CAA Provisional Statistics Update

[Ianbutty]

Ray. Spot on.

The media has a down on Birmingham in general opposed to other cities. It stirs negativity and awakens the trolls. Wait for the comments when we get the Commonwealth Games.

The trolls are normally not connected with the city at all but are jealous. Never feed them. Never take any notice. Just leave them to boil in their stew of hate.

Strange that there has been no press from BHX on the August numbers. But with 16.2% increase nearly hitting 1.5 million in a month, achieving yet another monthly record and passing 13 million in a rolling year, we have plenty to celebrate.

 

[Coathanger16]

Had another thought for the lack of passenger figure news - maybe BHX are having the same problem as Ryanair with lots of people needing to take leave

 

[rollo]

I agree with all the responses to Ray's post having flown maybe up to 200 times plus since the mid 1960s (I know I'm old) but I have used Brum wherever possibly 90% of the time I would say and always use my home town airport out of preference although I can moan with the best of them?

We should concentrate on the positives although ironically we are moaning about the moaners, funny old world really.

 

[BHXsupporter]

A splendid post Ray. There is so much that is positive from new investments and achievements in science, medicine, technology, motors, city centre renewal, Midland Metro, HS2, rail connectivity projects, a Birmingham mayor, culture and heritage, the Jewellery Quarter, the only UK place of gun test firing (London has given up) etc. ...and BHX!! This is where any leader is in fact the leader and engine supporting strategy. It might therefore appear that the Midlands is not doing sufficient to portray these positives and for this I have regrets.

 

[whateverg]

It's odd. Of all the airports I use, I find BHX by far to have the best experience. I agree that a big part of this proble is expectations. Seemingly people fly from LTN and STN and because they have lower expectations of these airports as they are associated with low cost airlines, they seem to put up with a lot more.

Maybe BHX posting on social media about its achievements doesn't help. However, part of it will come down to what achievements are posted. Does the average passenger really want to know about how many people fly through the airport or would they prefer to know only about new routes, airlines and services in the airport?

 

[GliderPilot]

I don't think it's a case of what people want to see anymore Whateverg, as Ray pointed out, anything BHX release in the media just opens up an opportunity for people to moan. Even if BHX talk about how they are improving the airport (£100 million investment post etc...) people just moan about how they had to stand around the carousel for a little longer than they had anticipated, or something like that. It's like people would rather travel to Heathrow than have amazing facilities right on their doorsteps. Development takes time and there will be issues and tweaks will need to be made, why can't people understand that and take good news positively as intended. Rant over.

 

[Brum X]

Or, as I said elsewhere, they are fed up of the snide, negative comments every time they release a good news story.

It seems that whenever there is an article about pax increases, new airlines or routes it is immediately followed by negative comments with 'third world' or 'national joke' hashtags. I know there has been issues this summer but with the amount of passenger increases across the UK I don't think there has been a major airport that hasn't had problems at peak times. I've seen real horror stories about MAN this summer, some of it as bad, if not worse, than BHX, yet when they Tweet about Virgin increases there are 30 odd replies saying what great news and that people cannot wait to book! Conversely BHX recently retweeted a KLM article about flights to the USA, the reply was a picture of a suitcase that had fallen off a baggage belt! I mean really? As if Birmingham is the only airport in the world where the odd suitcase doesn't take a tumble. The same person Tweeted the same pictures in reply to Birmingham's guide for those with Autism travelling through! There are endless examples on social media.

Many of the replies come from a select few who do seem to have an agenda but the negativity of those in our region really does get to me at times. I am Birmingham Tweeted a Lonely Planet article about Birmingham being such a great tourist destination and you guessed it, negative replies. Even one about bin bags despite the strike ending.

Apologies for the moan but it really annoys me when people from the region constantly feel the need to put it down, as if we don't have enough of it already from certain sections of the media. Maybe one day we'll learn to appreciate what we have and start to tell the world.

Off for my morning brew now, I'll feel better after that

You are spot on Ray, some people really get on my nerves

 

[Ray Finkle]

Does the average passenger really want to know about how many people fly through the airport or would they prefer to know only about new routes, airlines and services in the airport?

That is a very good point.

I suppose to enthusiasts, such as us on here, large percentage increases make for very exciting headlines but to the general public they are just meaningless numbers. I wonder what percentage of the general population could come anywhere close when guessing airport passenger numbers? I also wonder what percentage of the general population actually care?

 

[Coathanger16]

I wonder what percentage of the general population could come anywhere close when guessing airport passenger numbers?

I doubt many at all. I remember speaking to a relative earlier in the year and they were shocked to hear BHX handled over 11mppa. They genuinely thought the airport only served a few million passengers each year.

 

[Creguk]

Has anyone done the math to show what negative effect the Monarch situation will have on BHX?

 

[Ray Finkle]

With 11 based aircraft I think there was circa 1.4 million seats per year available. Even with an 80% load factor that's over 1 million passengers down.

 

[Aviador]

With 11 based aircraft I think there was circa 1.4 million seats per year available. Even with an 80% load factor that's over 1 million passengers down.

Ooch!

 

[Brum X]

With 11 based aircraft I think there was circa 1.4 million seats per year available. Even with an 80% load factor that's over 1 million passengers down.

And even if BHX secured a new based airline just for example Vueling with 4 x based aircraft, that wouldnt start until at least March 2018 so this coming winter is going to be very harsh indeed.

 

[nwoody2001]

I suspect Monarchs impact may be a little bigger than that.

According to S17 Slot allocation figures, MON provided 1,525,896 in the summer season alone. Now unfortunately I can’t find the same figures for the W17 season, but that ranks MON as the 3rd largest airline at BHX (behind Flybe and Ryanair with regard to seats). This gives a market share of 13.4%

So crudely, at 13,000,000 pax as we currently are, we can assume 1,750,000 of those pax are attributed to MON flights.

Now, in theory, this could mean that we lose those 1.75m over night but we know in reality, that will not happen. We know Jet2 are launch a lot of new routes next year and I suspect a decent amount of people will switch to them or other carriers. We also hope/pay that other carriers will come in to fill (at least in part) some of the slack.

However, it will be a struggle and will make guessing what the 2018 figure will look like pretty hard!!!

A very sad day indeed, we will just need to see what pans out…

 

[GliderPilot]

you raised some very good points there nwoody, a gap of massive potential has opened for other airlines, but will any be willing to take that risk? Especially after the circumstances of the gap opening.

 

[nwoody2001]

well hopefully ive played my little part to help things.

I booked my parents on the MON BHX-FCO routes for a week away in November. However, looking now at alternatives, they have opted to fly BHX-BRU-FCO with Brussels. Interestingly, the original MON Flight was £310 Rtn, Brussels was £397 Rtn and the only direct options I could find was Jet2 from MAN for £420 Rtn.

That's 2x pax that will be staying at BHX on not fleeing ... every little counts?

 

[Ianbutty]

Long term. Long term. The future is bright. I love to see month on month growth bit prefer strategic growth. Maybe the strategic planner in me sees the long term ahead of short term, but long term it is very bright. Birmingham is the USP for BHX. And the city is the next big thing.

 

[BHXsupporter]

Not long now for September's figures. Any guesses?

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there B H X Supporter, I would say roughly a guess of between 950,000 and 1,050,000......AndyC

 

[rollo]

Last September was about 1,200,000 based on average growth this year of 16% would take it to just under 1,400,000 then Rapidly down hill for the rest of the year/winter at least sad to say.