Birmingham Airport - General Thread

[nwoody2001]

I live in Sydney , have all my family in the West Midlands and fly back to the UK at least twice yearly . I would love to support BHX , but I find flights to BHX cost considerably more than say LHR or MAN , particularly with EK . Just for reference , I was recently quoted a fare over AUS$1000 more expensive to fly to BHX than LHR on the same day both with EK . Why does it cost so much more to fly to BHX ? . I’ll be flying to LHR and taking the M40 , seems a better option to me .

i mean i cant vouch for when you were looking but out of curiosity just searched myself RTN SYD - MAN/BHX/LHR in 14 August - 21 August on Emirates on google flights...

SYD-MAN = £1,301-£1,620 (Cheapest in August £1,255)
SYD-BHX = £1,539-£1,637 (Cheapest in August £1,337)
SYD-LHR = £1,644-£1,921 (Cheapest in August £1,444)

Seems BHX is middle of the 2, so not shockingly varied....

 

[mullion]

Your guess is good as mine for Pakistan Airlines but whilst Turkish are picking up
plenty of business with plenty of A330s in BHX and 777, 787 and A350 in MAN I`m happy

 

[Coathanger16]

Hi Coathanger16 … yes mate , I was looking at flying in August . EK was quoted at about $2800 from SYD to BHX and from memory SYD To LHR was about $1800 . Sadly health issues have raised their heads and I won’t be making the trip any time soon anyway . When you said “ Emirates have the complete monopoly on the Australia to UK route “ , did you not mean Australia to BHX ? . There are many good airlines flying from Australia to the UK just a one stop connection .
I agree , we need more competition out of Australia to the UK , and would love to see Turkish down here .
cheers mate

Yes I had meant Australia to BHX specifically - as you say there are almost too many options to count if you look at Australia to the UK as a whole!

Hope the health issues get resolved quickly and you can get flying again.

 

[nwoody2001]

nowoody2001, you state that there is no evidence to back my claim,they Mr Nick Barton hasn't brought in major airlines since his arrival at Birmingham Airport, so please nwoody2001, tell me which major airline. AndyC

I’m not sure I do need to explain myself beyond my email, but to help you out….

Your statement: “Birmingham Airport is the 7th fastest growing airport in the UK, how very untrue that is”

Fact: BHX is the 7th largest and this is a fact. Can you please reference your quote where you think BHX is the 7th fastest growing as I’ve never seen this quote.

Your statement: “I can imagine what deals they offer, two year deal”

Fact: We will never know the extent of deals offered to airlines as they will be confidential, but we know from the press that BHX often offers 3 years deals on new routes/airlines where full fees aren’t paid until the 4th year. We also know that other deals are also offered as made clear in the deal BHX recently secured with Ryanair which has seen the airline increase the size of its base at BHX 50% with 2 more based aircraft.

Your statement: “This is why I know that Birmingham Airport will never break any airline passenger figures in the coming years, whilst it has this negative attitude towards enticing airlines to Birmingham, it just frightens them away”

Fact: I disagree. Based on the above, I think this proves how little you know rather than anything else. Your statements above seem to lack any evidence, nor is it clear what “break any airline passenger figures” actually means?!

Your statement: “they hire a midas touch chief executive officer, who worked his magic with Luton and Stansted, yet hadn't worked at Birmingham, even though they are paying him over 500,000 per year”

Fact: Nick Barton oversaw the major growth of Luton into a major Low Cost Hub with Easyjet and Wizz and similarly Stansted is a major Hub for Ryanair. I find it no coincidence that since Nick Barton Joined BHX, in the last 4 years alone, Ryanair’s presence at the airport has grown 28% after years of stagnation at the airport, and Easyjet has grown 280% going from 2 routes to 11 routes having previously vouched never to fly from BHX as “the airport wasn’t viable for easyjet”. That’s magic the previous chief exec wasn’t able to achieve even with his many achievements.

Your Statement: “Mr Nick hasn't brought in any big new carriers since he arrived pre covid, no ba, no virgin, no ua, no aa, no delta, plus another others to start long haul direct flights to USA”

Fact: Nick Barton Joined BHX in 2019 a year before a global pandemic. We know negotiations for new airlines can take years to attract (2-5 years in cases) so given the fact that within the 4 years of Nick Bartons leadership, 3 have been spent in the middle of a global pandemic, I think this expectation is pretty unrealistic. BA and Virgin have made clear their intentions to consolidate their operations, with Virgin pulling out of LGW, BFS and GLA and even reducing flights to their newly opened EDI base. BA has also shrank back significantly to LHR away from LGW.

Since Nick Barton has been back at the airport, the airport has attracted the likes of Aegean Airlines, Sun Express, Corendon Airlines back to BHX, has attracted the likes of the new Flybe to base its HQ at the airport and operate a 4 aircraft base offering 8x routes and nearly 100 weekly flights in summer 2023, has encouraged key airlines like Emirates and Air India to return to pre-covid levels, will hopefully be getting Qatar and Turkmensitan back in 2023 and with he likes of Play, Saudi and Hans Airways applying for slots also in 2023, seems to be working hard in attracting new airlines.

Im not aware where Nick Barton suggested any of the airline you list would return to BHX but im confident they are doing all they can to attract such airlines back…

 

[Timberwolf]

I think we have to remember routes have to be viable in terms of money for airports.
Low cost airlines such as Wizz, Easyjet etc, would love to fly from a UK base for nothing.Im sure BHX could have secured both under such an arrangement.Yet the airport has to make money from an airline base too.
Each time I contact Easyjet as to why they don't have a base at BHX, I have got the same reply .."Birmingham doesn't meet our operational requirements to open a base" Make of that what you wish.
As for Qatar i simply can't see how they would return to BHX currently they are short of suitable planes.
Having 23 A350s indefinitely grounded and 19 other A350s on order cancelled by Airbus over a paint dispute.
With only a few new leased 77Ws and a couple of new high yield configuered B789s trickling through. Probably need for other routes to be dropped to facilitate BHX new flts.
Hope I'm wrong..

