Airline and Airport Correspondence

[Hassaan]

BHX's Petition to Re-Establish AA Route

As many of you know, American Airlines dropped their highly profitable route out of BHX to Chicago in October 2002. The particular route had large support from the West Midlands community and with very high load factors.

We are now urging companies to re-establish this link through this petition: http://petitiononline.com/aabhx/petition.html

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: BHX's Petition to Re-Establish AA Route

Welcome to forums4airports, Hassaan.

BHX serves a huge population with a very large and bouyant economy.

Compared to MAN it is underserved and it's difficult to know why the gap is so large.

BHX may be disadvantaged in being relatively close to LHR but, if the government puts its money where its mouth is, BHX should see a significant upsurge in the coming years.

For starters, let's hope the petition bears fruit.

We haven't got too many posters with close links to BHX yet so you are especially welcome to keep us all informed of the happenings there.

I posted elsewhere on this forum that I recently used BHX for the first time (it's not my local airport) and was very impressed with it.

 

[Hassaan]

Re: BHX's Petition to Re-Establish AA Route

Thanks.

Of course there are a lot of people from Birmingham who have to go to Heathrow to catch a transatlantic flight with American Airlines. AA is seemingly more popular than Continental and we would need more than one transatlantic flight to the USA. I suggested American Airlines relaunch their daily service to Chicago using 777-200's (BHX's runway isn't an issue for 777's, PIA, Air India and Emirates have handled fine) starting March and i'm pretty sure there is demand.

We need more than the 4 signatures we currently have. I'm currently touring aviation forums related to BHX and trying to promote the petition, but with no luck. The petition has in fact been criticised because of the fact there won't be demand, AA aren't interested, it's not profitable etc.

I've tried to get the backing of Birmingham Airport and the Council, and i'm awaiting replies from the both of them.

BHX has plenty of european carriers, but we need more international flights. We need larger aircraft such as more 777's, A340 and hopefully after the runway extention, the 747 and A380. There have been many complaints about the lack of direct flights out of BHX, Air India is the most common.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: BHX's Petition to Re-Establish AA Route

I hope you get a supportive reply from the BHX management.

If someone is prepared to put themselves out for something they believe in that, if it came to fruition, would benefit both the airport and local economy they should be encouraged.

I will be interested to learn the airport's response when you receive it.

Good luck in the meantime.

 

[Hassaan]

Re: BHX's Petition to Re-Establish AA Route

I have wrote an article to the Express and Star & Birmingham Post, hopefully they will publish it. Back in 2005 AA were looking at relaunching their flights into BHX but it never happened.

 

[Aviador]

Re: BHX's Petition to Re-Establish AA Route

Welcome to Forums4airports Hassaan!

A similar kind of service from BRS to EWR has been discussed on the Bristol forum here at length. In many ways the story remains the same. Many airlines don't seem to see the advantage of operating regional departures.

For many people in the UK - Manchester Airport is seen as the UK's main airport outside of the capital city. This is probably because it's in the centre of the UK. American Airlines even snubbed MAN in recent years scrapping it's daily New York service. (Now reinstated)

It is clear that airlines want to protect their main core operations into LHR. Regional departures only dilute the 'high paying' business class passengers. The annoying thing for people outside of London is the lengthy car drive, or rail journey to get to LHR and yet airlines seem more than happy to add extra rotations into LHR when slots become available.

Locally to me, Leeds Bradford Airport has being trying to attract an American service for many years. Statistics back the airports claim that sufficient people from the LBA region would use such service but airlines are still reluctant to operate these routes where there's a possibility of diluting like for like services at either MAN or LHR.

The best thing the regions can hope for is if the Government's plans to increase passenger duty for flights into the London airports will help improve the offering for more local departures.

 

[Hassaan]

Re: BHX's Petition to Re-Establish AA Route

I need some help in promoting the petition. I to get more signatures, at least 20,000.

