Bournemouth Airport

[TheLocalYokel]

CAA stats for November 2011

10,593 people travelled through Bournemouth, down 10.1% on November 2010. Atms though were up 31.3% which makes the 10.1% fall in passenger numbers look dreadful.

Rolling 12-month figure was 610,758, down 21.6% on a year ago.

Since 2007 and 2008, when BOH handled over one million passengers in those years, the percentage fall is around 40%. Newquay has fallen 50% in the same period, Cardiff 40% and Exeter 30% which shows how badly this area of Britain has suffered. Tiny Plymouth City Airport is about to close.

In the general area only Bristol and Southampton airports have fared relatively well during the recession, owing not only to their own more sustainable core catchments but also to their proximity to other populous catchments.

BOH, EXT, NQY and CWL are more remote though, of these, BOH ought to have the least disadvantage in terms of geographical location.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

May 2012

CAA stats show that 73,994 passengers used the airport in the month, up 9.1% on May 2011. Atms were up 16.2%. Rolling 12-month figure was 614,387, down 11.4% on a year ago.

Bournemouth is another airport that has lost around 40% of its passenger numbers in the past 3-4 years so it's pleasing to note the huge increase in flights in May.

 

[OldMichael]

Whilst the drop in passenger figures in the regional airports is general, the situation at Bournemouth is no wonder. Having spent the money on a much needed new terminal building building, the MAG are doing everything in their powerto drive people away from useing Bournemouth for the following reasons: in the first instance, by introducing a policy of making everybody (including taxis) who enters the drop-off zone pay a minimum charge of £2-50 both when dropping passengers in and again when collecting them on their return. If you exceed the short time allowed, the cost goes to £4 or.....even higher! Worst of all, the ticket/cash machines which were installed were old and second-hand and no longer manufactured and are constantly breaking down. When this happens, chaos ensues and last week I was stuck in the parking zone for 35 minutes waiting to get out in a long queue of very upset individuals. A further problem with the equipment is that if you try to use a new pound coin or a fifty pence piece, it can take as many as a dozen trys to get the machine(s) to accept them. With potential revenues of £2 million a year, one would think that MAG would install more modern and reliable equipment. If all that does not put travellers off, The Airport management are trying to prevent people walking in from the main road (a bus route) by not providing a footpath and actually putting signs in place that it's for passengers own safety when, in actual fact, they themselves are breaking various health and safety rules themselves!
A further issue is that the approach road has been coned all the way down the centre and if there is an accident in either the in or out lane, emergancy vehicles would be unable to enter or exit the terminal. In conclusion, the main Road at the traffic lights has become a parking lot (on double yellow lines) for dozens of cars trying all day and night to drop people off to avoid the mandatory penal charges. Its quite amazing that the police have not yet informed MAG of the danger and traffic chaos they are causing
by implementing this policy. With diminishing numbers in spite of the new terminal, one wonders when the airport management will get the message before they face another big loss for the current financial trading year. They need to lower the landing fees to encourage more carriers to use the Airport; put in a footpath for foot passengers arriving by bus on Christchurch road; make it one pound for all to enter the drop-off zone (useing new equipment) and making it a whole more user-friendly to
attract more passengers to Bournemouth instead of.....driving people away as they are currently doing!!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Welcome to Forums4Airports, OldMichael.

Most regional airports now impose a charge for drop-off car parks but it seems, from what you have written and from many irate customers posting on such passenger experience sites as Skytrax, that the BOH management has taken a draconian approach. Not only that, but the way their system is implemented seems to be not only customer-unfriendly in the extreme but also a possible public safety issue.

Because the old model of regional airports' income has changed since the onset of low-cost airlines the airport managements have to seek new revenue streams.

When airlines paid the full whack in landing and other charges the airports made their money that way. Nowadays low-cost airlines want to pay very little, if anything at all, with often more than an implied threat that if the airport doesn't like it there are competitors who will acquiesce in order to get the business.

This leads to such charges as drop-off car park fees, increased airport car park fees generally, more of the departure lounges occupied by retail space, luggage trolley charges, fast-track security charges and whatever else an airport management dreams up that it thinks it can get away with.

Where a drop-off car park charging regime is reasonable and well-run I've no objections. Air fares with low cost airlines are much cheaper than was the case with legacy carriers a decade and more ago and most regional airports had few of these routes anyway.

Bournemouth Airport has actually done extremely well this summer and is one of the fastest growing UK airports in percentage terms.

In May its passenger numbers were up 9.1% on the previous May; June was up 19.3%; July was up 18.1%; August was up 15.9%. These are quite phenonemal precentage rises though they look so good because BOH's passenger numbers had fallen so much since 2007 - down by over 40% in fact. There were also large rises each summer month this year in air transport movements, sometimes larger than the percentage rise in passenger numbers.

In 2007 BOH handled nearly 1.1 million passengers but this was down to 613,000 in 2011.

In May this year the 12-month rolling passenger total was 11.4% down on the same period the previous year. By August it was up 1.1% on a year ago at 654,585.

 

[airforced]

I see that a TOM 738 from Cancun to LGW has just diverted into Bournemouth with some sort of emergency. Any ideas anyone?

 

[Aviador]

Nobody replied, did you happen to find out what happened?

 

[airforced]

Fraid not Aviador. Courtesy of FR24 I posted duff info though. The flight hadn't originated in Cancun and wasn't heading for LGW. It was in fact (I think, again courtesy of FR24) on a FUE - STN routing but squawked 7700 when over the Contentin peninsula just before 4 pm and then headed directly into Bournemouth. The flight was BY5659 and it was a B738 G-FDZU.

