Emirates

[Ray Finkle]

These would have been business class, but the guests are being wined & dined at Resorts World, so they stretched to get P class to complete the experience.

Cheers mate.

Given that no extra cargo space is being sold for the third flight and that first class isn't going to last I wonder if BHX is being lined up as one of the first destinations for the 2 class A380s?

A very good point. As long as it's not to replace one of the flights putting us back to 2x daily then it'd be great, only my opinion but I'd rather see 3x 77W's than 1x 77W and 1x A380.

It appears as if the 2 class A380's will have 615 seats, so with 360 seats being added each way in August rising to 427 each way in Jan would another 200 odd be feasible in such a short space of time? I'm really not too bothered about losing First but I wouldn't like to lose the 3x daily frequency.

If an A380 is also used from BHX would EK consider operating a pure cargo flight from BHX as well,or am I just being silly???!!!
Stranger things have happened ardon:

You never know, we may see some ad hoc stuff if that happens. The thing about cargo is it doesn't mind where it travels from so road journeys wouldn't be too much of an issue.

 

[Ray Finkle]

A nice article from Emirates about BHX. It's great to see JLR helping keep the cargo full

Emirates tips Birmingham Airport to have a strong decade as it launches new flight

Since the introduction of its first flight into the region in December 2000, Emirates has carried five million passengers between Dubai and Birmingham (including return), 30% of which travelled during the last three years.

The most popular onward destinations for Midlands based travellers on Emirates include Dubai, Australia, India, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong.

Laurie Berryman, Emirates vice president, UK, said: “As a central location in the UK and key network for passengers and cargo, Birmingham is a vital regional hub for Emirates.

“Having recently surpassed a major milestone by celebrating five million passengers on the airline, Birmingham’s enthusiasm for both global travel and commerce has led to significant growth for our operation in the West Midlands.”

On a visit to the West Midlands, Berryman said: “Birmingham has proved to us that there is a long-haul market from here and that will continue to grow.

“I think Birmingham {Airport} will have a very strong decade. Nothing new will be built in the South East for at least ten years and and there’s no reason why Birmingham can’t get to 15m-20m passengers in that time.”

Commenting on the idea that the local airport should be re-named Birmingham Shakespeare to position it better in the minds of foreign tourists, Berryman said he thought it was “quite a good idea”.

He added: “We find that in-bound tourists only know one city and that’s London. Two, perhaps, if you count Edinburgh.

“There is lot of ignorance in the rest of the world about anything in the UK outside London.”

Meanwhile, the airline has also announced that its freight operation Emirates SkyCargo, which began its operation in the region in 2005, has been a success, recording a growth of 223% over ten years.

In 2014 alone, 13m kgs of cargo was carried in and out of Birmingham.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jaguar Land Rover - which has a distribution base in Dubai - is the airline’s’ largest customer for this service.

The full article is here although you have to register: http://www.thebusinessdesk.com/westmidl ... ion=273986

 

[jfy1999]

That's a little confusing because I've never seen any Emirates cargo planes at BHX? It must mean the cargo that they carry on the passenger flights.

 

[CL44]

That's a little confusing because I've never seen any Emirates cargo planes at BHX? It must mean the cargo that they carry on the passenger flights.

The flights that come into BHX for Emirates are quite deceptive. Not only do they carry an absolute shed load of passengers but each flight can carry between 16 and 23 tonnes of freight (as well as the baggage etc), which makes them really useful for Forwarding Agents (like me). Normally the uplift is towards the higher end of the scale as well due to the distance being travelled. So when they go to 3 a day (counting down to that day already) we will have approximately 69 tonnes of space a day each way. Now I know this may make me a bit unpopular but I hope Emirates keep the 777-300 coming into BHX and keep the A380's anywhere else (don't mind where just not here). When LHR went 5 a day on the A380 lo and behold Skycargo stuck a freighter flight into LHR (and then decided one was not enough and doubled it). Then it was a 77F but I believe it has been a 74F recently (I await to be corrected if I am wrong on this). The main reason being the A380 is limited to approximately 8 tonnes of cargo space. These figures by the way come from the Emirates hardcopy timetable which sits on the edge of my desk.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Very interesting thanks for the info. I've always heard it said that EK carry alot of cargo out of BHX so it's good to see it confirmed and that is an amazing difference between the 77W and A380.

If EK do decide to go for an A380 do you think BHX is currently in a position to deal with a dedicated cargo service? The demand definitely seems to be there and BHX have handled large freighters on a regular basis in the past but I just wondered if they still have the facilities and/or the staff? Or would they be more suited to EMA which is only 40 mins up the road?

 

[CL44]

I did have a reply written out for Ray but it seems to have vanished.

There are very different views on this point of freighters into BHX (some of which I have raised on this very site). While yes it would be great to see Airlines committing to BHX with freighters I fear that BHX would struggle to both attract and handle such traffic. Yes in those halcyon days of freighters coming into BHX (and by freighters I mean 74F/D1F/DC8 etc.) it was good to see them coming in and going out having off loaded various amounts of motor vehicle parts etc. Now however EMA are in a much better position for such traffic with both ramp space and staffing suitable for both the traditional types of freighters as well as the big Antonov flights.

