Route Development & Rumours

[Brum X]

With due respect you asked the same question about 1 week ago Re: British Airways.

Simple Answer= No


Maybe the best person to chat to would be User001 on this very subjest as he has connections with BA i believe.

 

[CL44]

British Airways and BHX (apart from diverts) will not happen again. BA decided way back to centralise their product at LHR and only certain connections (e.g. the Shuttle services and slot-holding flights) would operate from the regions. BHX have proved that after their pull out from the Midlands that we don't need them to have a scheduled service from here (and I remember when they had an absolute hat full of flights from BHX including the Transatlantic services). They had a full cargo operation with a dedicated building to themselves to take over from Hangar 3. They are still in that building but now share it with Swissport Cargo. They used to run their own trucks from the regions to LHR but not any more. BA have shown that they have outgrown BHX. I contend that the opposite is true: BHX have outgrown BA and do not need them back here. We have attracted premium Carriers to BHX without having the "Flag Carrier" operating out of here. BHX should concentrate on attracting Airlines where we can fill a niche in their offering route wise and who can fit in with our requirements for services to be offered to passengers from our locale.

I don't have an axe to grind with BA (not as such), but I would prefer to have Airlines that WANT to operate from BHX instead of Airlines that quite plainly don't.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Totally agree with everything CL44 has said.

Besides, the likes of Ryanair and Easyjet etc would eat them alive when it comes to short haul and I don't see them operating point to point long haul outside of London anytime soon.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there ray, regarding easyjet, you mention that easyjet would eat British Airways alive regarding short hall, at which airport are you referring to, not Birmingham, easyjet only has three destinations out of Birmingham, Geneva, grenoble, which these two are seasonal, where as Belfast is everyday year round, so until easyjet decide to expand further, that's all you'll get from them,you might get a few more from Ryanair, but that's it, any other carriers like cathy pacific, Virgin,delta or emirates expanding any further than perth....Andyc

 

[andyc941]

Hi andrew,i dont understand the last bit of your last post.But in my opinion i dont think BHX will see Cathay for a long time yet,they are rumoured to be starting LGW next year,and also rumours of going 8x weekly at MAN next year.As for Virgin at the moment they dont seem intrested in BHX at the moment,they seem to be Concentrating on their current bases You might see Delta in the next few years but while they are in partnership with Virgin i dont know. .As you know things can change tho over the next few years.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I was talking about regional UK in general but, yes, different airports would offer different types of competition.

or emirates expanding any further than perth

?

 

[nwoody2001]

so im inlove with Greater Circle having seen what User001 and Rayfinkle have done with it. that said, I noticed that no-one had mapped all the new routes which have been announced/started in the last 12 months....

see below, the impressive map below.

 

[Hassaan]

What's the possiblity of us getting Etihad and a West Coast link to the US? (not that the two are connected, of course!)

 

[Brummiegem]

What's the possiblity of us getting Etihad and a West Coast link to the US? (not that the two are connected, of course!)

Hmmm,not sure about either of these.
Maybe Las Vegas by Norwegian possibly 2017,if you class that as West Coast.
Etihad I really don't think is on the radar to be honest.However if Qatar do well and up their frequencies quickly then ETD may take notice,but I think it is a long shot at this point in time.
Of course you never know what might happen.Norwegian is probably our best bet right now but by the looks of things we may be limited to B737MAX operations(East Coast)initially.
We may see a B788 when the 9 series start to be delivered.Also a lot will depend on a base being set up as well,but that seems to have gone very quiet so we will have to see what happens.
Still plenty of time for things to happen of course and I believe we will see some more new service announcements in the coming months.
Question is,who and where???

 

[Ray Finkle]

There was an interview with Mr K in which he said that they had spoken to Etihad but after all the money spent their main focus was becoming the number one player at MAN and BHX wouldn't start until after that happened. That was several years ago and things may well have changed now, if Qatar do well then it may well prompt them to start something.

I think BHX will have to prove itself to Norwegian with the MAX if we want to see the likes of the US west coast. I really do hope they give Orlando a bash with a 787, even just a weekly flight would be a big start.

There are definitely one or two more things yet to come but whether they'll be announced before Christmas I do not know.

 

[nwoody2001]

well with Etihad being 2x weekly at MAN vs Emirates operating 3x daily flights, 2 of which being A388, Etihad certainly have some catching up to do to become the largest MEB3 carrier at MAN.

