Re: Route Development
user001 said:
In terms of route development, I wonder what BHX bosses will make of EDI's expansion.
The runway extension has long been heralded as 'levelling the playing field' with regards to flights, to see EDI take the much sought after Chicago link, the Philidelphia link which only lasted 1 season at BHX, extra flights to Toronto which seems to be in demand at BHX and now Qatar, that makes 4 destinations BHX would love. I wonder if a trip up to EDI to see how they did it could be in order, especially now Air Blue have gone after much trumpeting from anna.aero.
I'd find it hard to argue with any of that. If Air Blue stopping is due to the runway length then it makes you wonder why the sums were not done beforehand, it is only suspended at the moment but I don't expect them back, I have a feeling they will start a London airport instead. I'm not surprised about EDI getting a seasonal ORD and PHL, Scotland's capital city gets a large amount of summer inbound tourists from America so as summer only they should do well. US saw very good loads from BHX including the front cabin but yet they said the yields weren't there, they never carried any cargo at all which is vital to a long haul routes profitability, this says to me they never really took the route seriously in the first place.
Where this leaves BHX? It seems the route development team have been desperately trying to drum up some long haul business to coincide with the runway extension, I wonder if during that time they have taken their eye off the bread and butter key European routes. Ryanair stagnant with any new route replacing another, Flybe facing the possibility of BHX losing services, by all accounts Monarch were close to basing a 10th unit at BHX this year but now the Midlands is spilt with EMA and nothing at all from Thomson or Thomas Cook, indeed the only new service for next year is Monarch to Hurghada, not even a new destination (incidentally I think Istanbul was the last one of those back in 2009). Madrid, Lisbon, Budapest, Oslo, Warsaw, Prague.... all destinations unserved from BHX yet all available from the likes of EMA and BRS and whilst on the subject of EMA it consistently carried more pax to the likes of Faro, Malaga, Alicante and Palma this year. Easyjet recently reiterated that at the prices BHX charge there will never be a base. Jet2 also spoke to BHX and were apparently very keen initially, from what I hear they then suddenly got cold feet, was that when they were made aware of the fees? Ryanair once said they would open any route from Manchester if the price was right, I'm sure that must stand for any base? Are BHX going all out to secure something from Norwegian? Mr Kehoe seemed quite proud of his 'rack rate' but if BHX aren't prepared to reduce fees to a more realistic level that meets the needs of the industry during these tough times I can't see where any expansion will come from, because time and time again we just hear that they can't get the yields out of BHX.
As for long haul? BHX long haul IT offering is woeful, Orlando at least deserves more than a once weekly seasonal flight, in fact in the last consultative committee meeting it was mentioned that Thomson long haul flights usually go out full and could there be any more capacity added. Thomas Cook have touted for long haul flights, I bet BHX have made an offer but I bet it's not a competitive one. The US is a tough one for BHX, with the frequencies and lower prices of LHR an hour away it will always struggle. I'd like to think with the right offer another link could be sustained, Delta to ATL would be my preferred option, will that offer ever happen though. Canada has a seasonal market with Toronto load factors at 98% but Air Transat have said BHX are lucky to still have them as it's the only destination with only one route, when asked why the don't add more the reply was because we can put two planes into Manchester for the price of one at Birmingham. At a time where airline purse strings are being pulled ever tighter BHX just isn't making itself an attractive option, especially for the thinner long haul routes. Qatar were most likely ready to start BHX, and may still do, but with Turkish growing and Air India now on the scene things may well have changed, there is also Emirates lurking with a third daily service ready to spoil the party like they did with Gulf Air back in 05.
In terms of route development, I wonder what BHX bosses will make of EDI's expansion.
Probably not bothered after Mr Kehoe's reported £50k per year pay rise.
The runway extension has long been heralded as 'levelling the playing field' with regards to flights
The runway extension has been described as everything from a level playing field to the answer to the UK's capacity problems but to me actions speak louder than words and so far we've seen nothing but the outside chance of Biman transiting to JFK. Although it's really a long term project I do hope they have something lined up as if not then it seems a lot of wasted effort that could have been better used elsewhere. They wanted a link to the US and a link to China lined up. The US seems to have failed, although the spin will no doubt try and make out Biman to JFK as it, they have been to China and initially spoke to four airlines, they have since been back to speak to one particular airline a further three times with it mentioned that a service would be four times weekly rising to daily in time, so make of that what you will.
I do feel for the route development team, they must wine and dine potential airlines, spend hours explaining the virtues of BHX and the positives of the area, put so much effort into getting them interested, then the route agreement talks start and they have to say by the way, this is how much it will cost you to fly here, it must be so frustrating. I bet there has been numerous clouds of dust and an airline representative shaped hole in the boardroom door
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