Birmingham: (BHX) - General Thread

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there ray, apologies accepted , commercially of course, what's this is see on route development about possible summer season next year with united airlines from Birmingham to Chicago ohare, if that does come off, then I think we may see more from American Airlines once there jfk has settled in and they've monitored it. ..Andyc

 

[Brum X]

Day trip to Dublin

Fancied a day trip DUB as i have some time off work in a few weeks (Thank bloody god) so decided to go to Dublin for the day to do some plane spotting and wizz around Dublin city centre.

Booked with Ryanair for the fantastic total price including all fees a whopping £19.98 rtn.

Cant wait.

Photo's to follow.

My flights booked are:Birmingham (BHX) to Dublin T1 (DUB)
02 September 2015 - FR 663
BHX
08:05 hrs›DUB
09:15 hrs
Dublin T1 (DUB) to Birmingham (BHX)
02 September 2015 - FR 668
DUB
22:00 hrs›BHX
23:10 hrs

 

[Ray Finkle]

Sounds like you got a bargain there and plenty of time for a Guinness or two :drinks:

I look forward to seeing the pictures :smile:

 

[Brum X]

Sounds like you got a bargain there and plenty of time for a Guinness or two :drinks:

I look forward to seeing the pictures :smile:

Just need to remember that i have a flight to get on at 22.00, i cant be too drunk now.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Hotel recommended for approval next week

Plans to build a 223-bed upmarket hotel at Birmingham International Airport have been recommended for the green light, Insider can reveal.

http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/mid ... -go-ahead/

 

[Ray Finkle]

This has been approved :good:

 

[Ray Finkle]

@bhx_official do any 747's or a380s land or take off in your airport? i have never seen any but would love too!


"They have", but not as regular scheduled a/c. You never know, keep watching!

 

[Brum X]

@bhx_official do any 747's or a380s land or take off in your airport? i have never seen any but would love too!


"They have", but not as regular scheduled a/c. You never know, keep watching!

And actually they are "technically" incorrect.

Both Wardair and Highland Express used 747s on there services to Toronto and Newark back in the 80/90s.

 

[thunderchild]

You can also add PIA who used the 747 for a while and not fogetting the (very) short lived Hellenic Imperial!

 

[Ray Finkle]

I won't hold my breath for this region getting help from Central Government :s_no

Business leaders urge Chancellor to lower passenger duty for Birmingham Airport

BUSINESS leaders in Greater Birmingham are urging the Chancellor to lower Airport Passenger Duty (APD) for airports which have spare capacity, such as Birmingham.

The move follows concerns that giving regions in Scotland and Wales the power to set their own rates will have a detrimental impact on regional airports in England by allowing them the opportunity to offer more competitive fares.

Full article: http://www.thebusinessdesk.com/westmidl ... rport.html

 

[Ray Finkle]

My morning/evening walks often take me along the path by the railway and I've noticed that since the reconfiguration the jet bridge on stand 59 has not been used. I assumed that as the markings have shifted it is now not possible to use it in the position it is in?

The stand has been blocked off for a week or so and this evening a crane has appeared, I assume it's to move the jet bridge?

If so, I wondered if it's being shifted further along so it can still serve stand 59 or whether it is to be moved to 54C as the third A380 bridge?

Anyone know?

View media item 3636

 

[Dazjs]

I think they've just done some work on the floodlight

 

[Ray Finkle]

Cheers for that. Do you know whether the jet bridge is just out of service as it doesn't seem to have been used since the stands were reconfigured?

In other news I picked someone up today and arrivals was heaving. Loads of Chinese pax arrived on EK39, the University of Birmingham were also there meeting Chinese students, there were alot. There looked to be plenty of Chinese pax from Frankfurt too which arrived a little after.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Below is a rather dramatic article in the Coventry Telegraph about how they would be doomed under a Combined Authority Mayor. One of the things their 'sources' have 'confirmed' is that the mayor would have control over APD from BHX with the funds to be distributed locally.

Another plan is for the level of passenger duty paid at Birmingham Airport to be set by the WMCA and the funds to be distributed locally.

If done properly it could be a massive boost for BHX, if done wrong it could be a disaster.

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/c ... d-10125836

 

[TheLocalYokel]

This poor man's (or poor woman's) federal-type government that the UK is creakily lurching towards is throwing up many more problems (some almost insoluble) than answers.

With Scotland promised the Earth in order to bribe their voters to stay within the UK and Wales naturally wanting the same, we are now seeing various options for giving England some autonomy none of which will actually put by far the largest country in the UK on the same footing as the smaller countries within the Union.

