Many thanks for the advanced information,
conns757.
The bmi regional press release published this morning is reproduced below - also see link:
http://www.bmiregional.com/en/bottom-me ... ol-airport
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bmi regional launches another 3 new European routes from Bristol Airport
bmi regional, the UK’s most punctual airline announced the launch of three new European routes from Bristol Airport. The airline is continuing to expand its European network, with the launch of flights from Bristol to Munich, Milan and Hannover, today the 13 of February 2013.
Cathal O’Connell, chief executive, bmi regional said: “The launch of these routes to Munich, Milan and Hannover is a continuation of bmi regional’s promise to serve key economic and tourism hubs in Europe from the UK. We are positioning bmi regional for real growth in Bristol and the southwest, having already launched three routes from Bristol before Christmas to Aberdeen, Frankfurt and Hamburg. These routes have gained real momentum, and, as a result, we are doubling our frequency on the Frankfurt route to twice a day.
“bmi regional’s strategy is to choose destinations with both business and leisure customer demand. Munich, Milan and Hannover are major centres for technology and manufacturing. In addition, these cities boast some of the world’s most famous cultural, sport and tourism attractions. With fares starting from £59 each way, we also expect to see a boost in tourism to Bristol and the South West, said O’Connell.
Non-stop flights to Munich, Milan and Hannover from Bristol commence Monday 13th May 2013 with six flights on each route per week. The Bristol-Frankfurt schedule changes to twice a day on the same day.
• Munich is the capital of Bavaria, and the third largest city in Germany. It is famous for its historic architecture, university and artistic culture, as well as being the headquarters of BMW. The city’s location beside the Alps, its famous museum and its annual Oktoberfest beer celebration ensures that Munich has a huge leisure tourism business.
• Milan is the second largest city in Italy and is Italy’s economic and financial heart. Milan is the main industrial, commercial and financial centre of Italy, host to the Italian Stock Exchange and the headquarters of Italy’s largest banks and companies. Milan is also a sporting, fashion and cultural centre, with world famous attractions such as La Scala Opera, Milan Fashion Week, football teams and the Monza F1 race track. Milan is also within easy reach of the Alps and the Italian lakes.
• Hanover is a major business centre of northern Germany, and is the capital of the German federal state of Lower Saxony. It hosts trade fairs such as the Hanover Fair and CeBIT every year, and is a major European transport rail and road hub. It also has second largest Oktoberfest in the world.[/textarea]
With the Aberdeen and Hamburg routes already operating (and the latter to go double daily in the spring), Frankfurth has now been increased to 2 x daily together with new routes to Hannover, Munich and Milan. With the airline also operating up to nine daily flights for the Airbus corporate shuttle to/from Toulouse and Hawarden bmi regional aircraft will be a familiar sight at BRS.
It will be almost like BAConnect again when that airline had five ERJ145s based at BRS.
Talking of which, Milan Malpensa, Munich and Frankfurt were all operated by BACon until Flybe took over that airline in 2007 and axed nearly all its BRS routes, something about which the BRS management expressed its surprise in evidence to a Competition Commission enquiry the following year.
Since then easyJet has tried MXP against Ryanair's Bergamo, both daily at one point before the Orange ceased its route, whereupon Ryanair reduced its frequency which it still operates.
LH operated FRA for 13 months in 2008-2009 and carried nearly 100,000 passengers but axed it despite apparently being ahead of the airline's business plan for it. Many believe the airline feared that routes to FRA from LHR, BHX and BRS could not be sustained as the recession began to bite deeply in 2009 so the BRS route - the newest and the least busy of the three - was the one that disappeared.
Hamburg has Airbus connections with Bristol. It used to be operated by OLT, mainly for the industry but open to the public as well, and easyJet also tried it around 2005 but it could not sustain enough passengers to justify a 150-seater.
Hannover is one of Bristol's twin cities (the first UK-German city to be twinned after WW2 - in 1947) but has never featured before in the BRS route network. Calls for a route are made from time to time from some quarters in Bristol so now they've got it they must use it.
The BRS management's desire to increase its German coverage has come to fruition spectacularly: from just one route (easyJet to Berlin), it will soon have five.
The other target area is Scandinavia where easyJet's Copenhagen service is the sole presence. Before it scaled back its size dramatically because of financial problems a few years ago SAS operated Boeing jets to both Oslo and Stockholm, both at several times per week summer operations which were reportedly very successful.
Maybe that might be the next growth area.
There must be optimism that bmi regional aircraft are the appropriate size for the BRS routes it flies/will fly. Encouraging noises have been made about bookings for the routes announced in December.
I suspect one or two people at the airport have been working very hard - but of course they always do. :hatsoff:
