Birmingham Airport - General Thread

[Ray Finkle]

Ten years on.......how far we've come since 2005.

Stats from the CAA with the first number 2005 and the second 2015. It's in the same layout as the CAA use as I'm going down the list.

Western Europe

Austria

INNSBRUCK 10 771 - 17 042
SALZBURG 31 683 - 14 770
VIENNA 17 032 - 380

Belgium

ANTWERP 0 - 764
BRUSSELS 149 758 - 143 163

Croatia

DUBROVNIK 4116 - 27 595
PULA 0 - 15 261
SPLIT 4196 - 0

Cyprus

LARNACA 113 093 - 109 752
PAPHOS 127 932 - 77 985

Denmark

BILLUND 3619 - 0
COPENHAGEN 107 079 - 93 013

Finland

ENONTEKIO 712 - 1968
HELSINKI 10 287 - 0
IVALO 335 - 360
KITTILA 6 150 - 947
ROVANIEMI 2 140 - 3798

France

AVIGNON 0 - 3 087
BASTIA 3 290 - 2018
BERGERAC 25 919 - 6914
BIARRITZ 258 - 2181
BORDEAUX 32 537 - 15 784
BREST 19 176 - 2520
CHAMBERY 20 477 - 16 560
GRENOBLE 6 492 - 20236
LA ROCHELLE 20 169 - 4429
LYON 44 189 - 49 043
NANTES 1 045 - 25
NICE 42 210 - 29 954
PARIS (CHARLES DE GAULLE) 385 282 - 402 975
PERPIGNAN 21 738 - 8254
TARBES-LOURDES INTERNATION 1 538 - 1542
TOULOUSE (BLAGNAC) 50 526 - 11 712

Germany

BERLIN TEGEL 0 - 49 077
COLOGNE (BONN) 38 500 - 7250
DUSSELDORF 134 337 - 219 015
FRANKFURT MAIN 261 935 - 314 685
HAMBURG 27 890 - 38 017
HANOVER 23 970 - 56 850
MUNICH 118 467 - 185 185
MUNSTER-OSNABRUCK 8 804 - 0
PADERBORN 9 691 - 10 849
STUTTGART 55 114 - 70 567

Gibralter

GIBRALTER 0 - 38 088

Greece

ATHENS 433 - 13 324
CHANIA 3 451 - 9336
CORFU 66 542 - 47 552
HERAKLION 62 361 - 48 375
KALAMATA 10 479 - 5851
KAVALLA 9 464 - 8843
KEFALLINIA 30 450 - 30 704
KOS 39 427 - 33 952
MYTILINI 0 - 8 692
PREVEZA 0 - 6 845
RHODES 55 367 - 52 476
SALONIKA 18 865 - 0
SKIATHOS 5 653 - 8874
THIRA (SANTORINI) 3 584 - 13 145
VOLOS 864 - 0
ZAKINTHOS 64 003 - 54 050

Iceland

KEFLAVIK 647 - 29 486

Irish Republic

CONNAUGHT (Knock) 94 302 - 5182
CORK 106 712 - 76 961
DUBLIN 481 317 - 780 743
GALWAY 8 082 - 0
SHANNON 25 583 - 18 952
WATERFORD 0 - 11 151

Italy

ALGHERO/SASSARI 3 397 - 0
BERGAMO 5 544 - 179
CATANIA (FONTANAROSSA) 230 - 6 608
FLORENCE 0 - 5 792
GENOA 0 - 6 219
MILAN (MALPENSA) 108 493 - 85 953
NAPLES 18 227 - 21 346
PISA 2 801 - 0
ROME (FIUMICINO) 38 859 - 67 075
TURIN 14 640 - 13 229
VENICE 138 - 48 875
VERONA VILLAFRANCA 18 106 - 14 274

Malta

MALTA 86 433 - 50 954

Netherlands

AMSTERDAM 428 159 - 563 915

Norway

OSLO 0 - 4689

Portugal

FARO 194 266 - 208 693
PORTO 0 - 3 984 (17 948 in 2014)
MADEIRA 22 183 - 50 339
PORTO SANTO 0 - 6388

Spain

ALICANTE 332 703 - 301 301
ALMERIA 77 893 - 7924
BARCELONA 68 519 - 193 334
GERONA 30 585 - 6487
IBIZA 97 722 - 81 163
MADRID 39 273 - 28 372
MAHON 103 381 - 79 344
MALAGA 379 859 - 290 778
MURCIA SAN JAVIER 130 222 - 43 290
PALMA DE MALLORCA 396 622 - 254 763
REUS 47 153 - 23 860

Canary Islands

ARRECIFE 145 434 - 218 000
FUERTEVENTURA 87 804 - 124 333
LAS PALMAS 115 174 - 117 251
TENERIFE (NORTE LOS RODEOS) 6 901 - 0
TENERIFE (SURREINA SOFIA) 336 85 - 273 380

Sweden

GOTHENBURG 10 951 - 3105
STOCKHOLM 10 961 - 72

Switzerland

BASLE 2770 - 0
GENEVA 25 448 - 62 665
ZURICH 68 924 - 98 991

Turkey

ANTALYA 25 496 - 60 928
BODRUM (MILAS) 57 529 - 34 196
DALAMAN 103 252 - 102 896
ISTANBUL 597 - 240 429
IZMIR (ADNAM MENDERES) 10 985 - 45 564

Eastern Europe to follow shortly.