 

[Scottie Dog]

Welcome to F4A @Timberwolf.

 

[nwoody2001]

I think we have to remember routes have to be viable in terms of money for airports.
Low cost airlines such as Wizz, Easyjet etc, would love to fly from a UK base for nothing.Im sure BHX could have secured both under such an arrangement.Yet the airport has to make money from an airline base too.
Each time I contact Easyjet as to why they don't have a base at BHX, I have got the same reply .."Birmingham doesn't meet our operational requirements to open a base" Make of that what you wish.
As for Qatar i simply can't see how they would return to BHX currently they are short of suitable planes.
Having 23 A350s indefinitely grounded and 19 other A350s on order cancelled by Airbus over a paint dispute.
With only a few new leased 77Ws and a couple of new high yield configuered B789s trickling through. Probably need for other routes to be dropped to facilitate BHX new flts.
Hope I'm wrong..

I couldn't disagree.

WIZZ is a prime example with this also. After massive expansion pre-brexit and covid, Wizz now only fly to a number of regional airports and only have 2 UK bases both in London (LTN/LGW). Low cost equals lo margins, and with Brexit having a massive impact on UK to Eastern Europe travel and the holiday market from the UK being dominated by Ryanair, Easyjet, Jet2 and TUI, Wizz has not been able to break into this outside London.

I believe the only thing limiting Qatars return to BHX is aircraft availability. They have been able to off-load routes to other one-world airlines (BA flying LGW-DOH for example and Finnair taking over a majority of QR routes out of ARN, CPH, OSL and HEL), this has helped free up capacity, but with demand returning, QR will need to figure out its plan soon else EK and TK will just steal a vast majority of their market…

Hopefully clarification is received soon!

 

[Timberwolf]

Yes agree with most of this nwoody.

I am intrigued though why Qatar put in double daily slots for BHX and slots for a 2nd daily EDI service.
They knew before that the Airbus case is heading for a long protracted court case and probably didn't have the planes for more UK expansion therefore. Also would know before if they would lease any new suitable ones arriving in 2023, and how other current routes are performing.
Of course they could easily know things we don't, but strange ?
Let's hope we are both wrong..

 

[nwoody2001]

I suspect that is Qatars intention. its just a case if they have the aircraft to make it work

 

[Bhx_fifteen]

A very pleasant surprise to see Emirates A380 this morning at BHX! First flight of the day, over to Madrid.

It looks like works have started on the new security area and mezzanine! https://www.birminghamairport.co.uk...022/10/works-begins-on-new-bhx-security-area/

 

[mullion]

Qatar have a habit of operating say daily but at different times so maybe early Mo, Wed, Fri
and evening tu, Th, sa and Sun so thet just request slots for all and then use what they require
I`m not making any claims as to them doing that

 

[Aviador]

Please read and comment there...

Feedback Request - Re: Forum layout feedback...

I wasn't a case of I thought there was a problem @JENNYJET more a case of making sure we haven't missed anything. Different browsers and different devices can create a different experience.

forums4airports.com

This is really quite a big change so I would appreciate more feedback from everyone. If very few people share there thoughts I can only presume most people are happy. We need to make the right decision.

 

[Brum X]

This is really quite a big change so I would appreciate more feedback from everyone. If very few people share there thoughts I can only presume most people are happy. We need to make the right decision.

This means forums for individual airports will no longer have specific airline threads as they will be merged into one section in the main Airline Forum.

Sorry Aviador, I don't like the idea of this, when I come on to the forum and visit the BHX thread, I want to see stuff related to BHX ?

Brum X is not happy with this change, well you asked, looooooooooooooooooool

 

[JENNYJET]

As with all things in life, change is at first difficult to navigate. But doable. Only time can determine if it works well for everyone and I have yet to fully engage. However, all looks fine to me and thank you for all efforts.

 

[Aviador]

The general feeling is not to change anything but if things are to stay as they are everyone needs to ensure that airline information relevent to other airports are posted in those forums too or posted in the main Airline Forum.

 

[HPsauce]

Sad to hear of the demise of Flybe, although not really surprised.
A major blow for all those employed by them.

 

[JENNYJET]

It is indeed sad but I feared it was inevitable. An airline goes bust and gains a reputation during the inquest that is Administration. It gets funding and/or backing and restarts as FLYBE. I can recall PAN AM, and LAKER. Both went bust and attempted resurrection using the name that is their identity. Result? BOING!! A customer reqires little beyond the ticket price. Stability is vital. Time shall inform us of the why's and wherefore's of this latest failure. The thing nagging my mind is what, if anything, will Virgin do since they were supposedly linked?

 

[KARFA]

Virgin/Delta were linked with flybe 1. As far as I know they had nothing to do with flybe 2. Domestic connections for the LHR hub are provided by BA - you can book BA down to LHR and on to a VS long haul on one ticket.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Domestic connections for the LHR hub are provided by BA - you can book BA down to LHR and on to a VS long haul on one ticket.

Not from BHX!

 

[KARFA]

Not from BHX!

In response to the post above mine I was making the point that the collapse of BE2 really is irrelevant for Virgin/Delta this time - they were not linked and not dependent on BE2 for feed.