Birmingham Airport - General Thread

[Ray Finkle]

The 5 year rule has now gone, just the 20 aircraft rule remains.

If Air India ever start Mumbai then I can't see it being on anything other than a 787. The economics are so much better and a 773 would be way too big. If there was ever a double drop then I think it would be with Ahmedabad, to cater for the large Gujarati population of the East Midlands. Colombo would be in the wrong direction.

Air India are doing very well funnelling people through Delhi which is their main hub and is still growing. There were suggestions that Mumbai was to grow as their next hub but progress seems to be slow, with most new long haul routes being out of Delhi. Air India only have one European route out of Mumbai which is to LHR. Even Jet only have AMS, CDG and LHR.

Air Canada are starting YVR-DEL direct (although seasonal) so I'd imagine that AI will code share.

 

[JENNYJET]

Thank you Sir Raymond but I have read through the new directive as mentioned previously but as a legal eagle myself, it is open to legal challenge in the Indian Courts simply because established airlines such as Air India and Jet Airways have had to endure the old rules, Kingfisher failed allegedly because of those rules and the established airlines may deeply object to a start up purchasing or leasing 20 stored aircraft and begin at once international services in direct competition.

The Colombo suggestion was just that, a service that could generate traffic via an Indian city as I was a regular visitor to Colombo on Sri Lankan A340‘s from LHR, in my opinion the best aircraft I have ever flown within.

BHX needs to attract passengers away from the London Airports especially the tourist traffic and we have gained Charter flights to Dubai, flights to Gambia and likley flights to Goa, these were once only available via Gatwick!

Just tweaking the departure points from the London centric status Quo to a wider and more accessible departure point like BHX or even EMA can break the current mindset of tour operators.

It is the tour operators that sell holidays, they also need to consider selling the most convenient airports and that London is only a part of England and not England as a whole.

To further illustrate my thoughts, does Glasgow or Edinburgh or Aberdeen or even Prestwick match any of the London airports ( including Luton ) , do they even come close to any English airport?

Manchester has the Northern Gateway status and has certain extra benefits over the London Airports but Birmingham is central England, the best road network, rail links to far and wide yet the Airport is considered to be what?

I have always said that the new airport is unfinished work, the Elmdon area is ripe for better use, the Monarch site is badly sited and the entire western area is better to be developed and that means absorption of Hatchford Brook and further road rerouting.

Reopening 06/24 could easily enhance capacity if used by turboprops and STOL jets.

Get new terminal space, better runway use and put it all together, BHX can easily be a 20 million plus facility rather quicker than current policies suggest.

Once more I apologize for drifting off topic to the Head Moderator for just another rant, I care about my airport but get worked up when I see things those better paid than me move so leisurely, I indeed live on disability benefits alone, they move slowly, think slowly, God knows what else they do so slowly it appears to me that a lot of money is paid to those that need a touch of relative poverty to wake them up.

Birmingham Airport is ripe, leave it too long it shall become a decaying outpost never to become a world class facility and destination.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Miss Jenny I shall bow to your superior legal knowledge. Most have welcomed the news but it will definitely be an interesting one to watch should any of the more established airlines decide to mount a challenge, especially if they perceive a threat. What would be the time limit of such a challenge?

The western apron has issues being close to residential estates. If the Monarch hangar was further towards the A45 it would be very close to the residents of Rangoon Road which would cause a problem. Similarly the golf course is very near to several residential streets and I doubt any proposals would get through planning (there are those in the know on here)? I think nwoody has also mentioned that as public service land the council would find it difficult to sell for development.

Mr Kehoe has clearly stated that he himself thinks that the current site is too small for his long term plans. There are options for bits here and there to be added, even a new terminal but long term he wants a move to the other side of the M42, by the HS2 station.

We have a master plan due in the next few months. I'm going to hold judgement until we see the plan and the timescales involved. If it's not ambitious enough then we can make our voices heard.

Once more I apologize for drifting off topic to the Head Moderator for just another rant, I care about my airport but get worked up when I see things those better paid than me move so leisurely,

Please don't apologise. We're all passionate about BHX, it's great to see

 

[JENNYJET]

Sir Raymond,

The current law of limitations in India under the 1963 Act of the same name says that one had between 3 and 30 years to initiate a claim within the civilian legal structures but the constitutional courts that are Federal given that India, is a nation of autonomous states have fluid laws that I struggle to digest.

