Birmingham Airport - General Thread

[pianokeys]

Just watching Airport Action on YouTube and noted how clean and rubber free the runway looks.

Kevin

There was video clip on the airports Twitter feed on November 23 showing the machine in action that removes the tyre deposits from the runway grooves. Apologies for not uploading, not quite sure without risking losing it somewhere in the clouds !

 

[JENNYJET]

They are doing a good job given that the airport failed to offer a stream to non passengers at home. With non of the nonsence from that London guy!

Hoping that this comment does not fall foul of moderators!

 

[Kevin Farnell]

They are doing a good job given that the airport failed to offer a stream to non passengers at home. With non of the nonsence from that London guy!

Hoping that this comment does not fall foul of moderators!

Unfortunately, I don't think that the airport (BHX) has any interest in offering a livestream. As such, Airport Action do a good job of streaming the action, but obviously they can't be there 24h/day. The only thing that I find, is that the guy's (I think his name is Kevin) singing can become annoying at times.
While I was watching, other viewers were contacting him, asking if he was going to feature other airports. He replied that Gatwick requires a permit for livestreaming and Luton has banned all video and photography, so we should be grateful for what we get.
This leads to an area which is probably more in your domain. I can understand airports banning or requiring a permit for video/photography when on their property, but surely they have no power over people on public or their own private land (e.g., if I want to photograph aircraft flying over my house). Your thoughts would be interesting.

There is nothing about your post which would "fall foul of moderators". If the post developed into a discussion regarding photography and the law (which would be very interesting), then it would be better continued in the Photography Forum.

Kevin

 

[JENNYJET]

To the best of my knowledge but not my area of interest, if it be within the area subject to local bylaws, Luton is free to ban all activity it feels may negatively impact upon the running of the airport including but not exclusively security. If ones house is within the affected area those bylaws may be challenged in court, but a strong case would be necessary to counter a security concern, and costs would be eye watering!

 

[Coathanger16]

New airplane boarding tax takes effect from 1 April

The tax, applicable at all airports in the country, will be 10 euros for each passenger whose destination is less than 500 km from the country’s busiest airport – Brussels Airport at Zaventem.

www.brusselstimes.com

An additional 10 Euros for passengers flying to London and Birmingham, whilst Manchester and Edinburgh are beyond the 500km cutoff.

The irony with all these measures to reduce the shortest flights is that it is those flights that will get to net zero or even zero carbon first.

Additionally, will 10 Euros really persuade many people to take the train instead of flying. A quick comparison for Birmingham to Brussels return in February has a return flight at £125 versus £230 for the train at similar times. Whilst booking the cheapest Eurostar would cost you a total of £130 (including the Birmingham - London - Birmingham fare), to get that price would mean getting back to Birmingham at half past midnight. For an extra 10 Euros, I'd rather get back at a nicer time.

Sadly expect to see more of these taxes and bans (France) over the coming years.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

This article is dated 28 March 2022 and supposedly came into effect on 1 April 2022 (HMMM ). Also, the charges are listed in Euros, which would imply that it is an EU regulation (if not an April fools joke - not that there's really any difference!). Thankfully, we are no longer part of the EU, so any EU ruling should not effect Great Britain (Northern Ireland is currently a different situation).

Kevin

 

[Coathanger16]

This article is dated 28 March 2022 and supposedly came into effect on 1 April 2022 (HMMM ). Also, the charges are listed in Euros, which would imply that it is an EU regulation (if not an April fools joke - not that there's really any difference!). Thankfully, we are no longer part of the EU, so any EU ruling should not effect Great Britain (Northern Ireland is currently a different situation).

Kevin

Apologies. I saw the story on https://simpleflying.com/ and searched for a more accurate article (SimpleFlying can be a bit inaccurate at times so it doesn't surprise me they were 9 months late).

I'm not sure how it being an EU regulation or not has any impact on whether it affects GB. When we were part of the EU we levied APD independently of the EU (and one of, if not the most expensive). If it was an EU regulation, surely it would affect all airports in the EU and not just Brussels?

