Emirates

[Ray Finkle]

Excellent points.

I think Air India probably have the most to worry about from the potetial arrival of Qatar or Etihad. Whilst they are definitely getting better reliability is still an issue and with the other two having connections across India AI could suffer.

World routes is only a few weeks away, I get the feeling that some last minute points will be tied up and we may see an announcement or two as we head into winter.

 

[jfy1999]

Two screenshots taken at the same time as EK42 and EK39 are on course to pass each other.

 

[stanedwards]

jfy1999 - I'm sure you know, but some might not.... to see just the BHX flights on FR24 click the litle cog symbol upper right then the filter tab, click the drop down box to airports, and enter BHX .I use it in conjuction with the Prague runway webcam. Wish BHX had a webcam....

 

[jfy1999]

That's a very handy feature

Here is a view of Europe with only BHX flights showing.



Compare it to Heathrow (below) and Manchester (bottom):

 

[DaveBham]

Thanks for this. I had a look earlier and was astonished how many flights there were from MAN to the USA - 2 Virgin 747s off to Orlando, one to Atlanta, NYC, Washington etc. It was also good to see the AA BHX flight was a 767 today!
I hope BHX is on the case re US flights - I am certain the millions of people in Greater Birmingham want to fly to Vegas and Orlando from BHX - not sit in traffic after a long flight and jet lag.

 

[Ray Finkle]

jfy1999 - I'm sure you know, but some might not.... to see just the BHX flights on FR24 click the litle cog symbol upper right then the filter tab, click the drop down box to airports, and enter BHX .I use it in conjuction with the Prague runway webcam. Wish BHX had a webcam....

I never knew that. I look forward to having a play when I get home

 

[thunderchild]

A little snippet from another forum - apparently engineers have been measuring stand 54C for a third jet bridge while Alpha caterers have been advised to be A380 ready in the next six months.

 

[User001]

When the A380 has docked at 54C before, and there are plenty of airports around the world that manage quick enough turn arounds with 2 Airbridges, why does BHX feel it needs to spend all that money installing a 3rd bridge?

Also, is this not an oversight from the building works, the pier at BHX is one of the newest in the UK, why was the bridge not installed then?

 

[thunderchild]

As your fully aware when the A380 visited it didn't carry a full load, only that of a 77W so it was probably easy enough to turnaround with two jet bridges. Neither of the current bridges reach the top deck so if EK do send a two class variant loading 600+ passengers onto the one deck would be a nightmare.

And I don't think it was bad planning either, what would have been the point in having an A380 gate with three bridges sitting idle for 6 years? I imagine the decision was taken to add another jet-bridge if and when regular A380 operations were confirmed.

 

[User001]

But, my point was that there are plenty of airports that manage with just 2 jet bridges.

As for not investing at the time, the official opening of the pier was with an A380, surely that was a sign that a fully capable A380 stand was needed? Emirates have hundreds of A380's on their books, so, it was always inevitable that BHX would have seen one eventually.

Just because BHX wasn't going to get an A380 from day 1 doesn't mean that they couldn't have prepared for the future, after all, isn't that what the runway extension was about, as so far only 2 flights a week over the summer need the full runway, didn't stop them building it.

MAN is building 7 A380 contact stands on its new T2 development as well as 6 remote stands capable of code F/A380, you can be sure that we won't see 13 A380's on the ground together for a long time, if ever, but, at least it's there for the future?!

 

[Ray Finkle]

A little snippet from another forum - apparently engineers have been measuring stand 54C for a third jet bridge while Alpha caterers have been advised to be A380 ready in the next six months.

Thanks for the info. The general opinion seems to be that an A380 will be used from Feb and I think Ian Farquharson has also hinted as much. It's also good to see that there will be three jet bridges, it should make things much easier.

As for bad planning with the pier, I believe it is the opposite.

The pier was designed to be very flexible and all of the main structural work for the jet bridges was done during construction, including two (or was it three?) stands that are capable of taking three bridges for A380 ops. Adding a third one to 54C won't be a massive job.

Airlines were consulted when the pier was built and no A380 ops were planned at that time and as jet bridges themselves are very expensive bits of kit, adding one that wouldn't be used for x number of years would have just been plain pointless.

As said though all of the structural work is already in place so more jet bridges can be added as and when needed with the minimal amount of work. That also goes for the other stands that currently don't have dual jet bridges.

