Bristol Airport - General Thread

[big g]

It would be great to get a US flight back and i would use it again, i think the main reason for CO to pull out was LHR being opened up, the fact is people were using business and the last 6 months building up to CO leaving the business cabin and the econ cabin were going out 90% if not over sold on most days, the flight need 8 business seats and a hand full of econ seats sold for the route to break even.

I feel that CO and the airport didn't do enough to advertise the route and it wasn't until the announcement that the route was to finish people took notice, had they done in the past it may have been a different story.

Another thing that bugged me was the inconsistency of CO's business product, they used 3 different seat types on the route and when i pay £K's i would like a nice seat, hence when i had to do business travel to the US i would go to LHR and fly with VS of BA and know i would have the same style seat/bed for the return journey not only that a nice dedicated airline lounge area to relax in, and i think for some product consistency beats convenience.

I can see Delta coming in to start a US route.

With regards to a middle east carrier coming in there were rumors of Emirates but not sure what happened to that? if they were the smallest A/C they have is the A332 and the airport could handle that size of A/C but at a push.

I don't think it will be long before we see a full service return to Germany.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Although I had a little pop in my last post at the business community for not making the most of the CO service to EWR I'm convinced that the real reason was the airline's access to Heathrow, something it didn't have when it started the Bristol-Newark route in May 2005.

I believe the Bristol route would have had to have been outstandingly successful for CO to have retained it in the face of its LHR operation just along the M4. The airline chopped its Gatwick-Newark route when it was given landing rights at Heathrow so the Bristol pull-out was always going to be a case of when rather than if. I think CO now flies 5 x daily between LHR and EWR.

I've re-read the Continental thread in the BRS section and five months before the ending of the route was announced in April 2010 (to take effect in November that year) I wrote the following. It turned out to be a forecast I wished I'd got wrong.

The CO route certainly seems to be holding up but my concern is that with transatlantic nationally down 10% and with CO now flying from LHR to EWR the Bristol route might have to be outstandingly successful to be kept.

In 2007 I found a long report in a US newspaper about CO's policy of using smaller airports in Europe on its Newark routes. The report was based around the Bristol story and was one hundred per cent positive about the way things were going.
But even then there was a tiny warning bell which I've highlighted in bold. I have a copy of this report/article which was lengthy but can no longer find it on the internet. I've copied the first few paragraphs which give a flavour of its content.

[textarea]BRISTOL, ENGLAND - Bristol International is a small airport just outside this English city, but its facilities — and others like it throughout the United Kingdom and Europe — have provided an opportunity for Continental Airlines' recent growth.

Instead of concentrating solely on huge tourist draws like London, Paris and Rome, the Houston-based carrier has moved into midsize cities, establishing nonstop links between its Newark Liberty International Airport hub and places like Bristol, a growing business center with a population of about 400,000.

In the last three years, Continental has also added nonstop flights to Belfast in Northern Ireland and Edinburgh in Scotland as well as to new locations in Europe, including Barcelona, Spain; Stockholm, Sweden; and Cologne, Germany.

The strategy has given some European cities a first-ever nonstop link to the United States and has allowed Continental to expand its European presence greatly, despite its inability to get coveted landing rights at London's Heathrow Airport.[/textarea]

Incidentally, looking back through the BRS Contintal thread (one of the most popular threads in the BRS section) it's surprising how many links there are to initiatives by airline, airport and local tourism people promoting the route.

Depite this too many people in the Bristol area who wished to fly transatlantic were unaware of the daily EWR non-stop link.

When the route was in full swing my son was working for a major American corporation that necessitated regular trips to the USA. His employers used a travel consultancy to arrange all flights and he was always routed via LHR. He has no interest in aviation and knew nothing of the Newark link until I told him. He was sufficiently senior to insist he travelled by the BRS link after that and used it many times, both for business and on leisure trips with his family. He is a demanding sort of person but was very satisfied with the business-first product though he always complained that CO's domestic first within the USA was little better than Ryanair. Goodness knows what their economy (or coach I think the Americans call it) was like .

 

[TheLocalYokel]

BRS official website

The website has had another partial makeover which at first use does not find particular favour with me.

