Qatar Airways

[TM3]

I would favour more frequencies over an upguage as makes some connections more viable.

 

[Coathanger16]

I think it will all depend on what seating as allocated to B789s, A350 maybe a bit too big at present as it is a
large step up from B788, just looked back att CAA figures and average pax load is 140 per flight upto May

I imagine the B789 will seat somewhere between the B788 and A359, so would probably be a better fit for BHX. Having said that in the past 6 months BHX has handled more passengers than EDI did in the 6 months prior to their A350 service starting. It'll also be interesting to see if they've managed to adapt the QSuite business class seat to the 787 (the 787 cabin width was too small for the seat they've put on the B777 and A350).

Average passenger load in May alone was 140, but that represented a 25% growth over May 2018! Average load so far this year has been 180, with April averaging over 200!

I would favour more frequencies over an upguage as makes some connections more viable.

Edinburgh had their daily B788 upgraded to an A359, then within 12 months had their frequency increased from 7 flights per week to 10 (for the summer season). Reasonable to expect BHX to follow a similar trend assuming the route performs roughly the same as EDI's has?

 

[Ray Finkle]

I was hoping when they flew that A350 for the route anniversary that they were testing the water but who knows.

I suppose that it's okay to say this now, if the rumours were true there were plans to use an A350 for a time (I think 6 weeks) over the peak summer season but for reasons that I do not know it obviously didn't happen.

I would favour more frequencies over an upguage as makes some connections more viable.

I think I'd have to agree

 

[SRDey]

I'm really interested to see what Qatar will do with the BHX route in the future, I haven't looked at the numbers, does it perform well?

I was hoping when they flew that A350 for the route anniversary that they were testing the water but who knows.

Same here I really would love to see what Qatar Airways would do with BHX.
I would love to see them 2 or 3 times go daily if they are doing well would nice to see Qatar Airways daily on the tarmac instead of 8x Weekly. If they go 20 or 3 times daily would love to see them give Emirates a bit of competition, as much as I love Emirates I would love to see other Airlines apart from them take some of the limelight and glory that will mean it’s fair and you are giving other Airlines a chance to do well at BHX. I would love the route be it on a 787-8 or an A350-9 or even a 777-200LR or 300ER the most important is it would be great to see them go daily to BHX. The only thing is I’ve never been on Qatar and I always wanted to especially as they fly to Kolkata the and the fact they are a 5 Star Airline but their tickets are way too expensive (extremely overpriced) where as Emirates are much more cheeper I find and Emirates connections to Kolkata and the rest of India are better in general.

 

[Matt995]

I suppose that it's okay to say this now, if the rumours were true there were plans to use an A350 for a time (I think 6 weeks) over the peak summer season but for reasons that I do not know it obviously didn't happen.

Maybe because the only airbridge the A350 can use is stand 54C, which or course is the EK 380 stand, so that rules out the A350 on the lunch time service at present.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

I suppose that it's okay to say this now, if the rumours were true there were plans to use an A350 for a time (I think 6 weeks) over the peak summer season but for reasons that I do not know it obviously didn't happen.

Maybe because the only airbridge the A350 can use is stand 54C, which or course is the EK 380 stand, so that rules out the A350 on the lunch time service at present.

This is something I was also thinking about. Just my thoughts, but think this was a possibility -

Qatar Airways wanted to run a short series of A350 flights, but no suitable airbridge was available. BHX would like to have the A350, but the expense to upgrade an airbridge for such a short period made no financial sense. Qatar decided not to proceed with the A350 as using steps would be inconvenient to passengers and extend boarding and deplaning.

Kevin

 

[thunderchild]

A while ago on here there was discussion about whether Qatar would use the 789 on the BHX route once they were delivered. Well Qatar have finally chosen GEnx engines for their orders, and these aircraft are due to be delivered between August this year and the end of 2021 - essentially 1 a month.

Thoughts on whether BHX will see Qatar's 789's at some point in the near future?

I don’t think we’ll be seeing anything larger than the 787-8 for the foreseeable. I think the original plan was that the 9s would replace the 8s on a one on one basis as they were transferred over to Air Italy but I think that’s on the back burner now. From what I can see the 9s will now replace the older A330s.

