Birmingham Airport - General Thread

[Brum X]

Sorry forum, none of the above points raised deserve a 49% pay increase, utterly ridiculous

 

[Brum X]

I find that somewhat harsh. Nick Barton took over the helm at BHX shortly before the biggest downturn that commercial aviation has ever known. However, during that time the number of dedicated freight flights have increased significantly (OK, many of them are small aircraft), which have helped to continue revenue being generated for the airport.
As for him not being 'a proven leader as there is no proof of substantiated success', look at what he achieved at Luton and the growth of Easyjet at BHX.
Growth is never going to be an overnight task in commercial aviation. It often takes many years of discussion with an airline to deliver a new service (and we have no idea of what talks are going on on the background).
BHX will never have the 'clout' that MAG has with major airlines (although, personally I believe that MAG should be broken up as it has way too much of a monopoly outside of London). Be thankful that BHX is still operating. Had it been run poorly, you might now be seeing it bulldozed and turned into a housing estate and business/retail park.

Kevin

However Paul Kehoe took over in October 2008, shortly after the Financial crash of 2008, did he ever get a 49% pay increase ?

 

[Kevin Farnell]

I wasn't defending his 49% pay rise (I think that's way too much), simply trying to counter the claim that he's achieved very little since he took over at BHX.

Kevin

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

A monopoly definition is ‘exclusive possession of a service or commodity’. Given there are approximately 30 airports offering scheduled passenger service in the U.K., MAG owning 3 airports comes no where near monopoly status.

I saw this comment and I thought does it or doesn't it.

Reality is - MAG isn't a monopoly at all. EMA is more of a cargo airport then it is passenger though passenger revenue is most welcome and we know that EMA does relatively okay from passenger revenue.

Manchester serves the North West, Stansted London and the surrounding areas. No way do they have a monopoly on anything. East Midlands handles 10% of the combined Stansted/Manchester passenger numbers so I'd hardly call that a monopoly if you ask me.

East Midlands however probably 10x more cargo flying though it then Manchester/Stansted combined.

 

[JENNYJET]

I have always considered BHX to be the South Asian and other exotic destination point, I recall Ashgabat, Tashkent, Bishkek and others upon the arrivals board. Delhi, Karachi, Moscow followed ..

In my humble opinion, BHX should not replicate London but develop a niche.

 

[JENNYJET]

As to pay, May One suggest it reflects input before determining output? Put the work in before determining reward? If Mr. Barton or any other warrants an increase that appears excessive, how does one determine excess? Salaried staffs before waged? Unionised or not? Talented or fodder?

Please discuss!

 

[thunderchild]

BHX will never have the 'clout' that MAG has with major airlines (although, personally I believe that MAG should be broken up as it has way too much of a monopoly outside of London).

Interesting that Ryanair are re-launching Belfast again and which three English airports have they picked?…..STN, EMA and MAN. What a shocker!

 

[Llandudno]

Interesting that Ryanair are re-launching Belfast again and which three English airports have they picked?…..STN, EMA and MAN. What a shocker!

Birmingham has just had an announcement for several new routes and an extra aircraft based this winter has it not? Versus what? Either a 4 weekly or 14 weekly flight to Belfast? Hardly indiciciatrive of unfairness?

 

[HPsauce]

Belfast was not named as a new route from BHX.

 

[Coathanger16]

Hardly indiciciatrive of unfairness?

Not unfair, but when I saw which routes they would fly, I did clock the same thing.

However, looking at it logically, Stansted is their largest (UK and network wide) base, Manchester I think is their 2nd largest UK base and East Midlands is probably up there in the top 5 UK bases as well.

Prior to this announcement, Stansted only had easyJet serving the Belfast area (BFS) and East Midlands only had Flybe (BHD). Manchester had the same airlines serving the route as Birmingham - easyJet, Flybe & Aer Lingus - although I’ve not compared numbers of flights or seats available I would imagine they were fairly similar. No doubt if BHX was a similar size to MAN, and had an equally large RYR base, it would probably have seen a route from BFS as well.

 

[Llandudno]

Not unfair, but when I saw which routes they would fly, I did clock the same thing

But I still don’t get the premise of the original post to be honest. BHX gets several new routes, including completely unserved routes like Santander, which is amazing, but there still seems to be this cry foul nature because of 3 routes they launched from BFS which didn’t include, like those routes launched the other day didn’t count or something. It was like a ‘BHX never gets picked’ post, which it clearly does get picked.