 

[pug]

Re: BHX's Petition to Re-Establish AA Route

Hassaan13, welcome to the forum, its good to see someone (at 13?) showing support for their local airport and being proactive in trying to get an expanded service.

One thing i would like to point out, however, is that the route was actually not particularly profitable, and sending the airline information they already know will not do your petition any favours.

As Aviador has said, airlines like to operate into London over most of the regions in the UK. Despite Birminghams' large population, it is within two hours of both Manchester and Heathrow airports and still manages to retain a significant long-haul offering for an airport of its size.

I would like to point out that the size of Birmingham, when compared to cities in the States (that do not have such long-haul services) is actualy relatively insignificant, and perhaps should be considered when forming petitions.

Good luck all the same.

 

[Aviador]

Re: BHX's Petition to Re-Establish AA Route

It's interesting when you compare EDI with GLA on long haul services. Both airports offer flights to the states and beyond which I think is quite unusual really given how close Edinburgh and Glasgow are.

 

[Aviador]

Re: BHX's Petition to Re-Establish AA Route

According to Anna-aero the UK – US transatlantic air traffic was down by 3.3% during 2010 so any launch of new flights to the US with American Airlines will almost certainly be on hold. That assuming they're actually even considering the idea.

 

[CL44]

Re: BHX's Petition to Re-Establish AA Route

Please also bear in mind how long US Airways had their service into BHX (1 x summer season). Now personally I think they did not advertise the route that well, and they were not taking any cargo into or out of BHX which is going to crimp any Airline that is not filling the passenger cabin. Whilst AA have a lot of history at BHX, and offered a very good service (I remember taking my belated honeymoon with them in 1997 and had a fantastic flight), it is always going to be a case of use it or loose it. BHX did not use the service and so lost it.

Also bear in mind that with ATI now in place with BA, they have no real reason to come into BHX apart from the fact that LHR is full (or darn near to it) and so without codeshares departing from BHX why put one of their flights into here without a very good reason.

 

[Hassaan]

Re: Suggested New BHX Routes for 2011

Well, i've emailed Birmingham Airport in regards to a third daily Emirates service, an expansion on the PIA route, AA and Continental. I did write a proper convincing email earlier on, and am awaiting a response. I wrote a previous email and got this:

Dear Mr Mohammad

Thank you for your feedback and thoughts on the potential for certain routes from Birmingham Airport. I will certainly forward your comments onto our Air Services team who are responsible for working in close partnership with both new and established airlines to develop and expand the range of routes available to passengers.

Please be assured that we are always looking to improve the range of services offered and hold regular discussions with airlines and tour operators to expand these. As I hope you will appreciate, the airline industry has faced immense challenges and undergone enormous changes over the past few years. Whilst Birmingham Airport proactively encourages growth through the expansion of airlines and destinations available to passengers, the decision to introduce new routes, or withdraw existing services, ultimately lies with the airline themselves based on their own commercial considerations.

We are always conscious of the fact that passengers can choose a number of different airports from which to fly and hope the above has reassured you that we are working hard to continually improve and enhance passenger services. I thank you for your support of Birmingham International Airport and hope that you will be able to fly from here in the near future.

Kind regards

Caroline

Caroline Whitehouse
Customer Relations Executive
Birmingham Airport

I don't know whether that shows any possibility of any new routes.

 

[Hassaan]

Re: BHX's Petition to Re-Establish AA Route

I think it was 9/11 which caused the downfall on this route. If they relaunched it with a twice daily or flights from New York, Miami etc, I think it'd do a lot better.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Suggested New BHX Routes for 2011

British Airways seem to have retreated to London for their long-haul routes so it would be a massive policy turnaround to use regional airports again BUT if the government is true to its word about restricting LHR's growth and seeing flights moved to the regions (especially BHX) who knows what might happen in the future?

I read yesterday that Ryanair is to launch a 3 x weekly (I think that's the schedule) Bergerac route for the coming summer.

