Norwegian Air Shuttle

[nwoody2001]

indeed, as others have said on other forums.... very positive sounds statements from Will Pearson.... c'mon, what else have they got up their sleeve?!?!

 

[Ray Finkle]

Lots of rumours but what we need now are announcements!

 

[Ray Finkle]

To go with William Pearson's comments we now have this from Paul Kehoe.

Norwegian was the largest new carrier to operate from Birmingham last year and they have been successful. It carried 125,000 passengers during its first year of operations to Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Gran Canaria and Tenerife South, and we are confident there will be more growth from them at Birmingham in the near future.

 

[Brum X]

Its great to see that BHX are obviously having a good relationship with Norweigan. I really want to see flights to Oslo in Winter 16/17 or summer 2017. I now think this is a must, surely this makes common sense to have direct flights to there busy Scandinavian Hub and a capital city not served from BHX.

 

[Bhx_fifteen]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/norwegian-us-expansion-gets-green-light/

Interesting article regarding Norwegian's plan for long-haul operation from BHX.

 

[Ray Finkle]

That's positive news although I am always dubious when newspapers quote a 'spokesperson'.

Recent rumours seemed to suggest that Norwegian had possibly gone cold on BHX but it's good to hear that we're still in with a shout.

 

[nwoody2001]

What it does suggest however is the fact that the Cork-Boston route is a complete market test on how such a model could work. Not the most obvious of tests in my mind but I assume there is logic in their madness.

As ever, we just have to play the waiting game and see what comes from it!

 

[Ray Finkle]

Boston has huge ties to Ireland so I can see the logic, I would never have guessed it though.

I think the key is what aircraft they're planning to deploy outside of London. If it's the MAX then we're limited to the likes of Boston, New York, Baltimore and Toronto. Going east we may see something possibly via Dubai. If we're lucky enough to see a 787 then that opens up a whole new world, the likes of Florida, Las Vegas and possibly India.

We shall see but I'm not going to get my hopes up too high just yet.

 

[User001]

I do think the easy targets for Norwegian from BHX if it's the B737 are:

Toronto: shocking that such a large market only has 1 weekly flight. To think in 2016 you can get to China more often than you can get to Canada is just bizarre.

New York: no reason to think a 3rd flight to NYC can't work, especially as Norwegian likely to be less than daily anyway.

Boston: the number of European flights to Boston has rocketed in the past year, must be room for a few more destinations.

1 based B737 could easily run 2 weekly YYZ, 2 weekly BOS and 3 weekly JFK.

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Would a MAX get as far as Florida or would a different machine be required?

 

[User001]

I think if we are talking Norwegian, it would need the B787. I doubt Norwegian would be open to doing a 1 stop flight.

If Will Pearson could convince D8 to base a B787, then my bets would be 2 weekly Orlando, 1 weekly FLL, 1 weekly LAS and perhaps 2 weekly BOM?

 

[richard winterbourn]

I admit it is a small point, but one nonetheless that we might hold onto with hope.

In the Telegraph article the Norwegian spokesman talks of expansion in terms of Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh -- in that order. He is not listing the three cities in alphabetical order, thus possibly indicating that BHX is top of the list of priorities.

Time will tell...

 

[Ray Finkle]

I'd love a 787 but I'm not going to hold out much hope yet.

Boston seems to be a big focus for Norwegian so to start with I could see BOS based 737's doing 2/3 weekly into EDI/MAN/BHX. New York and Baltimore have also been mentioned, as well as the likes of Hartford, so as more MAX's arrive the network may well grow steadily.

With Thomson happy with just the basics and TCX/VS not interested I really hope that they can persuade Norwegian to give Birmingham a chance.

 

[nwoody2001]

I mean getting a D8 788 base to operate just those routes (which in the context of D8 would be pretty modest utilization of an aircraft) then that would be a wet dream for BHX Suffice to say I would think those destinations/frequency would be ideal for BHX. The only other route I would request would be 1x weekly BKK to make is full week!!! Such a schedule would instantly provide over 100,000 seats in a summer season for BHX, or 200,000 seats annually if year round!

Regarding the MAX, I believe D8 have ordered 100x 737M8's which vary in capacity from 200pax high density, 175pax single class and 162pax 2-class. Assuming most of their MAXs would be utilized doing medium/long-haul routes I hope the 2 class option is used. Notwithstanding that, the capacity of a 737M8 and a 752 is pretty much the same....

