Primera Air

[Jerry]

But not well enough for daily flights as Newark reduces after May. Fingers crossed they get settled and then can increase in the near future.

Because Toronto starts in June and they'll only have 1 aircraft instead of the planned 2.

 

[thunderchild]

Sadly (but unsurprisingly) I think Primera will become the latest addition to the ‘BHX One Season Wonder’ club.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Whilst it's nice to have a statement something just doesn't seem quite right.

Sales to New York were 'strong', with 'high demand' yet it's been reduced just as it enters the peak season?

After only 5 months on sale (including the quieter Christmas period) and almost 5 months left to run before it starts (including the peak booking period) it's decided that Boston is not performing good enough so is cut this early? Despite that they see 'strong potential for transatlantic growth in the future'?

I assume that we'll see another route announced from London or Paris as they currently have one surplus long haul aircraft doing nothing?

It will be interesting to see how many A321's are in the air come June, if there are less than six then we have our answer.

 

[Aviador]

Very disappointing news but lets be positive about this. We knew the airline was going to be short of aircraft from the onset.

The airline is new to BHX and largely unknown in the UK. If the booking take-up was on the low side, it wasn't down to the airlines will to make it succeed as we know the route was publicised well throughout the city but still, Primera doesn't have the public awareness that airlines such as British Airways or American have.

Moving on from this, like so many UK regional airports BHX will need to expand it's marketing further afield to make routes like this succeed.

#BHX #Boston #Cancelled

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

It's very disappointing however unlike Norwegian i believe Primera are going to be very cautious which is only a good thing for airports and customers alike. I believe Primera will make a success of a long haul BHX base.

 

[Aviador]

The phrase "don't bite more than you can chew" comes to mind.

 

[Glenn Eldridge]

Gotta admit i had my doubts from the start about this venture from Primera, I think they are trying to run before they can walk, I would of thought they might have got their short haul ops going and established at BHX before commiting to a long haul program, its disappointing but could be seen a mile off in my eyes

 

[Coathanger16]

Makes no sense. Ok BOS may have been a bridge too far but why start Newark in May daily THEN switch back to 4 in high season?

If the aircraft is available in May why not June?

Plus this is an A320 we are talking about not a 747, there simply has to be demand to fill this in June July from Birmingham.

The suggestion has been that aircraft deliveries are running late, hence only 1 aircraft will be available for Primera to base at BHX instead of the planned 2. They will start Newark on time with a daily service as planned, then instead of starting Boston/Toronto when the second aircraft was meant to arrive, they are now using the first aircraft to fly Toronto hence why Newark drops to 4x weekly to accommodate this.

Yes it is 'just' an A320 - an A320 with 198 seats. That's 17% more seats than United's 757's.

Whilst losing Boston is a disappointment, I would much rather we lose just Boston leaving Primera to focus on the markets that are selling well, than lose Primera altogether.

Quote

"While Boston is one of the best performers from London and Paris, in Birmingham the demand is hitting high for the New York and Toronto routes.

"We are keeping those flights from Birmingham that are most demanded by the market as well as adding new ones.

Quote from Primera. By adding 'new ones' is that short haul or long haul they are referring to I wonder?

In hindsight (such a wonderful thing) starting with a 4x weekly Newark and 3x weekly Toronto would have been a more stable start for Primera. I just hope recent events don't stop people from flying Primera - if they do that really will be the end of Primera (at BHX) and likely anything major TATL from BHX for the foreseeable future.

 

[Coathanger16]

Article on Business Traveler with a quote from Primera stating:

"there is a significantly lower demand for the Boston route, mainly driven by insufficient incoming traffic"

https://www.businesstraveller.com/b...primera-air-cancels-birmingham-boston-launch/

 

[Brum X]

It's very disappointing however unlike Norwegian i believe Primera are going to be very cautious which is only a good thing for airports and customers alike. I believe Primera will make a success of a long haul BHX base.

However if we come back in 2/3 years time and Primera are still only serving EWR/YYZ on a seasonal basis, this will not be a success and i will get bored of Primera and BHX very quickly.

I agree i think this airline is damaged goods and its days are numbered and after the winter saeson of flights to AGP/BCN they will do a Norweigan and be off.

Im sorry to say TATL from BHX could be dead in the water after this fiasco. Unless Primera launch a new TATL route from BHX to replace BOS, they have pretty much told us that TATL will not work.

So unless Primera launch a new route or routes from BHX with this extra A321 then they have just told the whole world that BHX was a big mistake and if they dont launch new routes from STN/CDG using the BHX aircraft then this airline are crafty and will take BHX for a ride becouse then it was obviously aircraft delivery delays and are just using BHX poor sales to cover themselves. Im sorry but saying 5 months before the launch date that you are scrapping a flight when the peak bookinbg season is still here just doesnt add up to me, something is fishy and i dont trust them.

I wont be surprised at all if come June/July they cancel my flight to BCN in October, LOL

 

[58terminus]

I'm really looking forward to that first Primera aircraft landing at BHX

 

[58terminus]

Whilst we beat ourselves up about Boston nobody seems to be asking why this route or any other will work from Stansted.
Their record of sustaining TATL flights is worse than at least 6 other UK airports. Who thinks Primera are suddenly
going to reverse that?
For the last 25 years BHX has had much better record of sustaining daily TATL flights.Suddenly the ambitions
of a very small Icelandic airline with no experience,or aircraft for heavens sake, and we are in the last chance saloon?
Hopefully with new management not chasing airlines for the sake of it with the accompanying photo opportunities
we will see a sensible approach to attracting known airlines that does not alienate serving airlines .