Unless the restrictions include the whole of the South East the probability is that airlines will just move down the road to LGW rather than up the road to BHX even if it gave people from further North (and West) more choice.

 

[User0001]

Re: BHX's Petition to Re-Establish AA Route

Hassan. Im going to send you a PM regarding this so check your inbox.

 

[Hassaan]

Re: BHX's Petition to Re-Establish AA Route

There is a new petition here: http://epetition.birmingham.public-i.tv ... birmingham

It closes on February 24th. It does say other US cities rather than only Chicago. I think this'll be a lot better than the other petition. You can sign now and we need lots of signatures.

 

[Hassaan]

Re: Suggested New BHX Routes for 2011

This was actually my reply:

Dear Mr Mohammad

Thank you for further suggestions on routes from Birmingham Airport.

We welcome your comments and appreciate your continued interest in the Airport and please be assured your ideas have been passed to our Route Development Team for their information.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

Yours sincerely

Customer Relations
Birmingham Airport

And this was the email:

Hi. I have some good and relevant and serious ideas about the current routes at BHX, which I would like you to fully take on board and review.

Emirates - Emirates have been doing extremely well since their launch in 2000, even upgrading to a second daily service in 2005, and operated a one-off A380 on the midday service to celebrate Birmingham's 70th Anniversary in 2009. For years, a third daily service has been considered by Tim Clark for a couple of years now, but it has never happened. In my opinion, the summer timetable starts at the end of March, so the new service can start then, and should be considered immediately, because there is massive Emirates demand at BHX, being the UK's second city. The summer timetable starts on the 27th March 2011, so the route can be launched then. The UK's second city to have a third daily Emirates service would boost capacity at BHX a lot. I suggest that the route be operated with a 777-300ER like the other routes, and have a 7am arrival and a 10am departure. I would really like you to look at this extract as Emirates is doing really well at Birmingham and there is need for an expansion, as it has been 5 years since a second daily service was launched.

PIA - PIA has done quite well. Maybe not as well as Emirates but lots of people have been flying on the route due to the fact that Birmingham has the largest Asian population in the UK. My suggested expansions for this route would either be a fifth weekly flight, daily flight, or flights to Karachi and Lahore.

Continental - Continental have been serving Birmingham since 1997, and have been doing extremely well. I think the aircraft should be upgraded from a Boeing 757 to a Boeing 767-400, as BHX can handle aircraft that size, and the demand for this Continental route is rising very dramatically.

American Airlines - American Airlines have served Birmingham before, but axed in 2002. The service did very well until 9/11. I have made an online petition at http://petitiononline.com/aabhx for American Airlines to come back to Birmingham and I would like you to either support it or speak to American Airlines to suggest relaunching a Chicago-Birmingham route with a Boeing 777 rather than a Boeing 767.

Qatar Airways - This is an airline that is very highly needed at BHX. Lots of people would fly on the airline, as, like Emirates, it can connect to many destinations worldwide. The reason for this is that BHX will prove to be a huge 'feeder' destination for its new ATQ bound flights as well as contribute decent volume of traffic bound for ISB, DEL, BOM, LHE, CMB, DAC, HKG, KHI, China, KUL and IKA via DOH. It can also contribute passenger on board Qatar's new SYD/MEL bound flights. From BHX, Qatar's primary competitor will be EK and to Pakistan PIA. Air India suspended BHX flights in 2008 and thus lost its BHX-ATQ/BHX-DEL route which saw good loads year round. The UK Midlands region needs a second 'quality airline' to serve the region with wide bodied aircraft heading eastwards to the ISC and Asia-Pacific region and QR fits that role perfectly. To/from BHX, the flight timings should be:

QRXX Dep DOH 0700 Arr BHX 1200
QRXX Dep BHX 1400 Arr DOH 2300

These flight timings mentioned above allow perfect connections via DOH in both directions to India, Pakistan, Australia, HKG, SIN, DAC, CMB, DPS, KUL, PEK, PVG, KIX, CGK, CAN and GCC. This should be enough to fill up the flight on a year round basis.

