Thomas Cook

[GliderPilot]

Maybe Thomas Cook will wake up and launch Florida from BHX at some point, so much potential on that route even if it's just 1x weekly with an aircraft positioning in from elsewhere.

 

[finchy168]

It really seems a no brainier to have at least a 1xWeekly to Florida

 

[Brum X]

It really seems a no brainier to have at least a 1xWeekly to Florida

But as we know finchy some airlines dont have any brains

 

[rollo]

I pretty much give up on Orlando.

By a country mile it is far and away the most popular long haul family destination from the UK most parents would want to take their kids given the chance, as I've said before MAN has about 25 departures a week in summer as well as many winter flights while BHX has a weekly summer only service.

If anyone can explain the logic of this please do, Virgin and Thomas Cook must be laughing all the way to the bank.

 

[Jerry]

Maybe Thomas Cook will wake up and launch Florida from BHX at some point, so much potential on that route even if it's just 1x weekly with an aircraft positioning in from elsewhere.

When it comes to long haul they seem to basically focused on MAN. I'd be very surprised if they launched anything from elsewhere but MAN. BHXs best bet is probably TUI going 2 weekly.

 

[Coathanger16]

as I've said before MAN has about 25 departures a week in summer as well as many winter flights while BHX has a weekly summer only service.

I think I've seen a figure somewhere that MAN has more departures in 1 week to Orlando than BHX has in a year. In fact in June this year, Glasgow has 34 departures to Orlando whilst BHX has just 35 in the whole of 2018. Considering Glasgow is a smaller airport than BHX, there are almost 130,000 seats on offer to Orlando this year. On the other hand BHX has just 21,000. Even BFS has just over 25,000 seat available. The population of the Birmingham Metropolitan area is 3.6m, whilst the population of Northern Ireland is just 1.8m.

Are we all missing something here? Or are airlines just being very protective off their flights from other airports?

 

[Jerry]

Or are airlines just being very protective off their flights from other airports?

I think unfortunately for BHX Thomas Cook and Virgin Atlantic just seem to want to just operate from MAN and LGW in England and Wales. As for Glasgow i believe Edinburgh doesn't have Orlando flights so they would be for the only direct option from Scotland and ironically i believe it comes up as a 1 stop option for BHX with Flybe's codeshare with VS.

 

[Coathanger16]

As for Glasgow i believe Edinburgh doesn't have Orlando flights so they would be for the only direct option from Scotland

TUI operate a smattering of flights from Edinburgh but I get your point.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

I pretty much give up on Orlando.

By a country mile it is far and away the most popular long haul family destination from the UK most parents would want to take their kids given the chance, as I've said before MAN has about 25 departures a week in summer as well as many winter flights while BHX has a weekly summer only service.

If anyone can explain the logic of this please do, Virgin and Thomas Cook must be laughing all the way to the bank.

I think that you've hit the nail on the head there, Rollo!
Virgin and Thomas Cook are 'laughing all the way to the bank', thinking to themselves 'why should we go to the expense of setting up another operation, when the punters happily travel to the services we already operate'.
Unless someone can persuade the population of the West Midlands to boycot LGW and MAN, then I can't see the situation changing.
The only alternative, is for a different airline (with no LGW or MAN services that would be affected), to gamble on starting a more frequent service from BHX and hope that the West Midland based travellers would switch to this in droves.

Kevin

 

[Coathanger16]

The only alternative, is for a different airline (with no LGW or MAN services that would be affected), to gamble on starting a more frequent service from BHX and hope that the West Midland based travellers would switch to this in droves.

A month ago I would have said "enter Primera Air".

 

[rollo]

A month ago I would have said "enter Primera Air".

6 months ago I would have said come on Monarch .

 

[Ray Finkle]

This was a reply to someone who emailed about a route to Orlando back in May 2016.

Many thanks for your email regarding flights to Orlando.

We are acutely aware of the lack of scheduled services to Orlando from Birmingham Airport and are working on initiatives to change this situation. It will not surprise you that it is our biggest unserved destination and therefore it is top of our shopping list when we discuss our network with new and existing carriers.

Manchester and Gatwick both have significant presence from homebased longhaul airlines such as Virgin Atlantic, Norwegian, Thomas Cook, even British Airways, something which Birmingham Airport does not have. Both Virgin and Thomas Cook are nervous that introducing longhaul routes from Birmingham will cause attrition from their routes out of London and Manchester, Norwegian are busy building their London presence but could be a serious option for Birmingham in the mid-term and British Airways concentrate all their flying from London.

We are in discussions with both Norwegian and Thomas Cook Airlines regarding Orlando and we are hopeful that we can provide the midlands with this crucial route in the not too distant future.



This was from an interview with Paul Kehoe back in 2012

“Airlines want to see a growing economy so they know they have the business travellers. By the end of 2013 we need to make it clear that Birmingham has a role to play in the national infrastructure and that we are a vital part of it.

“We’re talking to different airlines who already use us.

“We have one flight a week to Orlando in Florida. Other airports have four or five.

“We go to Montego Bay in the Caribbean once a week in the summer and Toronto in Canada once a week. We could handle more flights to Belfast. The challenge in 2013 is to do more with what we have.”


I won't hold my breath that we'll see Orlando anytime soon.

 

[58terminus]

“We go to Montego Bay in the Caribbean once a week in the summer and Toronto in Canada once a week. We could handle more flights to Belfast. The challenge in 2013 is to do more with what we have.”

To be fair to Mr Kehoe he delivered with Belfast

 

[Ray Finkle]

To be fair to Mr Kehoe he delivered with Belfast

How does the song go?

Two One of out three ain't bad

 

[Jerry]

I have no idea where this aircraft will be based but i seen a photo of this ex Monarch A321 that seems to be a hybrid Monarch and Thomas Cook livery which actually doesn't look to bad. One to keep an eye out for!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nqypics/26329954908/

 

[Ray Finkle]

S19 now on sale.

I've not been through properly yet but Comiso looks to be the only one missing.

 

[jfy1999]

Not very surprised about CIY, I was more surprised they never tried it from MAN or LGW.

Wonder what they could replace it with...Naples? Judging by the current developments among our based airlines it'll probably be replaced with an additional flight to one of the Balearics

 

[Jerry]

Not very surprised about CIY, I was more surprised they never tried it from MAN or LGW.

Wonder what they could replace it with...Naples? Judging by the current developments among our based airlines it'll probably be replaced with an additional flight to one of the Balearics

Or extra flight to Tunisia or Turkey?

 

[Ray Finkle]

If it has been dropped I'd like to see something new replace it.

Preveza or Mykonos would be my preferences.

 

[Ray Finkle]

The S19 timetable is now online and no Comiso.

Unsurprisingly it's similar to last year but with an extra Lanzarote (Tue) and two extra Tenerife (Sat, Sun).

Still plenty of time for change though.

 

[rollo]

Orlando anyone or do pigs fly or is the Pope a Catholic?