When you look at the top cities serviced by Emirates, BHX is now officially the largest on the Emirates network not serviced by all 3 MEB3 airlines, in that regard, I'd be shocked if were weren't already on Etihad radar. In the event emirates launch the A388 next year out of BHX, Emirates and Qatar could be providing 24,500 seats weekly out of BHX or 1,275,000 seat annually. for them not to be aware of that would be shocking. However, that's not to say they will launch, they may be a) seeing how things pan out at BHX b) wait to see if any other service on their network is under performing or (unlikely) c) be ready to announce a route in the next few weeks!

 

[User001]

I know it's probably a typo but Etihad are 2 daily at MAN, not 2 weekly.

It's worth noting that even at Heathrow, Etihad are only 3 daily, so, they lag behind the other 2 MEB3 by some margin.

 

[nwoody2001]

Apologies, certainly a typo

 

[nwoody2001]

with regard to the route development of our 3 new European Locos at BHX, the growth in S16 compare to what was provided in S15 will be pretty impressive to my mind. The snapshot as things currently stand....

As of August 2015, we have the following:

Norwegian
Barcelona - 2x weekly
Madrid - 3x weekly
Malaga - 3x weekly

Vueling
Barcelona - 4x weekly

Wizzair
(Did not operate)

Summer 2015 Total - 12x weekly flights

As of August 2016, we have the following:

Norwegian
Barcelona - 2x weekly
Gran Canaria - 1x weekly
Madrid - 3x weekly
Malaga - 3x weekly
Tenerife - 2x weekly

Vueling
Alicante - 3x weekly
Barcelona - 6x weekly

Wizzair
Budapest - 2x weekly
Bucharest - 2x weekly
Poznan - 2x weekly
Warsaw - 3x weekly
Wroclaw - 2x weekly

Summer 2015 Total - 31x weekly flights ~ circa 11,500 seats a week, 49,700 seats monthly, 600,000 seats annually!!!

 

[Brum X]

That's a good list Woody, and it dosent include the expansion from Ryanair, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I might need to revise my passenger forcast for 2015. My prediction is currently 10,800,000 but I am still concerned with whats happening in the middle east with the potential of nothing for Tunisia and Egypt and a possible slump for Turkey ????


That is some expansion for s16, especially for an airport like BHX. :good:

 

[Ray Finkle]

A very good list indeed, thanks for doing it. 600K is a healthy amount and the likes of Iberia, Czech, Blue Air etc still have to be added to that :smile:

I am still concerned with whats happening in the middle east with the potential of nothing for Tunisia and Egypt and a possible slump for Turkey ????

Looking at the Thomson flights website for next August and Enfidha is showing as just once weekly, Hurghada once weekly and Sharm twice weekly. Turkey is down with Dalaman three weekly, Antalya twice weekly and Bodrum just once weekly. The winners are Spain and Greece with extra frequencies and Bulgaria sees a little more capacity.

Monarch still have Dalaman at daily and Sharm at 4x weekly but that could change. I've not checked Thomas Cook.

There will most likely be further alterations one way or another, (I think Sharm is suspended until at least early next year?) but it looks as though capacity is being shifted elsewhere, so hopefully the numbers won't be too badly affected.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Thomas Cook have Enfidha at 2x weekly, Dalaman still at daily throughout the summer, Hurghada weekly, Sharm 2x weekly, Antalya 3x weekly and Bodrum at weekly.

 

[nwoody2001]

That's a good list Woody, and it dosent include the expansion from Ryanair, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I might need to revise my passenger forcast for 2015. My prediction is currently 10,800,000 but I am still concerned with whats happening in the middle east with the potential of nothing for Tunisia and Egypt and a possible slump for Turkey ????


That is some expansion for s16, especially for an airport like BHX. :good:

you are right to be wary of the issues panning out in the middle east, but that said, other things need to be considered...

once a route is dropped due to civil unrest, that is a sign that people don't want to fly there. once people opt not to fly there, they have a choice a) where else do they fly, and b) do they fly at all or stay in the uk. The one thing that is key to British culture is the role of family holiday, and I suspect that in the event thing determinate in north Africa/eastern Mediterranean, they will large opt to fly elsewhere...spain, france, Italy, central/eastern Europe etc.

what I hope may be a loss for routes to northern Africa and the middle east, I trust will be the gain of many others!!!

 

[Ash]

BHX, MAN and LON airports all in talks with long-haul startup carrier Firnas, targeting subcontinent and North America routes from the UK.

Managing Director is our old friend Kevin Steele of Biman who has something of a love affair with BHX as we know...

http://sylhetmirror.com/archives/28285

 

[User001]

Apparently STN was the front runner, but, that was before Kevin Steele joined.

His love of BHX and the fact BHX seems to welcome new starters (sometimes to its peril), and now quite aggressive expansion strategy from BHX! My money is on BHX.