Regardless, my main point was yet another levy aimed at the aviation industry in the pursuit of stopping climate change. If the tax was ring fenced specifically for SAF production or zero carbon aviation research then fine. Likely its just another money making scheme from the Belgian government who know it will likely have little impact on passenger levels, but just raise more money for them.

 

[Silvercity]

Such a lovely new item on ITV news just now of the young lad who is mad on aircraft, going to BHX ATC for the day. He was so thrilled , thats made his Christmas. Well done Birmingham Airport .

 

[Ray Finkle]

Such a lovely new item on ITV news just now of the young lad who is mad on aircraft, going to BHX ATC for the day. He was so thrilled , thats made his Christmas. Well done Birmingham Airport .

Well done BHX, it looks as if you really made his day

Charlie, aged 7, becomes air traffic controller

The pint-sized aviation fanatic, from Walsall, West Midlands, loves nothing more than going to the end of the BHX runway to watch the planes when his parents, Kat and Darren, are able to take him.

www.birminghamairport.co.uk

 

[David Cartwright]

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 .

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there David Cartwright ,I totally agree with what you are saying, they say in there advert, Birmingham Airport is the 7th fastest growing airport in the UK, how very untrue that is, a total false statement, an airport boasting of 150 destinations worldwide, yet no direct flights to USA for more than five years now, charges airlines by the mtow and not per size of aircraft like Manchester does, which is why Manchester Airport handles more than double what Birmingham Airport does. They say that Birmingham Airport routes development team are frequently talking airlines, I can imagine what deals they offer, two year deal, 1st year at this low cost price of half what it normally charges, then once 12 months offer ends, instead of extending it further, it then activates its 13th month clause, informing airline that special deal ow finished, but charges apply, then you hear that airline is pulling out with no explanation at all, yet another airline gone. 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, then you hear that another has offered a much better deal tgsn Birmingham, then you wonder why. But what really annoyes me is that 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 to run the amount, what a waste of money, 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...AndyC

 

[IanFarquharson]

Hi there David Cartwright ,I totally agree with what you are saying, they say in there advert, Birmingham Airport is the 7th fastest growing airport in the UK, how very untrue that is, a total false statement, an airport boasting of 150 destinations worldwide, yet no direct flights to USA for more than five years now, charges airlines by the mtow and not per size of aircraft like Manchester does, which is why Manchester Airport handles more than double what Birmingham Airport does. They say that Birmingham Airport routes development team are frequently talking airlines, I can imagine what deals they offer, two year deal, 1st year at this low cost price of half what it normally charges, then once 12 months offer ends, instead of extending it further, it then activates its 13th month clause, informing airline that special deal ow finished, but charges apply, then you hear that airline is pulling out with no explanation at all, yet another airline gone. 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, then you hear that another has offered a much better deal tgsn Birmingham, then you wonder why. But what really annoyes me is that 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 to run the amount, what a waste of money, 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...AndyC

Andrew - You need a reality check BA, AA, VS, DL etc are not coming to BHX
BHX is the 7th busiest airport in the UK and does offer 150 destinations direct or one-stop.
BHX is competitive otherwise easyjet wouldn't have just announced BHX-Naples !
BHX is doing well but I agree it could do better but that has always been its physical location with lots of choice North & South, people in The Midlands have always seemed 'ok' with going elsewhere to fly to destinations not on offer at BHX and is a major challenge to claw them back.
I have been at presentations by Paul Kehoe and he admitted BHX is way short of serving its catchment area but as I said above we are in the wrong location.

 

[Coathanger16]

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 .

How far out do you typically book? Just for my own curiosity, I looked at flights from Sydney to BHX, MAN and LHR for October this year with EK and BHX was the cheapest. Not saying thats always the case, but likewise it's not always the case that BHX is more expensive.

At the moment, Emirates has basically a complete monopoly on Australia to the UK - Air India do fly to Sydney from Delhi, but with DEL - BHX being less than daily, its never going to be an attractive option for connecting passengers.

