BMIBaby

[Em0866]

Thanks Aviador. Yes I was thinking of those two things too. Usually that website is pretty good though. Perhaps they do have a different strategy.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Today baby announced a ski route to Grenoble from CWL for next winter.

 

[Em0866]

I thought it was flights to Grenoble twice a week, on a Saturday and Sunday??

Does anyone think that they may add some more flights later on in the year for W09/10? There doesn't seem to be a lot

 

[mathers_wales_uk]

Im not sure but at the face it does look grim without looking into the rotations with only 7 destinations.

Jersey and Palma not returning for the winter and the Geneva is reduced to 3 rotations a week.

 

[Aviador]

If the Leeds Geneva service is anything to go by, the route has seen one of the largest drops in passenger loads this winter so the reduction at CWL don't surprise me. It seems a sensible decision to reduce the service under these market conditions.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Almeria route

baby seems to have axed this route. It doesn't appear in the booking system from May.

 

[Em0866]

Has there been any announcement as to why this has happened? This is a disappointment

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Has there been any announcement as to why this has happened? This is a disappointment

No, airlines always trumpet new routes with a great fanfare but rarely say much when they axe routes, that's why LH's very public pronouncements about 'suspending' their Bristol-Frankfurt operation was so unusual.

It's a great pity because, as we discussed on here recently, this would be the first service from Severnside to Almeria for well over a decade.

I know one family living in Bristol who would have used it. They have family living near Almeria Airport who they visit frequently and have been going to Gatwick to fly there with easyJet.

I am sure planenut is correct in his assertion - unfortunately.

 

[Aviador]

Bmibaby to offer special Six Nations flights

Rugby fans making early preparations for the 2010 Six Nations tournament will be able to take advantage of special flights being laid on by bmibaby for the event.

The airline announced that it will offer 14 extra services during the tournament including unique flights from Edinburgh Airport and Cardiff Airport to Dublin and Rome.

Bmibaby expects to carry more than 2,000 extra passengers on these special services when the Six Nations tournament is held in February and March next year.

Commercial director Julian Carr said: "During the 2009 RBS Six Nations our flights filled up extremely quickly between Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast.

"As a result we have decided to offer additional unique flights during the RBS Six Nations 2010. Fans will now be able to fly from their local airport to see the all important matches."

The airline recently offered a similar service to Porto from Manchester Airport for Manchester United's Champions League game in the city, which proved a big success with a load factor of 90 per cent.

Source

This should bring a much needed boost to passenger numbers!

 

[Em0866]

I think what they have done is copied and pasted it onto their website from bmibaby's so it is not specific to CWL. Error there me thinks on the web team at CWL

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Interesting speculation around at the moment as to what will happen to baby now the LH-bmi coming together seems complete.

Some are suggesting that easyJet might buy it, although from the posts and opinion I have read this seems a minority view.

Would easyJet bother to buy the airline as the Orange seems to have plenty of its own aircraft with more coming on stream? Wouldn't they just move in and elbow baby out of the way? I can't think that slots would be a problem at most of the airports that easy uses.

Still it would be intriguing to see what easyJet would do at CWL if they did buy baby. Although they operate out of such places as MAN and LPL, and BHX and EMA these areas have much bigger combined catchments than the BRS and CWL catchments added together.

On the other hand easy might believe there is scope for the main sun routes to co-exist from both sides of the Severn and then perhaps apportion other routes, especially if they believe that Bristol might struggle to expand, not to mention Ryanair's growing presence there.

Can't think the BRS management would be keen on a reduced easyJet presence though and would probably use all their negotiating experience to try to stop it.

Might seem an unlikely scenario but how many people, ten years ago, would have forecast the plethora of scheduled routes that now exist from many regional airports?

 

[Em0866]

That's very interesting and if baby was going to be "sold off" it would be interesting to see who would buy it. EZY is possible but what about Jet2? They have a presence in the North and I don't think there would be much of a risk of them taking over the more profitable routes from CWL to the Spanish Costas, Balierics and Faro. If baby is sold off, time will tell and I am sure there would be many an opinion raised on this forum, dried plum and WAN

 

[welshguy39]

BMI to be sold off again

 

[TheLocalYokel]

If LH can find a buyer!

Some suggestion they are trying to get Virgin Atlantic to take bmi.

 

[welshguy39]

yes thats whats in the news who knows

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Still leaves the situation with bmibaby very unsatisfactory for an airport like CWL that currently relies heavily on them for their lo-co operations.

That's why I believe CWL would be likely to try everything to get Ryanair because baby clearly has little intention of doing much at the airport based on its past record, so the CWL management would have no reason to try to 'protect' baby - just the opposite in fact.

I looked into the WAN site at the weekend and the consensus of the people 'in the trade' on that board is that CWL has very little chance of getting Ryanair. I'm not so sure.

That aside, the whole episode is pure Ryanair. MOL has managed to keep his airline at the top of the discussion list on many UK aviation message boards.

Have the bookies set a book for the possible contender airports?

I've gone a bit off topic here but baby's presence/future at CWL is certainly linked.

 

[welshguy39]

do agree mate shame baby are not doing much more in cwl they seem to do more at there other bases

 

[mathers_wales_uk]

CWL has the smallest catchment area of most of WW's bases. So many times that CWL has nearly had a fourth aircraft but due to competition at their other bases we at CWL has lost out.

The main issue is the fact that BmiBaby is not a seperate entity and money would have been invested in Bmi Mainline before being invested at WW.

Leases were not extended on some aircraft this year and lets just be grateful that we kept the 3 that we have. At the moment it is business as usual and i would not like to guess on what is going to happen to the airline as it would not only effect the staff at the airline but most departments at Cardiff airport.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Thanks for that, mathers.

You're dead right to mention the staff. When we amateurs (I'm not including you because I know you work in the business) pontificate on what may or what may not happen at an airport or with an airline we perhaps sometimes forget that people's livelihoods are at stake, and what to us is an interesting exercise or discussion is to them their bread and butter.

 

[Em0866]

I notice from the airport's website that WW have rolled out phase 2 of their S10 operations. Nothing new there but a bit confusing that they mention 2 of the flights will be to Geneva and Grenoble. Surely that's a misprint?
http://www.tbicardiffairport.com/en/new ... ramme.html