Bristol: EasyJet Route News & Base Updates

[TheLocalYokel]

Looking at the latest Mayfly which covers Monday 27 October to Sunday 2 November, it's showing eight 320s (and two 319s) on Sunday 2 November for example. In the first batch of departures Murcia, Krakow, Malaga, Faro, Alicante, Dalaman, Barcelona and Nice are 320s with Pisa and Palma 319s. At the end of that day there are seven 320s (one, the evening Malaga, arrives back after midnight) and three 319s with the Prague switching from a 320 to a 319 between the outbound and inbound as in the previous week.

Clearly this timetable is still influenced by the summer (and with half term finishing the first weekend in November) and the true winter timetable will not include Dalaman nor two daily Malaga.

So in fact it might be another week before we begin to have an idea of the 320/319 mix this coming winter.

On a different note, the CDG route continues to sell out well in advance. This week all BRS-CDG legs from Monday to Friday are sold out and all CDG-BRS legs are sold out for the same period except Wednesday when the price is shown as £271!!

 

[conns757]

About time easyjet launched a few new routes me thinks.......

 

[TheLocalYokel]

About time easyjet launched a few new routes me thinks.......

Now that would be good. I've already used them for EDI and GVA this year with BCN next month to go with regular usage since they bought Go, and of course I used Go in their own right.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Speaking of easyJet new routes, the last ones from BRS were Keflavik and Marrakech that both commenced at the end of the second week in December last year, both 2 x weekly.

Having just looked at the BRS news archive I note that it was forecast for both routes combined to carry over 55,000 passengers in the first year. A quick tot up shows the total to date as Keflavik with 24,802 and Marrakech with 24,201, a total of 49,002 (CAA stats.

If continued at this rate for the rest of the year it would give a combined total of around 60,000 in the first 12 months of operation. However, Keflavik will operate 3 x weekly this winter so 60,000 should be passed.

It's to be hoped the yield is as good as the passenger figures and that there will be some more equally successful new routes announced soon.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Winter 2014-2015

Looking at Mayfly for next week (commencing Monday 10 November) which is the first full week of the winter timetable without some returning 'summer flights' as is the case this week, it seems that the easyJet winter based fleet will comprise 4 x A 320 and 6 x A 319. Last winter it was 3 and 7.

CDG is shown as a 320 everyday except Saturday when it's a 319, perhaps a sign that at last the airline is recognising the sold out flights (mainly on 319s) week after week.

 

[alphagolf]

easyJet launch Bristol to Gibraltar with a 3 times a week schedule.

Flights commence on 19th April 2015

Press release from Bristol Airport:-

easyJet to launch only direct scheduled flights between Bristol and Gibraltar

News Release (04/11/14)

easyJet
•easyJet announces new flights between Bristol and Gibraltar, making it the only airline to serve the route
•More than 19,000 seats available on the new flights from 19 April to 6 September next year alone

easyJet has today announced that it will launch the only direct scheduled flights between Bristol and Gibraltar Airport, further strengthening links from the South West of England to the rest of Europe.

The airline announced the news at the UK’s leading travel exhibition,World Travel Market today, and the new route brings the total number of destinations served by easyJet from Bristol Airport to 47.

The new year-round connection will take off from Bristol Airport on its inaugural flight on 19 April 2015, flying up to three times a week with low-cost affordable fares. The flights will go on sale at http://www.easyjet.com this Thursday, 6 November.

Ali Gayward, easyJet’s UK Commercial Manager, said:

“We’re really pleased to be introducing Bristol’s only direct air link to Gibraltar Airport.

“With a year round service, affordable fares and flight time of just over two and a half hours, we’re confident that it will prove a popular service for both business and leisure travellers. We will have more than 19,000 seats available on the new service next summer alone.”

Shaun Browne, Bristol Airport’s Aviation Director, commented:
“Bristol Airport is delighted to play its part in extending the air links between the UK and Gibraltar. The city of Plymouth in the South West has a strong connection to Gibraltar through its rich naval and marine industry history, and more recently the financial services sector plays an important role in both our economies. This new flight will provide easy access and improve connections for both business and leisure passengers.

“It is interesting to note that this new route will offer the closest direct air link between Gibraltar and any UK airport, according to Great Circle Mapping. We are pleased that Bristol Airport can contribute to the strengthening of ties between Gibraltar and the UK.”

Gibraltar is renowned for its rocky landscape and is ideal for those looking to escape to sunnier climates. Travellers can take advantage of Gibraltar’s breath taking views from the top of the rock, vast history and wealth of shopping, as well as giving tourists an opportunity to explore the deep caves and caverns of the country.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

A good addition to the route network. More to come from easyJet?

Last year the Gibraltar government expressed a desire for a route to BRS and to an unnamed Scottish airport.

 

[superking]

easy

jet starting porto/bristol at 3 weekly. no other details at the mo.good news.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Four new easyJet routes

easyJet also starting Lanzarote and Catania both 2 x weekly next summer. So that's Gibraltar, Porto, Catania and Lanzarote announced in the past two days. Only Lanzarote is currently served - by Ryanair and charter airlines.

I don't think that Catania has been tried from Bristol before, nor Gibraltar. Porto was tried by Ryanair from 2008 to 2010 and met with decent loads but presumably an inadequate yield. That's two of Bristol's twin cities now served by easyJet - Bordeaux and Porto. Another, Hannover, was axed last year by bmi regional. I doubt that yet another, Guangzhou (formerly known in the West as Canton) will be joining this list very soon.

conns757 was on the ball a couple of weeks ago (as he usually is) with his strong hints about new easyJet routes.

