Bristol: EasyJet Route News & Base Updates

[tpm]

I agree that there may not be too many options left for easyJet to add new destinations to its BRS network.

Indeed, on the other hand if you look at where easyJet fly to from LGW, there's still quite a few places left. You'd think if they serve a destination 3-5 times per day from LGW (plus possibly also from LTN, plus other airlines serving the same destination from all the other London airports) that it might be viable 2-3 a week from BRS as well (though of course it doesn't work like that because such a low frequency will not work for certain markets/travellers).

But then easyJet claim that they want to target business travellers more. This would need to be reflected in terms of routes and frequencies too though, otherwise you just can't capture that market. 2x weekly just isn't good enough for business travellers.

Athens seems to be served by easyJet from quite a few UK airports (and other European airports), but not from BRS. Also, unexpectedly: Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv might be quite interesting, there's a lot of tech industry there, and Israel in general has appeal as a tourist destination (maybe not the same kind as Mallorca, though I've been told that Tel Aviv does not compare unfavourably in terms of beach parties).

Curious to see that Moscow was served from Manchester.

I've been looking at the easyJet website more closely in recent weeks and it's pleasantly surprising to see how many BRS flights are being shown as 'sold out' these days.

Not so pleasant for those of us who have to pay crazy fares on AF to get themselves to Paris on short notice 😢

It really is difficult to see how BRS can get up towards the 7 mppa the CEO mentioned was the likely target in the next two/three years and to the 10 mppa beyond that which is the ultimate target. Then again, who would have said at the beginning of this century that BRS would be handling 6 mppa in less than a decade?

This is something I have been wondering too. I just don't see where the growth will be coming from. By the airport's own admission it's not going to be from long-haul, and new routes seem far and few between, so I guess it will have to be consolidation of existing routes, and serving them with a higher frequency and bigger planes. But then we're only just coming out of the biggest recession in a very long time, so with a bit of luck it's all just getting better in the next five years. 10% growth per year for 5 years takes us almost to 10mppa, same for 5% growth over 10 years.

 

[Marko1]

I agree fully with the points raised above regarding passenger growth. Indeed I think I mentioned it on here some time ago. . I don't think we will see significant further growth either from easy jet ( mature base) or Ryanair ( inconsistent) . I pointed before in particular to east kids and Leeds whereby a third low cost airline has proven itself. Maybe it's time to seek jet2 or more likely monarch who I seem to recall were interested in bristol some time ago. There may be some duplication but maybe Venice , gibraltar, Dubrovnik, Rhodes , Antalya , lanzarote , sharm el sheik, hurgada, etc would prove an extra option. However I still think easy jet has some potential for growth by increasing capacity/ frequency on existing routes - maybe 2xdaily Paris, Barcelona

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Not so pleasant for those of us who have to pay crazy fares on AF to get themselves to Paris on short notice

Last week of this service coming up. I note that next week the Tuesday and Wednesday inbounds from CDG and the Tuesday outbound are now sold out. The other days next week must be close to it looking at the prices. Looking to the summer there is no sign that easyJet is adding to its daily CDG frequency. I suppose it calculates that it will make a lot more money with high load factors at crazy prices on one daily rotation than with two at lower prices.

When I said the sold out flights on a number of routes was pleasantly surprising I was thinking in terms of the viability of the base. Clearly those who have to book late on won't think so because of the price they will pay.

Indeed, on the other hand if you look at where easyJet fly to from LGW, there's still quite a few places left.

I had a quick look at the Gatwick portfolio (see list below - some are seasonal) and these are the easyJet routes from there but not flown from BRS by them, although some are flown by other airlines and easyJet has flown some of these routes itself in the past.

Aberdeen
Agadir
Ajaccio
Almeria
Amman
Antalya
Athens
Bari
Basel-Mulhouse
Bastia
Bergen
Biarritz
Bologna
Brest
Brussels
Bucharest
Budapest
Catania
Cologbe-Bonn
Chania
Larnaca
Dubrovnik
Dusseldorf
Gibraltar
Las Palmas
Hamburg
Hurghada
Isle of Man
Izmir
Jersey
Kalamata
Kefalonia
Kos
Lanzarote
Luxembourg
Malta
Milan Malpensa
Milan Linate
Montpellier
Moscow Domodedovo
Munich
Mykonos
Nantes
Palermo
Porto
Rhodes
Santiago de Compostela
Santorini
Seville
Sharm el Sheikh
Sofia
Strasbourg
Tallinn
Tel Aviv
Turin
Valencia
Venice MP
Verona
Vienna
Zagreb
Zante
Zurich

I suggested earlier today that some of the Greek islands and Dubrovnik, a summer (as well as the current winter) Salzburg, Vienna (now FR has given up Bratislava again), Seville, Tallinn, Porto and Venice MP might be contenders. Gibraltar too might come into the frame as a few months ago a Gibraltarian government minister said that they were trying to get flights to Bristol and to a Scottish destination not named.

I pointed before in particular to east kids and Leeds whereby a third low cost airline has proven itself. Maybe it's time to seek jet2 or more likely monarch who I seem to recall were interested in bristol some time ago. There may be some duplication but maybe Venice , gibraltar, Dubrovnik, Rhodes , Antalya , lanzarote , sharm el sheik, hurgada, etc would prove an extra option

I remember you saying that and a couple of years ago Monarch itself suggested it was looking at BRS. One point I would make about a third major low-cost carrier is that they might want a piece of the bread and butter routes a well such as the Costas and Faro and the Canaries, routes that easyJet and Ryanair already compete on.

