Birmingham Airport - General Thread

[Ray Finkle]

Three new routes with Flybe have started today, Rennes, Limoges and Nantes.

Wizz Air start Bucharest tomorrow, as reported on the Wizz thread.

A week on Thursday (2nd June) sees Vueling commence Tenerife. Two weeks after that they start Alicante.

Also on the 17th Monarch start Madrid becoming the 4th airline on the route.

A couple of days after that we see the return of Lisbon, also with Monarch.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Is this the smallest aircraft ever to get a water canon salute at BHX?

Credit - Birmingham Airport Photo Blog.

Kevin

 

[Ray Finkle]

Going for the water arch trophy again?

 

[Brum X]

What a great little aircraft, i want one.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

What a great little aircraft, i want one.

It's a HondaJet HA-420 and was on delivery to Marshall's.
If you look closely, you can see that the engines are on pylons above the wing, rather than from the side of the fuselage.

More pictures here -

http://newsalloy.com/redirect?url=h...gspot.com/2013/01/monday-21-january-2013.html

Kevin

 

[wolfheze]

Must have been quite a queue this morning. Saw 6 departures over fly Coventry between 6.15 and 6.45. Looked great against a clear blue sky. Last one was a bae 146 which was a nice change

 

[Ray Finkle]

Someone Tweeted this to BHX earlier

This morning I noticed a united airlines 757 coming into land from NY is this new or replacing the American Airlines flight?

 

[Brum X]

Someone Tweeted this to BHX earlier

There is no hope Ray.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

How did BHX reply?

 

[Ray Finkle]

This was their reply.

Hi Joshua, both united and AA fly between BHX and New York.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Thanks, Ray. A nicely understated reply. I wonder if Joshua got both messages.

 

[jfy1999]

If/when United are upgrading their flight next year they could get some exposure by advertising the reconfigured 767. I don't remember ever seeing any United adverts.

I'd be surprised if American didn't follow United and upgrade their aircraft next year, especially now that Norwegian are sniffing around. I've been waiting for the CAA statistics to be released so I can work out the loads on EWR and JFK, but no sign yet.

 

[BHXsupporter]

Quoting JFY1999 on the Qatar thread: 'I don't think it will ever reach a point where Heathrow will close. Airlines like Qatar will just start using larger aircraft on each flight from LHR instead of pulling flights out of LHR and moving to the regions. Doing so would lose them money. LHR will always be the most lucrative market as airlines can consistently fill First class from there.' brings up the crux again for regional traffic growth against the current, very comfortable legacy carrier status quo.

I believe this can be broken and the services wanted by people in the Midlands, and elsewhere, can be established and maintained - probably not to the surprize of airline managements. Yes numbers are needed but where really do analysts truly believe the LHR first class passengers come from? Within 20 miles of LHR? ...Many will live within 20 miles of LGW, many east of London having to struggle westwards but importantly for BHX supporters, many are north of the M25 and within BHX's reach from N. Bucks, Beds, Northants and points west and north.

Influence ease of surface transport access to BHX of dedicated public transport road lanes, metro systems and rail (both locally - why can't new lines be planned and opened along disused corridors - and particularly up to 100 miles, as Manchester are seemingly able to achieve) and this is when business class will be full and first class begins to appear based on demand. This is marketing in its widest and most strategic sense. I always hope that someone within BHX is beavering away along these lines. I shiver even thinking of driving 100 miles to LHR, yet currently there is no easy access to BHX by train within 30-40 miles for many - a mode I would prefer to use IF frequency and times of services were there. Honestly!

 

[Ray Finkle]

No surprise really, I think we all know that a third runway Heathrow could/would be a disaster for Birmingham.

Birmingham Airport chooses sides in airport expansion debate

BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT'S chief executive Paul Kehoe has backed Gatwick Airport's claim to be the best choice for UK airport expansion.

A long-running debate about how to increase UK airport capacity has narrowed down the options to Heathrow and Gatwick. A Government decision is expected soon,

Mr Kehoe described the Government's decision, which is expected soon, as being "of national significance" which will affect passengers and businesses across the country.

He said: "Of the two options before the Government, we support Gatwick’s expansion plan because it will foster greater competition among airports and allow other UK long-haul airports to continue to compete and grow their own direct services.

