Primera Air

[nwoody2001]

interesting no seat back entertainment, they advice you to bring your own tablet/devices. That said, the images of their 737Max clearly show IFE screens!

According to Airbus, the A321Neo has a maximum range of 6,500km.

@ 5,500km we have Halifax, Boston (Served), New York (Served), Ottowa, Quebec, Montreal

@ 6,000km we have Philadelphia, Washington, Toronto, Detroit, Bermuda

@ 6,500km we have Chicago

 

[Jon Dempsey]

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

I hope the Daily Telegraph print something about this. They were quick enough to print that Birmingham had no connection with New York a couple of weeks ago. Doubtful though, they'll be digging up dirt on another part of the country outside of the M25.

 

[Jerry]

Long or short haul?

1 route for the aircraft that operates EWR would have to be short haul. If the other aircraft does BOS and YYZ then it will have time for a short haul route.

 

[Jerry]

Long or short haul?

1 route for the aircraft that operates EWR would have to be short haul. If the other aircraft does BOS and YYZ then it will have time for a short haul route.

 

[Coathanger16]

1 route for the aircraft that operates EWR would have to be short haul. If the other aircraft does BOS and YYZ then it will have time for a short haul route.

I'll direct you to Karl Cunningham's post #16:

"Primera Air will announce the opening of two more additional transatlantic routes from its new Birmingham base at the end of summer 2017."

 

[User001]

It will be interesting to see how well Boston does over winter. Even LHR sees fairly big cutbacks on the Boston route over winter so surprised that Primera will be going year round from the start on BHX-BOS.

I personally think the other 2 TATL routes from Primera will be Toronto (obviously) and Philidelphia.

Seems Primera have an interesting concept of choosing airports with no TATL service, well, until I saw them add in Paris CDG that was, wonder what made them go there, against United, Openskies, American Airlines, Delta, Air France and Norwegian to name a few!?

 

[DaveBham]

interesting no seat back entertainment, they advice you to bring your own tablet/devices. That said, the images of their 737Max clearly show IFE screens!

According to Airbus, the A321Neo has a maximum range of 6,500km.

@ 5,500km we have Halifax, Boston (Served), New York (Served), Ottowa, Quebec, Montreal

@ 6,000km we have Philadelphia, Washington, Toronto, Detroit, Bermuda

@ 6,500km we have Chicago

American Airlines didn't either. With Primera I think you can get the in flight entertainment on your tablet/phone via the cabin wifi - similar to Norwegian.

 

[Jon Dempsey]

It will be interesting to see how well Boston does over winter. Even LHR sees fairly big cutbacks on the Boston route over winter so surprised that Primera will be going year round from the start on BHX-BOS.

I personally think the other 2 TATL routes from Primera will be Toronto (obviously) and Philidelphia.

Seems Primera have an interesting concept of choosing airports with no TATL service, well, until I saw them add in Paris CDG that was, wonder what made them go there, against United, Openskies, American Airlines, Delta, Air France and Norwegian to name a few!?

Statement of intention?

 

[Ray Finkle]

Two more TATL routes is interesting.

Assuming nothing has changed we know that Toronto is to be on Tue, Thur and Sat which will max out the schedule for aircraft number two, for long haul at least. So a 4th route next summer would require a 3rd aircraft. Out of Neil's list I'd say Philadelphia, Washington or Montreal are most likely but I couldn't see any of those at a daily frequency? I guess it's not totally out of the question for a third aircraft to be split between Birmingham and Stansted doing one destination 3/4 weekly.

I had another thought though. Primera are starting flights to the Caribbean from Keflavik using 737's, they'll make a tech stop in Halifax. Could the fourth route be something for next winter if BOS and/or YYZ are reduced or don't operate? Possibly a Caribbean route with a fuel stop in somewhere such as Halifax?

Pure speculation but if so I'd love it to be Cuba.

