Route Development & Rumours

[G-MANS]

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.

According to Skyliner it's going to Kabo Air. Probably for Hajj which is coming up soon.

 

[Ray Finkle]

There is an article in Travel Weekly about Air Transat starting Glasgow - Montreal. The article then goes on to talk about capacity increases on other routes and ends with this line.

The airline will also be increasing the duration of its summer service from Birmingham to Toronto to operate throughout September.

The service already runs throughout September so I can only assume we'll be seeing an A330 for a few weeks longer.

 

[Brum X]

There is an article in Travel Weekly about Air Transat starting Glasgow - Montreal. The article then goes on to talk about capacity increases on other routes and ends with this line.

The airline will also be increasing the duration of its summer service from Birmingham to Toronto to operate throughout September.

The service already runs throughout September so I can only assume we'll be seeing an A330 for a few weeks longer.

Or maybe it was meant to say throughout October which it currently does not operate throughout. Air Transat really are a funny one, i dont know whether to be happy or frustrated but i suppose every little helps and they are still sticking with BHX so there must be something here for them.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I know what you mean.

Every year I expect their service to finish but I'm also slightly frustrated when we seen no expansion. LGW, GLA and MAN have all been expanded over the years whereas the likes of EXT and NCL were dropped altogether. BHX remains their only UK airport with just one service and that doesn't look like changing anytime soon.

I suppose we should at least be thankful that we haven't lost them altogether, so far, as a supporter of an airport with BHX's ambitions it saddens me to feel that way :dunno:

 

[Brum X]

I know what you mean.

Every year I expect their service to finish but I'm also slightly frustrated when we seen no expansion. LGW, GLA and MAN have all been expanded over the years whereas the likes of EXT and NCL were dropped altogether. BHX remains their only UK airport with just one service and that doesn't look like changing anytime soon.

I suppose we should at least be thankful that we haven't lost them altogether, so far, as a supporter of an airport with BHX's ambitions it saddens me to feel that way :dunno:

And they still seem to announce new routes all over the place. Just this week alone they have announced:
airtransat in summer 2016 program is introducing new connection to France, as the airline plans 1 weekly operation on Toronto – Nice route. Operation for summer 2016 will begin from 23MAY16, with Airbus A310 aircraft.

TS148 YYZ2025 – 1000+1NCE 310 1
TS149 NCE1140 – 1425YYZ 310 2airtransat in summer 2016 season is launching new service to Italy, as the airline schedules one weekly Montreal – Pisa service. Airbus A330 aircraft is scheduled to operate this route from 12JUN16.

TS496 YUL2155 – 1200+1PSA 330 7
TS497 PSA1345 – 1705YUL 330 1

And

 

[nwoody2001]

I think the element to focus on here is the word 'growth', and in this regard, every little helps!!!

For whatever reason, relationships between BHX and AirTransat have been put under pressure and the consequence is the awkward stalemate we have now! the reality is, something will give at some point. Either the airline and airport wont be able to overcome their differences and the airlines pulls out or expansion will occur. its not like we've not been here before, and seen both outcomes.

 

[Brum X]

I think the element to focus on here is the word 'growth', and in this regard, every little helps!!!

For whatever reason, relationships between BHX and AirTransat have been put under pressure and the consequence is the awkward stalemate we have now! the reality is, something will give at some point. Either the airline and airport wont be able to overcome their differences and the airlines pulls out or expansion will occur. its not like we've not been here before, and seen both outcomes.

Yeah i remember when Ryanair pulled out "almost" and only kept there Dublin service and 1 month later they announced BHX expansion.

 

[nwoody2001]

well I posed the following question on twitter....

@Paul_Kehoe what will it take to get more routes to Canada? @airtransat launch new route from GLA whilst #BHX is stuck with 1 weekly in s16!

and the reply I got from Air Transat was interesting....

@[myname] @Paul_Kehoe Hello, our routes are evaluated every season, let's see what the future brings! /ml

maybe something from nothing, but that's not the standard stock response .. is it???

