Daily Direct Link from BHX to the US

[Kevin Farnell]

Thank you for your post, deprived. Welcome to Forums4Airports.

Firstly, deprived I'd like to echo TLY's welcome to the forum.

sorry to jump in

Nothing to be sorry for. The whole purpose of the forum is to discuss/debate issues relating to airports and aviation. I hope you'll stay around and look forward to your further contributions.

Kevin

 

[Kevin Farnell]

this is what annoys me with BHX, it should be a bigger airport than it is we are the second city

I totally agree! It reminds me of something years ago (may have been the G8 conference or a large sporting event) and there was a flight arriving from Germany (not one of the regular scheduled flights). On approach to BHX (and obviously seeing the size of Birmingham and the West Midlands), I heard over the radio, the pilot ask 'where is Birmingham's main airport?'.

Kevin

 

[deprived]

I totally agree! It reminds me of something years ago (may have been the G8 conference or a large sporting event) and there was a flight arriving from Germany (not one of the regular scheduled flights). On approach to BHX (and obviously seeing the size of Birmingham and the West Midlands), I heard over the radio, the pilot ask 'where is Birmingham's main airport?'.

Kevin

I can totally see why a pilot said that. We are holding the commonwealth games and the majority of the traffic will end up in London or Manchester and the athletes and fans coming on busses or trains, we need an airport that will support growth within Birmingham and the West Midlands, successive governments, and local councils haven't cared about it, its only really Emirates who cares about the airport.

 

[Coathanger16]

its only really Emirates who cares about the airport.

We've maintained our legacy carriers very well compared to most other regional airports tbh.

Besides Heathrow and Manchester, not many airports have multiple flights a day from:

Air France
KLM
Lufthansa
Swiss
SAS
Turkish Airlines
Brussels Airlines

We've got the 2nd largest Jet2 base and the 3rd largest TUI base in the country. We've got the largest easyJet presence of any UK airport without a base.

Heathrow and Manchester have strong connections to the USA because they have large based airlines based at both.

Should BHX be a bigger airport with more routes and airlines? Yes of course. Is it a failure because it doesn't? Not at all.

 

[deprived]

We've maintained our legacy carriers very well compared to most other regional airports tbh.

Besides Heathrow and Manchester, not many airports have multiple flights a day from:

Air France
KLM
Lufthansa
Swiss
SAS
Turkish Airlines
Brussels Airlines

We've got the 2nd largest Jet2 base and the 3rd largest TUI base in the country. We've got the largest easyJet presence of any UK airport without a base.

Heathrow and Manchester have strong connections to the USA because they have large based airlines based at both.

Should BHX be a bigger airport with more routes and airlines? Yes of course. Is it a failure because it doesn't? Not at alI

I never once called it a failure. What is a failure is the lack of care from the central and local government, it's only Birmingham who cares, it's fine..... they are building hs2 so people can get to London quicker, thus taking more air traffic away from Birmingham, Emirates has proven with the A380s that Birmingham can be a success for the bigger airlines and bigger aircraft, and with the recent A340 and 777 cargo runs we are getting proves we can handle things like that, we don't need a 3 runways super airport, we need one that Birmingham can be proud of, yes I get your point of KLM, air france etc but we need to entice other to see the potential that a hub in the middle of the UK can provide.

 

[Coathanger16]

I never once called it a failure. What is a failure is the lack of care from the central and local government, it's only Birmingham who cares, it's fine..... they are building hs2 so people can get to London quicker, thus taking more air traffic away from Birmingham, Emirates has proven with the A380s that Birmingham can be a success for the bigger airlines and bigger aircraft, and with the recent A340 and 777 cargo runs we are getting proves we can handle things like that, we don't need a 3 runways super airport, we need one that Birmingham can be proud of, yes I get your point of KLM, air france etc but we need to entice other to see the potential that a hub in the middle of the UK can provide.

Although I quoted your post, my post was more addressed to the wider forum that, to me at least, has been very negative about BHX recently.

Emirates is such a success at BHX because it has the scale at its Dubai hub to attract the passengers. If the pandemic hadn't happened, I was rather hopefully that we'd have had a route to Hong Kong in the next 5 years or so. Given the current state of HK, I doubt we ever will and I suspect Cathay won't return to Gatwick at all, and probably not with as much capacity to Manchester as before.

As prestigious as long haul routes are, there are plenty of gaps in the short haul network that are either unserved or woefully underserved. Flyr, a relatively new Norwegian airline has just announced they're launching Oslo to Edinburgh - would happily see them at BHX as well.

 

[KJAY 786]

Birmingham International BHX-needs more flights and I am not sure why potential airlines don't see it needs them i telephoned Royal Brunei, Egypt Air ELAL and MEA to name some they totally agree but don't fly BHX I am shocked we are down graded as a country BREXIT means give more to BRITAIN - it just price increase and BAD BUSINESS - Tourism Economical Interest Investment spending and Business with ICC and NIA now renamed and NEC we need those important Transatlantic and Canadian flights as-well as Kingston Largest Jamaican Community in Midlands so sad we don't serve them - to explore INDIA-PAKISTAN AND BANGLADESH we need more routes - BHX we love you x x x

 

[CL44]

I have to say it but BHX is run as a business, the same as the Airlines. They are out to make money from positioning a flight and moving both passengers and cargo from point A to point B. If there is no money to be made out of a route the answer is quite simple: they will not operate!