 

[IanFarquharson]

1 think it might mean 2 new routes being BHX-YYZ & STN-YYZ

 

[Jerry]

Just been looking at their product on their website and it seems pretty decent. Their Comfort option seems pretty decent. Free checked 23 kg bag, free meal which you can choose in advance which includes vegan and gluten free and you don't have to pay if you pick a standard seat comparing to say KLM who i fly with and you don't get to pre decide your meal and have to pay extra for seat selection. Their Light choice you just get hand luggage and have to pay extra for everything else.
For winter could they reach Barbados?

 

[nwoody2001]

1 think it might mean 2 new routes being BHX-YYZ & STN-YYZ

The email from BHX appear to be pretty explicit that both new routes will be from Birmingham!!

"Primera Air will announce the opening of two more additional transatlantic routes from its new Birmingham base at the end of summer 2017."

...so Ian whilst I appreciate you probably trying to control my over excitement, it would suggest that BHX is in line to receive 4x TATL routes from Primera for Summer 18?!

 

[IanFarquharson]

I hope so Mr Woody !

 

[Jon Dempsey]

I can imagine, after 2 or so hours into the flight, it might be a Benny Hill style dash for the toilets!!

Seriously though, well chuffed. I have wanted to take Wifey back to NY for a long time and with a return from Boston, it's even better.

 

[nwoody2001]

I hope so Mr Woody !

I hope I am too sugar, but then I am just reading the email/press release ...

The Primera Air Press Rease seems to suggest the exact same....

https://primeraair.com/about-us/tra...antic-launch-20072017&utm_campaign=SocialComm

...what is interesting to me is that BHX, STN and CDG all appear to get the same frequencies!

 

[thunderchild]

I don't think Montreal is a contender to be honest, it's just not that big a market from the UK. Montreal-Glasgow failed spectacularly when TS tried it a few years back and I don't see BHX being any different.

If they are launching another route with Toronto I'd say Washington.

 

[Ray Finkle]

If they are launching another route with Toronto I'd say Washington.

If it's another route for S18 then I think I'd agree.

For winter could they reach Barbados?

Looking at Greater Circle Mapper it seems as if Barbados is slightly too far for a direct flight.

It just seems strange to me that when we saw the schedules a few weeks ago it was clearly EWR, BOS and YYZ, nothing else. I'm just wondering why add another summer route now, unless it's a Montreal double drop with Toronto? That's what makes me think it could possibly be something for next winter.

I guess we'll find out in time and it gives us something else to look forward too

 

[ethanegcc]

Congratulations to Birmingham! Will be curious to see how Boston does in the winter months.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Forgot to add that at work this morning I walked in on a conversation about Primera (totally unprovoked by me, I hadn't even mentioned them). They were saying that these are new flights and the product looks quite good. Within five minutes one of them had booked four seats to NYC

I hope a sign of things to come.

 

[Coathanger16]

Considering we assumed there would be 2 based aircraft, could the 2 as yet unannounced routes be Summer/Winter seasonal meaning that only 2 aircraft would still be required?

Aircraft 1 operates daily EWR
Aircraft 2 operates 4x weekly BOS, plus 3x weekly destination 3 in summer and 3x weekly destination 4 in winter

Another option is:

Aircraft 1 operates daily EWR
Aircraft 2 operates 4x weekly BOS, 2x weekly destination 3, 1x weekly destination 4

I think we can be fairly confident the 3rd destination is Toronto. As for the 4th destination, my bets on one of Washington, Chicago or Philadelphia.

Other than that, maybe a 3rd aircraft will be brought in, with other non TATL routes being added.

When it was first revealed it was Primera is was a little disappointed. Now that I've had time to think about it, plus the fact they'll be operating from Stansted and Paris, plus the fact they're launching another 2 TATL routes from BHX, its clear that Primera have got some ambitious plans and I think they may actually pull it off.

From what we've seen so far, the product is good, the routes and times people like, and the price is reasonable. Considering all those points, I think the success of these routes will rest with how well they are marketed. I'm rather hopeful that within 5 years, Primera could be operating a pretty nice TATL network from BHX.