Also announced is a twelfth based aircraft for next summer, or at least the peak season, which suggests strongly that the new routes won't be replacing others axed or reduced.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

easyJet new routes and fleet expansion at BRS

We don't get very excited about such things in the Bristol area do we? No real reaction on here or on such sites as the DP. I can't imagine such a happening being received in such a low key way at any other of the UK's smaller airports, or even at one or two bigger ones.

 

[Marko1]

You are right local yokel. It has been very low key. Its great news for bristol . Just one question is that it for next summer or is there gaps in easyjets schedule that could be filled? Overall though, one extra easyjet one thomson and one more based ryanair is really really good news. All we need now is some new bmi routes , helvetic to return , united to ewr and turkish to ist .

 

[TheLocalYokel]

You are right local yokel. It has been very low key. Its great news for bristol . Just one question is that it for next summer or is there gaps in easyjets schedule that could be filled? Overall though, one extra easyjet one thomson and one more based ryanair is really really good news. All we need now is some new bmi routes , helvetic to return , united to ewr and turkish to ist .

The four new routes will mean an additional ten rotations per week: GIB and OPO both 3 x weekly and both year-round; ACE and CTA 2 x weekly with the first year-round and the second summer only. Even if the extra aircraft only flew two rotations per day that's a potential additional 14 rotations per week and the likelihood is that some days would be 3-rotation days giving more weekly rotations. So on that basis there would seem to be spare capacity.

Ryanair is apparently at four based aircraft next summer but it hasn't translated into additional routes or frequencies - not yet anyway but you never know with Ryanair until just before a season starts (whether new routes or routes taken away).

When Ryanair dropped from five to two based aircraft at the beginning of summer 2013 they actually flew more rotations each week than in summer 2012 from BRS when there were five based aircraft. Most of the FR flights that summer were operated by aircraft from other bases.

Summer 2014 was up to three based aircraft but there were slightly fewer flights overall than in summer 2013 when there were two based aircraft. So at the moment a base increase seems to equate with a slight overall reduction of flights.

I certainly agree about bmi regional (the signs are good) but not so sure about Helvetic, less sure again about Turkish and doubtful about United.

 

[LBA787]

Great news for bristol with continued growth pretty much guaranteed next summer.

Looks like I might see quite a few orange birds when I come down next year. My friend is a first officer for bmi regional and is now BRS based. I haven't been down to BRS for about 6-7 years so am quite looking forward to it. Now if only easy operated BRS-LBA!! 😆

:crazy:

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Yes, it can sometimes look like the Olympic Stadium at Amsterdam when the Netherlands have a home international.

I hope you enjoy your trip when you come down.

Your pal's airline is probably more likely to start LBA-BRS than easyJet. In fact, it's not so ridiculous to suggest that bmir might be interested. If they could use an E135 2 x daily and see average loads of around 25 it might be viable. They only get six or seven more than that on BRS-ABZ when the CAA monthly stats are looked at and that operates 2 x daily with 3 on some days, and 3 x daily all the time on weekdays next summer. Not only that the E145 is used mainly on the ABZ.

easyJet has been gradually reducing BRS-NCL in recent years to the point this winter when some days see only a single rotation. Not so many years ago there were four daily rotations on weekdays. I think the BRS-NCL route, for many years the busiest in terms of passenger numbers between two English provincial cities, is losing this crown to SOU-MAN.

It's down to the train really and with Leeds closer to Bristol than is Newcastle I can't see easyJet being interested in LBA-BRS.

 

[kraktoa]

The airport have not announced these flights yet on their website or internal staff emails. Heard it here on this thread first.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The airport have not announced these flights yet on their website or internal staff emails. Heard it here on this thread first.

There has been a press release on the BRS website since 6 November. It's also a headline on their home page.

The press release can be accessed under 'About Us' near the bottom left of the home page by clicking on 'News Releases'.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Barcelona

As I shall be using easyJet to/from BCN from BRS shortly I've been looking at the booking page and find that tomorrow's BCN-BRS is sold out as are next week's Wednesday, Thursday and Friday flights on this leg. However, the service is to reduce to 4 x weekly from daily towards the end of the month for the mid winter period.

Like the CDG route which regularly sells out many days in advance with no sign of an expansion in frequency one does wonder if a trick is being missed.

I suppose that the airline reckons it knows its optimum yield levels on each route and even though it could easily carry more punters the overall yield might suffer. It's still frustrating for those who want to fly though when they find the flight sold out so soon. Fortunately, we booked the flights for the days we wanted to travel before they sold out.

 

[superking]

Easyjet working on 'wish list' of new destinations from Bristol Airport. Where would you like to fly to?

 

[forest1979]

Good news for Bristol.. more routes possibly in the pipeline... :s_thumbsup

I do however wonder though, that in the long run is this a good thing for the airport? one carrier with such a dominance at an airport of its size? There is no doubt that Easy Jet really has made the airport over the last couple of years but as a paying passenger, the lack of competition i think is not that great. Im not sure how the airport could attract variety from different carriers on key routes if easy continue to account for more than half it's passengers... Just my thoughts but it would be nice to hear others...

Quick plug here for Newquay.. great to see Aer Lingus start up Dublin.. Was a popular route with Air South West until their demise... Hopefully it will prove popular again.. along with Stansted also returning this month, maybe its back on the up!

 

[Aviador]

I agree in once sense, having one airline dominate the destination portfolio from the airport can't be good in the long term especially if said airline goes under. On the other hand, could having lots of airlines leads to too much competition actually causing airlines to shy away from some routes?