Birmingham Airport - General Thread

[TheLocalYokel]

I won't post the whole article but another accolade means that the back slapping can continue.

BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT REVEALED AS ONE OF THE UK’S BEST LARGE AIRPORTS

Birmingham Airport has been named as the best large airport in the country outside of London in Which? Travel’s 2019 Annual Airport Survey. Find out more.

www.birminghamairport.co.uk

I notice that Tom Screen has Tweeted that he wants to go to Seville. Well he has the choice of Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, Manchester, Bristol and even East Midlands, sadly just not BHX

Makes no sense that an airport of BHX's size serving the catchment that it does has no Seville service. At Bristol easyJet and Ryanair fly there, both year-round. There is an Airbus connection at both ends but I wouldn't have thought that would make a great deal of difference.

 

[jfy1999]

A couple of years ago I might have taken that as an indication that he knows something we don't

 

[Coathanger16]

I won't post the whole article but another accolade means that the back slapping can continue.

BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT REVEALED AS ONE OF THE UK’S BEST LARGE AIRPORTS

Birmingham Airport has been named as the best large airport in the country outside of London in Which? Travel’s 2019 Annual Airport Survey. Find out more.

www.birminghamairport.co.uk

I notice that Tom Screen has Tweeted that he wants to go to Seville. Well he has the choice of Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, Manchester, Bristol and even East Midlands, sadly just not BHX

We could really do with Ryanair closing their EMA base and moving all services to BHX

 

[58terminus]

BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT REVEALED AS ONE OF THE UK'S BEST LARGE AIRPORTS

What a strange headline to lead a news story on your own website.
Has it been hidden under a the cloak that has just been whisked away?
Possibly composed by somebody the morning after the do.
If your the best shout about it.
If you are "one of the best" let it lie. You are admitting there are better.
Still some work to do the with PR dept. but they are getting better.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Makes no sense that an airport of BHX's size serving the catchment that it does has no Seville service. At Bristol easyJet and Ryanair fly there, both year-round.

Oh it doesn't stop at Seville.

Birmingham also has no regular services to Lisbon, Athens, Reykjavik, Gibraltar, Basel, Bilbao, Toulouse, Stockholm, Olbia, Brindisi, Kaunas/Vilnius and Valencia, all of which are available from BRS.

It's why so many are desperate to see an easyjet base to finally get some of these routes back

 

[JENNYJET]

I would have thought Mr. Screen could have access to a corporate jet if he is on airport business, or is BHX so insignificant these days that he is unworthy?

 

[rollo]

Oh it doesn't stop at Seville.

Birmingham also has no regular services to Lisbon, Athens, Reykjavik, Gibraltar, Basel, Bilbao, Toulouse, Stockholm, Olbia, Brindisi, Kaunas/Vilnius and Valencia, all of which are available from BRS.

It's why so many are desperate to see an easyjet base to finally get some of these routes back

Seeing Rays list it does make you wonder what the development team have been doing over the last few years or quite possibly they have been constrained by previous senior management policies in wanting to protect the legacy carriers to a degree hopefully the new regime can follow up on its recent progress and contacts with a certain airline.

BHX must be ripe for a proper low cost base and personally I do not see the likes of Lufthansa, KLM or Air France backing off as they want to protect their hubs and wouldn't much be effected by the destinations mentioned.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Seeing Rays list it does make you wonder what the development team have been doing over the last few years or quite possibly they have been constrained by previous senior management policies in wanting to protect the legacy carriers to a degree hopefully the new regime can follow up on its recent progress and contacts with a certain airline.

BHX must be ripe for a proper low cost base and personally I do not see the likes of Lufthansa, KLM or Air France backing off as they want to protect their hubs and wouldn't much be effected by the destinations mentioned.

I can't remember who said it but that line from an interview still sticks with me, 'we continued to back the wrong airlines' (or words to that effect).

With his extensive experience gained at LTN in dealing with low cost airlines all eyes are now on Mr Barton.

 

[58terminus]

can't remember who said it but that line from an interview still sticks with me, 'we continued to back the wrong airlines' (or words to that effect).

P.K maybe? Oh wait not him.He jumped ship just before that line would have been used.

 

[Ray Finkle]

The link below is from an interview with Nick Barton. The vast majority of it is about the terminal developments and other associated works along with improvements to the overall passenger experience. The only mention of anything route wise is copied below

Flight path | Midlands Business Insider October 2019 | Insider Media

Magazine Article from Midlands Business Insider October 2019: Birmingham Airport has a new £500m masterplan, and a new boss to deliver it. So how will Nick Barton deal with the pressure of handling multiple stakeholders and a predicted 18 million passengers?

www.insidermedia.com

One challenge will be in attracting more prestige carriers: the airport already has 50 airlines flying from its runway, including tailfins from the likes of Emirates, Turkish, Qatar and Air India. Last year British Airways made a tentative return, after a decade, by flying summer-only services. Barton thinks that more can be brought in simply by making the business case.

