Route Development & Rumours

[Brummiegem]

I agree about Monarch.
Perhaps they could try some of those Italian routes that have been mentioned.
If Norwegian do add long haul,then I would imagine a few more short haul flights will be added naturally.

 

[Jerry]

Didn't Monarch go through a reorganisation a couple of years ago? Could Jet2 really force Monarch out of BHX?

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there ray and all, as brummiegem as stated earlier that Manchester Airport is some 15 to 20 years ahead of Birmingham Airport, please can you tell me,if Birmingham airport is 15 to 20 years behind Manchester Airport then who is totally blame for this, previous M Ds,...Andyc.

 

[User001]

Finnair have just announced their S17 expansion, which included Corfu, Ibiza and Keflavik. UK expansion was the use of A319 to Manchester, more A350 to Heathrow and extra capacity to Edinburgh.

Seems BHX missed out this time, when just a few weeks ago seemed a dead certain it would be announced in this raft of expansion, and I believe the schedules are now full aircraft wise.

 

[Brum X]

That is a shame as i was looking forward to seeing them at BHX in the near future.

 

[User001]

It is strange, given the increase in popularity for Brum-China, makes you wonder what stopped them making the cut this time, especially when seemingly beach run routes got the nod over long haul connections from BHX.

 

[Butty]

Hi there ray and all, as brummiegem as stated earlier that Manchester Airport is some 15 to 20 years ahead of Birmingham Airport, please can you tell me,if Birmingham airport is 15 to 20 years behind Manchester Airport then who is totally blame for this, previous M Ds,...Andyc.

Andy
You need to go right back to the international gateway status policy in the 1960's . Manchester had it, Brum did not. Manchester had additional incentives - and some assistance - to grow at a time when Brum had to find its own way. The intention was to help diversify long haul operations away from London and the best chance of doing so was to focus on a couple of gateways rather than allow too much competition at a time when there was insufficient air travel demand in the UK to support multiple regional airport growth.

So whereas Brum aged away in pretty rubbish infrastructure with limited runway length, Manchester went for it.

At the time Brum carried half the number of passengers as Manchester: a position which has generally been maintained, so in percentage terms growth has been pretty similar at both airports.

After a legal challenge from Glasgow in the 1980's together with long haul charter success from non-gateway airports including BHX the government rightly scrapped the policy.

As I have said before, credit to Manchester for its astonishing growth. Brum is still some years behind, although at lot of Manchester's growth was also down to it being the Gatwick of the north and attracting a huge IT throughput which boomed in the 1970s there. Whilst Brum focussed on the usual capitals with BEA taking a major share, Manchester and mancunians were off to the sun and it became a major holiday gateway for the whole of northern England and large parts of the Midlands. However, as a percentage of all throughput, BHX has always had a higher proportion of scheduled traffic.

Furthermore, the BHX catchment area has traditionally had the lowest propensity to fly in the UK, whereas the MAN catchment has had one of the highest.

One other factor, which is the reason EDI does so well, is MAN now has a huge domestic flight market, including the high volume and ucrative London market - to which Brummies catch a train. After BA left the Eurohub concept left BHX and our domestic market is relatively weak.

So no-one to blame really. Let's just share in respective success. Both airports are booming. Happy days.

 

[Brum X]

It is strange, given the increase in popularity for Brum-China, makes you wonder what stopped them making the cut this time, especially when seemingly beach run routes got the nod over long haul connections from BHX.

Maybe just maybe with the big increase in seats from EK and the arrival of Qatar, they want to give these routes a bit of space before any more competition comes along. I know it would of been a daily Embraer 190 but it is more competition and now that Turkish are double daily, maybe its competiton BHX doesnt want at the moment.

 

[User001]

JetsGo holidays have now started to expand to holidays from most UK airports, including Birmingham.

They started up at Manchester with just Majorca with a leased Small Planet A320, but now seem to offer many destinations using existing operators, including Norwegian, Monarch and Thomson.

Could well expand their own leased ops, but also good to give consumers another choice.

All operators have to start somewhere, so good to see these guys going strength to strength.

 

[JENNYJET]

Nay I hazard a guess here?

More costa Mediterranean stuff?

Too much Argy Bargy on such routes may result in human distress when the redundancy notices have been issued.

Great for Holiday makers looking for a bargain or is it?

 

[Ray Finkle]

Eastern Europe has definitely become more interesting in recent years.

I see that Blue Air will be operating Bucharest on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. As of December Wizz move OTP to Mon and Fri with a third Wed flight operating at peak times making it pretty much a daily service.

Ryanair start their 3x weekly Sofia on Tuesday operating Tue, Thur and Sat. Wizz currently offer SOF on Mon and Fri but as of Jan 3rd they go 3x weekly, on the same days and almost the same times as Ryanair. Wizz will also make the route A321 from Feb.

Warsaw is another interesting one with Ryanair coming in to Modlin from Oct 31st. Their service will be 3x weekly on Mon, Wed and Fri. Wizz are also 3x weekly to Chopin but on Tue, Thur and Sat which makes a nice 6x weekly schedule.

The full list (numbers are for the maximum weekly schedule but some do vary. I've not included Pula or Burgas).

Bucharest daily (Blue Air, Wizz Air)
Warsaw 6x weekly (Wizz Air, Ryanair)
Sofia 6x weekly (Wizz Air, Ryanair)
Prague 5x weekly (Czech Airlines)
Cluj-Napoca 3x weekly (Blue Air)
Dubrovnik 3x weekly (Monarch)
Budapest 3x weekly (Wizz Air)
Bygoszcz 3x weekly (Ryanair)
Bratislava 3x weekly (Ryanair)
Gdansk 2x weekly (Ryanair)
Vilnius 2x weekly (Ryanair)
Katowice 2x weekly (Ryanair)
Krakow 2x weekly (Ryanair)
Poznan 2x weekly (Wizz Air)
Wroclaw 2x weekly (Wizz Air)

Quite a difference from a couple of years ago.

