Weather & Technical Diversions, Delays & Cancellations

[TheLocalYokel]

I was due to fly out today on the 7.00 am flight from Bristol to Lanzarote.Had an E-Mail at 7.00pm last night from Easy Jet cancelling the flight.Have no complaints about the cancellation, I can appreciate that the severe weather conditions are still causing havoc.It must be costing Easy Jet a shed load of money.Pretty well every Easy Jet flight up to lunch time is cancelled. My beef with Easy Jet is that although the E-Mail gives you advice on what to do, ie.go on line to manage your bookings, there you can E-Mail them with your request and they will get back to you within twenty four hours.There is a telephone number but not surprisingly no one answered.In other words you are on your own.Yes ,I do realise Easy Jet are a low cost airline and you get what you pay for,but if you are cancelling on mass.I would have thought they would have have better systems in place.By the way this wasn't just flight booked with Easy Jet this was a package with Hotel and transfers. Anyway managed to get two seats on a flight out from Gatwick with Easy jet for this afternoon so will get out to Lanzarote eventually.Will probably spend most of the time on the coach to Gatwick on the phone to Easy Jet arguing the toss over the extra costs.

It does seem hard to determine why things like this happen. TUI and TCX both flew to Geneva this morning but easyJet cancelled the first 2 of its 5 GVA rotations today (and a third one later in the day).

Today there are 63 departures and 63 arrivals due and the state of play is thus:

Cancelled rotations

easyJet Geneva (x3) Malaga Murcia Madrid Lyon Faro Alicante Edinburgh Amsterdam Arrecife Prague Grenoble Barcelona Porto ParisCdg Salzburg (x 2) Glasgow Funchal Palma - total 22

Ryanair Dublin - total 1

KLM Amsterdam (x 2) - total 2

bmi regional Frankfurt and ParisCdg - total 2

Overall Total 27

Rotations operated

easyJet Venice BelfastInt Paphos Nice Grenoble Geneva (x 2) Fuerteventura GranCanaria Tenerife RomeFCO - total 11

Ryanair GranCanaria Tenerife Venice Poznan Dublin Bergamo Malaga Warsaw Budapest - total 9

KLM Amsterdam (x 2) - total 2

bmi regional Munich - total 1

TUI Chambery Verona Geneva Salzburg Fuerteventura - total 5

Thomas Cook Geneva Fuerteventura- total 2

Austrian Innsbruck (x 2) - total 2

Blue Islands/Flybe Jersey - total 1

Aer Lingus Regional Dublin Cork - total 2

Enter Air Sofia - total 1

Overall Total 36


Since the weather began to impact on flights on Wednesday this is the overall situation in terms of the totals of flights operated and cancelled each day. I've not included the Airbus and BAE corporate shuttles. The numbers of flights each day represents the total of arrivals and departures. BRS was closed only between 1800 on Thursday and midday on Friday.

Wednesday 28 out of 118 flights cancelled - 24% loss
Thursday 105 out of 158 flights cancelled - 66% loss
Friday 158 out of 171 flights cancelled - 92% loss
Saturday 54 out of 126 flights cancelled - 43% loss

That's a total of 345 cancelled flights which equates to over full two days' flights at this time of year, or put another way the loss of around 7% of seats for the month. It will be interesting to see if March becomes the first month since Martch 2014 to see a fall in passenger numbers (it was a miniscule 0.2% drop in March 2014).

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It reached 10C today in parts of Bristol. Yesterday began the thaw which gathered pace today with some heavy showers at lunchtime and this evening. In between the sun shone down on a light south-westerly breeze and we enjoyed some near springlike weather. Most of the snow has gone in my area which is on the edge of south-east Bristol.

The airport was in full swing from the word go this morning and 81 of today's 82 departures appear to have operated with inbounds enjoying a similar welcome. The only one that missed out seems to be the Titan flight to Chambery which has been put back until tomorrow morning for some reason (crew/aircraft out of position following the weather shocks of recent days?)

Airport staff should be congratulated for their efforts in the face of such powerful weather. They had to get to and from work whilst others in society took a day for the Queen. Many certainly did in my area anyway. Although many flights were cancelled over several days the airport rermained open for the most part. I believe it closed between 1800 on Thursday and midday on Friday. Given the weather I think this represents a tremendous performance by the staff involved.

 

[superking]

I see 2 diverts to CWL Monday 5 march. A EasyJet A319 and a BMIR E145 due to fog Were these the only 2 diverts away from BRS to any other airports.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I see 2 diverts to CWL Monday 5 march. A EasyJet A319 and a BMIR E145 due to fog Were these the only 2 diverts away from BRS to any other airports.

Quite late last night I understand. Presumably 09 was the active runway if easyJet had to divert, unless the crew was not 'current' with Cat3b.

It was chucking it down where I live a few miles from BRS for most of last evening; not the sort of weather usually associated with fog.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Thursday 8 March 2018

First KLM Cityhopper of the day outbound to AMS, KL1046 at 0615, cancelled. Was last night's inbound cancelled? I missed it if it was.

easyJet cancelled its Venice rotation today, although Ryanair operated its Venice today. I can't find any reports of industrial action in Italy which I thought might have been a reason.

 

[big g]

Quite late last night I understand. Presumably 09 was the active runway if easyJet had to divert, unless the crew was not 'current' with Cat3b.

It was chucking it down where I live a few miles from BRS for most of last evening; not the sort of weather usually associated with fog.

The EZY was downgraded to Cat2. Happens with a lot of aircraft, can be a simple fault that can result in the downgrade.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Monday 12 March 2018

Two of the three bmi Frankfurt rotations cancelled today. Readng a post on another thread from someone awaiting a flight on the one that did operate it seems it was down to aircraft and/or crew availability. bmi continue to suffer a disproportionate number of cancellations and delays. They seem to be well regarded when in the air but I would not consider them at present given this unreliability.