"Heathrow’s plan could constrain this growth with the direct international connections that airports like Birmingham have fought for being lost to west London.

"A decision for Heathrow would simply mean a return to the monopoly of the past, reducing choice, increasing fares and threatening the business of Birmingham and other UK airports."

Birmingham Airport has enjoyed fourteen months of record growth and announced twelve new airlines in the past year.

Gatwick Airport chief executive Stewart Wingate, who visited Birmingham yesterday to press his case, added: "Expansion at Gatwick will deliver exactly the same number of passengers to the same number of worldwide destinations as expanding Heathrow. The only difference is that, with Gatwick expansion, those connections are better spread across the UK’s major airports, including Birmingham.

"Gatwick expansion is also the most deliverable option – it is a cheaper, faster and simpler scheme that will maximise the UK’s connectivity sooner, at lower cost for users."

 

[Ray Finkle]

For those interested in this sort of thing below is an article about the new ground power units installed for Emirates A380's. If nothing else there are some good pictures on there.

http://www.powervamp.com/news/powering-emirates-a380-birmingham-airport/

 

[Ray Finkle]

Birmingham Airport joins ‘elite club’

Birmingham Airport has signed up to become the newest patron of the Asian Business Chamber of Commerce – joining an ‘elite club’ of businesses helping drive the regional economy.

Airport CEO Paul Kehoe joined ABCC president Saqib Bhatti and Chambers of Commerce membership and business services director Russell Jeans at the airport to mark the new high-profile partnership.

And Mr Kehoe said: “We are delighted to be new patrons of the ABCC. The key thing is that people recognise we support a very important part of the community which is helping the economy improve and the connections that the Asian community has with the sub-continent and South-East Asia are very important for our business.

“Currently, eastbound, we can fill any aeroplane. And it is the Asian business community which is the driving force."

Mr Kehoe said a string of destinations, from Delhi to Doha, and Islamabad to Bangkok, were helping drive business passenger figures at the airport.

“The only reason we are all employed here is that people in the Chamber do business.”

Currently, business travellers account for around 22 per cent of total passenger figures at the airport.

ABCC president Saqib Bhatti said: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Birmingham Airport as a patron. They join an elite club of businesses who are engaging to work with the Asian business community.

“This is the birth of a new partnership with two of the biggest brands in the city coming together and we look forward to working with them to facilitate their engagement with the Asian business community and the wider region.”

Other ABCC patrons include Aston University, HSBC, Mahirs Experience, Mazars, NatWest, RBS, South and City College Birmingham, Edgbaston and West Midlands Reserve Forces and Cadets.

http://www.greaterbirminghamchamber...2016/6/7/birmingham-airport-joins-elite-club/

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Flew in last night and big chunks of he apron at the end of the main pier had been dug up.

Does anyone know what this is?

 

[Paulsstrange]

Flew in last night and big chunks of he apron at the end of the main pier had been dug up.

Does anyone know what this is?

I wonder if its anything to do with a Pier extension ?, probably not but just a thought....

 

[IanFarquharson]

In total 1,005,861 people travelled through the airport in May, up by 11.1% compared to the same month last year. This means the airport has celebrated fifteen consecutive months of record breaking growth.
Long-haul routes continued to experience the greatest rise in demand with 16.5% passenger growth compared to the same month last year. Meanwhile, short-haul routes saw a 10.5% growth rate year-on-year.
Paul Kehoe, Chief Executive Officer at Birmingham Airport, said: “To be hitting the one million passenger mark in May is fantastic news for the airport. It shows us that the new airlines and routes we have recently introduced are proving popular with our passengers.
“We are now entering the busy summer season and so we hope that these consecutive record breaking figures will continue going forward.”
Scheduled traffic accounted for 89% of the total passenger volume for May with charter traffic making up the remaining 11%.
Scheduled traffic saw an increase of 21.6%, with significant year-on-year passenger growth to Heraklion (+122.3%), Reykjavik (+116.4%) and Dubrovnik (+92.1%).
Charter destinations with significant growth were Fuerteventura (+95.2%), Gran Canaria (+89.4%) and Lanzarote (+78.4%).

 

[JENNYJET]

No mention of Dubai numbers then?