 

[IanFarquharson]

Good work Ray, still lots of opportunities for the likes of Jet 2 even on the more popular sun routes

 

[Ray Finkle]

Eastern Europe

Bulgaria

BURGAS 18 954 - 21 330
SOFIA 5415 - 3423
VARNA 5951 - 0

Czech Republic

PRAGUE 145 444 - 106

Hungary

BUDAPEST 566 - 9225

Lithuania

VILNIUS 171 - 0
KAUNAS 0 - 34 763

Poland

BYDGOSZCZ 0 - 52 020
GDANSK 0 - 39 394
KATOWICE 0 - 37 154
KRAKOW 0 - 38 173
POZNAN 0 - 863
WARSAW CHOPIN 0 - 9027

Slovak Republic

BRATISLAVA 31 504 - 54 278

It's quite amazing that we had nothing to Poland on 2005.

 

[Ray Finkle]

The rest.

Turkmenistan

ASHGABAT 57 292 - 43 933

Uzbekistan

TASHKENT 38 547 - 0

Egypt

HURGHADA 517 - 26 631
LUXOR 21 435 - 0
SHARM EL SHEIKH 30 407 - 127 024

Morocco

AGADIR 6 448 - 0
MARRAKESH 208 - 12 297 (BRS saw over 30K)

Tunisia

MONASTIR 71 005 - 0
ENFIDHA0 - 39 542
DJERBA 0 - 3160

Gambia

BANJUL 0 - 7999

Iran

TEHRAN 18 326 - 0

United Arab Emirates

DUBAI 231 462 - 610 649

India

AMRITSAR 5 726
DELHI 19 136 - 130 092 (combined with ATQ as only one figure)
GOA 3 842 - 0

Pakistan

ISLAMABAD 76 254 - 72 160
KARACHI 1 274 - 0
LAHORE 2 326 - 0

China

BEIJING 0 - 6715

Canada

TORONTO 32 422 - 12 024

United States of America

New York Newark 172 587 - 88 573
New York JFK 90 - 50 950
Sanford 33 253 - 15 550

Dominican Republic

PUERTO PLATA 13 860 - 0

Mexico

CANCUN 15 100 - 49 210

Barbados

BRIDGETOWN 18 571 - 34 583

Jamaica

MONTEGO BAY 0 - 39 266

Cape Verde Islands

BOA VISTA (RABIL) 0 - 21 002
ILHA DO SAL C.VERDE 0 - 20 889

 

[Ray Finkle]

Good work Ray, still lots of opportunities for the likes of Jet 2 even on the more popular sun routes

Definitely.

There's some good, some bad and some could do better. Eastern Europe has come on leaps and bounds in recent years.

Toronto is very disappointing as is Sanford but they've been done to death.

Newark also sees a huge drop, was it 2005 that we had 2x daily? I can't remember?

 

[JENNYJET]

er...did I read somewhere that Air Transat were going to operate Montreal from Birmingham this summer?

 

[Ray Finkle]

It's advertised and is in the drop down menu but it's actually via Toronto. I believe there is a change of plane in YYZ too.

 

[JENNYJET]

This is what annoys me the most, they might as well offer Vancouver but is not a route city pair if everything goes by Toronto and a separate flight.

I guess the departure board may not reflect this?

 

[jfy1999]

This is what annoys me the most, they might as well offer Vancouver but is not a route city pair if everything goes by Toronto and a separate flight.

I guess the departure board may not reflect this?

No, it won't reflect this, any more than any other airline connections.

American's flight AA130 from JFK to BHX is actually just the second leg of that flight. The first leg of AA130 is from another US city (Chicago I think) to JFK, but is on another aircraft. The starting point of AA130 doesn't show up on the BHX boards, though. The same goes for most US-UK flights. Air Transat's BHX-YYZ connection is under a different flight number from the YYZ-YUL connection, as well as on a different aircraft.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there ray, excellent news regarding jet2 if this is correct and when announcement, long overdue I would say, this will help Birmingham to catch up with the likes of Edinburgh and Luton once Jet2 get themselves settled, after checking hopefully which routes need better serving and which routes are still unserved, this will then hopefully start bringing those all important pax back to Birmingham where needed, next good news hopefully will.be about Finnair and Delta, let's have fingers crossed.... So sorry ray that I ve not replied to any post, but Internet issues....Andyc

 

[Ray Finkle]

I've seen some pretty bad journalism over the years but this has to be up there.