 

[Kernow Bravo]

Monday 12 March 2018

They seem to be well regarded when in the air but I would not consider them at present given this unreliability.

As you say they are a very professional outfit in the air from my personal experience.

Unfortunately it is not only themselves BM are letting down, but they are potentially damaging the reputation (in this specific case) of their codeshare partners in the LH group, who as a result will probably lose transfer traffic to KL via AMS through no fault of their own.

 

[vickersviscount]

Post script to the disruption caused by the bad weather over the 1st,2nd,3rd of March.I flew back to Bristol from Arrecife on Saturday the 10th on a Easy Jet A320.Over sixty seats were unoccupied on the return flight .I know that the scheduled outbound flight was pretty full as I had checked on the seat selector page on the Easy Jet web site a week before we flew out.The crew had to twice do a head count as passengers had booked in for the return flight prior to the flight out but had not obviously been able to make alternative arrangements to fly out.Did mean that everyone could spread out and the crew got the drinks and meals served in double quick time.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Post script to the disruption caused by the bad weather over the 1st,2nd,3rd of March.I flew back to Bristol from Arrecife on Saturday the 10th on a Easy Jet A320.Over sixty seats were unoccupied on the return flight .I know that the scheduled outbound flight was pretty full as I had checked on the seat selector page on the Easy Jet web site a week before we flew out.The crew had to twice do a head count as passengers had booked in for the return flight prior to the flight out but had not obviously been able to make alternative arrangements to fly out.Did mean that everyone could spread out and the crew got the drinks and meals served in double quick time.

The airport lost over 300 flights during that period with easyJet the biggest loser as not only are they the largest airline at the airport but they also took premptive action to cancel many flights in advance when other airlines did not always do that. March's passenger figures will be interesting. I did think that they might be the first monthly drop for four years but, based on February's near 6% rise in the airport's own figures, March this year might still remain in positive territory.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/flights-bristol-airport-risk-cancellation-1349879

Bristol Post saying snow might disrupt flights at BRS on Sunday. In fact, on the BBC weather news this evening a yellow warning was in place for the area from the early hours of Saturday then through the day. Not forecast to be like the beginning of the month although the snow could be locally disruptive.

We will see. No flights yet cancelled for tomorrow. Last time easyJet in particular cancelled numerous flights in advance as a pre-emptive measure. Let's hope any disruption is minimal.

 

[superking]

Its now updated to amber sat and sunday,more sunday. It causes chaos on the days it snows, but with the season getting late now in theory it should not hang around long. There is still a lot of snow in places on the mendip hills somerset left over from the last snow we had.

 

[superking]

Saturday morning. Its just started snowing here in Weston super mare. Lets hope it don't cause any problems at BRS today as Saturdays are very busy.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Saturday morning. Its just started snowing here in Weston super mare. Lets hope it don't cause any problems at BRS today as Saturdays are very busy.

The main bulk of snow now seems to be forecast overnight Saturday/Sunday for the West Country. Sunday is actually busier than Saturday with 62 departures today and 85 tomorrow.

I live to the east of Dundry Hill and can see the top from my 'den' as I look out now. We've had light snow flurries for the last two hours but nothing has settled (or pitched as we say around here). Dundry Hill top is clearly visible although an hour ago it disappeared into the mist for a while. As I type, the sun is trying to poke its rays out through the clouds.

Thus far everything at BRS seems to be operating normally.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

A light covering of snow now where I live to the east of the airport just to the north of the flight path about seven miles out.

There are still 16 arrivals due in this evening with several running from 40 to 120 minutes late.

Addendum 2228 hours

Airport still open. Two easyJets (both from Geneva) and a Ryanair from Malaga in landing queue at the moment - first easyJet just landed.

 

[superking]

Well its snowed all night and still snowing. I can see lots of flights cancelled not only from BRS but a lot of airports far and wide. More an likely if airport open it could be a case of pax not being able to get to airport.
The arrivals and departure boards are going to look sick later on with cancelations. No doubt the airport staff will do a strerling job to keep airport running as normal as can be in these trying times.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Well its snowed all night and still snowing. I can see lots of flights cancelled not only from BRS but a lot of airports far and wide. More an likely if airport open it could be a case of pax not being able to get to airport.
The arrivals and departure boards are going to look sick later on with cancelations. No doubt the airport staff will do a strerling job to keep airport running as normal as can be in these trying times.

Airport re-opened at midday.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Looks like there's furthet issues, comments by the Airport on twittet relating to 'airfield conditions'. Anyone in the know? Is it snow drifts with the wind or ice?

 

[Kingshat]

Difficult mix of blowing snow and freezing slush. That said the runway has been open since 12 with delays caused by aircraft de-icing and the conditions on some of the stands. A lot of folks working very hard to minimise disruption.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Sunday 18 March 2018

Difficult to be exact as to the extent of the disruption today as the airport website is slightly confusing at times (showing one or two flights as cancelled as well as showing an expected arrival time next to the scheduled arrival time column, and some indications are left blank).

It does appear that of the 85 arrivals and 85 departures scheduled today over 40 have been cancelled (that's a total of around 80 counting arrivals and departures).

Taking the four days of major snow disruption at the beginning of this month together with today's problems I make it over 400 flights (sectors) have been cancelled which is about two and a half days' flying programme at this time of year, say 8% of the month's flights.

As with the earlier difficulties this month, the airport staff deserve the highest possible praise for getting the airport back into operational mode as quickly as possible and for the work in keeping the aicraft ice-free. Airline staff must also be praised for getting to the airport and flying in these conditions.

Let's hope we've seen the last of this awful white stuff for a while, certainly for this spring.