My limited understanding of those Statutes is that a business having legal identity, as is the case in UK Law, may apply to the court for a formal legal review of any agreement if between private parties but need to apply to the Federal courts for corporate disputes if the National Interest is under any kind of threat.

Be advised, Indian Law is as bequeathed by Britain under the India Independence Act, they have modified and enhanced it to such extent that even a Doctor of Law could not unravel it to a level of understanding of my tiny brain! I am not a Doctor of Law, neither do I practice Law but I hold all qualifying papers excepting the legal authority to practice.

My strokes and other health issues disqualified me from the profession.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there ray and all, would you say that all the airlines that currently serve Birmingham, cover all cities in Europe at all....Andyc

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Hi Andy

I'm not quite sure what you are asking there. Most definitely, not every European city is served directly from BHX. There are also still several gaps regarding European capital cities - Helsinki, Stockholm and Vienna spring to mind, along with several eastern European centres (although services to these are growing).
If you're asking about indirect links, then I would say that most European cities are accessible via the airlines that serve BHX (Lufthansa, KLM, Air France, Iberia etc).

Regards

Kevin

 

[JENNYJET]

Hi there ray and all, would you say that all the airlines that currently serve Birmingham, cover all cities in Europe at all....Andyc

I do not wish to impart any negative tones but I thought about this......and thought more about this..........and er.....

Put simply, No airline based at BHX serves directly Robin Hood { Doncaster }, Leeds/Bradford, Exeter, any of the five designated London airports er..I mean six London etc., as for European cities, no direct service to Dresden, Turin?, Leipzig/Halle? Berlin, Bergen, Oslo, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Minsk, however the Irish gang can dream up some secondary or tertiary airports somewhere that can be picked up for expansive generation of revenues.

Have we got Luxembourg up yet?

I fear the standard airline attitudes to serve Capital city airports first and only when established and bringing profitable customers would they consider secondary airports and that may include our own little BHX

 

[Brum X]

Flybe go direct BHX-Berlin Tegal and soon Luxembourg

Doncaster and Leeds from BHX ???/ Seriously who do you expect to start these flights as we don't have any flights to Manchester and why would we, it only takes just over 1 hour 30 mins up the M6.

 

[User001]

Monarch also serve BHX-Turin.

 

[JENNYJET]

Flybe go direct BHX-Berlin Tegal and soon Luxembourg

Doncaster and Leeds from BHX ???/ Seriously who do you expect to start these flights as we don't have any flights to Manchester and why would we, it only takes just over 1 hour 30 mins up the M6.

Sir, May I refer you to the question submitted by Mr. Clarkson?

My response was merely exploratory and yes, include some testy suggestions of service NOT served by BHX based airlines but are important cities to those that reside within them.

I also simply asked about Luxembourg and Berlin given the capital airport for Germany has I believe yet to open or at least get certified for operations.

Finally, I have never managed to get to Manchester, the city or the airport in as little as 90 minutes and I was once a courier and that blasted M6 always had some idiot manage to close the road whenever my vehicle left the M5 to join it!!!

 

[nwoody2001]

BHX-BERLIN has been operating for over a year now 11x weekly ...pretty established!

 

[JENNYJET]

BHX-BERLIN has been operating for over a year now 11x weekly ...pretty established!

Yes Sir but is it NOT to the new airport for Berlin?

The airport Germany does not want to talk about because it is a monumental ***Please Read Forum Terms of Service***-up and cannot function as originally designed?

 

[Ray Finkle]

Going back to the original question, Europe is looking much, much healthier than a couple of years ago. The new routes seem to be doing well and frequencies will build in the coming years.

Priorities:

Vienna
Riga
Helsinki
Oslo
Stockholm
Porto
Pisa/Florence
Valencia
Toulouse

I'd also like:

Debrecen
Iasi
Bacau
Kosice
Kiev
Lublin
Targu Mores/Timisoara
Bologna
Nuremberg
Brindisi
Marseille
Seville
Zadar
Gothenburg
Tallin

Plenty still to aim for

 

[User001]

I would also single out Bilbao or Santander as a nice route to reach northern Spain from BHX.