The Daily Mail look to have discovered flugsnugs video of the wake turbulence vortices. This is a short excerpt.

In the opening scene of the video, a Ryanair aircraft is seen approaching the runway.

There's a vortex of what appears to be smoke trailing behind it as it descends.

Just then, both wings are engulfed in the 'white smoke'

But as the plane lands safely, all the smoke disappears.

Later in the video, an Emirates Airlines plane, which is already on the runway, is seen with smoking coming from its wings.

Cracking pictures though.

The aircraft is definitely NOT on fire! Alarming footage shows 'smoke' billowing from planes but it's in fact just turbulence

 

[jfy1999]

I mean, honestly...haven't they got any real news to cover?!

 

[richard winterbourn]

I have been a journalist for 45 years and, yes, it is bad if not appalling reporting. But sadly, it is symptomatic of the newspaper industry now, not just in the national press, but in local papers as well. When i first started there would have been proof-readers and sub-editors between my words and publication. Brakes for the want of a better word, but people who would have spotted errors of spelling, punctuation and fact.

Now, papers are produced without proof-readers and, in some cases, spell-checks do the work of sub-editors! So, when a reporter writes of 'smoke' instead of 'turbulence' there is no-one on the newspaper to correct it - and that includes the Daily Mail.

And it isn't going to get better any time soon...

 

[nwoody2001]

So, over the last week I have been doing some research with regard to flights out of BHX and other airports which I think would be interesting to share. To me what this list shows is exactly the type of thing BHX is up against when you consider the obvious conflict between airports, airlines and routes set up to support businessmen, families and tourists.

The list below is a list of options I am looking at for a Stag Party of between 10-15 people to be held in either early December or late January. Unlike businessmen, this crowd is limited by virtue of time and money. As a group would are pretty much the epitome of a “City Break” crowd in so far are we don’t want to take too much time off work (so we need to go out Friday and come back Sunday) and would like the cheapest offer. I have not looked at any other days (there is no point) and not humored fares in excess of £150 Rtn. (n/a) = none available, (*) = indirect route

WEEKEND IN EARLY DECEMBER

AMSTERDAM

• BHX £86 (BEE)
  
• EMA (n/a)
  
• DSA £80 (BEE)
  
• LBA £94 (JET)
  
• LPL £106 (EZY)
  
• LTN £65 (EZY)
  
• MAN £64 (EZY)
  
• STN £63 (EZY) (£23 Cheaper than BHX)

BERLIN

• BHX £150 (BEE)
  
• EMA (n/a)
  
• DSA £133 (BEE)
  
• LBA (n/a)
  
• LPL £148 (EZY)
  
• LTN £108 (EZY)
  
• MAN £112 (RYR)
  
• STN £85 (RYR) (£65 Cheaper than BHX)

BUDAPEST

• BHX £149* (LUF)
  
• EMA (n/a)
  
• DSA (n/a)
  
• LBA (n/a)
  
• LPL (n/a)
  
• LTN £97 (WZZ)
  
• MAN (n/a)
  
• STN £94 (RYR) (£55 Cheaper than BHX)

KRAKOW

• BHX (n/a)
  
• EMA (n/a)
  
• DSA (n/a)
  
• LBA (n/a)
  
• LPL £132 (EZY)
  
• LTN (n/a)
  
• MAN £136 (RYR)
  
• STN £68 (RYR)

MUNICH

• BHX £114 (LUF)
  
• EMA (n/a)
  
• DSA (n/a)
  
• LBA (n/a)
  
• LPL (n/a)
  
• LTN £93 (EZY) (£21 Cheaper than BHX)
  
• MAN £99 (LUF)
  
• STN £127 (EZY)

PRAGUE

• BHX (n/a)
  
• EMA (n/a)
  
• DSA (n/a)
  
• LBA (n/a)
  
• LPL (n/a)
  
• LTN (n/a)
  
• MAN £146 (EZY)
  
• STN £122 (EZY)

WEEKEND IN LATE JANUARY

AMSTERDAM

• BHX £80 (BEE)
  
• EMA £128 (BEE)
  
• DSA £75 (BEE)
  
• LBA £93 (JET)
  
• LPL £82 (EZY)
  
• LTN £63 (EZY)
  
• MAN £70 (EZY)
  
• STN £61 (EZY) (£19 Cheaper than BHX)

BERLIN

• BHX £91 (BEE)
  
• EMA (n/a)
  
• DSA £109 (BEE)
  
• LBA (n/a)
  