In pure dream world, lets hope that D8 open a base out of BHX consisting of a 737M followed by a 788

737Max 8
JFK - 3x weekly
BOS - 2x weekly
YZZ - 2x weekly

787-8
MCO 2x weekly
BOM 2x weekly
FFL 1x weekly
LAS 1x weekly
BKK 1x weekly

BOOM - an additional 6,250+ pax weekly or 325,000+ pax annually...

...and back to reality!

 

[hammerb32]

It's only a gut feel but I do think Baltimore will be one of the first routes opened, 40 minutes in a train to Washington 1 side and 40 minutes to Philly the other side. 1 airport, 1 route, can be marketed to 3 cities. Mumbai I was told a while ago was a definite but as stated this was some time ago.

 

[hammerb32]

I mean getting a D8 788 base to operate just those routes (which in the context of D8 would be pretty modest utilization of an aircraft) then that would be a wet dream for BHX Suffice to say I would think those destinations/frequency would be ideal for BHX. The only other route I would request would be 1x weekly BKK to make is full week!!! Such a schedule would instantly provide over 100,000 seats in a summer season for BHX, or 200,000 seats annually if year round!

Regarding the MAX, I believe D8 have ordered 100x 737M8's which vary in capacity from 200pax high density, 175pax single class and 162pax 2-class. Assuming most of their MAXs would be utilized doing medium/long-haul routes I hope the 2 class option is used. Notwithstanding that, the capacity of a 737M8 and a 752 is pretty much the same....

In pure dream world, lets hope that D8 open a base out of BHX consisting of a 737M followed by a 788

737Max 8
JFK - 3x weekly
BOS - 2x weekly
YZZ - 2x weekly

787-8
MCO 2x weekly
BOM 2x weekly
FFL 1x weekly
LAS 1x weekly
BKK 1x weekly

BOOM - an additional 6,250+ pax weekly or 325,000+ pax annually...

...and back to reality!

Nothing about that looks unrealistic to me.

 

[User001]

I think at this stage, BKK would be the only one with a real question mark over it.

For some reason, D8 haven't yet opened it from LGW, so, I would expect that base to get a BKK route first, and, there must be a reason they are so reluctant to open it.

I do fear that barring a big upswing in the Thai's fortunes, Bangkok is going to be one of those routes we just don't see from the UK regions. Phuket on Thomson may be the best it gets.

 

[Ray Finkle]

It's only a gut feel but I do think Baltimore will be one of the first routes opened, 40 minutes in a train to Washington 1 side and 40 minutes to Philly the other side. 1 airport, 1 route, can be marketed to 3 cities. Mumbai I was told a while ago was a definite but as stated this was some time ago.

I think you may well be right. I've read quite a few interviews with the CEO and Baltimore seems to get mentioned quite a lot. Baltimore is also one of three airports (BOS and JFK were the others) to get the Norwegian flights to Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Regarding Mumbai then I think with the economics of the 787 Norwegian could make a killing with 2/3 weekly flights.

I mean getting a D8 788 base to operate just those routes (which in the context of D8 would be pretty modest utilization of an aircraft) then that would be a wet dream for BHX Suffice to say I would think those destinations/frequency would be ideal for BHX. The only other route I would request would be 1x weekly BKK to make is full week!!! Such a schedule would instantly provide over 100,000 seats in a summer season for BHX, or 200,000 seats annually if year round!

Regarding the MAX, I believe D8 have ordered 100x 737M8's which vary in capacity from 200pax high density, 175pax single class and 162pax 2-class. Assuming most of their MAXs would be utilized doing medium/long-haul routes I hope the 2 class option is used. Notwithstanding that, the capacity of a 737M8 and a 752 is pretty much the same....

In pure dream world, lets hope that D8 open a base out of BHX consisting of a 737M followed by a 788

737Max 8
JFK - 3x weekly
BOS - 2x weekly
YZZ - 2x weekly

787-8
MCO 2x weekly
BOM 2x weekly
FFL 1x weekly
LAS 1x weekly
BKK 1x weekly

BOOM - an additional 6,250+ pax weekly or 325,000+ pax annually...

...and back to reality!

I'd take that any day 👍

 

[JENNYJET]

I would rather hope for a West Coast USA opportunity, it appears to me that eastbound routes are healthy but nothing West of New York/New Jersey!!

Why else spend on a runway if it is not fully utilized?

 

[juliet-fox-9]

With Thomson happy with just the basics and TCX/VS not interested I really hope that they can persuade Norwegian to give Birmingham a chance.

Of course, there is also the hope that Norwegian long haul will provoke Thomson into retaliation and make the likes of Virgin and TCX sit up and pay attention...