Route Development & Rumours

[nwoody2001]

Sierra Leonne, Guinea and Liberia are the 3 countries affected by Ebola, Gambia has not seen any cases, although the connections the airlines website suggests (Freetown, Monrovia etc) are for example in ebola countries...

As I said before, the is a) no reason a new airlines cant set up as b) this is one of the last places in the world not fully serviced by major international airlines and c) there is a lot of wealth and money available, but alas, its success would depend on people knowing what they are doing. time will tell. I'd welcome the link personally, but only if a route could be sustained!

 

[G-MANS]

I wish them the best. Would love a 747 back at BHX but can't see this working.

I too am wondering what qualifies Mr Ebrahim to affix HRH to his name. He appears to be chairman of an investment company.

 

[Jon Dempsey]

It is slightly less believable than Fly(may)BE opening up a direct service to Honolulu.

Bad job with Photoshop on the tail too.

Maybe the announcement was scheduled for the end of March!

 

[jfy1999]

The picture is a Photoshop botch job, but I would love to see this turn into something.
But why, why, why can't we ever get an established carrier on the job with routes like this?!

 

[Ray Finkle]

Well their website appears to have a picture of a 767 at the top and the name they have given to their 747 is photo shopped onto an A330.

This was their last Tweet:

Africaada Airways ‏@flyafricaada Jun 25
Board prepare'n 4 inspections & certification of our new aircrafts wiv aviation authorities; #flyafricaada

As much as I'd love it to happen I also can't see it.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Someone has asked Mr K on twitter about this airline, this was his reply:

can't comment on that. We are taking to many operators who like what they hear about the Midlands economy. #MidlandsMatters

Personally I'm glad he hasn't commented.

If they throw their full weight behind them and it turns out to be a load of garbage the airport looks bad, yet if it is real then they don't want to upset a potential new customer.

I think they've had their fingers burned one too many times on the BHX - India route.

 

[nwoody2001]

im more excited about the 'we're talking to many operators' ... anyway, all we can do is watch and wait...

 

[jfy1999]

Bristol is having its first SAS flight to Stockholm tonight. I can't help but feel that Scandinavia must now be our priority- it's very underserved and ideal for Norwegian as SAS don't seem to have anything lined up and Wizz will cover Eastern Europe.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Numbers to Scandinavia seem to be dropping every year. Even MAN has seen cuts by Norwegian and they see plenty of fans coming over for the Man Utd games.

That said I'm convinced Oslo would work, especially with connections onto Norwegians entire network. I reckon Stockholm could too, SAS never really had a great schedule and the timings seemed to constantly change. I think there is also a market for Gothenburg but I'm not sure if a 738 is a little too large for the route? Maybe 2/3 times per week? The problem is you lose flexibility for the business traveller.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Norwegian are due to release their S16 programme towards the end of July so I'm waiting to see if there is anything to Scandinavia for BHX. If not I'll ask him if they have anything up their sleeve.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Why not ?

https://twitter.com/BHX_Ambassador/stat ... 2902561792

 

[Brum X]

That is awesome. Love it :rockon:

 

[jfy1999]

That looks like a Transaero plane to me. If Africaada's livery looks anything like that I'd be in dreamland if they came here...but if it looks anything like that photoshopped A330 I won't be so enthusiastic.

 

[jfy1999]

I've been looking at the Routes Online website and in the news for BHX is an article on Middle East flights. The BHX team are not stopping with the third daily UAE service and William Pearson told Routes Online that they are very close to "finalising discussions with at least one other carrier".

That looks very interesting.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I think we're all excited to see just who it is.

The obvious one would be Qatar but you never know.

 

[Brum X]

Whilst talking about the positives at BHX at the moment, can we assume that BHX have secured Air India as they are still bookable daily right into 2016 and no mention of MAN ???????

 

[Ray Finkle]

I hope so but Air India do seem to be rather unpredictable.

With AI looking at 4 or 5 new European routes and plans for IAH, IAD, DEN and SFO I'm not sure where the aircraft are coming from? Especially as they are converting 2x 787's to a domestic config.

Lets hope Mr K's visit did the job.

 

[jfy1999]

BE1506 to Deauville departs today operated by an E175. I believe that may be the inaugural service?

 

[Brum X]

BE1506 to Deauville departs today operated by an E175. I believe that may be the inaugural service?

Every little helps and ive got to admit, i do like those Embraer E175s. Nice little aircraft.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Deauville was due to start on the 22nd June although I'd totally forgotten about it so have no idea if it did.

It's going to be interesting to see what the loads are like on this route.