• LPL £87 (EZY)
  
• LTN £78 (EZY)
  
• MAN £64 (RYR)
  
• STN £52 (RYR) (£39 Cheaper than BHX)

BUDAPEST

• BHX £149* (LUF)
  
• EMA (n/a)
  
• DSA (n/a)
  
• LBA (n/a)
  
• LPL (n/a)
  
• LTN £92 (WZZ)
  
• MAN (n/a)
  
• STN £52 (RYR) (£97 Cheaper than BHX)

KRAKOW

• BHX (n/a)
  
• EMA (n/a)
  
• DSA (n/a)
  
• LBA (n/a)
  
• LPL £78 (EZY)
  
• LTN (n/a)
  
• MAN £81 (RYR)
  
• STN £51 (RYR)

MUNICH

• BHX £114 (LUF)
  
• EMA (n/a)
  
• DSA (n/a)
  
• LBA (n/a)
  
• LPL (n/a)
  
• LTN £77 (EZY) (£40 Cheaper than BHX)
  
• MAN £93 (EZY)
  
• STN £77 (EZY) (£40 Cheaper than BHX)

PRAGUE

• BHX (n/a)
  
• EMA (n/a)
  
• DSA (n/a)
  
• LBA (n/a)
  
• LPL (n/a)
  
• LTN £91 (WZZ)
  
• MAN £108 (EZY)
  
• STN £81 (RYR)

So what does this show…. Well to me it shows that regardless of the great strides BHX has achieved in the past year in getting new routes, there are still major gaps, not in the routes themselves (all above routes are served direct from BHX) but mainly with regard to capacity, cost and availability! To people that aren’t price conscious, the above is not so relevant, but it goes to show how much BHX is missing out with regard to volume passenger numbers with regard city breaks, a popular form of holiday. A majority of the popular routes above either don’t have both Friday and Sunday departures, and those that do, capacity is so low that prices are too high and turn people away.

Whilst it should be no shock that the cheapest airports are commonly STN and LTN given their volume and capacity of seats, MAN and other airports are commonly cheaper than BHX by a significant margin.


Yes ideally people want to travel from their local airport, but not at any cost. Berlin in late Jan is £39 cheaper from STN, times that by 15 and that’s a £585 saving to go from STN, more than enough for a minibus and a couple of rounds of drink at the other end!

Just some thoughts….

 

[hammerb32]

Funnily enough Woody I was doing a bit of pricing up for a relatives trip to Amritsar in March 2017, Qatar Airways via Doha at basic economy came out at the following prices:

MAN - £436.54
LHR - £480.35
BHX - £666.43

A sign of healthy loads or under capacity?

I should add for completeness that Air India via DEL was £640.73

 

[JENNYJET]

Were Qatar using B777 or A380 at LHR? Compared to B787 limited space does seat cost mile come to the table?

 

[nwoody2001]

Funnily enough Woody I was doing a bit of pricing up for a relatives trip to Amritsar in March 2017, Qatar Airways via Doha at basic economy came out at the following prices:

MAN - £436.54
LHR - £480.35
BHX - £666.43

A sign of healthy loads or under capacity?

I should add for completeness that Air India via DEL was £640.73

Interesting, maybe their sales and promotions have been working, but It is very encouraging to see prices are so high so soon after their launch....

Maybe their sales are doing the job. The sale below has BHX-ATQ at £465 RTN (Economy) and an AMAZING £1,090 RTN (Business) for bookings between 30th March and the 8th December if you book by the 19th March.

http://www.qatarairways.com/uk/en/special-offers.page

Im no expert, but Qatar seem to offer some pretty spectacular special offers. Maybe booking 10 months in advance might be too soon for QR if you're able to hold off!!! and want to fly from BHX and flexible on dates...

 

[Ray Finkle]

Interesting numbers.

One thing I noticed is that all of the cheapest fares are either Easyjet or Ryanair, the two biggest players in the short haul market at the moment.

Unfortunately one isn't interested and the other has been stagnant for an extended period of time and has only just woken up.

Get these two on side and they bring huge growth.

Hopefully it will get better over the coming years as we see more competition.

 

[Brum X]

Funnily enough Woody I was doing a bit of pricing up for a relatives trip to Amritsar in March 2017, Qatar Airways via Doha at basic economy came out at the following prices:

MAN - £436.54
LHR - £480.35
BHX - £666.43

A sign of healthy loads or under capacity?

I should add for completeness that Air India via DEL was £640.73

Did you manage to get a quote with Turkmenistan ??? Ex BHX ???

 

[hammerb32]

Did you manage to get a quote with Turkmenistan ??? Ex BHX ???

I've not looked - the relative won't fly them based on previous experience of being stranded in Ashgabat for 36 hours with no food or water. They're from Wolverhampton so you'd think they'd be used to it...