Now I know that Hanger 1 will be coming down (which will release some ramp space) but you still need the facilities to handle the extra cargo as well as what transits through the Airport anyway without causing any issues / delays to what is handled currently. As a Forwarding Agent yes the extra services would be great but practically I do not see it working out for BHX.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Thanks again for the reply, it's good to get an informed view.

It seems as if the cargo handling side has been gradually cut back so it's now only capable of handling the belly freight. I suppose you can't really blame BHX when you have the cargo heavyweight of EMA just up the road and with the strict night flying policy which EMa don't have it's probably best not to chase a lost cause.

 

[Ray Finkle]

A bit of analysis from the Routes article about our EK services. I think the point to point percentage has risen slightly from last time and Beijing is back in the top ten connections, replacing Singapore I think?

Our own analysis of passenger demand on the Dubai – Birmingham route shows that an around 500,000 passengers flew on the link between the cities during 2014, suggesting average loads in excess of 87 per cent on the Emirates service. An estimated 30.4 per cent of these passengers were utilising it for point-to-point travel, with the remaining connecting to or from other points across the globe.

The data shows that alongside the local traffic, the top ten most popular points for travellers utilising the route were between Birmingham and Islamabad, Bangkok, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Perth, Delhi, Dhaka, Cochin, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.

http://www.routesonline.com/news/29/bre ... nectivity/

 

[nwoody2001]

every time I see that list, Islamabad is always in the top 3 of the list, which again always shocks me as to why PIA seem to slowly be pulling out of BHX.... the market is their for them to take if they are willing....

 

[Ray Finkle]

I know, it's ridiculous how many pax PIA have lost.

I think one of our flights was moved up to MAN to add capacity when LBA was suspended and with a good chunk of their fleet out of action I'm not sure if PIA are in a position to do anymore. If only Air Blue could get hold of a couple of A330's.

I guess it's good for the likes of Emirates and Turkish though who are most likely taking up much of the slack.

 

[Brum X]

I know, it's ridiculous how many pax PIA have lost.

I think one of our flights was moved up to MAN to add capacity when LBA was suspended and with a good chunk of their fleet out of action I'm not sure if PIA are in a position to do anymore. If only Air Blue could get hold of a couple of A330's.

I guess it's good for the likes of Emirates and Turkish though who are most likely taking up much of the slack.

Delhi = I wonder how many passengers travel via DXB, rather than going Air India Direct ?


Dhaka = Biman Bangladesh anybody ???????

 

[Jon Dempsey]

I know, it's ridiculous how many pax PIA have lost.

I think one of our flights was moved up to MAN to add capacity when LBA was suspended and with a good chunk of their fleet out of action I'm not sure if PIA are in a position to do anymore. If only Air Blue could get hold of a couple of A330's.

I guess it's good for the likes of Emirates and Turkish though who are most likely taking up much of the slack.

I've read more than a few reviews of PIA and they aren't very good.

Cleanliness of the aircraft, in-flight entertainment, food, attitude of staff.

I think they are an airline with big problems.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Delhi = I wonder how many passengers travel via DXB, rather than going Air India Direct ?


Dhaka = Biman Bangladesh anybody ???????

Over the last few months I've spoken to quite a few people who work for the National Grid based in Solihull. From what I gather quite a few of their employees make business trips to Mumbai on a fairly regular basis and they use Emirates as their carrier of choice. I wonder if National Grid would consider using Air India if a direct flight was made available.

I've read more than a few reviews of PIA and they aren't very good.

Cleanliness of the aircraft, in-flight entertainment, food, attitude of staff.

I think they are an airline with big problems.

They really don't seem to have a very good reputation at all. For the majority of the Pakistani community I speak to Turkish or Emirates seem to be the popular choices. Good for them I suppose.

 

[nwoody2001]

I suspect you're, but that doesn't explain why they are reducing capacity at BHX and increasing it elsewhere.... yes they might night be the best airline, but there appears to be a large market that wans to travel between BHX - Islamabad/Pakistan, and what flights they do fly out of BHX are often full! Are they the best - no, but do people use the route - yes!

 

[jfy1999]

Air Blue have in fact got an A330, UR-WRQ has been sub-leased from Wind Rose.

I'm still unsure why Biman were scared off, maybe somone could enlighten me.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I was under the impression that A330 was on a short lease until May just gone? Maybe they've extended it?

As for Biman it was the old CEO (can't remember his name) who arranged everything, when he left everything went quiet.

 

[jfy1999]

As the third daily UAE flight will introduce planes with First Class I believe we will see new EK registrations. Which of EK's 77Ws have First Class?

 

[Brummiegem]

jfy1999,if you keep your eye on the current EK39/40,lunchtime flight you will notice that different aircraft are being used.
I think this is because we are going through a traditional quiet time,perhaps with Ramadam almost on us could be one reason.
I noticed this at the weekend,unfortunately I was unable to post a report to give everyone a heads-up.
Lower capacity aircraft have been used at around this time of year for the past few years,so we do get some variety and as you say that will become a bit more regular in less than 2 months now.

 

[Brummiegem]

Just for info,A6-ECT,EGI and EGQ have been used in the last few days on EK39/40.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Boxer David Haye was amongst those on the EK38 which was delayed due to a mouse on board

Ex-boxing champ David Haye and other passengers stranded after a MOUSE was spotted on board Emirates plane at Birmingham Airport

On the face of it the storey is quite amusing but I guess if the mouse started gnawing it's way through important wiring whilst in flight the consequences could be disastrous.