Ryanair

[JF57]

As it stands we have 148 flights per week in July and August (149 if an 11th weekly PMI is added per the press release).

Each Ryanair plane has 189 seats, so 149 return flights would equal 56,322 seats per week

For S16 I believe we had 118 flights per week which would equal 44,604 seats per week, so for S17 we could have a whopping 11,718 more seats per week!

More than 25% increase - wow

 

[Glenn Eldridge]

Big Ryanair announcement tomorrow, Ryanair are to start flights from FRA from March 2017, would love to see a BHX-FRA service announced by Ryanair, bit of competition for Lufthansa

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/...nnounce-new-services-from-frankfurt-1.2850565

 

[Ray Finkle]

I think it's about time that Birmingham had some Ryanair routes to Germany. There are a few that I could think of.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Not exactly Birmingham related but this Twitter exchange bought a smile to my face

Lufthansa News ‏@lufthansaNews 7h7 hours ago
Welcome to the real @Airport_FRA, dear @Ryanair. In case you get lost on such a big airport, just give us a call! #NonstopYou

Ryanair ‏@Ryanair 7h7 hours agoDublin City, Ireland
.@lufthansaNews @Airport_FRA Thanks. Looks like you need a holiday. You can fly #Ryanair for €9.99. Low fares have finally come to Frankfurt

 

[Ray Finkle]

W17/18 flights are being loaded although they all show 'sold out' at the moment.

So far it's just a carbon copy of this winter but I'm sure there will be changes between now and then.

 

[IanFarquharson]

I understand Ryanair may now have 6 based a/c at BHX in S17

 

[Ray Finkle]

The peak summer season sees the new 5th based return but there are still a huge amounts of away based flights.

Will the potential sixth based bring some of those away based flights back or will we see some new routes added? It'll be interesting to see what happens.

 

[jfy1999]

Palma has finally been brought up to the 11 weekly flights reported in the press release with a Saturday flight added in August. The timings look odd at the moment (arrival time at BHX is shown as 23:59) so maybe still a work in progress.

Some routes have had their times changed from a few months ago but the mobile site is taking too long to load, so I can't work out the number of BHX based aircraft.

 

[Matt995]

should be 4 based Ryanair aircraft for summer, with a 5th aircraft being based just for the peak summer months of July & August

 

[jfy1999]

W17/18 schedule announced on the website but no change from this winter - 21 routes. Porto therefore looks to be summer only.

Very disappointing in my opinion after the new W17 routes we've seen at other UK airports

 

[Ray Finkle]

I'm not at all surprised.

One thing we seem to have learned about Ryanair at Birmingham is that they only expand when the competition do and have added very little that diversifies the BHX portfolio.

The schedule is a carbon copy of this winter except no Palma.

 

[nwoody2001]

It should be suprising ....given the amount of expansion, new routes etc being introduced to other UK airports, it's pretty dissapointing to have not only no growth, but cuts in capacity!

 

[Brum X]

 

[Ray Finkle]

It definitely should be surprising but to me it just isn't.

Ryanair were stagnant for many years at BHX and only really started doing anything when they got a little competition. Look at their recent expansion

Madrid - Reaction to Norwegian and Iberia (successful in Norwegians case).
Sofia - Reaction to Wizz Air.
Warsaw - Reaction to Wizz Air.
Porto - Reaction to Monarch (although Monarch were slightly behind as their timetable was being adjusted)
Chania - Reaction to Jet2 starting Crete?
Reus - Reaction to Jet2.
Girona - Reaction to Jet2.
Corfu - More capacity to Greece before Jet2?
Verona - Probably the only new market?

All of their other increases to the sun routes only came about after we saw Norwegian, Vueling and extra from Monarch.

I ask myself, if we hadn't seen Vueling, Norwegian, Iberia and Jet2 would we have seen anything from Ryanair? I guess we'll never know.

 

[thunderchild]

Clowns to the left of me (MAN), jokers to the right (EMA), here I am stuck in the middle with you!

With the MAG powerhouse ever growing on either side I fear BHX will be lucky to see much from Ryanair.

 

[jfy1999]

In my opinion Ryanair's retaliatory policy at BHX has done a lot of good. Several routes that were unserved two years ago now have competition between two or more carriers.

Jet2 will keep on expanding in 2018 and eventually inevitably into places Ryanair have been reluctant to link to Birmingham (Rome, Budapest, Pisa etc)

Monarch to a lesser extent, but their recent announcements and selection of new routes have been very encouraging, including expansion into Ryanair territory, and I see no reason (assuming their financial security) why 2018 shouldn't provide more of the same from them.

I think S18 will be a crunch point with regard to Ryanair's long-term plans for BHX because the opportunity to pursue the competition is still there, they should have the space with Jet2 using the international pier.

 

[58terminus]

Will Jet2 maintain a base at EMA if BHX proves a success? Monarch couldn't make it work and pulled out of EMA
and EMA based Bmi Baby put their toe in at BHX and within a couple of years it was their biggest base.
I do not see any expansion from BHX by Ryanair because soon they will have EMA to themselves.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

I post this with trepidation, not wanting to start another BHX/MAN argument. I do think, however that it is worth looking at the business landscape regarding Ryanair and airports from north London through the Midlands and onto the North West of England.
MAN, EMA and STN are all part of the MAG group. All have an overlap with BHX's catchment area and all have a significant proportion of their services operated by Ryanair. I would not therefore be surprised, if Ryanair get very favourable terms, to operate as many of their flights from MAG airports that serve these catchment areas.
Examples from BHX being -

BHX-DUB. BHX's highest loading route, competed on by EIN and RYR. RYR have to compete on this route, or lose out to EIN (possibly BEE would also operate on this route if RYR didn't serve it).

BHX-NOC. RYR have had intermittent competition from BHX, against their route from EMA. RYR still serve NOC from EMA rather than BHX. Considering the huge Irish population in Birmingham and the West Midlands, why doesn't RYR switch this route to BHX?

If you have informed constructive comment to add to the above, please reply. If you wish to bring it back down to a BHX/MAN argument, then please take it elsewhere.

Kevin

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Would love to see a Knock service like the old BMIBaby.

We have been recently messed about by FlyMayBe so have cancelled and rebooked to Dublin with Ryanair, allocated seats.
The cost, including car hire, is less than the BE cost to Knock.
There's a huge VFR market to the west of Ireland from Birmingham.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Would love to see a Knock service like the old BMIBaby.

We have been recently messed about by FlyMayBe so have cancelled and rebooked to Dublin with Ryanair, allocated seats.
The cost, including car hire, is less than the BE cost to Knock.
There's a huge VFR market to the west of Ireland from Birmingham.

Thanks for you comments, Jon. I had thought of mentioning BMIBaby proving the demand for BHX-NOC flights.
With regards to the 'messed about BEE' flight, my girlfriend has recently experienced similar. Her mother flew from NOC, to visit her in Birmingham last week. Just a day or so before flying, she received a message telling her that the flight was re-timed.
When my girlfriend visits her mother (about an hours drive from NOC), she usually flies RYR to DUB and endures a 3+ hour coach journey due to the difficulty of getting from NOC to her Mother's village (She would never hire a car). Unfortunately, this plays into RYR's hands (you'll fly with us even if we don't fly BHX-NOC).
I totally agree, regarding the VFR market between Birmingham and the West of Ireland. If RYR offered this, they would carry significantly more pax than they do from EMA.

Regards

Kevin