Birmingham: Saudia Flight Status, Hub News & Discussion

[AdamHussain07]

HZ-ARF (Welcome to Arabia) livery scheduled for this Sunday. Obviously STC.

HZ-ARF on KUL sector instead. Getting HZ-AR11 for BHX.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Any update if the 4th weekly flight is happening this summer?

GDS suggests so but website doesn’t

Slots are in but don't think it's 100% confirmed as yet.

 

[AdamHussain07]

HZ-ARE due in, ETA 1222Z

Last flew on it on 17th December 2024.

 

[Scania1800]

HZ-ARE due in, ETA 1222Z

Last flew on it on 17th December 2024.

Last came to BHX 14 October 25

 

[AdamHussain07]

Last came to BHX 14 October 25

Hope I don’t fly on it again when I go Saudi in December 🤣

The state of it when I flew on it was not very pleasant…

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Slightly off-topic, but a nice view of the Jet2 portacabin!!

 

[whateverg]

Slightly off-topic, but a nice view of the Jet2 portacabin!!

Do you have to walk outside to get into it?

 

[AdamHussain07]

Slightly off-topic, but a nice view of the Jet2 portacabin!!

A year earlier (19/12/2023)

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

Saudia 4th weekly flight is now on sale for Summer 2026


Like Share and Follow my page

https://twitter.com/x/status/2018810651511247074

 

[AdamHussain07]

Nice stuff. Always nice seeing Saudia expand at BHX.

 

[AdamHussain07]

HZ-ARB (94th National Day) livery scheduled for this Thursday.

Subject to change.

 

[AdamHussain07]

HZ-ARB (94th National Day) livery scheduled for this Thursday.

Subject to change.

Yet again, Alpha Romeo Bravo back in on Tuesday, STC. At least we’re getting it a bit more frequently now!

What we really need is ARF at BHX. Been a while since that has visited us even in the old scheme.

 

[AdamHussain07]

A bit curious, how are load factors doing on the outbounds and inbounds? Given that well, that it is Ramadan, loads must have gone up yes?

 

[IanFarquharson]

A bit curious, how are load factors doing on the outbounds and inbounds? Given that well, that it is Ramadan, loads must have gone up yes?

Loads go down at Ramadan not up !

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

Loads go down at Ramadan not up !

Is the plan to go 4 weekly year round.

Realistically should go Daily XLR

 

[BLB777]

Is the plan to go 4 weekly year round.

Realistically should go Daily XLR

4x Weekly y/r on the XLR would be sufficent for now

 

[AdamHussain07]

Loads go down at Ramadan not up !

But Jeddah is the gateway to Makkah and Madinah…? A good amount of travel groups do go now as well on these ‘Umrah Packages’.

I’ve not gone with them but them but I do hear they bring a lot of people.

Surely a good amount of the Muslim population in Birmingham would go during this time period. I would have expected them to go a little bit more up as compared to last year.

We’ve seen in one day PAX numbers going over 700+ in total on Saudia, if I recall correctly that would have been on the 2nd January 2025?

I returned on that day. And I will say the acft was full to the rafters. To go from a 357 seater to a 144 seater? Quite the big drop in seats that can be sold, especially if it’s only 120 guest seats, and 24 in biz, the same amount of seats which are on the 787s. Something I ought to mention as well, if 4w with 321XLR, it’s still a drop in seats. Say we have all 789s for April to make it easier. There will be 17 total Saudia flights in April. If we replace that with the 321XLR in April…

789s only:
298 x 17 = 5,066 seats

321XLR:
144 x 17 = 2,448 seats

One could say, oh but Adam? Not all seats sell? I’m well aware that not all seats sell, but the good majority of them do.

What about the periods where it’s super busy? If memory serves right, there was a good load factor for December 2024 as well.

I still think Saudia should retain the 789/78X’s, why else would they amp up a frequency and still keep said aircraft on the route? They’re a good competitor to EK and QR, some of the destinations which are serviced by those two carriers are also serviced by SV, in terms of price too. I found Saudia to be much more cheaper than those Middle Eastern carriers, and they still offer (imo) an amazing product on their Dreamliners. And I still think they are selling their seats even now because of this holy month.

Plus, to see Birmingham standing out with the XLR when MAN has the 787s and sometimes the 777s? For a second city of the UK if the XLR was put in, it’d be more like a laughing stock than anything to be blunt.

All I simply asked was for the numbers, I didn’t expect it to evolve into this as I was only a bit curious and wanted to see the statistics for these last few flights… 🙂

 

[nwoody2001]

But Jeddah is the gateway to Makkah and Madinah…? A good amount of travel groups do go now as well on these ‘Umrah Packages’.