I would advice Birmingham Airport to review these airlines highly and get them at Birmingham as soon as possible, because they are highly needed and can manage the slightly short length of Birmingham's runway. Hopefully these routes can start at the end of March 2011.

I would like you to reply by email

 

[Hassaan]

Re: Suggested New BHX Routes for 2011

Well I've contacted many airlines to attempt to interest them in launching a route to BHX. I've email Delta, US Airways, AA, PIA, Qatar, Etihad, Air China and Jet Airways. My suggestions for US Airways to restart a BHX-PHL with an A333, PIA to make their BHX-ISB daily so more passengers can be carried, AA to relaunch BHX-ORD on a 763, have all been forwarded to the relevant people.

After all, these are suggestions so even I don't believe that the airline will consider it for sure. If it does turn up in the schedule then I think some people are going to be shocked. I emailed Jet Airways to consider launching a direct route from India to Birmingham as a new direct connection. I've tried to convince Etihad to give Birmingham a try but no reply yet. I emailed Delta to start a ATL-BHX on a 764, and no reply.

It's frustrating to see BHX not have many international services, in regards to it being my departure point, while i've used PIA and Emirates to reach Islamabad, I wish there were other connections. If only I knew the key to getting an airline interested in an airport.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Suggested New BHX Routes for 2011

Nobody can knock your enthusiasm and will to achieve your goal of getting more flights into Birmingham but I would definitely say you shouldn't be telling airlines the aircraft they need to be using. It's like testing the airlines intelligence. For future correspondence I would recommend just quoting passenger statistics, state that you would use such a service if it was in place along with any other factual information ie number of businesses from the region with connections with the destination airport. Telling them to use a particular aircraft will instantly turn them off from looking any further at your proposals because it has 'plane spotter' written all over it.

 

[User0001]

Re: Suggested New BHX Routes for 2011

I agree with Aviador, its never good to tell airlines what equipment to use.

For example, you say US airways should use an A333 to PHL?! Firstly, they couldnt even get PHL to work on a B757, so why on earth would they throw an A333 on the route?!?! Even LHR only sees an A332 (slightly smaller), and some days only a B762 (even smaller), so why should BHX get an A333? Do you realise how much aircraft that is for them to fill? Fares would have to be so low that the route wouldnt even last 2 months, let alone a summer season!

As for PIA, they are going through a very rough patch at the moment, and its going to be a few weeks/months before they will consider any expansion. Now that the TK deal is off, they are going to have to work out where they will go from here.

As for Jet airways, I know a little bit about their plans for the UK, and I can assure you, BHX is not in them. They want to 'evenly distribute operations so that the vast majority have a convinent point of departure in the UK'. Basically, LHR is too close to BHX to make a route viable, hence why they have signed a ground contract at Manchester.

Ive done a little bit of running for you hassan, and this is what I have found:

Etihad- Only concentrating on expanding exsisting destinations, as they want to compete on schedules rather than new destinations. Basically, only expanding what they have, which is why CDG going 2 daily, MAN going 2 daily and BRU going 8 weekly.

Qatar- Consolidating UK ops as they can access all the catchments they want through LHR and MAN. I have asked them directly, and they have said they have no intention on serving BHX for the 2011/2012 operating plan.

Emirates- Recently upgraded evening flight to higher density aircraft, and they say this has added sufficient capacity for the next year.

Jet airways- stated above

AA- Have no intention of serving BHX. Only LHR/MAN will feature in their UK destination roster for 2011/2012.

As for the others, I havent asked them, but Id bet the answers will be very similar. Sorry to be a 'doom and gloomer', but if BHX cant even convince Air Malta and Cyprus airlines to stay, who have been long standing carriers at BHX, then what hope do they have of getting the above airlines!