They used to list the last few news items on the front page but now list just one which, when clicked on, doesn't bring up the news item. No doubt a glitch but don't the IT people 'test drive' the site thoroughly before and after launch?

I accept I was used to navigating the previous site but, that said, I find the new one cumbersome. I will get used to it but I don't think it is as user-friendly.

 

[alphagolf]

I accept I was used to navigating the previous site but, that said, I find the new one cumbersome. I will get used to it but I don't think it is as user-friendly.

I would have to agree with you there TheLocalYokel! But it is slowly growing on me, I like the flight info bit and the whole site is a bit bolder!

alphagolf

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]Passenger numbers grow for second year running at Bristol Airport

Passenger numbers at Bristol Airport rose for the second successive year in 2011, with volumes up 0.8 per cent compared to 2010.

A total of 5.7 million passengers used Bristol Airport over the course of the year, including a record September which saw 610,000 people pass through the terminal. December also saw a significant gain (8.8 per cent) over the same month in 2010, driven by a double digit increase (10.8 per cent) in scheduled international traffic.

New airlines making their first appearance at Bristol Airport in 2011 included Blue Islands (to Jersey) and Helvetic Airways (to Zurich). Aer Lingus also launched three daily flights to Dublin, with onward connections to four US destinations, while KLM added a fourth daily flight to its Amsterdam hub.

Bristol Airport’s growth compared favourably to competitor airports across the South West and Wales, and Bristol continues to grow its market share within the region.

The rise in passengers at Bristol Airport was achieved with fewer flights, with the total number of air transport movements down by 4.1 per cent – a decrease of almost 3,000. This indicates airlines are operating with high load factors on larger aircraft, maximizing environmental efficiency.

Work began on the construction of three new aircraft stands in November 2011 – the first phase of development plans which, when completed, will enable the Airport to handle 10 million passengers per annum. Additional capacity is also being added to the security search area ahead of the summer season to ensure the efficiency of this vital process is maintained during peak travel periods.
News and media[/textarea]
http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/news-an ... mbers.aspx

As this is an official Bristol Airport press release I've posted it in full.

Good to see the airport quickly on the ball with this. The local press can sometimes seem a bit negative towards the airport though its policy does seem to support the airport's expansion, so its a good chance to point out that the airport has been performing solidly during the recession which is in stark contrast to all the other airports in the south west quarter of Britain (Cardiff, Exeter, Newquay and Bournemouth) that have all seen passenger falls of between 30% and 50% in the past four years.

It's also wise to highlight the extra passengers being achieved with fewer flights - one for the antis who continually whinge that more passengers will automatically mean an a directly related increase in flights.

The only thing I would say is that the strongly hinted new routes for 2012 made by the airport last summer don't seem to have materialised. Even easyJet's promised bonanza of extra routes for its UK bases in 2012 has only resulted in one new one for Bristol - to Naples.

I suppose there is still time but this year is already nearly three weeks old.

 

[Aviador]

It's good to see the airport maintaining good passenger loads. The new routes you mention might have been put on hold if there's been a reduction in yield on the present route network perhaps? You can never really tell. Flybe only recently announced a profit warning and yet this week they announced various new routes from several airports. So it's either madness or method in the madness. I suspect the activity across the Seven might start a flurry of activity with new routes at BRS soon, or could it even lead to a token offering from the likes of Ryanair from CWL?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I suspect the activity across the Seven might start a flurry of activity with new routes at BRS soon, or could it even lead to a token offering from the likes of Ryanair from CWL?

BRS certainly cracked on with the construction of three new stands this winter which might suggest they were (are?) expecting more activity this coming summer.

Ryanair seems to have stalled at BRS in recent years in terms of expanding their route network - that's not to say that new routes haven't come in that time. They have, but others have gone, sometimes to be brought back.

The base has remained at five aircraft though with only a maximum of three needed in winter for most of the time.

It would seem unlikely that Ryanair would operate into CWL whilst still at BRS because of passenger dilution but I suppose they might have tried Alicante or Malaga into CWL with a non-based aircraft which may not have adversely affected BRS too much.

Now that Vueling is commencing Alicante that opportunity may have gone although of course Ryanair has supposedly cut back a bit on its Alicante routes following its bickering with the airport about air bridges.

