Primera Air

[Ray Finkle]

Bookable so far.

Birmingham – Boston eff 22JUN18 4 weekly
PF053 BHX1715 – 2015BOS 32B x246
PF054 BOS2145 – 0930+1BHX 32B x246

Birmingham – Newark eff 18MAY18 1 daily
PF051 BHX1745 – 2100EWR 32B D
PF052 EWR2230 – 1030+1BHX 32B D

 

[Coathanger16]

Interesting that both flights depart around 5pm.

Personally, I'd rather have a later afternoon/early evening flight than a 9am departure.

What do other people think?

 

[flymetothemoon]

Prices look brilliant,I'M just booking EWR now for May

 

[Barry Beeth]

Interesting, haven't looked at the times but would imply to me that this is an airline after the tourist end of the customer spectrum (I guess we assumed that already) as arrival times both east- and west-bound will be much later than on most "traditional" TATL sectors - cheaper slots "over there" maybe?

It filters through to the ticket though, it can't not work at those prices!

 

[Jerry]

That means the flight lands around 8 pm local time. That's a decent time as people won't be getting to their hotel's ridiculously late.

 

[Barry Beeth]

Press release on the official site and no mention of YYZ...

 

[TM3]

I like the flight times but I don't think the prices are really that cheap, particularly when you factor in paying extra for luggage.

I can book United EWR in September, direct, with checked luggage included, for £370. It's not that difficult to get sub £500 fares at LHR.

The premium seat, for what you get, is expensive.

If for whatever reason you're already in the US and you need an one way inbound flight however, it's going to be the cheapest way to do that by a long way.

 

[Coathanger16]

On BHX's website now as well:

https://www.birminghamairport.co.uk...primera-air-to-start-from-birmingham-airport/

Again, no mention of YYZ

 

[nwoody2001]

Long Haul Primera Air To Start From Birmingham Airport
20th July 2017

Primera Air, a new low cost airline, will start transatlantic flights to New York and Boston from Birmingham Airport in May 2018.
New York will depart from Birmingham daily with Boston departing on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

The airline will base its brand new Airbus A321 Neos, configured with 16 premium economy seats and 182 economy seats, at Birmingham Airport. Passengers can also use the Wi-Fi on board and the aircraft has full charging facilities for their devices.

William Pearson, Aviation Director commented: “We are delighted to be entering in to a partnership with an additional transatlantic airline. Primera Air will offer daily flights to New York and give passengers the chance to visit Massachusetts’ capital and largest city - Boston. This is a brand new route from Birmingham so we are delighted that Primera Air will give people from the region the opportunity to visit this city direct from their local airport.

“Primera is a low cost, low fares airline that will appeal to all. With its offering of premium economy and economy seats it really does mean that America is just across the pond. We look forward to working with Primera Air and are delighted that they will base these brand new Airbus321NEO’s here at the Airport.”

Andri M. Ingolfsson, the President and Chairman of Primera Air said: “We are very proud to announce our new bases and routes to US. With our brand new Airbus321NEOs airplane, we are opening routes previously traditionally served only by wide-body aircrafts. With unmatched efficiency of these new-generation aircraft, we will be able to offer unprecedented prices to our passengers from Birmingham to the US. At the same time, we are very proud to be offering a low-fare/high quality product and service concept, that will be perfect both for leisure and business travelers.”

Services from Birmingham to US will commence in May 2018 and will be year-round operations. Primera Air tickets will go on sale from the 20th July with starting fares of £149.00 (one way, all taxes included) and can be booked on www.primeraair.co.uk.

https://www.birminghamairport.co.uk...primera-air-to-start-from-birmingham-airport/

 

[Jerry]

On BHX's website now as well:

https://www.birminghamairport.co.uk...primera-air-to-start-from-birmingham-airport/

Again, no mention of YYZ

They may still be finalising stuff for YYZ. Plus a separate announcement for it will be more publicity for them and their routes.

 

[nwoody2001]

Agreed Jerry. Im no expert on airlines but as per the Press Release and the Timetable, we know 2 A/C will be based at BHX. The current daily timetime is as follows:

A/C1 – NEW YORK
Dept: BHX 17:45
Arr: EWR 21:00
Dept: EWR 22:30
Arr: BHX 10:30 (+)

A/C2 - BOSTON
Dept: BHX 17:15
Arr: BOS 20:15
Dept: BOS 21:45
Arr: BHX 09:30: (+)

Assuming that we will be following the Lo-co model, Primera will be looking to utilize aircraft as much as humanly possible. As the timetable stands, A/C1 will be on the ground for 7:15 hrs and A/C2 will be on the ground for 31:15 hrs!!! Now its true that these could be re-positioned elsewhere during this time but why would anyone fly empty aircraft! More appears t be on the way.....

 

[Ianbutty]

Shame the Birmingham Post ran the article with a video on how bad UK airports are. Duh. I have contacted the editor.

 

[Karl C]

They will be announcing two more routes from BHX at the end of this summer, most likely starting next May/June.

Great news, great product, so get busy promoting or even better buying!!

Cheers

Karl

 

[Ashley]

Once our local papers Birmingham Mail and Post were a good read. Now awful as the tabloid papers.

 

[Coathanger16]

They will be announcing two more routes from BHX at the end of this summer

Long or short haul?

 

[Karl C]

An email received from Birmingham Airport:-

Primera Air is pleased to announce the opening of its new Europe base at Birmingham Airport (BHX), launching with year-round daily direct flights to New York (EWR) and four weekly scheduled flights to Boston Logan (BOS) commencing in May 2018. New York will depart from Birmingham daily with Boston departing on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

Primera Air’s primary focus is on offering a high quality service at very competitive low fares (with prices starting from just £149 one way). The airline will base its brand new Airbus A321 Neos, configured with 16 premium economy seats and 182 economy seats, at Birmingham Airport. Passengers can also use the Wi-Fi on board and the aircraft has full charging facilities for their devices.

Primera Air will announce the opening of two more additional transatlantic routes from its new Birmingham base at the end of summer 2017. The airline has further plans within the next two years to expand its presence by opening other new bases, linking even more airports together than ever before and by increasing its existing fleet with the addition of 20 new Boeing MAX 9 ER aircraft.

 

[nwoody2001]

oh my.... 2 more additional transatlantic routes from BHX... this is sounding pretty big!

It would appear that they have an apatite to compete with Norwegian. Maybe learn from their own mistakes and beat them at their own game, on the Trans-Atlantic routes at the very least!

This is sounding very exciting! Thanks for the intel Karl!!!

 

[jfy1999]

Toronto is probably one of those two routes. I'm guessing the other is also a Canadian route, it would make sense to announce just the US routes at first and Canada later.

I'm thinking Montreal as it's within A321neo range.

 

[Barry Beeth]

Great, so now we have to have another sweepstake on the 4th destination!
(Assuming the 3rd is YYZ, of course...)

Also, would a 4th destination imply a 3rd a/c - would have to if more than 1 p/w surely?

 

[rollo]

This is beginning to look more than a little interesting with the model they appear to be offering, modern aircraft, premium /tourist class, interesting flight times, Wi-Fi, seat back entertainment etc.
Add to this long term competitive fares, a straightforward booking system that doesn't make people feel ripped off or confused and a Monarch or Jet2 type attitude along with a blanket advertising campaign and you've probably got a winner.

Time will tell, wish them well.