By the summer, the hope is that we'll have Qatar back which will provide some competition to bring prices down, and additionally Turkish keeps talking about launching flights to Australia, so when they do that will be 3 airlines you can fly BHX - Australia with 1 stop, and prices should be more reliably comparable to LHR/MAN.

Hi there David Cartwright ,I totally agree with what you are saying, they say in there advert, Birmingham Airport is the 7th fastest growing airport in the UK, how very untrue that is, a total false statement, an airport boasting of 150 destinations worldwide, yet no direct flights to USA for more than five years now, charges airlines by the mtow and not per size of aircraft like Manchester does, which is why Manchester Airport handles more than double what Birmingham Airport does. They say that Birmingham Airport routes development team are frequently talking airlines, I can imagine what deals they offer, two year deal, 1st year at this low cost price of half what it normally charges, then once 12 months offer ends, instead of extending it further, it then activates its 13th month clause, informing airline that special deal ow finished, but charges apply, then you hear that airline is pulling out with no explanation at all, yet another airline gone. 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, then you hear that another has offered a much better deal tgsn Birmingham, then you wonder why. But what really annoyes me is that 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 to run the amount, what a waste of money, 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...AndyC

Andrew, Manchester doesn't have United, Delta or American, BA only fly to LHR, and Virgin fly to less destinations now than they did before the pandemic. By your notion Manchester must also be doing c**p eh?

Nick Barton was CEO for about a year before Covid hit. It takes longer than that to see substantial changes, even without a pandemic grounding aviation. Since Mr Barton started in his role, easyJet have expanded from 2 routes to 11 routes, Ryanair have added an extra aircraft (or is it even 2) to their base and have their largest flying program out of BHX to date, and there are reliable rumours that Saudia will launch a route to BHX this year and that PLAY will restore our link to both Iceland and provide further connections to N.America.

Vs 2019 passengers levels, by 12 month rolling total as of November, BHX has recovered 73.0% of passengers, LHR has recovered 72.8% and LGW 67.2%. If Birmingham is failing, so much Heathrow and Gatwick.

 

[nwoody2001]

Hi there David Cartwright ,I totally agree with what you are saying, they say in there advert, Birmingham Airport is the 7th fastest growing airport in the UK, how very untrue that is, a total false statement, an airport boasting of 150 destinations worldwide, yet no direct flights to USA for more than five years now, charges airlines by the mtow and not per size of aircraft like Manchester does, which is why Manchester Airport handles more than double what Birmingham Airport does. They say that Birmingham Airport routes development team are frequently talking airlines, I can imagine what deals they offer, two year deal, 1st year at this low cost price of half what it normally charges, then once 12 months offer ends, instead of extending it further, it then activates its 13th month clause, informing airline that special deal ow finished, but charges apply, then you hear that airline is pulling out with no explanation at all, yet another airline gone. 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, then you hear that another has offered a much better deal tgsn Birmingham, then you wonder why. But what really annoyes me is that 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 to run the amount, what a waste of money, 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...AndyC

There are only 3 airports outside of London that offer direct scheduled flights between the UK and North America. They are EDI/GLA and MAN. Out of those airports (based on wiki), there are 20 routes, of which 10x are year-round, the rest area seasonal. GLA is the only airport smaller than BHX that has a single TATL Scheduled route.

EDI = 9 Routes (2x Year Round / 7x Seasonal)

Air Canada = Toronto (Seasonal)
Delta = New York JFK, Boston (Seasonal), Atlanta (Seasonal)
United = New York EWK, Washington (Seasonal), Chicago (Seasonal)
Westjet = Calgary (Seasonal)
Virgin = Orlando (Seasonal)

GLA = 1 Routes (1x Year Round)

Air Transat = Toronto

MAN = 10 Routes (7x Year Round / 3x Seasonal)
Aer Lingus = New York JFK, Orlando, Barbados (Seasonal)
Air Canada = Toronto (Seasonal)
Air Transat = Toronto
Singapore Airlines = Houston
Virgin Atlantic = Atlanta, New York JFK, Orlando, Barbados (Seasonal)

TUI offer transatlantic charter flights between North America and BHX, GLA and MAN as well as other airports.

