American Airlines

[User0001]

Advertising is going to be essential.

American are ruthless at yield management. The route has 3 months to prove its on a good track, otherwise its a goner.

MAN-CLT had a sluggish start, so, the decision was made in the 3rd month not to bring it back for S15. It then really picked up from month 5, but, it was too little too late.

Use it or loose it BHX, AA are not sentimental by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[Brum X]

Does anyone have the email address for Mr Kehoe ??

Thanks

 

[TheLocalYokel]

That must be a West Country thing, Brum on a saturday night is Party City and when American Airlines are coming to town, its new years eve.

Good grief, yes. We're all in bed by ten o'clock - in the evening that is, although some of us are still there at 10 in the morning.

I've only flown through BHX twice in recent years (out and back) and I was impressed with the airport. It gave the impression of being a decent size without being overwhelming as some large airports tend to do.

Let's hope that even if the AA service rests during next winter that it comes back the following summer and is able to build to a year-round service.

Bristol Airport often gets a lot of criticism in readers' letters/posts in the local paper usually on the grounds that it's a short haul airport and BHX is an airport that is sometimes cited as an exemplar, which tends to suggest that it is in West Country thoughts when it comes to air travel so a spot of advertising might turn some thoughts into passengers on the long haul routes.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Bristol Airport often gets a lot of criticism in readers' letters/posts in the local paper usually on the grounds that it's a short haul airport and BHX is an airport that is sometimes cited as an exemplar, which tends to suggest that it is in West Country thoughts when it comes to air travel so a spot of advertising might turn some thoughts into passengers on the long haul routes.

I think the South West, particularly some of the more affluent areas, could be a ready made market for BHX to tap into. Emirates have already recognised the importance of the Bristol region with the extension of the chauffeur drive service so a bit of strategic advertising could work wonders in letting people know there is an alternative to London.

Let's hope that even if the AA service rests during next winter that it comes back the following summer and is able to build to a year-round service.

Sadly it came a little too late for me as my travel plans for next year are already in place, if we see a return in 2016 though then a trip to NYC may well be on the cards.

 

[Ray Finkle]

BHX now bookable on the AA website starting Friday 8th May

The website only shows up to the end of September but it's apparently due to run until the end of October.

 

[Brum X]

 

[Ray Finkle]

American Airlines Announces JFK

Birmingham Airport and American Airlines have announced that new daily direct flights will commence between Birmingham and New York John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) from Friday 8th May 2015, with a British Airways code share.

The route will provide nearly 100,000 seats between Birmingham Airport and JFK, and through the American Airlines and British Airways joint business and oneworld airline alliance, will offer a British Airways code share, allowing customers to earn and redeem BA air miles and Avios points.

Paul Kehoe, Birmingham Airport's Chief Executive, said, "This new route will not only create more capacity to this vibrant US business and tourist destination, it will also broaden connectivity and choice from the Midlands with American Airlines across North America and Canada and see the return of a British Airways flight code to Birmingham.

"Last year, the West Midlands exported £4.5bn worth of goods to North America and has the largest trade surplus with North America of any UK region, and with global brands such as JLR, JCB, Cadbury and Kraft trading both locally and in the US, this is an important link for Midlands’ business.

“The region is also a major tourist destination for Americans, with attractions such as Stratford, Warwick and Birmingham drawing in thousands of visitors every year so we look forward to welcoming many of these tourists into Birmingham next summer and thank the team at American Airlines for recognising the region’s vast market opportunities."

The American Airlines flight will operate daily, arriving from JFK into Birmingham at 0710 local UK time. It will depart for its return leg at 1000, arriving into New York JFK at 1255 local US time.

“Adding Birmingham to American’s growing global network is an exciting development,” said Suzanne Boda, American’s senior vice president – Asia, Canada & Europe. “Tourists from the U.S. will have closer access to a wide range of attractions in the Midlands while business travellers will also be rewarded with greater choice when flying across the Atlantic.

“Departing passengers from Birmingham will have direct flight to New York, one of the world’s most renowned business and leisure destinations while connecting passengers will have excellent access to key business and leisure markets up and down the East Coast. We look forward to starting this new route in 2015 and I’m confident of its success.”

The new flights are now on sale at http://www.aa.com. The flights will be operated by a Boeing 757 aircraft with 22 Business Class seats and 160 Main Cabin seats.

American is a founding member of the oneworld alliance, the world’s leading quality airline alliance bringing together 15 of the best global airlines, whose members and members-elect serve nearly 1,000 destinations with 14,250 daily flights to 150 countries. The oneworld alliance holds an unprecedented six of the eight most competitive "best airline alliance" titles from top travel media and award organizations.

http://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/meta ... ticle.aspx


The local business community have been asking for extra capacity for a long, long time, well now it's here and they need to put their money where their mouths are and use this service rather than still travelling down to LHR.

