense tbh.More chance of EasyJet flying to America.
How long do you think it will be till we see a direct flight?

I know it’s difficult because we’re between Heathrow and Manchester.However Glasgow has a translantic flight and that’s an hour away from Edinburgh.

I think it’s time

 

[IanFarquharson]

I know we’ve discussed it before and I know it creates debates however
I want to discuss translantic flights to America and which airline would fly.

For me I think Delta has 75% chance of operating a route between here bhx and EWR or JFK not because of blues but because it’s better than being delayed on the M40,M25 or on Trains through London
Breeze rumours were a load of nonsense tbh.More chance of EasyJet flying to America.
How long do you think it will be till we see a direct flight?

I know it’s difficult because we’re between Heathrow and Manchester.However Glasgow has a translantic flight and that’s an hour away from Edinburgh.

I think it’s time

NB said only a few weeks BHX are in discussion with various airlines but the right kind of aircraft would have to be available.
I read this to be A21N for UA or AA
But with Manchester having no US airlines it is unlikely BHX would see anything before MAN do.
My view is the US market is not doing well bookings are well down due to many factors including Trump.
So don’t expect a US flight anytime soon.
But I wouldn’t dismiss Breeze

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

NB said only a few weeks BHX are in discussion with various airlines but the right kind of aircraft would have to be available.
I read this to be A21N for UA or AA
But with Manchester having no US airlines it is unlikely BHX would see anything before MAN do.
My view is the US market is not doing well bookings are well down due to many factors including Trump.
So don’t expect a US flight anytime soon.
But I wouldn’t dismiss Breeze

The only alternative other choice the airport could consider is a 5th freedom route DEL-BHX-JFK-BHX-DEL

 

[gulftraveller]

The only alternative other choice the airport could consider is a 5th freedom route DEL-BHX-JFK-BHX-DEL

What need does AI have of a fifth freedom route when it can route passengers non stop?

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

What need does AI have of a fifth freedom route when it can route passengers non stop?

AI used to do ATQ-BHX-YYZ in the 90s i believe and so that is my theory.Please don’t dig at me.I wanted to make this convo clean and clear of drama

 

[gulftraveller]

No dig at you at all. What you say is perfectly legitimate. It is simply that times have changed and one stop long haul flights are becoming rarer as passengers demand fastest transfer times.

 

[nwoody2001]

No dig at you at all. What you say is perfectly legitimate. It is simply that times have changed and one stop long haul flights are becoming rarer as passengers demand fastest transfer times.

The same reason why Emirates fly DXB-MXP-JFK or Singapore fly SIN-FRA-JFK when both airlines fly direct to those destinations...

The airlines see there is additional demand between MXP-DXB or FRA-SIN but not enough to fill an entire flight. They also see there is extra demand between DXB/MXP or SIN/FRA to JFK as well as DXB/SIN to JFK so these an opportunity to use one aircraft to satisfy surplus demand on 3 sectors...

These are great opportunities if they can be made to work. However, it is rare that an airlines can find an opportunity to satisfy the 3 sectors needed to work. They also tend to be temporary until demand increases to the extent any single sector now can sustain an entire aircraft...

DEL/ATQ-BHX-YYZ is a clear opportunity which AI has used in the past which I think could still work but AI maybe focusing their attentions elsewhere.