If APD was to be devolved to local areas the local council or combination of local councils would see their central government grants cut by the amount that their local airport(s) currently raise in APD for the central exchequer. If these local authorities then chose to slash or even abolish APD they would have an annual budget shortfall of many millions of pounds, tens of millions in the case of West Midlands. That would be a hard sell to local tax payers who are already seeing services reduced to alarming levels in many instances.

Scotland has accepted that the best it will be able to do is reduce its APD by 50% by 2018 with a wish to reduce it to nil in the future.

Wales Assembly Government says it will reduce its APD to nil if it gains the power but the Principality raises a relatively tiny sum in APD so its problem would not be so acute. Nevertheless, it would still be controversial in Wales given that it too is not immune from the general tightening of public sector belts.

 

[Brum X]

NEW ROUTES BOOST REVENUE AT BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT
29 SEP 2015

Revenues have surged at Birmingham Airport during its "busiest ever year" as the introduction of a string of new routes boosted passenger numbers, newly filed accounts seen by Insider have revealed.

In the year ended 31 March 2015, Birmingham Airport Holdings Ltd turned over £121.1m, up from £113.7m a year earlier.

During the period, a number of airlines introduced new routes from the airport, including Icelandair's service to Reykjavik, Norwegian Air Shuttle's route to Madrid, and Thomson's 787 Dreamliner service to Jamaica.

In July, it also became the first airport outside of London to introduce a direct flight to China via China Southern Airlines. The following month, it reported its business ever period in its 75-year history, with more than 1.1 million passengers passing through its terminals in August.

Dublin retained its title of most popular destination for customers during the 2014/15 financial year, followed closely by Dubai and Amsterdam. However, Dubai is expected to overtake the Irish capital after Emirates launched a third daily service to the Middle Eastern city.

A statement signed off by directors said the airport's 2015/16 financial year "look equally exciting" as it further expands its route network.

It comes after flights to Barcelona with Vueling and John F Kennedy Airport with American Airlines launched in May 2015. Flybe also expanded its services, offering routes to Bastia, Biarritz and Deauville.

Paul Kehoe, chief executive of Birmingham Airport, added: "Following the record year experienced in 2014/15 we have continued to grow passenger numbers and broke the 10 million passenger mark in August 2015 for the first time.

"This year alone we have welcomed eight new airlines to Birmingham as more and more carriers realise the strong business and leisure market in the Midlands region and the airport's investment to offer a world class facility.

"We are confident that this trend will continue given the wider range of the destinations that we now offer, and Dubai might possibly overtake Dublin this year to become our busiest route."

Pre-tax profit at Birmingham Airport Holdings for the year fell to £16.2m from £18.8m due to exceptional costs of £4m associated with a restructure and a further £1.3m for air traffic control transition. Operating profit increased to £30.6m from £27.9m.

Commercial income increased by more than £5m to £69.9m, while aeronautical income was up to £51.2m from £49.2m.

In January, Canadian pension fund Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, acquired an additional stake in Birmingham Airport, taking its shareholding to 48.25 per cent.
http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/...ingham-airport
__________________

 

[andyc941]

BHX should of done this years ago by letting LCC carriers into the airport,and this year it has paid off. I hope it will continue to grow like it has this year :s_thumbsup

 

[jfy1999]

Again it seems the media are a little behind the times information wise. The Thomson flights to Jamaica are nothing new, and as for Flybe "expanding their services", compared to last year... :s_no

We've now let three big LCCs in though, and that gives us an enormous springboard. Now we need to see what our "home" carriers will do.

Thomson have definitely come up trumps with a load of new routes. Thomas Cook's new services are good but still no long haul. I think they must have some settled relationship with MAG. Flybe have slightly made up for last year with increased frequencies (although I still don't know if Bourdeaux has been cut or made a summer-only route?). Monarch and Ryanair have also increased frequencies on some flights, but a couple more routes have been lost.

There is always going to be room for improvement.

 

[Ray Finkle]

A clip from Midlands Today about a potential City Mayor for the WMCA. It has a small snippet about the potential of setting local APD rates, Mr Kehoe suggests that without APD BHX would see an extra 3 million pax today.

Mr K talks at around 2:06 if you don't want to watch it all.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuMVK7AWqn8&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[TheLocalYokel]

A clip from Midlands Today about a potential City Mayor for the WMCA. It has a small snippet about the potential of setting local APD rates, Mr Kehoe suggests that without APD BHX would see an extra 3 million pax today.

Mr K talks at around 2:06 if you don't want to watch it all.

Interesting piece, thank you Ray.

The main snag with APD is that if it is devolved to the West Midlands central government funding will be reduced by the amount that APD is expected to raise, and that principle will apply to any other tax devolved.