I do think Paris Orly needs to be more accessible from the UK regions. It's a great airport to get to Paris through, and a growing list of connections. Currently, only Edinburgh and Southampton have a link outside London.

I also think Corsica could do with more links from the UK regions. I believe only Manchester has a link outside London, and that is only a weekly link to Bastia. It's a beautiful island and more links to either Bastia or Ajjacio would do wonders.

Montenegro is on the up and up. Currently mainly reached via Dubrovnik, but, Tivat and Podgoricia gaining more links currently.

Lastly, I would like more UK regional links to the former yugaslavia states. Pristine, Belgrade, Skjope and Sjareavo should start getting more popular as things remain settled. Beautiful part of the world.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Flybe offer Birmingham to Bastia every Sunday.

 

[nwoody2001]

Yes Sir but is it NOT to the new airport for Berlin?

The airport Germany does not want to talk about because it is a monumental ***Please Read Forum Terms of Service***-up and cannot function as originally designed?

The new airport isn't open so of course not. However, BHX flies to Tegal which is the main full service airport for Berlin and is the base for Lufthansa etc... Schonefeld (the only other airport open in Berlin) is a low cost airport.... you seem to think that operating at the low cost airport is better...???!!!

 

[User001]

So they do, my bad. I thought it was just a charter for someone.

Point remains that Corsica Could still do with more links.

 

[Brum X]

The new airport isn't open so of course not. However, BHX flies to Tegal which is the main full service airport for Berlin and is the base for Lufthansa etc... Schonefeld (the only other airport open in Berlin) is a low cost airport.... you seem to think that operating at the low cost airport is better...???!!![/QUOT

The new airport isn't open so of course not. However, BHX flies to Tegal which is the main full service airport for Berlin and is the base for Lufthansa etc... Schonefeld (the only other airport open in Berlin) is a low cost airport.... you seem to think that operating at the low cost airport is better...???!!!

Yes Jenny, BHX currently flies into the main international airport of Berlin that is currently open. That is Berlin Tegal.

 

[JENNYJET]

The new airport isn't open so of course not. However, BHX flies to Tegal which is the main full service airport for Berlin and is the base for Lufthansa etc... Schonefeld (the only other airport open in Berlin) is a low cost airport.... you seem to think that operating at the low cost airport is better...???!!!

Do I? How did you manage to interpret my words to reach that conclusion sir?

It is similar to suggesting that Templhof to Elmdon is a good prospect in 2016!!!

No Sir, I am simply trying to suggest that BHX has no access to the best airport that serves Berlin and that is still not operational to this day.

As for low cost operations, does it serve BHX well to have Ryanair be dominating at a city airport seeking global significance?

I would willingly see Ryanair go to Coventry and free up slots at BHX for the more serious operators to service the prize global routes and a road/rail fast shuttle service complete with immigration and baggage transfer between the possible domestic terminal that could be Coventry and the International terminal that would be BHX.

Remember the old LHR-LGW helicopter airlink? Could that not work with a couple of Chinook Helicopters serving the transfer of international and domestic passengers between Coventry and Birmingham airports?

 

[rutamkrd]

As for low cost operations, does it serve BHX well to have Ryanair be dominating at a city airport seeking global significance?

I would willingly see Ryanair go to Coventry and free up slots at BHX for the more serious operators to service the prize global routes and a road/rail fast shuttle service complete with immigration and baggage transfer between the possible domestic terminal that could be Coventry and the International terminal that would be BHX.

Remember the old LHR-LGW helicopter airlink? Could that not work with a couple of Chinook Helicopters serving the transfer of international and domestic passengers between Coventry and Birmingham airports?

Hope you are being ironic because Ryanair ARE a very serious player in short haul period !

They are a magnitude larger than many/most of the legacies within Europe operate to an ever increasing number of major airport and many of those so called secondary city/towns actually have significant business traffic particularly for the midland manufacturing industries .

The days of BA serving what was it a dozen or so European capitals Monday to Friday with an afternoon Sunday rotation are long gone and for good reason.