2016

[jfy1999]

• Aer Lingus – Dublin (+ 14x weekly)

When is this due to come into effect? At the moment we just have 4 daily flights (3 A320 and 1 ATR-72) on weekdays. It was 6 daily a couple of years ago.

 

[Ray Finkle]

W16/17 so far.

Wizz Air - New winter routes to Sofia (2/3x weekly), Bucharest (2/3x weekly) and Wroclaw (2x weekly). Budapest, Bucharest (for Christmas), Sofia and Warsaw see extra frequencies all +1 weekly. Budapest, Warsaw and Sofia all upgraded to A321.

Blue Air - New route to Cluj - Napoca (3x weekly). Bucharest (+1x weekly)

Iberia - New winter route to Madrid (3x weekly).

Icelandair - Reykjavik various increases (Nov 4x weekly, Dec/Jan 3x weekly, Feb/March 5x weekly)

Monarch - New winter routes to Lisbon (3x weekly), Innsbruck. Grenoble (+1 weekly), Larnaca (+1 weekly).

Norwegian - Tenerife (+1 weekly).

Ryanair - New routes to Sofia (2x weekly) and Warsaw (3x weekly). New winter routes to Madrid (4x weekly), Verona (2x weekly), Murcia (2x weekly) and Vilnius (2x weekly). Fuerteventura +1, Gran Canaria +1, Malaga +1, Malta +1, Tenerife +2, Barcelona +2.

Flybe - New routes to Rotterdam (12x weekly) and Luxembourg (daily). New winter routes to Nantes (Daily), Knock (4x weekly) and Toulouse (Daily). Increases to Berlin, Hanover, Milan, Stuttgart, Amsterdam and Jersey.

Thomson - New routes to Punta Cana and Dubai Al Maktoum both weekly. Winter sees 9x weekly long haul flights.

Thomas Cook - Extra based A321 with new routes to Hurghada (weekly) and Las Palmas (weekly). Increases to Lanzarote (+1 weekly), Banjul (+1 weekly) and Tenerife (+3 weekly).

Vueling - New routes to Tenerife (2x weekly) and Malaga (2x weekly). New winter route to Alicante (3x weekly).

2017

Blue Air - New routes to Cluj-Napoca (3x weekly) and Larnaca (3x weekly). Bucharest +1 weekly.

Czech Airlines - Prague increased to daily (+2x weekly).

Cobalt Air - New route to Larnaca 2x weekly.

Fly One - New route to Chisinau 3x weekly.

Jet2 - New base with 4x 737-800's and 22 new routes.

ALC 5x weekly from March 31st going daily mid May.
HER 2x weekly from April 30th.
PFO 2x weekly from April 2nd
FAO 5x weekly from March 30th going daily mid May.
FUE 3x weekly from April 2nd.
GRO 2x weekly from April 28th.
LPA 2x weekly from April 1st.
IBZ 4x wekly from 27th March going 6x weekly mid May.
ACE 3x weekly from April 1st.
PMI 5x weekly from March 31st going daily from mid May.
AGP 5x weekly from March 30th going 6x weekly mid May.
MAH 2x weekly from April 29th.
REU 3x weekly from April 29th.
RHO 2x weekly from April 27th.
TFS 4x weekly from March 31st.

W17

Salzburg weekly
Krakow 2x weekly
Prague 2x weekly
Geneva 3x weekly
Grenoble weekly
Turin weekly
Funchal weekly

Monarch - New routes to Stockholm (3x weekly) and Porto (3x weekly)

Thomas Cook - New routes to Sal, Malta, Naples and Comiso. Mytilene returns.

Thomson - New routes to Phuket and Goa for winter. Punta Cana +1 weekly for summer. New routes to Alghero and Almeria.

Ryanair - New routes to Porto (2x weekly), Chania (2x weekly), Girona (3x weekly) and Reus (2x weekly). New summer routes to Sofia (3x weekly) and Warsaw (3x weekly). Faro +3x weekly, Ibiza +4x weekly, Palma +4x weekly, Tenerife +1x weekly and Las Palmas +1x weekly.

Vueling - New route to Paris - Orly (6x weekly A321).

Wizz Air - Bucharest +1 weekly, Sofia +1 weekly and upgraded to an A321, Warsaw upgraded to an A321.

