Route Development & Rumours

[User001]

I was surprised Cobalt chose EMA over BHX, with the latter being former Air Cyprus territory, to which Cobalt seem to want to replicate.

Cobalt clearly have a MAG deal with STN/MAN and EMA, but, the fact GLA and CWL are in the mix shows any airport deal shouldn't be the over riding factor.

 

[thunderchild]

30 routes? Well taking into account all the rumours circulating and a bit of educated guess work I'm up to 19 so far....none of which I feel are completely unrealistic. Any other ideas?

1. Air China - Beijing
   
2. Austrian Airlines – Vienna
   
3. Delta Air Lines – Atlanta
   
4. Etihad Airways – Abu Dhabi
   
5. Finnair – Helsinki
   
6. Flybe – Derry
   
7. Flybe – Toulouse
   
8. Monarch – Naples
   
9. Norwegian – Alicante
   
10. Norwegian – Palma de Mallorca
    
11. Stobart Air - Waterford
12. TAP - Lisbon
    
13. Vueling – Florence
    
14. Vueling – Palma de Mallorca
    
15. Vueling – Rome
    
16. Wizz – Kosice
    
17. Wizz – Iasi
    
18. Wizz – Lublin
    
19. Wizz – Riga

 

[Brum X]

Let me try and continue upto 30, LOL

20. Norweigan - Oslo

21. Norweigan - Boston

22. Norweigan - Baltimore

23. Monarch - Tel Aviv

24. Vueling - Seville

25. American Airlines - Chicago

26. Ryanair- Riga

27. Ryanair- Dusseldorf Weeze

28. Ryanair- Prague

29. Ryanair- Kos

30. Ryanair- Rhodes

And we dont even have any Jet2 on that list. The mind boggles

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there Brumx, would that now be a total of 41 airlines to serve Birmingham if it came true.. Andyc

 

[Ray Finkle]

I think we've had 30 new services start, or to start, in 2016:

1. Alba Star: Palma
2. Blue Air: Bucharest
3. Blue Air: Cluj-Napoca
4. Czech Airlines: Prague
5. Flybe: Luxembourg
6. Flybe: Nantes
7. Flybe: Rotterdam
8. Flybe: Knock
9. Flybe: Limoges
10. Flybe: Rennes
11. Iberia: Madrid
12. Monarch: Lisbon
13. Monarch: Innsbruck
14. Monarch: Madrid
15: Qatar Airways: Doha
16: Ryanair: Madrid
17: Ryanair: Sofia
18: Ryanair: Warsaw
19: Ryanair: Verona
20: Ryanair: Corfu
21: Ryanair: Vilnius
22: Thomson: Punta Cana
23: Thomson: Dubai
24: Thomson: Porto Santo
25: Vueling: Alicante
26: Vueling: Tenerife
27: Vueling: Malaga
28: Wizz: Sofia
29: Wizz: Bucharest
30: Wizz: Wroclaw

I can't remember if Mytilene started this year or last?

 

[jfy1999]

Porto Santo and Mytilene were both served last year.

 

[Ray Finkle]

29 then. We just need one more announcement for winter

 

[Bhx_fifteen]

I was surprised Cobalt chose EMA over BHX, with the latter being former Air Cyprus territory, to which Cobalt seem to want to replicate.

Cobalt clearly have a MAG deal with STN/MAN and EMA, but, the fact GLA and CWL are in the mix shows any airport deal shouldn't be the over riding factor.

They announced London, Manchester, East Midlands, Glasgow and Cardiff as their UK destinations months ago before obtaining their AOC or commercial license and they were very much a 'paper company' at this time. Since hiring staff and becoming properly license etc, they haven't really commented on the other destinations, and have launched just London and Manchester for this summer. I highly doubt that they'd start winter flights to Larnaca from Cardiff, Glasgow and East Midlands.... so if these don't get launched it could put bhx at a better position, ie in terms of bhx and ema being so close and bhx being in talks with cobalt.

 

[thunderchild]

29 then. We just need one more announcement for winter

It's almost as if Flybe were reading this!

 

[Ray Finkle]

The guy behind the proposed new airline aiming for Stansted to Amritsar and Ahmedabad has said that they are planning more routes between the UK and India in the future.

Although I wish them the best I'm not expecting this to come to much but if, and it's a massive if, they are successful then surely BHX must be an option, given that they're making such a point of capturing our catchment area?

 

[User001]

Hearing that a 2 weekly Islambad link on Shaheen could be on the cards for W16/17. Would be instead of EMA, hence EMA has not been launched due to these discussions.

 

[Ray Finkle]

It's due to start Nov/Dec all being well.

 

[jfy1999]

Wonder what the PIA load factors are right now? How would this affect them?

 

[ronnoc1k8]

Hoepfully it wont get pulled out straight away like Air Blue.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there ray and all, just been reading about new Cyprus airline called Colbart Air starting from Larnica Airport, with destinations from Manchester, Stanstead and EMA, and yes rightly so, as these three are all owned by MAG, you can imagine the deal that MAG have offered them to start up flights from these three airports to Larnica. Then if as Mr Kehoe and his RDT are in talks with them, then hopefully they'll be able to offer hopefully the same deal or if not then that's another new potential airline missed. So lets hope that a good deal can be agreed by both parties, then the announcement can be made for either winter 2016 to Larnica or summer 2017, lets just hope for another lucky announcement to keep the momento going for as long as we can.....Andyc

 

[thunderchild]

I won't hold my breath when it comes to Shaheen although in fairness they appear to be doing well at MAN.

It can also be argued BHX is a more logical choice for a second UK point than EMA - I don't know why it never materialised but some sort of deal with MAG must have been on the cards originally.

 

[User001]

I too was sceptical about Shaheen at Manchester, especially when it transpired one flight arrives 7pm Tuesday but doesn't depart until 10pm Wednesday (yes, it really does spend 27 hours on the ground at MAN, apparently it's to give the A330's a bit of spanner attention as the company leasing the A330 wants UK engineers to check the aircraft over in detail when it operates that flight).

However, loads seem to be almost full on all sectors, seem to operate a reasonably punctual schedule and generally have a good name service wise. It's just engineering that lets them down so makes more sense why UK engineers have to look after the A330 fleet when they can.

I have no doubt Shaheen could make a better go of multiple UK ops than Air Blue did.

 

[Brum X]

It's due to start Nov/Dec all being well.

Thats really good news if confirmed, just what the airport will need during these uncertain times. This will send a message out to the world that says "Business as normal". However folks i have a feeling and hopefully i am proven wrong that business will not be normal for a while.

 

[Ray Finkle]

It's been a great 24 or so months for aviation in regional UK, I do hope that continues into 2017.

 

[JF57]

Regardless of the rights and wrongs I fear the uncertainty of the Brexit situation will make people and companies hold back until the position becomes clearer. This could take several years during which time the growth in passenger traffic is likely to stall and numbers might even fall.

It could be a repeat of 2008.