 

[thunderchild]

The BHX photo blog States the route is year round - is this true? I haven't seen anything in the press releases to state it is just seasonal; usually they give an end date.

 

[Ray Finkle]

BHX is definitely in the AA system but I'm not sure the proper fare structure has been loaded yet with every flight, no matter what date, coming in at £2620 for economy. Lots of people saying great news but fares are ridiculous, these are some of the comments off the BHX Facebook site:

$4222 US dollars for 4 nights in July. You must be joking! I'll stick with United thanks at a fraction of the cost.

Good news, but they may have to drop the price a little. £2600 rtn in July & August. £360rtn on the 787 out of Gatwick same day on a low cost airline!

Great but extortionate prices! Cheaper to travel to London and fly business than 20mins and fly economy! Booooo!

I wonder if BHX may have jumped the gun on the announcement and gone public a little bit too early because if those are the official prices I can't see it being too popular?

 

[Brum X]

Im sure they are still tweeking the system folks, and yes i agree about the year round thing, everything confirms a start date but they dont say that it is just seasonal ????


Maybe User001 can confirm ????



Also i noticed Mr Kehoe couldnt resist in mentioning the fact that BHX will have a BA flight number once again.

 

[Brum X]

Just checked fares between BHX and Miami via JFK as i am thinking of going there next year and both BHX and MAN were not available after September 2015.

 

[Ray Finkle]

If the system is still being tweaked then an announcement should not have been made. Facebook and Twitter pages from the likes of the airport and the Birmingham Mail are full of comments about how ridiculously expensive these flights are and how people will still be travelling to London as it's so much cheaper, putting people off from the outset is not a start this route needs.

Just had a check for flights via JFK to Miami in June, MAN-JFK-MIA comes in at £724 whereas BHX-JFK-MIA comes in at £3603 !!!!! :shok:

For the same dates MAN-JFK is £661 whereas BHX-JFK is £2620!!!!! :s_no

P.S. Brum X check your PM's.

 

[Brum X]

American Airlines have just confirmed to me that BHX-JFK is an all year round flight and not just Summer only.
All fares have still not been loaded guys.



All year round is also a massive development as most US flights atart off as summer only, this is a big bonus.


:s_thumbsup :s_thumbsup :s_thumbsup :s_thumbsup :s_thumbsup :s_thumbsup

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi all, just checked on AA website for flights from Birmingham to JFK on return trip from 8th May 2015 till 12th May 2015, economy flight was for 1 adult on return trip was £570.00...andyc

 

[Ray Finkle]

American Airlines have just confirmed to me that BHX-JFK is an all year round flight and not just Summer only.
All fares have still not been loaded guys.



All year round is also a massive development as most US flights atart off as summer only, this is a big bonus.


:s_thumbsup :s_thumbsup :s_thumbsup :s_thumbsup :s_thumbsup :s_thumbsup

That is very good news, I imagine there will be a reduced frequency during the winter months similar to United but it's great to see that it will be year round :good:

Hi all, just checked on AA website for flights from Birmingham to JFK on return trip from 8th May 2015 till 12th May 2015, economy flight was for 1 adult on return trip was £570.00...andyc

That's a bit more like it, the fares seem reasonable now although there are some days in May which were still showing as £1600. Not a great start really announcing the route 24 hours before the fares were loaded but hopefully not too much damage was done and people will now start booking

Time for some serious advertising now.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Now bookable on the British Airways website as BA1589/90

BA1589 - Birmingham - John F Kennedy (NY) (New York)

BA1590 - John F Kennedy (NY) (New York) - Birmingham

 

[Ray Finkle]

The schedule is now up on the BHX website destinations page. It's showing as daily until 08/10/2015 when it goes 6x weekly (no Wed) until 24/10/2015 when it drops to 5x weekly (no Tue or Thur) until 21/12/2015. The AA website shows the same. Obviously it's subject to change.

Incidentally will this be the first visit of an AA 757? I can only remember 762's then 763's operating to Chicago.

 

[User0001]

It won't be a first visit.

10/1/2010 saw B757 N190AA B757 AA92 ORD-DUB divert to BHX
16/12/2011 saw B757 N185AN B757 AA55 ORD-MAN divert to BHX.

 

[Hassaan]

Adding my verdict on this and I've decided to stay away from the business side this time round as I don't think it works for me:

They've done really well to secure a seasonal link to the US. However, it's quite simple: we've got to use it, for it to be worthwhile (particularly for those who spent so much trying to secure it).

 

[Ray Finkle]

They've done really well to secure a seasonal link to the US.

It's not seasonal it's year round and is bookable well into Dec, although it does drop to 5x weekly.