I suppose I’m just tired of this undertone of anti-MAG that seems to be rife in this forum, seeping into many posts that goes relatively unchecked by moderators (many of said moderators actually join in), but if you call it out, then whaddya know, it’s like you cant moderate fast enough…

 

[Karl Cunningham]

Don't rise to the bait....don't visit the Birmingham forum...just these two things will reverse your tiredness

 

[Coathanger16]

It was like a ‘BHX never gets picked’ post, which it clearly does get picked.

Personally, I didn’t take it that way. I’d much rather have the new routes that RYR have launched from BHX than a 4th airline flying to Belfast. However when any airlines opens a new base, and all the routes to a particular country go to airports owned by the same group it makes it very obvious that the airline and that group have a strong relationship which I think is only natural that others feel they are missing out.

I suppose I’m just tired of this undertone of anti-MAG that seems to be rife in this forum, seeping into many posts that goes relatively unchecked by moderators (many of said moderators actually join in), but if you call it out, then whaddya know, it’s like you cant moderate fast enough…

Maybe, just maybe, if it is so rife, and the moderators don’t have a problem with it, then maybe its not an undertone but just an opinion.

At the end of the day you can choose to be offended or you can choose to ignore it. Ultimately you’ll live a happier life doing the latter and I say that to everyone.

 

[Bobby]

I suppose I’m just tired of this undertone of anti-MAG that seems to be rife in this forum, seeping into many posts that goes relatively unchecked by moderators (many of said moderators actually join in), but if you call it out, then whaddya know, it’s like you cant moderate fast enou

I’m not sure if you just like causing tension or what but whenever Manchester gets mentioned in a threads you get offended. There is a simple way “ignoring” the post.

Because i don’t know about others but I’m sick to death of negativity like this above.

 

[rollo]

To be fair BHX is well served to Belfast there were eleven flights yesterday to the two Belfast airports and I think its seven today, there are plenty of unserved or undesrerved routes that could do with attention before more Belfast.

As far as Ryanair and its relationship with the MAG group its long standing and fairly obviously suits both parties so good luck to them. BHX missed out years ago on the low cost revolutioncon with both Go when BA set them up before selling to EasyJet and Ryanair. Meanwhile BHX concetraed on legacy carriers with some success until BA pulled the plug, BHX have never managed to form a relationship like MAG have with both Ryanair and EasyJet or indeed say Bristol have with EasyJet.The current management seem to be slowly turning that around with the steady increase by EasyJet and Ryanair.

Regarding the BHX-MAN thing its been going on since Noah built his ark best viewed as mild entertainment and not worth getting knickers in a twist to coin a phrase.

 

[Coathanger16]

BHX missed out years ago on the low cost revolution

They may have missed out back then, but its still built up a large low cost network from easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air (only 1 of which has a base at the airport):

 

[Scottie Dog]

There should be no need for any intervention by moderators. Everybody has the right to their own views as long as they don't infringe any of the forums rules.
Please continue to make the role of moderator a simple one. Enjoy the freedom and choice that F4A offers.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

BHX has the longest flight delays in 2021

Birmingham airport flights delayed longest in 2021

But punctuality improved across all UK airports due to fewer flights caused by Covid restrictions.

www.bbc.co.uk

Initially, it doesn't sound too good, but the average delay was 12 minutes and 24 seconds. I didn't think the CAA considered a flight delayed until it was over 15 minutes late.

Kevin

 

[HPsauce]

The media have given the above story huge prominence this morning and have linked Nick Barton's pay increase into the mix. Not good publicity all round for BHX. It seems an average delay last year of 12 minutes is the end of the World for some people

 

[Kevin Farnell]

The media have given the above story huge prominence this morning and have linked Nick Barton's pay increase into the mix. Not good publicity all round for BHX. It seems an average delay last year of 12 minutes is the end of the World for some people

12 minutes is nothing and not really worth mentioning. A 12 minute delay to departure can easily be made up during the flight. Likewise, an on time departure can experience strong head winds resulting in a late arrival. It's the long delays (hours or even days) that need to be addressed. Loss of a days holiday, missing an important business meeting and the stress involved, especially on the elderly or those travelling with small children. Yes, compensation may be given, but it doesn't make up for that lost day of a holiday that a family have saved all year for.

Kevin