 

[thunderchild]

Airlines were consulted when the pier was built and no A380 ops were planned at that time and as jet bridges themselves are very expensive bits of kit, adding one that wouldn't be used for x number of years would have just been plain pointless.

I think it makes more sense to have a third jetway if EK send the high density two class variant. Other airports can probably get by easily enough only having two but these airports receive x3 class aircraft in a lower configuration which aren't a million miles away from a 747 or a 77W capacity wise. The two class types are only just starting to appear so it's probably a wise move and it would make the whole process a lot more easier.

The general opinion seems to be that an A380 will be used from Feb.

Would be nice but I'd have thought we would have had official confirmation by now - I honestly think the May date is more likely. Either way all signs seem to be pointing to when rather than if.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Totally agree and it's a good point about a two class A380, I think they hold 615 pax. It's manageable with two bridges but if the option is there for three and it would make things much easier, then why not?

Would be nice but I'd have thought we would have had official confirmation by now - I honestly think the May date is more likely. Either way all signs seem to be pointing to when rather than if.

Emirates 15 year anniversary for BHX ops is in Dec. May would be perfectly timed for an announcement then

 

[Jon Dempsey]

The biggest problem, IMO, is the width of taxiways in general and vacation taxiways in particular.

 

[Ray Finkle]

This is the A380 ground movement chart for BHX.

TWY 'C' can't be used so landings on RWY15 would mean they have to vacate at 'E' which would slow down movements at busy times.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

hi there ray and all, now that emirates 3rd daily service has now been in operation for 20 plus days since its launch on 01/08/2015, and if passenger figures are going to suggest even bigger growth than expected, because having watched emirates over that last two to three years, that there pax load is increasing which is good for the airport, I don't personally think that it will cause dilusion in now all 3 daily services at all, I think that its a brilliant testament, that if one large airline carrier can start to make it work and expand, then it shouldn't cause any alarms for others, this should show massive confidence in the west midlands economy region as a whole, but also shows that confidence is strong enough to warrant an super plane like the A380 planned for next, demand must be there and show this otherwise, why would emirates be doing this. Also on another matter, looking at busiest airports in the world 2014, again Atlanta came out top again ,not a surprise, but when I looked on how many aircraft fly from that airport, I was shocked, just 17 carriers, but the most prominent were delta airlines and southwest airlines, but between them both all destinations between delta and southwest were all internal flights to the united states, so you can see how Americas internall and domestic network is so vast and works, whereas in the uk with Birmingham, not that big ast all, and that's where I think that Birmingham should be looking as well as overseas flights....andyc

 

[justplanecrazy]

Hi Andy, you can't really compare UK internal flights with US internal flights as the US is a hell of a lot bigger the then the UK so warrants more internal flights but I do agree with you on short haul flights especially to top European cities! Fingers crossed Norwegian and Wizz help towards covering that area.

 

[jfy1999]

There are several downsides to the A380, for example, it would put huge strain on Arrivals and it would disrupt other movements. But it also carries a lot less cargo. I don't think CL44 and the cargo people would be pleased at all. Quite besides the fact it isn't half as beautiful as the 777!

If the word about it being used on EK37/38 is true, then I think that's very sensible of Emirates as that is the flight that will cause least disruption. It would depart at 21:20 when there's hardly anything else going on.

Hi Andy, you can't really compare UK internal flights with US internal flights as the US is a hell of a lot bigger the then the UK so warrants more internal flights but I do agree with you on short haul flights especially to top European cities! Fingers crossed Norwegian and Wizz help towards covering that area.

I agree, look at Lisbon, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki and Prague-all unserved. I think Norwegian could fly to all of those.

We do have gaps in our domestic schedules though, especially in Ireland, we've lost Londonderry and Knock and we need to get them back.

This is where I think VLM could come into their own since they are perfectly placed to do regional short haul.

 

[Ray Finkle]

It's a very good point about arrivals. With 600 odd people piling down there at the same time I think UKBF are finally going to have to up their staffing levels at BHX.

As for Norwegian I get the feeling that the new routes are going to be predominantly aimed at the Med sunshine market, especially if they'll be selling seats for Thomas Cook and/or Thomson. That said Madrid looks to have done very well so I'd hope there may be one or two city destinations in there, even at low frequencies to begin with.

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Maybe having a busier arrivals hall will give incentive to;

1. UKBF to have more than 3 officers on duty at any one time.
2. The airport company to improve baggage reclaim which is, quite simply, dismal.