 

[JENNYJET]

I have been following the battle in the US Congress regards to Norwegian being allowed to operate flights to US destinations on the grounds of the 'international' arm being an Irish operator using low wage aircrew thus undermining US operators abilities to earn revenue on those Norwegian routes to the States. They, with the majors are fighting the Middle East big 3 and do not want Norwegian muscling in on the party.

Whilst this is ongoing I doubt that BHX will get long haul services west across the Atlantic unless it be Carribean or Mexico southwards.

However, if Norwegian can be persuaded to open up Birmingham to Mumbai or Kolkata or Chennai the local diaspora will bite their hand off! In addition, western Canada is unserved, again Diaspora and colonial connections suggest this to be a market to be tested at least.

Leicester has a large Asian populace but EMA seems not to care for them with a service so they travel to Manchester or Birmingham to get to India and beyond. BHX has the established airlines in Pakistan, Air India and to some extent Turkmenistan. They are serious operators that do not serve Kerala or Goa because the leisure outfits manage that market perfectly well but we need serious business interests and family-friendly routes to those cities that people want and need to get to without the traumatic trips to Heathrow.

I do understand that Emirates have the connections but I would prefer to get on an airplane and get off at my destination without the need to transit and go through immigration and security because of an aircraft change etc.

We have the runway, they have the aircraft (B787-9 ) potentially and gives Air India some competitive impetuous.

Is it possible that a mere enthusiast can see the openings the those paid to see them cannot?

I expect that someone will explain to me my wishful thinking is out of place and shall welcome it but I remain at a loss to explain to my friends why they cannot get to Vancouver or Kolkata from Birmingham unless they change aircraft at Dubai or Newark!

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Hi Jennyjet

I think that your proposed routes hold a lot of potential, but the situation needs to be looked at from the airlines perspective. Norwegian have ordered a considerable number of 787-8/9s on order and they will obviously have a long term plan for the use of these aircraft.
Another factor would be aircraft utilisation. For example BHX-Kolkata may be a 9 hour route along with turnaround times at each end would probably make up that aircrafts day. If used on a shorter route, say 7 hours westward, it may allow that aircraft to complete another short haul service or the first leg of another long haul service within that 24 hour period.
Also, should Norwegian be allowed to operate to US cities, they would have the whole of Europe from which to choose their starting points.
It's great that you have friends asking if they can fly from Birmingham, but they really need to be asking the airlines. A bit of a 'chicken and egg' situation - people can't fly there because the airlines don't operate the route. The airlines don't operate the route because people travel to different airports.
BHX is only really just getting started in the long haul market and with the right airline (Norwegian would very much fit the bill), I would expect quite strong growth. That growth will come, but it will take time and getting the message across to the local population.
As for EMA, there has been talk of Shaheen air starting flights to Pakistan. They have just started to Manchester and EMA are part of the Manchester Airport Group.
I'm no expert in any of the above, these are just my rambling thoughts. Please don't take this as me saying your wishful thinking is out of place - it ties in with a lot of my wishes also.

Regards

Kevin

 

[Ray Finkle]

Great points Kevin.

In regard to the USA I believe that Rome and Barcelona are high on the Norwegian hit list.

This was from an interview back in October. I reckon they'd make a killing on BHX-BOM.


There would be a particular focus on India because of the country’s improving economy, rising population and family links to Britain.

“When the salaries come up in India you will see a huge flow of tourists or people visiting friends and relatives in the UK,” said Kjos. “You are talking about almost 1.5 billion people and you will see great flows of passengers very soon.”

The airline would initially target routes to Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta. Flights could arrive into both Gatwick and Birmingham in the future, he said.

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/58119/norwegian-air-poised-to-be-granted-uk-operating-licence

 

[Butty]

What a year. How exciting is this getting? I grew up in Solihull and I recall the dark days when the route network was very uninspiring for such a great city. Now I see something that I thought it would not see. Confidence. We can say with confidence that BHX is going through a major period of growth not seen since the "new terminal" opened in the 1980's. There will be setbacks along the way, but judging by the number of BHX bound flights over my house in Essex everyday, I expect BHX to hit 11m this year and 12 m the next.

 

[IanFarquharson]

BHX have been quoted as 12m pax - but not sure if this is 2016/17 FY ending 31.03.17 or for 2017
But this number is going around Diamond House

 

[elmdon74]

Version 2 of MY BHX timetable to take account of recent changes and additions.Regards,simon.


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