Maybe clarifying which flight it was might prompt a response.

 

[Aviador]

Thanks airforced.

I did wonder about a Boeing 737-800 making London Gatwick from Cancun in Thomson configuration.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

CAA stats November 2012

In November 2012 BOH handled 18,428 passengers, a staggering rise of 74% - I haven't missed out a decimal point!

Mind you there was a rise in atms of 42.7% but the passenger rise is still eyebrow-raising. It's partly due to the later half-term holiday this year that extended into November, unlike in November 2011.

Rolling 12-month total is 690,128, a rise of 13% on a year ago.

 

[LBA787]

CAA stats November 2012

In November 2012 BOH handled 18,428 passengers, a staggering rise of 74% - I haven't missed out a decimal point!

Mind you there was a rise in atms of 42.7% but the passenger rise is still eyebrow-raising. It's partly due to the later half-term holiday this year that extended into November, unlike in November 2011.

Rolling 12-month total is 690,128, a rise of 13% on a year ago.

Yet with ever increasing demand why do ryanair only operate a seasonal base? Im sure there are routes that can be flown in the winter. Even if they had to close the base in the quieter months they could fly from over bases into BOH from TFS, ACE, FUE, ALC & AGP yet they dont! I bet BOH misses Palmair a lot....

:crazy:

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Yet with ever increasing demand why do ryanair only operate a seasonal base? Im sure there are routes that can be flown in the winter. Even if they had to close the base in the quieter months they could fly from over bases into BOH from TFS, ACE, FUE, ALC & AGP yet they dont! I bet BOH misses Palmair a lot....

BOH has a substantial leisure customer catchment consisting in the main of well-off, older people with the time and money to travel so it is surprising that Ryanair pulls out for part of each winter.

Whether this type of person is wary of Ryanair, being no doubt aware of the airline's questionable attitude to its customers when things go wrong, I don't know. It may be a factor.

Ryanair will know of the potential living in that rather genteel part of the country.

I agree with you that some flights in winter to BOH from other bases seem to have merit. The airline clearly thinks otherwise though - at the moment.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Flybe

Flybe is to open a two aircraft (Q400) base in March at Bournemouth.

Routes to be flown are:

Amsterdam
Paris Cdg
Manchester
Jersey
Dublin
Deauville
Toulon
Biarritz
Glasgow

Interestingly, no Edinburgh and BOH hasn't got an EDI route from anyone else. Maybe the idea is to change aircraft at MAN but EDI is usually a busier route from the South West (of which Bournemouth is part) than GLA.

Toulon and Biarritz look adventurous. They've been tried in the South West before and not worked, albeit with larger aircraft than the Q400.

I wonder how this will impact on nearby SOU which subsists almost entirely on Flybe.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

CAA stats October 2014

69,773 passengers used the airport, down just 0.5% on October 2013. Atms were down 9.5%. Rolling 12-month total was 665,221, up 2.6% on a year ago.

Next year could be an interesting one for BOH with a significant and new Flyby presence but apparently a reduced Ryanair one.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

CAA Stats December 2014

18,207 passengers passed through the airport in the month, down 12.1% on December 2013 which is the identical percentage reduction in atms. 12-month rolling total, also the total for the calendar year of 2014, was 660,636, down 0.2% on 2013.

Turning to another topic, BOH will be the base for a Boeing 747-800 aircraft.

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/1 ... rt/?ref=mr

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Flybe

Having opened a two-aircraft base at BOH in March of this year Flybe is to close it 12 months later.

I'm not sure whether that says more about BOH or Flybe. The airline is getting an ephemeral reputation. With smaller airports it seems to be going where the inducements are lurking.

Maybe if BOH can offer a bounty Flybe will return as it did at CWL when the cash was flashed (perfectly legally of course).

 

[TheLocalYokel]

CAA stats December 2015

31,421 passengers were handled, up 75.1% on December 2014. Atms were up 51.3%.

Rolling 12-month total was 705,433, up 6.8% on a year ago.

The reason for the upturn is the Flybe base mentioned in my previous post from which it will be seen that the base will close at the end of this winter.

 

[airforced]

The startup services to Greece for the peak summer season from Bournemouth and Manchester by LoLoflights and AirX have been cancelled due to poor bookings according to LoLo boss Paul Dendle. He is looking to try again in 2017 with a different carrier. Flight already booked are being refunded. Good luck everyone.

 

[Jerry]

View attachment 5667 View attachment 5667 Potential new base for Jet2? Bournemouth is owned by MAG and the South coast area is quite wealthy. Apparently the add has been taken down now so it may be that someone jumped the gun a bit.
webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:HSRp68N99IkJ:https://jobs.theguardian.com/job/6562466/jet2-com-cabin-crew-open-day-bournemouth/?TrackID=8+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk#sc=rss&me=feed&cm=general

 

[superking]

Back to their old roots. jet 2 started life out al boh a few years back. They were called channel express at the time. They were a fully cargo airline doing post and news papers. When they started passenger flights they moved head office and operations to lba. They wound the cargo operation down to nothing till no flights operated from boh. I do believe they still have ties with boh in some sort of form,so a pax base would be easy to start,will watch with interest what happens.

 

[Jerry]

I'd imagine BOH could support a 2 or 3 aircraft base. Will be interesting to see if Jet2 have plans for other small regional airports across the UK. I wonder if in the end they'll look to have a presence at most of them. A bit like TOM do.