I’ve not gone with them but them but I do hear they bring a lot of people.

Surely a good amount of the Muslim population in Birmingham would go during this time period. I would have expected them to go a little bit more up as compared to last year.

We’ve seen in one day PAX numbers going over 700+ in total on Saudia, if I recall correctly that would have been on the 2nd January 2025?

I returned on that day. And I will say the acft was full to the rafters. To go from a 357 seater to a 144 seater? Quite the big drop in seats that can be sold, especially if it’s only 120 guest seats, and 24 in biz, the same amount of seats which are on the 787s. Something I ought to mention as well, if 4w with 321XLR, it’s still a drop in seats. Say we have all 789s for April to make it easier. There will be 17 total Saudia flights in April. If we replace that with the 321XLR in April…

789s only:
298 x 17 = 5,066 seats

321XLR:
144 x 17 = 2,448 seats

One could say, oh but Adam? Not all seats sell? I’m well aware that not all seats sell, but the good majority of them do.

What about the periods where it’s super busy? If memory serves right, there was a good load factor for December 2024 as well.

I still think Saudia should retain the 789/78X’s, why else would they amp up a frequency and still keep said aircraft on the route? They’re a good competitor to EK and QR, some of the destinations which are serviced by those two carriers are also serviced by SV, in terms of price too. I found Saudia to be much more cheaper than those Middle Eastern carriers, and they still offer (imo) an amazing product on their Dreamliners. And I still think they are selling their seats even now because of this holy month.

Plus, to see Birmingham standing out with the XLR when MAN has the 787s and sometimes the 777s? For a second city of the UK if the XLR was put in, it’d be more like a laughing stock than anything to be blunt.

All I simply asked was for the numbers, I didn’t expect it to evolve into this as I was only a bit curious and wanted to see the statistics for these last few flights… 🙂

I think you may well be missing the point. The majority of PAX flying from BHX to the Middle East on EK/QR/SV are not Muslim VFR or Muslim Pilgrims but are instead tourists. Of these tourists, a majority will be connecting passengers on to second destinations with the rest staying within the Middle East.

The reality is that whilst Ramadan does increase demand for Muslim VFR or Muslim Pilgrims, the biggest impact is that it massively surprises tourist demand. This suppression on tourist demand massively outweighs any increased demand by pilgrims. As such, for the period between February Half Term and Easter - normally when Ramadan takes place - passage levels to the Middle East tend to be lower!

For February, it looks like the month will end with a Load Factor of around 70-72% or around 205 pax per flight.

 

[AdamHussain07]

I think you may well be missing the point. The majority of PAX flying from BHX to the Middle East on EK/QR/SV are not Muslim VFR or Muslim Pilgrims but are instead tourists. Of these tourists, a majority will be connecting passengers on to second destinations with the rest staying within the Middle East.

The reality is that whilst Ramadan does increase demand for Muslim VFR or Muslim Pilgrims, the biggest impact is that it massively surprises tourist demand. This suppression on tourist demand massively outweighs any increased demand by pilgrims. As such, for the period between February Half Term and Easter - normally when Ramadan takes place - passage levels to the Middle East tend to be lower!

For February, it looks like the month will end with a Load Factor of around 70-72% or around 205 pax per flight.

Ah, right. I think I understand fully now, my intial thoughts were just that SV was mostly used for pilgrimage traffic. I had such a flawed way of thinking 🤦‍♂️ Thank you and cheers for clearing that up for me. I just thought it was weird of a prospect of downgrading to an XLR when EK uses an A388 and QR with their 788…

Oh and, I did not mean to sound even remotely rude… if I did come off to some as being rude, I apologise 😖

Solid figure nonetheless for this month, better than last year aye?

 

[nwoody2001]

Ah, right. I think I understand fully now, my intial thoughts were just that SV was mostly used for pilgrimage traffic. I had such a flawed way of thinking 🤦‍♂️ Thank you and cheers for clearing that up for me. I just thought it was weird of a prospect of downgrading to an XLR when EK uses an A388 and QR with their 788…

Oh and, I did not mean to sound even remotely rude… if I did come off to some as being rude, I apologise 😖

Solid figure nonetheless for this month, better than last year aye?

I don't think there is anything suggesting a prospect of a downgrade to a 321, as you say, they have put a 4th weekly flight on sale with the 787. People are more suggesting that with pax levels as low as they are right now, a 321 would be sufficient. It is however worth nothing that 321 are people put on some flights to Paris for example so SV are not against using 321s on longer routes. But yes, as of yet, all flights remaining 787