From that list I think Krakow, Gdansk and Katowice stand out as possibly needing a bit more. Wizz flights are almost always pretty much full so I wouldn't rule out more to Budapest, Poznan or Wroclaw, obviously depending on how their outlook on the UK is now. I also wonder if Jet2 may also get involved in the future as they offer Budapest, Prague and Krakow from other bases. Riga is probably the biggest miss and could suit either Ryanair or Wizz.

It'll be interesting to see how it develops over the coming years.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there ray and all, any updates and news about delta airlines at all. Andyc Xxxxxxxx

 

[IanFarquharson]

Andy
I dont think we will see Delta anytime soon which is a shame
Ian

 

[JF57]

Eastern Europe has definitely become more interesting in recent years.

I see that Blue Air will be operating Bucharest on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. As of December Wizz move OTP to Mon and Fri with a third Wed flight operating at peak times making it pretty much a daily service.

Ryanair start their 3x weekly Sofia on Tuesday operating Tue, Thur and Sat. Wizz currently offer SOF on Mon and Fri but as of Jan 3rd they go 3x weekly, on the same days and almost the same times as Ryanair. Wizz will also make the route A321 from Feb.

Warsaw is another interesting one with Ryanair coming in to Modlin from Oct 31st. Their service will be 3x weekly on Mon, Wed and Fri. Wizz are also 3x weekly to Chopin but on Tue, Thur and Sat which makes a nice 6x weekly schedule.

The full list (numbers are for the maximum weekly schedule but some do vary. I've not included Pula or Burgas).

Bucharest daily (Blue Air, Wizz Air)
Warsaw 6x weekly (Wizz Air, Ryanair)
Sofia 6x weekly (Wizz Air, Ryanair)
Prague 5x weekly (Czech Airlines)
Cluj-Napoca 3x weekly (Blue Air)
Dubrovnik 3x weekly (Monarch)
Budapest 3x weekly (Wizz Air)
Bygoszcz 3x weekly (Ryanair)
Bratislava 3x weekly (Ryanair)
Gdansk 2x weekly (Ryanair)
Vilnius 2x weekly (Ryanair)
Katowice 2x weekly (Ryanair)
Krakow 2x weekly (Ryanair)
Poznan 2x weekly (Wizz Air)
Wroclaw 2x weekly (Wizz Air)

Quite a difference from a couple of years ago.

From that list I think Krakow, Gdansk and Katowice stand out as possibly needing a bit more. Wizz flights are almost always pretty much full so I wouldn't rule out more to Budapest, Poznan or Wroclaw, obviously depending on how their outlook on the UK is now. I also wonder if Jet2 may also get involved in the future as they offer Budapest, Prague and Krakow from other bases. Riga is probably the biggest miss and could suit either Ryanair or Wizz.

It'll be interesting to see how it develops over the coming years.

With all these extra routes from the low cost airlines it looks as if there will be some pressure on facilities. More use of the remote stands I suspect. These really need some improvement - going out by bus and standing in the rain waiting to board is not good. From photos I have seen even Manchester has aircraft steps with a roof over them.

 

[JENNYJET]

Facilities!!!

Have I not indicated my thoughts upon this matter?

Runway = Good

Terminal ~ Strained

Facilities ~ under stress.

What of the "Plan"?

From where will the land materialise to enable expansion that would allow a global point to point series of services that airlines my invest?

 

[JENNYJET]

Apologies, my butter fingers, I hope the gist is obvious

 

[Ray Finkle]

This has been on the airport website for as long as I can remember. In an interview earlier this year Mr Kehoe said that he was yet to meet with the BCC leader to discuss the future but he hoped that they would be ambitious in their plans. I wonder if assessing the potential impact of the EU vote is playing a part in the delay. I assume that things are progressing behind closed and hopefully it won't be too long before we hear something.

Updating the Master Plan
As the primary international gateway to the region, the Airport must also support the Midlands’ as a World Class destination and Birmingham’s ambitions to be a truly Global City. The Airport Master Plan is now 7 years old and is due to be updated to reflect current government policy and any other change in material circumstances since its publication in 2007.

We have been awaiting the outcome of the Airports Commission before doing this but now that Birmingham Airport has not been shortlisted for a potential second runway we will soon be consulting the community on an updated Master Plan so that their views can be taken into account when preparing the new plan.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there ray, have you any idea if and when we'll hear about when delta may arrive or start at all..... Andyc

 

[Ray Finkle]

Don't expect them anytime soon.

There are suggestions that American are to cancel JFK next June although it's still bookable into August, for now.

 

[Paulsstrange]

Reference AA pulling JFK route.

Do we think based on the airports upbeat comment on their press release reference they hope the void to be filled shortly ,means they just have to say that to sound upbeat or they actuallt have something lined up ?

I would hope that both NAX and DL who have talked with BHX may now get round the table again as there must surely be an opportunity for someone should they offer a better good product and via a bigger hub. It's clear from what I've heard from various sources pax did not like the AA aircraft or product and many used it once and then went back to Heathrow.

Now a Delta 767 to JFK or Atlanta or NAX new aircraft to JFK or others, or even UA upgrading to a 767 would offer a different proposition altogether. Repeat business is key after the first 12 or so months. Key to that is the product.