Bristol (BRS) - General Thread

[Jerry]

With LHR little more than just up the road getting long haul scheduled routes will always be a challenge.

As regards to long haul BRS may just have to focus on charters and getting a ME3 route. Though being a privately owned company NYC route as they wouldn't have to worry about state aid rules like the WAG would have to i would've thought?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

As regards to long haul BRS may just have to focus on charters and getting a ME3 route. Though being a privately owned company NYC route as they wouldn't have to worry about state aid rules like the WAG would have to i would've thought?

State aid rules don't apply but the 'rules' of business do and the BRS ownership is never going to permit silly money being thrown at a route if it's thought it's a vanity project with little prospect of bringing value to the owners, in this case the huge Ontario Teachers Pension Plan that has over $170 billion in its investment portfolio.

Although CWL is state-owned the EU state aid rules still apply. However, the WAG as owners have the ability to circumnavigate the EU rules a bit if they are careful and imaginative. The other difference is that the private sector BRS owners rightly see their primary responsibility as being to their 'shareholders' (their 300,000+ members who are teachers or retired teachers). The WAG on the other hand is looking to use CWL to try to boost the Welsh economy (in a sense you could say the people of Wales are the WAG airport company's shareholders) and it sees a direct NYC service as one of the drivers of this aim.

Whether this means that CWL has a better chance than BRS of getting a NYC service I don't know. BRS has the bigger and wealthier catchment whereas CWL is slightly further from LHR and there might be a small nationalism bonus - might be.

Unless the WAG effectively pays an airline to operate to NYC and that couldn't go on for very long - even the public purse is not that deep and not everyone in Wales is an aviation fan by any means so questions would soon be asked - it will have the same problem as other smaller airports around the UK in attracting an airline to fly to NYC.

BRS seemed to have the numbers to EWR although the recession took a hit, but the yield wasn't there. Leaving aside a subsidy, where would passengers come from to ensure an acceptable yield from CWL? They would have to attract people from the West Country who already look to LHR. Not that many West Country people use BHX which is not much further away than CWL and already has a long haul portfolio that neither BRS nor CWL would ever be likely to match.

 

[Ornsack]

Their Instagram went from posting near daily to every other month.

Either I jinxed it or they read this as they've put two whole pictures up in the last 24 hours!

 

[Sierra3]

With Long Haul apparently a distant dream, then the only expansion route is more of the same.

Stands are running out (as is the room to create more) so scope for based SH carriers is limited. EZY has the lions share of the pax carried but RYR are upping their offering & competing with EZY; all of which leads me to the thought that at some stage BRS will become too big to ignore by (at least LCC subsidiaries of) major airlines. Maybe 8 to 10 million, or thereabouts.

As Yokel notes above 3 carriers to Krackow

LHR is pretty much maxed out & if it gets another runway its 10 years away, so where are the extra pax going to go. The way to control demand is to increase the price.

BHX is a long way from much of the region, LHR is nearer in many cases.

BA is going BoB in Y on short haul, just like EZY and many others, why drive up the M4 & sit in a traffic jam; for the Avios!?

BRS has a wealthier catchment area than anywhere west of Reading or at the very least Swindon. Also the fares are significantly more competitive than say EXT.

So why not some of the major european airlines LCC subsidiaries, operating (non based) in competition with EZY / RYR ?

 

[tpm]

I believe EasyJet are trying to target business customers as well, so I very much hope that they're working on increasing frequency on routes as well. It's fairly common that I have to go via AMS/FRA/BRU/MUC (or, god forbid, Heathrow) even though direct flights exist, just because there's no flight back on any of the days that are suitable (most recently: Berlin). And I'm not even particularly picky with regard to times usually.

 

[kraktoa]

EE coverage at the airport has been severely affected for the past week. Some areas have zero coverage. Whilst others have good coverage. The rumour is that a cable was cut during the hotel build. Could that be true. Cut cable and patchy coverage? Shouldnt it be down completely if cable was cut.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

EE coverage at the airport has been severely affected for the past week. Some areas have zero coverage. Whilst others have good coverage. The rumour is that a cable was cut during the hotel build. Could that be true. Cut cable and patchy coverage? Shouldnt it be down completely if cable was cut.

It's not unknown for contractors digging up roads to sever electricity cables so the rumour about the hotel build would not be a great surprise.

Did any of this impact on operational efficiency?

 

[kraktoa]

It's not unknown for contractors digging up roads to sever electricity cables so the rumour about the hotel build would not be a great surprise.

Did any of this impact on operational efficiency?

Dont think so. Altough i cant use my phone in some areas.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

We discussed in this thread a few weeks ago the apparent falling-off of the once mighty BRS publicity machine.

