Route Development & Rumours

[JENNYJET]

I do not know how the 'quote' button works but Scottie, The ARDMORE single Malt does indeed leave a warm glow. YUMMY!

 

[Scottie Dog]

Personally I prefer the Islay Single Malts,but that's diversifying from "Route Development & News" - unless we can start a new helicopter service??

 

[JENNYJET]

Ah, okay back to topic. Turkmenistan...is there a specific reason for the B777 maybe Air India need to upgrade from the Dreamliner?

 

[Ray Finkle]

Apart from telling the local news media about himself when he arrived - he is a keen sailor apparently - I've not read or heard one comment from him in the news media about the airport since.

Mr Kehoe was very vocal during his time at Birmingham and never seemed to pass up an opportunity to grab a headline. Some were not fans of that approach but, love it or hate it, he got the airport into the media spotlight gaining publicity the like of which I'd never seen before.

It remains to be seen what approach the new CEO will adopt but I'd like to see him do an interview where he outlines his vision for the future.

Ray, on PK's departure and on behalf of us on F4A you sent a letter offering him our thanks for the work he did during his time at at BHX. Would it be possible for you, on our behalf, to write to Nick Barton offering our congratulations on his appointment and to tell him there is a vibrant, well information and lively interest group that has the well-being of BHX at its heart and we wish him well.

Excellent idea.

Once Christmas is out of the way I'll try and get on it.

 

[Ianbutty]

Why the negativity for the new boss even before he has made his first mug of coffee? Mr Barton is 100% welcome. He comes from the fastest growing airport in the UK and now he has the best airport job in the UK to repeat that success. Congrats to him.

 

[David_itl]

I would agree that what Mr Barton performed at Luton should have little bearing on what he could possibly achieve at BHX as the available facilities at BHX offer a different challenge, which I hope he relishes as he can now broaden the range of airlines he liaises with as some would have been out of reach for Luton.

The positive side ought to be bringing change to the BHX mentality of handling low cost airlines and reach out to easyJet and Ryanair. Then I would suggest the next thing is to actually ignore what happens at MAN... and avoid making any kind of "stupid" remarks regarding the socio-economic regeneration happening up there. The bigger picture has got to be getting passengers out of the habit of going to Luton, Stansted, Heathrow and Gatwick, and focus on what BHX can bring to the table for airlines.

 

[Ianbutty]

I agree David. Ignore manchester and focus on Brum. Of course he has the Easyjet, whizz and ryanair relationships stronger than pretty much anyone. BHX will be a different challenge but what he has achieved at Luton has been astonishing. Bring it on. Confidence restored.

 

[hishaq96]

Ah, okay back to topic. Turkmenistan...is there a specific reason for the B777 maybe Air India need to upgrade from the Dreamliner?

Turkmenistan must be getting good loads in this time of the season meaning a bigger aircraft is needed

 

[Ray Finkle]

Another Turkmenistan 777 on it's way today.

We also have G-TUIB on it's way to Langkawi which must be the longest commercial flight direct from Birmingham?

 

[Ryan Kirkpatrick]

Another Turkmenistan 777 on it's way today.

We also have G-TUIB on it's way to Langkawi which must be the longest commercial flight direct from Birmingham?

Langkawi is the longest route that BHX currently has

 

[Ianbutty]

Langkawi is the longest route that BHX currently has

Encouraging to have the 777's. Is this permanent?

 

[Ryan Kirkpatrick]

Encouraging to have the 777's. Is this permanent?

I don't think the Turkmanistan 777 is permanent most likely be in for a few more times during the winter then back to 757 & 737.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there Ray and all, so with this new big boss starting in January 2019, how big and optimistic are we in hoping that he can pull some real big corkers out the hat at all... AndyC

 

[Ianbutty]

Hi there Ray and all, so with this new big boss starting in January 2019, how big and optimistic are we in hoping that he can pull some real big corkers out the hat at all... AndyC

Good question Andrew and thanks for posting. The really encouraging thing I see is him leaving the CEO position at the UKs fastest growing airport at which he has built a very substantial non-bucket and spade in the sun network which Luton was synonymous with. If he Can replicate that using his close links to Whizz, Squeasyjet and dare I say Ryanair and use his strengths to retain airline and routes, I think he will further turn our fortunes round.

What BHX needas is to recapture the city to city network and not just the city to beach network. And them consolidate that an build. The confidence of a new successful CEO will also attract interest from further afield.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there ianbutty, I totally agree with you, this city to city brand is what birmingham airport doesn't have, if you look and add up all the cities in the UK that have nearby links to airports, then this would be a ideal way to start, I think that when you look at flybe or Ryanair, they only fly to either Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newquay, isle of man, Guernsey and that's it I think, but if you flew to Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham ema, Newcastle, isle of Wight, even that type of network to start with would work with business men and women that wouldn't have to travel by car or train, get that network in and it would catch on, you only have to look at what delta airlines have done, they totally dominate their internal and domestic flights, this is what birmingham needs and should have already established with E190s covering it.. AndyC

 

[jfy1999]

Hi there ianbutty, I totally agree with you, this city to city brand is what birmingham airport doesn't have, if you look and add up all the cities in the UK that have nearby links to airports, then this would be a ideal way to start, I think that when you look at flybe or Ryanair, they only fly to either Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newquay, isle of man, Guernsey and that's it I think, but if you flew to Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham ema, Newcastle, isle of Wight, even that type of network to start with would work with business men and women that wouldn't have to travel by car or train, get that network in and it would catch on, you only have to look at what delta airlines have done, they totally dominate their internal and domestic flights, this is what birmingham needs and should have already established with E190s covering it.. AndyC

I'm pretty sure Ian is talking about the likes of Lisbon, Oslo, Stockholm, Athens, Valencia, and Cologne.

Flights from Birmingham to Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham might have been commercially viable 40-50 years ago, but the time it takes to process passengers through an airport nowadays means that air travel would be no faster than motorway or railway, and possibly slower due to all the waiting involved at both the departure point and destination.

Isle of Wight now has no commercial airport. Newcastle was served in the past by Eastern, and the distance meant that a train journey would be slower, but Eastern dropped it, so I can only assume they weren't making enough money.

The situation with domestic flights in the USA is very different from the UK because of the size of the country. I've researched the shortest US domestic flights and they are all flown by the likes of the CRJ-series jets, which are less efficient than turboprops over such short distances. It's no surprise that Flybe disposed of their CRJ's and E145s and are now ditching their E190s.

 

[Ianbutty]

I was thinking overseas, but a few more internals is not bad. Oh the Eruohub concept days seem so distant now. Lerwick to BHX to Milan.

We Still have a pretty good domestic network but lost the remotest parts of Scotland now that Glasgow and Edinburgh play the role Eurohub used to.

I guess as far as new routes, we will need to wait a while whilst Mr Baston establishes his priorities and route development [and rumours] strategy. I hope he will go a for a 'plug the Europe city to city gap first' strategy.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there Ray and all, I hope that once Mr Nick Barton has been in his post about three months, hopefully he can start to talking to those important airlines that need persuading to come to birmingham airport or even return hopefully, plus also hopefully flybe situation can be resolved.. AndyC

 

[Ray Finkle]

I hope that once Mr Nick Barton has been in his post about three months, hopefully he can start to talking to those important airlines that need persuading to come to birmingham airport or even return

I hope that he has already started to put the feelers out

 

[hay677]

Mr Barton's only been here a couple of days and already we have Air Transat and 3 daily A380's. Wonder if he owns a drone?