 

[Ianbutty]

This is something I was also thinking about. Just my thoughts, but think this was a possibility -

Qatar Airways wanted to run a short series of A350 flights, but no suitable airbridge was available. BHX would like to have the A350, but the expense to upgrade an airbridge for such a short period made no financial sense. Qatar decided not to proceed with the A350 as using steps would be inconvenient to passengers and extend boarding and deplaning.

Kevin

I agree Kevin. Short term expense for one airline. If Qatar commit to a long run the bridge would be built.

It does illustrate the uncertainty in the business however that a successful airline cannot commit long term. BHX may not be a premium route for Qatar but the numbers are stable and there is room for growth to exploit gaps in the Indian Incontinent routes.

 

[SRDey]

I agree Kevin. Short term expense for one airline. If Qatar commit to a long run the bridge would be built.

It does illustrate the uncertainty in the business however that a successful airline cannot commit long term. BHX may not be a premium route for Qatar but the numbers are stable and there is room for growth to exploit gaps in the Indian Incontinent routes.

Let’s hope for the best and we all would be glad if they do commit to BHX and they start daily ops as soon possible but I must say it will at least give Emirates and Air India, PIA & KLM, Air France and Lufthansa a bit of friendly competition when connecting to Africa, Asia & Oceania.

It’s quite funny yet sad the A350 didn’t even fit the Air bridge the international pier was designed to handle the Next Generation Aircraft Both Short & Long Hall wasn’t it? I suppose it was built 10 years ago so we didn’t know how big they would be for BHX. If the A350 doesn’t fit I wouldn't mind seeing Qatar Airways use a 777-200LR or 300ER but then again would be it would be fantastic to see the A350 daily. I agree it’s sad and it shows what a bad patch we are going through at the moment that works have to be done in order to keep Airlines at BHX but I will say pretty please Qatar Airways don’t fail us now.

 

[58terminus]

Sorry if it has been explained before but why do the air bridges not fit this particular aircraft?

 

[SRDey]

Sorry if it has been explained before but why do the air bridges not fit this particular aircraft?

That’s my question also

 

[rollo]

Ive read on the other forum that MAN had a problem with the A350 in that the air bridge could not reach the first door and was too close to the engine to reach the second safely. The doors are known as L1 and L2 apparently so possibly similar at BHX someone on the MAN forum may know more or better.

 

[58terminus]

Thank you Rollo. I still find it strange as i doubt either BHX or MAN went to a local engineering company and asked them to knock them up
a few air bridges on the cheap.We have recently had a discussion on he forum of the difficulties the A340 has taxiing at airports
and of course the A380 seems to be the wrong aircraft at the wrong time.
Ironically the latter despite being the largest seems to be more airport compatible.
Maybe Airbus should stick with what they do well.Bigger is not always better.

 

[mullion]

We get multiple A350 a day in Manchester and seems it was one gate that was the problem which has as far as
I aware now sorted be cause I know that Cathay at least go on pier 1 T2

 

[Scottie Dog]

From memory of posts on "dried fruit", Cathay didn't want the airbridge on L1 as it would mean all passengers trooping through the premium cabins., and yes there was a problem with the bridge being too close to the engine when on L2.
As has been said the problem must have been solved, one way or another, as Cathay are a regular user on the new pier facility.
As a further thought was this just a problem with the A35K which is now used daily?

 

[Coathanger16]

As a further thought was this just a problem with the A35K which is now used daily?

I suspect the issue with the proximity of the engine and L2 affects both variants as the distance between each on both variants is the same. The A35K has a stretch between doors 1 and 2, and between doors 3 and 4, hence the position of L2 to the engine is the same on both.

 

[rutamkrd]

Probably just a reprogramming of the stop software and a centre line repositioning to modify the parked frame in relation to the bridge .

 

[IanFarquharson]

Looking at annual pax BHX-DOH

2018 = 121,002
2017 = 126,331
2016 = 110,585




Ian Farquharson

For BHX Movements visit - https://bhxmovements.blogspot.com/
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[big vern]

Equiptment change on the horizon??? Heard a little rumbling but dont know if its true.

 

[Creguk]

787 to A350?