The last time I looked it was 6 x weekly on BRS-ALC this coming summer, with two rotations each week operated by non-BRS aircraft, which compares with 8-9 x weekly in summer 2011. easyJet provides strong competition on the ALC route though going double daily in the main summer season.

 

[big g]

[textarea]Bristol Airport named 'Best UK Airport' at Business Travel Awards

Bristol Airport was named ‘Best UK Airport’ at the prestigious Business Travel Awards 2012 last night (23 January).

The Airport took the top award in front of 1,200 travel industry guests at London’s Grosvenor House, seeing off competition from London City, Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester.

An independent panel of judges, including travel managers from major organisations such as EADS, Alcatel-Lucent, Tesco, HSBC and E.ON, commented on Bristol Airport’s proactive approach to corporate customers. A dedicated sales team works with businesses and agents across the South West region to understand their travel needs and further develop the Airport’s offer for business passengers.

Other initiatives include a dedicated newsletter for business travellers, the introduction of free Wi-Fi internet access in the terminal, and plans for a ‘business-friendly’ boarding gate for use by airlines serving key business routes.

It was also a successful night for Air France KLM, which operates three daily flights to Paris and four daily flights to Amsterdam from Bristol Airport. The full-service carrier won the ‘Best Airline Worldwide’ category.

Bristol Airport handled 5.7 million passengers in 2011, with around 15 per cent travelling on business.[/textarea]

http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/news-an ... award.aspx

This is good news for the airport and with the expansion the facilities will only get better.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Although I've been a bit sniffy about these sorts of awards in the past I have to say that Bristol Airport is invariably in the top two or three airports or at worst highly commended when the awards are announced.

So it's good to see the airport winning one occasionally.

It never ceases to amaze me when I read some of the comments in the letters section of the local press or the posts on the web edition. Although many are complimentary about the airport there is a significant number who whinge and complain in ways that makes the airport unrecognisable to me.

In the past two weeks there have been comments such as 'the air strip in a field' and 'you can't fly anywhere from Bristol if it's not in Spain'.

Not so many weeks ago a poster asked in the Evening Post web comments section if there was any major city in the UK with a worse airport than Bristol.

I've long noticed that many Bristolians (in the city region sense) tend to believe that the grass is always greener over the hill in almost any walk of life. Psychologists might say it shows an inner insecurity.

Anyway, many congratulations to Robert Sinclair and his entire team.

 

[News Guru]

[textarea]MP welcomes new Bristol Airport flight tracker system

Bath MP Don Foster has welcomed the launch of a new service that allows people to view flight movements to and from Bristol Airport over their streets, the Bath Chronicle reports. The airport's Flight Tracker system enables people to see which aircraft have flown over their homes. It could be used to raise complaints about noise and will also be useful to research likely disruption when house-buying.

Mr Foster has been campaigning for the system to be established for nearly four years. It provides week-by-week information about flights in and out of the airport, with the data uploaded the middle of each month. Live or very recent information is not available for security reasons. It uses Google Earth and colour-codes altitude up to 10,000ft, when aircraft leave the airport's controlled airspace.

Mr Foster said: ‘I am delighted that we have got this, although I am also amazed at how long it has taken to get it on stream.’

For more information on this airport news story visit: http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/eye-sky/sto ... story.html[/textarea]

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Mr Foster said: ‘I am delighted that we have got this, although I am also amazed at how long it has taken to get it on stream.’

I don't know why MP Foster is getting involved.

Bath is over 12 miles from the airport in a straight line and aircraft don't overfly it on take-off (which to some sensitive souls living miles from an airport can be tantamount to the end of the world) and only a proportion fly anywhere near Bath on approach.

Well, I do know really why Foster is getting involved. He's an MP and MPs love the sound of their own voice on any subject they can get the news media to quote them on.

The near 40-year old HST's make more noise than aircraft when running past Sydney Gardens (a large public park) in Bath after leaving Bath Spa station at the beginning of the eight-mile climb up to and through the Box Tunnel en route to Paddington.

 

[Aviador]

Well when we visit Bath later this year I'll let you know how much noise we hear but granted I will be listening out for aircraft.