He says: “The Midlands has got a great case as the UK’s second-fastest growing region and that will drive traffic. It’s an incredibly successful place and home to Britain’s second biggest city.

“But there’s a limited number of aircraft and they can as easily be based in France, Spain or Italy, without any major restrictions, as here. Operators will go where the business is – if a cost base here is too high, and a carrier can operate more profitably in Poland, off they’ll go.”

 

[Aviador]

I see Manchester airport was crowned as the best airport in the UK and Ireland’s at the Travel Trade Gazette awards. Interesting as Which? crowned the same airport as one of the worst UK airports (Terminal 3). For Birmingham it's still great to see some consistency with these awards. It's testament to all the hard work the airport is doing to improve it's image and customer service.

 

[Ianbutty]

I see Manchester airport was crowned as the best airport in the UK and Ireland’s at the Travel Trade Gazette awards. Interesting as Which? crowned the same airport as one of the worst UK airports (Terminal 3). For Birmingham it's still great to see some consistency with these awards. It's testament to all the hard work the airport is doing to improve it's image and customer service.

And the problem with awards is... Let's celebrate them all. I agree, I think consistency is key and BHX seems to be there or there about near the top. And it will get better.

 

[Ashley]

Birmingham's 10 biggest mistakes and number 9 is the airport.

Brum's top ten biggest mistakes that shape the way we live today

Imagine a world without Spaghetti Junction or the NEC, rivers that you can actually see and a bustling Bull Ring market steeped in genuine character, would Birmingham be a better or worse place to live?

www.birminghammail.co.uk

While Birmingham Airport claims to be a success due to the growth in passenger numbers, in human terms it's like a kid who seems to be fully grown at the age of 12.

 

[Brum X]

Birmingham's 10 biggest mistakes and number 9 is the airport.

Brum's top ten biggest mistakes that shape the way we live today

Imagine a world without Spaghetti Junction or the NEC, rivers that you can actually see and a bustling Bull Ring market steeped in genuine character, would Birmingham be a better or worse place to live?

www.birminghammail.co.uk

While Birmingham Airport claims to be a success due to the growth in passenger numbers, in human terms it's like a kid who seems to be fully grown at the age of 12.

And every bit of that review is spot on imo

 

[58terminus]

Great article. Interesting to make a comparison with how the Aston Expressway ripped the heart out of Aston, Nechells and to a lessor extent Newtown and has made it impossible to revive those districts, and the Metro which even i was surprised is going to take NINE YEARS!! to extend from Snow Hill to Five Ways. In the meantime the construction is having the same effect on parts of the city centre that the expressway had on the suburbs.

 

[Ray Finkle]

The city's quickest gateway to foreign cities is, like the neighbouring NEC, handy for the local motorway networks and Birmingham International Railway Station.

And yet it feels more like Birmingham Airport is being run like a domestic airport with package holidays bolted on rather than as a genuine international hub.

If Birmingham had expanded in line with its city status there would be no debate about the need for another runway at Heathrow.

 

[Ray Finkle]

We have a one or two changes this month, some good others not so.

Air Arabia end their 2x weekly service to Agadir on the 25th. This is due to them closing the Agadir base with only a few domestic routes remaining.

Blue Air will end Larnaca on the 26th. As we know they have Brexit concerns about flying a Romanian registered aircraft between the UK and Cyprus meaning BHX and LTN are both cut. Bucharest continues throughout winter and is back to 5x weekly next summer so lets hope that they can bring Larnaca back at some point in the future.

Flybe end Hanover and Hamburg with other routes stopping for winter. The less said about them the better at the moment.

Lauda start their 3x weekly Vienna on the 29th. With Austrian taking over from Eurowings next year and going daily from March it will be a route that will go from 4x weekly this year to 10x weekly next year. An interesting one to watch.

Pinching a bit of Nov we see Jet2 join Wizz to Budapest from the 8th when they start 2x weekly flights.

 

[58terminus]

Cuts and route duplication.Worrying.

 

[Paulsstrange]

Understatement.

An investigation is needed in to the policy of bhx shareholders.

It's almost as if they are working for MAG !!

It's gone too far now not to seriously need to know what the hell is going on down there, .....

 

[JENNYJET]

Can shareholders be separated from management? I did not choose business law when doing my studies, rather it was constitutional and other niche areas like medical and treaties etc., but from memory directors of companies have a duty to shareholders.

One would like to see the Articles and mission statement of the airport company and to see how they are being observed. Thus armed, one can come to judgement upon the performance of the board.