I was minded to look at the destinations list to see if Cagliari had appeared. It hadn't and neither incidentally is Bergamo shown in the the list of Italian destinations. It goes without saying that Figari is not listed. Nor is Bastia for that matter.

Neither Cagliari nor Figari is mentioned on the airport website as new routes.

Still no mention either of August's record-breaking passenger figures, despite a comment from a BRS spokesman in an email to me that it would be 'celebrated' publicly. We're now in mid-October so August's passenger performance is out with the discarded fish and chip paper so far as the general public is concerned.

Still awaiting September's passenger figures from the airport too.

In recent months the dearth of hard news has resulted in BRS putting out press releases on its website about such things as an ape rescue centre and a b and b for bees (yes, the buzzing variety).

 

[Jerry]

In recent months the dearth of hard news has resulted in BRS putting out press releases on its website about such things as an ape rescue centre and a b and b for bees (yes, the buzzing variety)

Has the PR department gone on holiday or do they not think these routes are worth press releases?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Has the PR department gone on holiday or do they not think these routes are worth press releases?

It's very strange. I commented earlier this month that I wonder whether it's a deliberate policy decision to give out less information. I can't think it is because I can't think of a reason why they would.

 

[alphagolf]

It's very strange. I commented earlier this month that I wonder whether it's a deliberate policy decision to give out less information. I can't think it is because I can't think of a reason why they would.

TheLocalYokel, I too emailed the airport with reference to the drought of news releases and I got a reply from Jacqui Mills as follows:-

The press releases and sharing good news in high on our agenda, however we are very aware that to gain the widespread coverage in the region by the media we do not issue releases that are not deemed to be newsworthy. We have also issued a number of releases which have not been picked up by the media, the recent WOW air celebration is one example – although this was picked up by the Aviation Industry Magazines. All press releases are placed on the website http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/about-us/news-and-media/news-and-media-centre

Please also be reassured we have a number of press releases in the pipeline and which will be issued over the next few months.

Thank you for your continued support.

Kind regards

Jacqui

I feel that Jacqui seems to be missing the point somewhat, no mention of this years record breaking passenger records being broken month after month.

 

[Marko1]

I find the comment about stories not being newsworthy an awfully strange comment. Let's look at what the media dept has missed :- launch of ryanairs 2017 summer schedule, launch of easyjet a early summer 2017 which clearly has scheduled in a 14 th aircraft , planning permission granted for car park extensions , launch of wizz's Warsaw service , record passenger numbers every month all year. I am just not understanding how monkeys and bees is newsworthy and those articles are not

 

[superking]

be nice if we could get back to the late les Wilson days,when he had news about anything he could never wait to tell every one.i will say the airport was a very happy place as leses thoughts rubbed off to everyone. also a very friendly airport towards ppl, not like now as they have distanced them selves from the general public.bigger things tend to do this,but if worked at then no excuse to be distant.good pr is a good advertesment and ppl sit up and take notice.

 

[kraktoa]

The August record breaking figures has to be viewed against the backdrop of plummetting passenger satisfaction. The airport probably realises that it expanded numbers without a care for the facilities and ease of departing and arriving for the passengers. It was chaos for most part of morning and evening peaks at both arrival an departures. The airport is wise to not crow too much about their achievements in the media. It could backfire.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Thank you for your comments alphagolf, Marko1, superking and kraktoa.

So it does seem to be some sort of policy decision to restrict press releases, yet they put out those press releases about the airport fire brigade donating old hoses to an ape rescue centre in Dorset and the creation of a habitat for bees in a field near the airport.

Jacqui Mills is of course the airport's Public Relations and Community Manager. The reply to my email came from someone else - I forget his name which was not one with which I'm familiar - who also said there were a number of press releases in the pipeline including one about the record-breaking August passenger numbers. That particular press release must have gone down the plughole.

I can understand to a point that they don't want to flood the market with press releases yet the Bristol Evening Post, or whatever it calls itself now, relies heavily on organisations' press releases which it usually reproduces verbatim but with the impression given that's it's a newspaper article. I'd have thought they'd be glad of as many press releases as they can get to fill space.

Neither the local newspapers nor local radio/tv are proactive when it comes to airport matters. They just rely on airport press releases. There is no independent research or comment by the local news media concerning the airport, or very rarely so, unlike say CWL where that airport seems rarely out of the spotlight in the Welsh news media. This is in part due to the CWL management's great improvement in grasping the publicity nettle, but it's also true that there are often articles about that airport generated by local press business correspondents which frequently contain opinion from aviation analysts.