 

[big g]

[textarea]It provides week-by-week information about flights in and out of the airport, with the data uploaded the middle of each month. Live or very recent information is not available for security reasons.[/textarea]

This quote just gos to show they haven't done much resurch in the fact you can get live radar data from flight radar 24 and plane finder, both are accurate and I've tracked aircraft on finals to see them disappear from the screen when the wheels touched the runway.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I've done the same, big g.

I always thought that Flightradar24 was just behind real time for security reasons but, as you say, it appears to be a current representation.

The airport facility is not easy to follow whereas Flightradar has an ability to check back for data at any time during the previous 16 days.

So, for instance, if the person at Pensford who apparently makes the lion's share of noise complaints (consultative committee minutes) was concerned about a flight at a particular time he/she could more easily check Flightradar than the airport's system in my opinion.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]IoD urges Chancellor to boost aviation industry

South West chairman of the Institute of Directors (IoD) Gerry Jones has urged Chancellor George Osborne to reform Air Passenger Duty (APD) in this month’s Budget to help regional airports like Bristol.

He called on the Treasury to either freeze the rate of duty or introduce two-tier pricing and accused successive governments of ‘being greedy’ with aviation taxes, which has hit the aerospace, travel and tourism sectors.

APD is due to be increased in April.

“We need to direct some passengers away from the London airports and to support airports like Bristol,” he said.

“A special case for two different APD rates to support regional airports can be easily made based on traffic congestion in the South East alone.”

He pointed to new HMRC figures showing that between April 2011 and January this year £2.247bn was raised in APD, exceeding the £2.155bn figure for the whole of the 2010-11 financial year. This January APD receipts totalled £223m, compared with £196m in January 2011.[/textarea]

Full report at http://www.bristol247.com/2012/03/02/io ... try-76955/

Not much doubt that APD is pure and simply a revenue earner with a 'green' smokescreen - the Chancellor admitted as much last year.

I'd be surprised if the government agreed to a tiered pricing tariff, though if Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are given responsibility for such taxation matters as APD (and the deputy prime minister said only today that Wales should be given tax-raising powers) there might be a case to operate a variable system in England though the government will always be reluctant to give up such a ready stream of income or even reduce it.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]Six are arrested in airport animal protest

Six people were arrested at Bristol Airport in a protest over animal transportation which saw red paint thrown inside the terminal building.

Police said they were called to the airport during Saturday lunchtime to a "large demonstration".

An airport spokeswoman said the paint was thrown over the check-in area.

Officers arrested six people on suspicion of causing criminal damage and another was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.

The airport spokeswoman said animal transportation did not take place at the airport.

Ch Insp Paul Mogg said: "Officers have worked closely with airport staff today to minimise disruption and I would like to offer my thanks to those members of the public affected for their patience."[/textarea]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-17249737

I don't know what relevance the airport has to these demonstrators.

There was a similar demonstration in Bristol city centre yesterday as well.

 

[big g]

I was working when the came in the terminal, they were dressed wearing A based airline cargo high vis and some dressed like seals, if they wanted maximun impact they should have done their reasurch, 1 The based airline/ Bristol airport have no cargo facilities, 2 the airport has facility's to deal with the transportation of animals mainly cats and dogs, but in the 3 years I have been at the airport i'm yet to see or hear of on being transported especily seals!

I feel for the passengers who witnesed the way they acted and raged thought the terminal, they should be prosecuted with the maximum penalties but we all know they will get 5hrs of comunity service if there lucky!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The people arrested have been released on police bail whilst further investigation takes place.

No-one has yet been charged with an offence.

 

[conns757]

Good few charters mar 16-18

Ops include Luxair B737- 700 , alba star B734 , Transavia France, Monarch AB6 ,B757 , Danubewings , Farnair , Airlinair .

Brs

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Wales v France, no doubt.

The French seem to have money for these sorts of jollies, unlike the Welsh supporters as I've been reading that flights to the Wales away games in the 6 Nations are well down in recent seasons compared with only a few years ago.

Is BRS not as well used for the Cheltenham Festival by Irish racegoers as it used to be? I noted a lot of extra Ryanair flights shown on the FR website for BHX during the Festival but didn't see anything extra for BRS.

How about the horses? I can remember seeing some being unloaded at BRS some years back en route to Cheltenham.