 

[Brum X]

Whilst we beat ourselves up about Boston nobody seems to be asking why this route or any other will work from Stansted.
Their record of sustaining TATL flights is worse than at least 6 other UK airports. Who thinks Primera are suddenly
going to reverse that?
For the last 25 years BHX has had much better record of sustaining daily TATL flights.Suddenly the ambitions
of a very small Icelandic airline with no experience,or aircraft for heavens sake, and we are in the last chance saloon?
Hopefully with new management not chasing airlines for the sake of it with the accompanying photo opportunities
we will see a sensible approach to attracting known airlines that does not alienate serving airlines .

Im sure the MAG will do what ever they can to make sure Primera Air are a success at STN

 

[GliderPilot]

New York has worked before with 2 major US airlines daily, AA left because they didn't like the competition and "iffy" loads and United prioritised other routes as they're retiring aircraft.

BHX can satisfy one A321 daily within its catchment area, I think the public are just picking the likes of MAN or STN, as Brum X has stated, MAG won't make it a walk in the park for BHX even with an eager and ambitious airline like Primera

 

[Brum X]

New York has worked before with 2 major US airlines daily, AA left because they didn't like the competition and "iffy" loads and United prioritised other routes as they're retiring aircraft.

BHX can satisfy one A320 daily within its catchment area, I think the public are just picking the likes of MAN or STN, as Brum X has stated, MAG won't make it a walk in the park for BHX even with an eager and ambitious airline like Primera

Sorry can we refer to the aircraft as an A321, it just sounds better.

 

[GliderPilot]

My bad, I look like I'm clueless now!

 

[Brum X]

My bad, I look like I'm clueless now!

I wasnt having a go at you mate but as our aspirations for Primera Air are somewhat on the dodgy side we might as well try and make the operation look as exciting as possible. Not that im expecting much to be honest but we shall see.

 

[Brum X]

I really hope that EWR is daily in May for flymetothemoon who is due to fly with them, however i have checked again and the fares on some days are still very high. Is this re-schedule of BHX flights not finished with yet ?

 

[58terminus]

BHX can satisfy one A320 Daily within its catchment area, I think the public are just picking the likes of MAN or STN over BHX[/QUOTE
I think we should give the public a little more credit.The public are not too concerned about which airport they are flying from as long as the price is right.But given a choice with similar fares i think most would pick MAN with an airline they have heard of rather than BHX or STN with somebody they have not.A quick google search would confirm there hesitancy.
If Primera were still around next year then they would be much more confident of booking with them.
Unfortunately the days of building a route have gone.
Why airlines think a new route will immediately sell out is beyond me.

 

[Coathanger16]

I agree i think this airline is damaged goods and its days are numbered and after the winter saeson of flights to AGP/BCN they will do a Norweigan and be off.

If TATL from BHX was such a 'dead duck' for Primera, why did they just cancel Boston and not pull out altogether?

Unless Primera launch a new TATL route from BHX to replace BOS, they have pretty much told us that TATL will not work.

Well there's been plenty of comments on this forum from people supposedly in the know stating Primera were looking at adding more destinations from BHX. The article I posted from BT also had a quote from Primera stating that they were adding new destinations from BHX.

So unless Primera launch a new route or routes from BHX with this extra A321

So has Boston been cancelled due to insufficient demand or aircraft delivery delay? Most likely the aircraft was going to be delivered late, so Primera knew they had to sacrifice something from BHX. It was suggested that the second aircraft would eventually arrive in September which is past peak season so no point in launching a service to Boston at that time - or any other TATL destination for that matter!

I wonder when Primera found out that the aircraft would be delivered late. If it's only been in the last week I'm not sure what else they could have done. Sure they might have handled the customer service badly - although it was only deemed bad as people we getting refunds and not being booked onto other services, although that does now seem to be happening so not sure, besides the delay, what the issue is - but what else could Primera have done?

Call me naive, but I still think Primera have just been very unfortunate here and that they could still be a major player at BHX. Also from the BT article:

"Furthermore, Birmingham airport by far is our biggest new base for 2018 regarding the number of flights"

I would like to think the reason the schedule hasn't been published past October is that Primera are being cautious with Airbus, have learnt their lesson and aren't announcing any new routes until they're positive the second aircraft will be delivered on time in September. Even then, now that they've cancelled Boston, they're likely having to devise a new schedule for where two aircraft will serve over the winter period. Having Newark as 4x weekly over summer then increasing it to daily and adding a new 4x weekly destination in September/October is unlikely to be very successful - for any airline. It may be the new A321NEO are used elsewhere in Primera's network over the winter period, but that isn't necessarily a bad indication of things to come. As I've said, any new route launches, at least TATL ones, aren't going to be very successful if launched in September.

I really hope that EWR is daily in May for flymetothemoon who is due to fly with them, however i have checked again and the fares on some days are still very high. Is this re-schedule of BHX flights not finished with yet ?

I'm really not sure what could be going on here. Boston too had high fares before they cancelled it, so if this is an indication that Primera are going to cancel Newark on those dats, could they start Newark as 4x weekly instead of daily and start Toronto earlier?