LHR and LGW are the only 2 London Airports with schedule flights to North America. BHX is the 7th Busiest Airport in the UK and only 5 UK airports have North American flights… its is therefore no shock that BHX doesn’t have such flights.

As for the “Failure” of BHX and Nick Barton, I see no evidence to back this claim….

Comparing airlines and schedules between 2019 and 2023 schedules.

Current Schedules Summer 2023

Ryanair
2023 = 179x weekly departures
2019 = 144x weekly departures
Change = +28%

Easyjet
2023 = 75x weekly departures
2019 = 22x weekly departures
Change = +240%

Slot Allocations for 2023 Summer 2023

Jet2
2023 = 218x weekly departures
2019 = 166x weekly departures
Change = +31%

Tui
2023 = 151x weekly departures
2019 = 127x weekly departures
Change = +19%

So, given the above context and growth… How is BHX doing so poorly???

 

[andrew.clarkson]

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

 

[HPsauce]

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

As we are just beginning to recover from a Worldwide Pandemic, it is completely unfair to judge Nick Barton at the current time. Indeed, some of our operators are expanding cautiously, particularly in Low Cost, and if we are patient we may see more long haul in the future.
It has long been said that BHX suffers from being sandwiched between the London airports and Manchester, but we do offer an increasing range of routes in what are still difficult times for airlines. We just need to remain patient and i'm sure more developments will follow soon.

 

[IanFarquharson]

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 am sure nwoody2001 will come back to you but his explanation above says it all, major growth from a lot of existing airlines for starters.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Other than Iberia and Icelandair (or maybe Play one day) I'm not sure of any realistic new short haul airlines that I'm desperately hoping for. What I am rather excited about is quite significant Ryanair expansion, including the line that a deal has been done with BHX, and the fact that easyjet finally seem to be giving us a chance. There must be huge potential for those to claw back some of our city and seat only pax and open some much needed new markets.

Long haul is a different story and will likely take longer to recover. In the short term Emirates bringing back an A380 is a great sign that things are going in the right direction and getting Qatar back would be my priority, if Saudi arrive too then even better.

I think it's difficult to judge based on the last few years as nobody could have foreseen just where we ended up. For me it starts now and I think some of the signs are quite positive

 

[David Cartwright]

How far out do you typically book? Just for my own curiosity, I looked at flights from Sydney to BHX, MAN and LHR for October this year with EK and BHX was the cheapest. Not saying thats always the case, but likewise it's not always the case that BHX is more expensive.

At the moment, Emirates has basically a complete monopoly on Australia to the UK - Air India do fly to Sydney from Delhi, but with DEL - BHX being less than daily, its never going to be an attractive option for connecting passengers.

By the summer, the hope is that we'll have Qatar back which will provide some competition to bring prices down, and additionally Turkish keeps talking about launching flights to Australia, so when they do that will be 3 airlines you can fly BHX - Australia with 1 stop, and prices should be more reliably comparable to LHR/MAN.

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

 

[Matt995]

Other than Iberia and Icelandair (or maybe Play one day) I'm not sure of any realistic new short haul airlines that I'm desperately hoping for. What I am rather excited about is quite significant Ryanair expansion, including the line that a deal has been done with BHX, and the fact that easyjet finally seem to be giving us a chance. There must be huge potential for those to claw back some of our city and seat only pax and open some much needed new markets.

Long haul is a different story and will likely take longer to recover. In the short term Emirates bringing back an A380 is a great sign that things are going in the right direction and getting Qatar back would be my priority, if Saudi arrive too then even better.

I think it's difficult to judge based on the last few years as nobody could have foreseen just where we ended up. For me it starts now and I think some of the signs are quite positive

I guess also our hope for Long Haul for this year, might be a return of Pakistan, and Hans Airways starting up to India.

Anyone have an update on these 2 airlines?