The press, not just the local ones in Bristol, seem to prefer bad news. In 2009 the Evening Post published articles every month describing 'another fall' in BRS airport passenger numbers. It was during the recession and was one of only eight years since 1961 when passenger numbers dropped from the previous year (four were in the 60s and 70s - CAA stats). They certainly haven't been publishing articles every month for the past few years saying passenger numbers have risen.

BRS does seem to like to hide its light under a bushel at times. I can never fathom why it publishes its own passenger numbers each month and annually that are lower than the CAA's (which gets its figures from BRS in the first place). It's well known in these threads that BRS doesn't count under 2s and certain other types of passenger (whatever they are) in its own stats.

For example in July the CAA shows 832,511 which is 10,000 more than the BRS stats. In May and June the respective figures were 8,000 and 9,000 more. BRS shows August as 846,750 (it still hasn't published September's) so it's a reasonable assumption to make that the CAA will come in at over 850,000 when it eventually publishes its own August numbers. In a year the difference can amount to 60/70,000.

As for kraktoa's point, the airport could spin it by saying that the terminal extension with more security stations and a bigger arrivals area will greatly overcome these difficulties. Whether they will remains to be seen but the aviation industry are better sinners than Shane Warne. Another point is that there are people not interested in aviation for its own sake who still believe that BRS is really just an airport for the Costas and that most other airports around the country are much busier with many more routes. You only have to read comments on the Evening Post website when the airport is in the news to see this. There are people in the Bristol area who believe that CWL is a much busier airport than BRS for example. I've spoken to some. So the more publicity the airport can get ought to be for the better.

Les Wilson was an incredible character. Many believe that without him the airport would have closed nearly 40 years ago when it was a loss-making council-owned facility. He was an expert at the 'sound bite'. I remember the time he told the local press that Bristol Airport had handled more passengers that year than the combined total of Cardiff and Exeter airports. What would he think now if he was still alive with the multiplier up to nearly 3.5?

 

[Jerry]

Strange as i would've thought every press release especially if it's in the local press is a form of advertising.
An example would be Easyjets extra routes and 14th aircraft surely a press release about that would be good advertising for the new routes and their current routes and a chance to promote Easyjets continued commitment to BRS. Roger Lewis announced the CWL Faro route during a Q&A session on local radio maybe BRS could've done something similar? The passenger numbers and increases would be shouted from the roof top by most airports!
And as many releases and news agencies these days include online sections it also engages people talking about the airport. The news items in Wales Online about CWL always get lively debates in the comment sections about CWL which reminds people the airport is there. BRS's approach seems strange or maybe a little bit complacent to me.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The irony is that when, a few years ago, I was posting to a Welsh aviation forum and CWL was in the doldrums with little sign of it extricating itself, I would regularly point to BRS as an airport that was a shining example of how to get out your message.

These days the boot appears well and truly on the other foot.

It may be complacency although I'd hate to think it was. Again, I used to point out on that Welsh forum (it no longer exists but its owner was an aviation professional who had worked at CWL in a senior position earlier this century) that one of the reasons that CWL had fallen so far behind its Severnside neighbour was exactly that: complacency.

In the 1990s the management thought that because CWL served a capital city they just had to sit back and airlines would come. Airlines didn't and at the same time BRS was growing all the time and putting distance between it and CWL. One day CWL woke to find that Go had landed at Lulsgate and quickly morphed into easyJet.

I will say one thing in the BRS PR dept's defence. The news media and much of the public in Wales are far more interested in CWL's doings than their counterparts across the estuary re their local airport. Nationalism may play a part in that many seem to feel that a thriving airport is somehow a symbol of a country's virility. With BRS it's another facility like the railway station or the bus station so far as the general public is concerned, but they are quick to moan and complain when they use their local airport and things don't go as they believe they should.

 

[Jerry]

I will say one thing in the BRS PR dept's defence. The news media and much of the public in Wales are far more interested in CWL's doings than their counterparts across the estuary re their local airport. Nationalism may play a part in that many seem to feel that a thriving airport is somehow a symbol of a country's virility. With BRS it's another facility like the railway station or the bus station so far as the general public is concerned, but they are quick to moan and complain when they use their local airport and things don't go as they believe they should.

When a route is released or suggested in the press an example is LCY and New York, a lot is mentioned of the economic boost to the area that it would bring I wonder if it is the same with BRS?
And CWL does get a lot of people moaning about it!

 

[Ornsack]

It's very strange. I commented earlier this month that I wonder whether it's a deliberate policy decision to give out less information. I can't think it is because I can't think of a reason why they would.

Their Instagram account has gone now. Deleted.