 

[Ray Finkle]

From Mr K

@airtransat -good passenger loads and yields. @bhx_official still building route network with stiff competition fm MAN & LHR

It's definitely better than the standard reply but I won't hold my breath.

We seem to have had a few of these types of replies on social media recently. Norwegian were first, then it was Wizz just before BUD was announced. United also said that a seasonal Chicago 'may be in the works' and now this from Air Transat. Consequently I asked Easyjet why they continue to ignore BHX and got the standard check our website for new routes reply.

Whilst social media cannot be relied upon it's certainly better than nothing :smile:

 

[nwoody2001]

damn you got there before me...

well its good that they reply, and if anything, whilst I had very little hope for the future of Air Transat at BHX, I have more hope now than I ever had lol!

Another one to 'watch this space'

 

[jfy1999]

Air Transat have reverted to the A310 so hopefully they'll go on for longer. I believe their last service is usually on the first Wednesday in October.

I don't think they'll pull out as the flights that they do have here are extremely popular.

The thing to watch out for is what our established operators will do if Norwegian announce long haul. Hopefully they'll up the ante with larger aircraft and maybe a new route or two...

 

[Brum X]

damn you got there before me...

well its good that they reply, and if anything, whilst I had very little hope for the future of Air Transat at BHX, I have more hope now than I ever had lol!

Another one to 'watch this space'

Thats the thing i actually have alot of hope for Air Transat, dunno why but i have. They are still at BHX after all these years and as Mr K has said the flight has good loads and yields. I cant see them going anywhere soon.

 

[Brum X]

Sorry to bring YYZ up again but its so frustrating.

Air Canada Rouge today have announced GLA-YYZ Thrice weekly starting next summer on top of there new Air Transat Montreal route.

What is it with Canada and Scotland, is it VFR traffic or what ???? EDI also have Air Canada Rouge.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Scotland, Edinburgh in particular, has a massive amount of inbound tourist traffic over the summer months from Canada and the USA so flights can be filled from both ends. I'd say a large percentage of the BHX pax would be UK originating.

With the amount of expansion that EDI has seen lately GLA were bound to start the fightback at some point.

 

[jfy1999]

The word is that PIA will be reintroducing flights to Leeds Bradford before the year is up.

Also they will be leasing five more 777s, so hopefully that'll give them a shot in the arm regarding their BHX operation.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I was lucky enough to meet someone fairly high up in the PIA ranks last year and I asked him about UK ops, he said that LBA was definitely to be 'suspended' due to the A310 becoming unviable but they wanted it to return. He also said that the 777 had been looked at but the airfield was 'unsuitable'. I'm not familiar with LBA so I can't comment as to what that means. From the way he was talking though it sounded as if the route did well but was let down by the choice of aircraft, so if a compromise has been found I wouldn't be surprised to see it return.

Anyway back to BHX and it would be nice to see a return to 4x weekly, let alone back up to 5x weekly. Pakistan is a bit of a let down at the moment, it's just a real shame that Air Blue got into the troubles that they did as their loads were phenomenal :sad:

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there ray, you mentioned recently about United Airlines may be doing a seasonal run from bhx to Chicago, so when do you think that this will happen, next year or the year after, because this would be excellent news if it starts, another destination to the USA is what is needed from Birmingham, that will then be three destinations to the USA,as well as Jfk and Newark, New Jersey, but again we'll have to wait and see for the announcement...andyc

 

[Ray Finkle]

Hi, ORD was just a rumour and to be honest I wasn't even going to mention it until I got the reply from United on Facebook. I just found the quote 'You never know. It may well be in the works' interesting.

I wouldn't pin too much hope on it until we hear something official.

 

[jfy1999]

A magnificent morning lineup at BHX, credit Gordon Stretch and the BHX Photo Blog :hatsoff:

 

[nwoody2001]

well I hope you enjoyed it whilst it last, its a view we wont be seeing for a while again!