Summer 2022

[Marko1]

To my recollection this is the first summer season that has no new routes from either Easyjet nor Ryanair . We even had attempts at new routes for the two summers during Covid but nothing yet for this year.
Incidentally the Acl start of season report has been released. If I am reading correctly easyjet has been granted slots for 18 early departures daily

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

Could this be because of the presence of Jet2 within base? 6 aircraft is pretty impressive it what someone could consider a first operational normal summer.

I get there needs to be healthy competition but I wonder if we are seeing easyJet and Ryanair decide what gets added, removed and additional frequencies?

I know people say that Jet2 are pushing Jet2holidays more however it still takes away some customers from both easy and Ryanair. And what it also does to their Yields, Revenue and Profit of their routes/the base for them.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

In Severn's recent comparison data in the BRS easyJet thread he listed ten new destinations in summer 2022 compared with summer 2019. Now some of these did operate sporadically during the Covid period or had been announced previously but did not get around to operating because of Covid.

A couple of months ago an easyJet spokesperson said there would be eight new routes at BRS this summer. In the best Ryanairesque manner this probably meant routes I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

It was also said by easyJet that this would be their biggest ever BRS programme. That seems to be confirmed in Severn's post where he outlined 405 weekly easyJet departures in peak summer (19 more than at the same time in 2019).

More easyJet seats are on offer too with the based fleet this summer comprising 2 x A321, 12 x A320 and 3 x A319, compared with 10 x A 320 and 7 x A319 in 2019.

Furthermore, easyJet is operating the equivalent of a further two based aircraft using aircraft from the 'other end' of routes, more than in 2019.

 

[Jerry]

I'd expect that they've concentrated their efforts more on expanding on existing routes than new ones, I also doubt very much that Jet2 presence is a big concern for Easyjet considering their domination of the whole area.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

Safe to say I think maybe we are going towards consolation of seats and aircraft numbers rather than additional frequencies. That certainly improves yields, revenue and ultimately protects profit. I do suspect growth coming maybe an additional aircraft or two for easyJet but possibly more.

Eventually easyJet will be seeing those 3 A319 replaced with A320's. Very interestingly easyJet only has an additional 15 A321 NEO's on order. I suspect these will be used in LGW and MAN.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

I'd expect that they've concentrated their efforts more on expanding on existing routes than new ones, I also doubt very much that Jet2 presence is a big concern for Easyjet considering their domination of the whole area.

Ignoring an airline with 2/3 aircraft fine. Ignoring an airline that's going into it's first normal summer in a new base with 6 aircraft is something definitely to keep an eye on if I was easy. Especially given how they've grown in STN and BHX.

 

[Jerry]

Ignoring an airline with 2/3 aircraft fine. Ignoring an airline that's going into it's first normal summer in a new base with 6 aircraft is something definitely to keep an eye on if I was easy. Especially given how they've grown in STN and BHX.

I didn't say that they would be ignoring them but Easyjet is very strong at Bristol and yes Jet2 are an airline that expands but Bristol is Stansted or Birmingham so how much can they really expand at the airport especially if it's quite likely in the next few years we could end up in a recession because of the cost of living crisis.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

I would agree @Jerry. But I think consolation and changing from A320 to A321 is probably the way they'll go but depending where they'll deploy those A321's tbh and probably also how Jet2 increase their presence.

That "cost of living" crisis/recession totally inflicted by the world governments/media total over reaction to the flu.. People also look towards package holidays over flight only/accommodation during tougher times. Something which both Jet2/TUI should be able to cash in on - and if easyJet get their holiday division up and running them too.

 

[Jerry]

People also look towards package holidays over flight only/accommodation during tougher times.

Problem is it might get to the point where people can't actually afford package holidays but i think we're starting to thread drift here so i'll end it there.

 

[Aviador]

@Sherburnflyer92 are you meaning consolidation as opposed to consolation?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

As I mentioned in an earlier post yesterday easyJet is actually expanding at BRS as it has been doing for most of the past 18 years.

With 2 x A321, 12 x A320 and 3 x A319 this summer as against 10 x A320 and 7 x A319 in summer 2019, plus the equivalent of two fulltime based aircraft operating from the other end of some routes this summer shows a continuing commitment. Also bear in mind that BRS was allocated a couple of A321s from the small pot of those available early on.

Summer 2022 sees the largest flight programme ever at BRS as things stand with over 400 weekly easyJet departures. Even if world circumstances cut across planned operations in the industry generally it still shows what easyJet wanted and presumably still wants to do at BRS.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Signs are increasingly evident that, barring the intervention of world events and no-one can predict those, BRS is likely to be one of the leading regional airports in overcoming the pandemic effects. The major recession of the ‘noughties’ affected BRS later and less than most airports and it was one of the first to begin to recover, with the following decade seeing several years of outperformance.

That pattern could be repeated in the aftermath of the pandemic. Quite why an airport that does not serve a major populous region such as Greater Manchester or West Yorkshire performs so well is difficult to determine, especially given its disadvantages regarding physical size, challenging weather, difficult surface connectivity and its location within a Green Belt.

Probably a main reason is that it is good at the relatively limited number of things it does - mainly short-haul principally with low-cost and holiday airlines together with hubs at Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Dublin. Most direct scheduled long-haul travel from the region is via Heathrow 100 miles east along the M4.

BRS has been successful enough for a huge overseas pension fund to invest heavily into it with plans for more.

With easyJet already intending to operate their biggest ever programme from BRS this summer with talk from them a month or two ago that 2023 would see more growth, and now Jet2 announcing significant 2023 growth, there is every reason to believe that a recovery could become substantial fairly quickly, even if TUI and Ryanair ‘stood still’ in 2023 with little or no growth.