Cargo has been a lifeline to BHX over the last two years and I have to say I believe we are lucky to have kept as many Airlines and routes as we have. Given how many Airlines have pulled flights (either due to various Government regulations not allowing passengers to travel or even closing down) we should be happy to see what we are seeing. All Airlines will do their research to see how many passengers are flying on different routes and if they do not see sufficient returns being possible they will not allocate resources to position a flight. It sounds harsh but welcome to the world of business.

Please also consider how many different parts of the world can be reached via PAR / FRA / AMS / DXB / DUB etc. With codeshare agreements there are very few places you cannot reach from BHX as long as you are happy to go via a hub.

 

[Coathanger16]

Please also consider how many different parts of the world can be reached via PAR / FRA / AMS / DXB / DUB etc. With codeshare agreements there are very few places you cannot reach from BHX as long as you are happy to go via a hub.

And this also applies to the US. Even if BHX had a direct flight to NYC, if your final destination was anywhere else in the States, you're no better off than now. If your destination was Los Angeles, would you care if the flight went via New York or Paris?

 

[Matty_85]

JetBlue: ‘We knew the travel trade would be very important’

One year since JetBlue’s transatlantic launch, Maja Gedosev, general manager Europe, tells TTG’s Gary Noakes about post-Covid plans to expand further and add more routes

www.ttgmedia.com

I’d love JetBlue at BHX as it’s the right sized aircraft, the product is good & the prices are a reasonable but unless there are negotiations & it’s all hush hush we just don’t seem to be in their sights unfortunately. What’s frustrating is that the demand is here but if their is approach is to focus on the US demand (quote from the article ‘She stresses any new route will be chosen from the viewpoint of US travellers.’) for Birmingham then the numbers just don’t stack up. Out of curiosity If not JetBlue who could be a potential carrier? Does that mean we are dependent on a domestic carrier?

Fingers crossed though they do take the risk as I think without doubt it would pay off!

 

[Llandudno]

The issue with JetBlue is that they are an airline with a finite number of aircraft able to run the TATL operation, with so many airports in the queue ahead of UK regional ops. Paris, Brussels, Dublin, Amsterdam, Madrid, bulking up London for example.

I agree the A321N is perfect for UK regional, but unfortunately there are likely to be a LOT of airports vying for the attention of JetBlue which means patience is needed for any hope of a flight from them.

 

[Brum X]

JetBlue: ‘We knew the travel trade would be very important’

One year since JetBlue’s transatlantic launch, Maja Gedosev, general manager Europe, tells TTG’s Gary Noakes about post-Covid plans to expand further and add more routes

www.ttgmedia.com

I’d love JetBlue at BHX as it’s the right sized aircraft, the product is good & the prices are a reasonable but unless there are negotiations & it’s all hush hush we just don’t seem to be in their sights unfortunately. What’s frustrating is that the demand is here but if their is approach is to focus on the US demand (quote from the article ‘She stresses any new route will be chosen from the viewpoint of US travellers.’) for Birmingham then the numbers just don’t stack up. Out of curiosity If not JetBlue who could be a potential carrier? Does that mean we are dependent on a domestic carrier?

Fingers crossed though they do take the risk as I think without doubt it would pay off!

Why not Emirates, they fly from Milan to New York, why not Birmingham ?

 

[A400]

I agree with you that there will be many airports that JetBlue look at for expansion however it doesn’t mean that U.K reigonal airports won’t be looked at does it stop wishful thinking.

 

[Llandudno]

I agree with you that there will be many airports that JetBlue look at for expansion however it doesn’t mean that U.K reigonal airports won’t be looked at does it stop wishful thinking.

It was more answering the question as to why BHX isn’t in the frame (that we know of)

 

[Ray Finkle]

Tom Screen was in the USA a couple of months ago talking to an airline with a view to a 2024 start. Obviously we don't know the outcome of those talks but fingers crossed he's managed to secure something.

Obviously we all think of JetBlue and they'd certainly be my first choice but has anyone considered Breeze on the A220?

“We’re not going to fly to Heathrow, and we won’t fly from New York, Maybe you could see a flight from you know, maybe Burlington, Vermont to a secondary airport in England. We have routes we can do, routes that nobody flies, and we're committed to flying our planes on routes that nobody else is flying. And we can do that because our trip costs are so much lower."

https://simpleflying.com/breeze-airways-wants-to-go-transatlantic-with-its-airbus-a220s/

 

[RichL]

Not sure. When I used to use Continental / United for work Newark was handy, not sure Vermont would have given me that good of an option if that was the only choice back then. Would have still had to go to Heathrow.

 

[Coathanger16]

I think for any route from BHX to the USA to work, it needs to be to an airport that is convenient for the city it is serving (i.e. JFK not Newburgh).

Additionally it needs to be somewhere that offers further connections to other destinations in the states.

Finally it needs to be a brand people know.

Breeze doesn’t tick any of those.

 

[Llandudno]

Breeze seem to be faltering a little in the US, routes seem to open and close weekly. Not sure it TATL will be doable by them for a few years yet.

 

[Brum X]

Yeah I agree, stop with all this silly "Norwiegan" talk of US airports nobody has heard of, we want New York proper, not another version of Frankfurt Haan which is nowhere near Frankfurt, ha

Oh yeah and how did Norweigan TATL end up, a complete flop

 

[Stephen1991]

Apologies if discussed previously and I am unsure of full circumstances but does anyone think we would have had a New York flight maintained if American Airlines never moved in?

Seemed a bit odd Continental/United done the route for years, American move in then they both withdraw.

BA seem to have little interest in BHX, I am unsure if other larger carriers such as Delta do routes on small scale (e.g. setup a route as opposed to multiple) and obviously other contenders (e.g. National and Primera Air I beleive) just never worked out!