Birmingham: New Route Development & Rumours

[Ray Finkle]

According to this 'airlines' Twitter they have appointed an Ops Supervisor, ex EK apparently, they have held meetings with Senegal Aviation and the Ops Manager at Dakar Airport and have now started work on the in flight menu, all organic produce :good:

I guess all that's needed now is to get an actual plane 😆

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Just make sure the airport is clear of dentists!!

 

[Ray Finkle]

😆

 

[Ray Finkle]

I heard it rumoured today that 2016 may see a summer season of flights to Chicago with United. I didn't think much of it but thought I'd ask on Facebook on the off chance, this was the reply:

You never know. It may be in the works. We'll share your suggestion with our Network Planning team. ^KP

 

[andyc941]

Hi Ray,user001posted that United were starting flights between ORD-MAN in 2016 from MAY till end of September.So it could be they are thinking of starting ORD-BHX aswell as the MAN route.Its about time both airports had abit of expansión from United. :clapping:

 

[User001]

Where was it rumoured?

Just it's funny that the day after the news that MAN is to get a summer link to the same destination with the same airline, BHX is apparently in the frame too?

I'm not sure if someone at BHX got their wires crossed, as like I say it's quite strange this rumour only pops up straight after the MAN rumour?

 

[Brum X]

Great if BHX can get its ORD flight back, respect to MAN but it already has ORD offered direct so i really really hope BHX gets this route too.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Hi Ray,user001posted that United were starting flights between ORD-MAN in 2016 from MAY till end of September.So it could be they are thinking of starting ORD-BHX aswell as the MAN route.Its about time both airports had abit of expansión from United. :clapping:

I agree mate it sure is about time.

To me it's a bit of a mixed message though:

You never know. It may be in the works.

I don't see any reason at all to make such a comment if there is nothing there, but,

We'll share your suggestion with our Network Planning team.

This is just your generic reply rather than say it isn't happening.

We shall see.

 

[User001]

I hope BHX does get a link too, but, like I say, I just find it strange that this rumour only pops up the day after the MAN news hits the web.

I would also be sceptical of United launching 2 routes from Chicago to destinations less than 100 miles apart at the same time, it's very rare to do this in the long haul world as year 1 is about maximising your load, and, while we in the UK know B,ham and Manc are 2 very different cities, the routes would end up competing with each other and I just don't see United doing that.

In terms of UA from MAN to ORD, yes, it would be up against AA, but, this would effectively be a restart for United given they used to codeshare on the old bmi route, but, provided most of the passengers and connections. UA know that they could tap back into that market, and, given they were always pleased with the loads on the bmi flights, I'm surprised it's taken them this long to return.

I do think this is either a case of crossed wires, or, someone has heard MAN are getting a route, so, let's start a rumour BHX is getting one too. I may be proven wrong, but, I do just find the timing of this rumour far too convenient.

 

[andyc941]

After all the mergers of US airlines over the last couple of years i can only think of three major airlines for long haul routes to BHX AA,DL,UA.So who have the BHX routes development team gone to the US to talk to..Maybe its a new airline like Delta with a Direct link with Atlanta, or more expansion from AA or UA ?.Ye its a bit strange that a day after MAN-ORD is to be announced soon that there is a rumour of a BHX-ORD route from UA for a 2016 start,i think someone has got their wires crossed some how.But might be proven wrong i hope so.

 

[nwoody2001]

humour me, what was the source of the rumour for the MAN-ORD route?

 

[andyc941]

Sorry nwoody2001 i posted the last post wrong and will correct it.: Its not a rumour.user001 posted it will be announced soon. :whiteflag:And the BHX-ORD is a rumour so far.

 

[User001]

The source of the MAN rumour was the flight appearing in GDS briefly as UA102/103 from May 20th and from the UA station manager at LHR confirming a seasonal flight until Sept 30th.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there ray and all, did I see recently a previous post regarding possible direct flights to Hartfield Jackson -ie- Atlanta airport, wow, now that would be a massive plus for Birmingham, from either American Airlines or united. Airlines or even as suggested delta. Now a Hartfield -Jackson in Atlanta is the busiest airport in the world currently, handling just under 100,000,000, yes that's 100 hundred million passengers per year, now that's certainly a figure and number I like to see, and as I have see on a proposal by the Turkish government, to make Istanbul airport, handle in excess of a minimum of 150,000,000 million passengers per year, after trying to build an eight lane runway airport. So we'll have to wait and see about Atlanta, let's hope and pray that it happens ,for Birmingham and the West Midlands as a whole.. Andyc

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Hi there ray and all, did I see recently a previous post regarding possible direct flights to Hartfield Jackson -ie- Atlanta airport, wow, now that would be a massive plus for Birmingham, from either American Airlines or united. Airlines or even as suggested delta. Now a Hartfield -Jackson in Atlanta is the busiest airport in the world currently, handling just under 100,000,000, yes that's 100 hundred million passengers per year, now that's certainly a figure and number I like to see, and as I have see on a proposal by the Turkish government, to make Istanbul airport, handle in excess of a minimum of 150,000,000 million passengers per year, after trying to build an eight lane runway airport. So we'll have to wait and see about Atlanta, let's hope and pray that it happens ,for Birmingham and the West Midlands as a whole.. Andyc

[offtopic]Al Maktoum Airport (DWC:OMDW) in the UAE 25 miles from DXB has a projected annual passenger capacity of between 160 million and 260 million.[/offtopic]

 

[Hassaan]

I thought we were free of these odd ball airlines! I'll believe it when I see it, and I'll eat every hat I own if they fill more than 70% of a single flight! So, I'm not bricking it (the hat eating) 😆 - keeping in mind that I think Hellenic only had 51 passengers on the first flight?

 

[Hassaan]

What is the market like for a BHX-ATL flight? Much as another US link would be nice ORD would be the obvious choice although both would be terrific. I suppose BHX needs to prove its worth and the best way they can do that is for the AA flights to JFK to be performing well, along with knowing how high the connection traffic is.

United have done well to stick with BHX for 18 years but it would be odd (although good news) for them to expand at this point, because you'd think if they wanted to expand they'd have done it by now, but maybe AA have spurred them on and maybe that's what they needed.

Anything on new links to the Indian sub-continent?

 

[Ray Finkle]

There are whispers that there may be something happening with regard to India but how accurate they are I don't know. We shall see.

 

[juliet-fox-9]

I'm not very optimistic about this airline. If we want flights to Africa, why can't we ever get someone like Arik Air, Ethiopian or Kenya Airways on the job?!

Instead we have to wait for a new airline to pop up before there are any rumours!...

 

[User001]

There's currently a B747-400 being painted in Manchester for a Nigerian AMCI charter firm.

Could this be destined for Africaada? Reg is 5N-RDk and ex-Transaero.