 

[Aviador]

In response to the third low cost airline potential, in Leeds' case Monarch is increasing capacity on routes already served at the airport whereby passengers are lost to neighbouring airports. Does Bristol airport suffer to any extent from this?

 

[superking]

re yr post aviador.
brs dont suffer like that, because a good mix of routes be it low cost or charter.dare i say it with other localish airports it happens the other way round. lots of welsh and pax up from devon and cornwall.
the biggest leakage is to the london airports from this neck of the woods, where we dont have long haul as such. the usual klm/brussels airlines and air lingus have got most of the worlds airports covered. where as lhr covers pax that dont fly from brs.
as local yokal says many times what if filton had been chosen for the brs airport. but thinking about that one i think leakage would still happen to lhr.also to the major foreign players but perhaps not as much now.
its all a case of if when and where. we shall never know that one.

 

[alphagolf]

Just looking at next weeks mayfly, i.e. Monday 31st March.

Looks like 4 x A320's in operation.

The same week in 2013 was 2 x A320's, so all adds to an increase in capacity that I am sure will further grow pax figures this year.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Just looking at next weeks mayfly, i.e. Monday 31st March.

Looks like 4 x A320's in operation.

The same week in 2013 was 2 x A320's, so all adds to an increase in capacity that I am sure will further grow pax figures this year.

Good to see you posting on here again alphagolf.

I wonder if the fifth 320 will arrive for May or for the peak summer season.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

easyJet BRS-CDG

Further to recent discussions in this thread, the BRS-CDG legs are now sold out for next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as well as the CDG-BRS on Tuesday. The remaining days next week show eye watering prices with one as high as £163 one-way, and the whole of April is offering fares few of which are under £100 per sector and those that are under £100 aren't by much. Most are well over the ton with one day already showing a sector at £200 later in April.

Now that the daily easyJet rotation is about to become the sole direct connection to CDG (Air France is about to withdraw its service) the airline seems intent on a policy of ensuring that at times demand outstrips supply which is leading to consistently high fares.

It might be a good thing for the airline in the short term but they will lose passengers, probably permanently, either because of the cost of the fares or because flights are selling out and people can't fly on the route even if they want to and are prepared to pay what's being asked.

easyJet shows no sign of increasing frequency on the route and next week six of the rotations are on a 319 (vide Mayfly) with only Sunday being a 320. Hmm..................

 

[superking]

reading on another forum that next weeks cdg rotations by ezy are sold out most days.
perhaps it should be bmi looking at perhaps 2 rotations per day.
if the timings were good and price can not see why this would not work.
no dout they have a spare airframe somewhere with crew.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Paris Cdg

Four sectors on the Paris Cdg route next week sold out again already - Monday both directions and Tuesday and Wednesday inbound from CDG. It's becoming the norm.

The best service in the South West and South Wales to Paris will be from Exeter this summer where Flybe will be operating 2 x daily to CDG on weekdays, morning and evening.

BRS and CWL will have a single daily operation, the latter to ORY with CityJet.

Newcastle

This route is still the busiest between two English provincial cities in terms of passengers numbers but for how much longer?

The coming winter's timetable shows Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday as double daily with the rest of the week single daily.

If that's not bad enough it's impossible to do a meaningful day trip from Bristol to Newcastle at all. You can go up and back on Mondays if you're prepared to leave BRS at 0715 and be back by 1650. The other days with 2 x daily feature both flights late afternoon and evening.

For a decade this route has had morning and evening flights in both directions on weekdays with additional rotations around late afternoon on most days as well. In summer 2007 the schedule was 4 x daily except for Saturday that was 2 x daily.

If easyJet wants to kill this route they're going about it the right way.

What with CDG and now NCL next winter (I haven't bothered to check the rest of next winter yet) easyJet is making a mockery of the agreement signed a few months ago that would strengthen services out of BRS.

One might have expected increased CDG rotations already given Air France's retirement and certainly a schedule at least as good as last winter to NCL.

The only small crumb is that in recent winters easyJet has reduced CDG to 4 x weekly in January. In January 2015 it will remain daily.

 

[Marko1]

Ive had a quick look at the winter timetable and im very surprised by the fact that paris has not increased in frequency. However, reykavik and lisbon both have frequency increases this coming winter as does geneva ( third flight on thurs) . Hopefully there will b additions and changes in freq. Surely ncl cant stay like that. The sad thing is without easyjet on the route there is v little alternative

 

[superking]

the 2 big lcc airlines chop and change routes for what ever reason. the only reason i can think of with the ncl route is more money to be made elsewhere.
the ncl route has been good for around 10 years or so. and still carrying good loads.. did read on another forum that they think its the beginning of the end for easyjet as a base in ncl to be shutting. but that does not add up as they fly to airports that is not a base. only time will tell. lets hope that its still a work in progress with the ncl route.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

the 2 big lcc airlines chop and change routes for what ever reason. the only reason i can think of with the ncl route is more money to be made elsewhere.

Absolutely right, of course, and if easyJet has decided to reduce the schedule on BRS-NCL to once daily in midweek in winter that's understandable if the yield is not what they want or could get elsewhere, but what does seem strange is that on the days they operate two daily rotations they are not timed to enable day trips from either end, which I know from personal experience is a well-used facility on this route. It's not as if they are short of aircraft in winter because we know full well at BRS that on some days in winter several aircraft are parked up for much of some days.

This is the winter schedule showing eleven weekly rotations with seven by NCL-based aircraft and four by BRS-based aircraft according to the timings.

Sunday

NCL-BRS 1455-1600
BRS-NCL 1625-1730

NCL-BRS 1940-2045
BRS-NCL 2110-2215

Monday

BRS-NCL 0715-0820
NCL-BRS 0845-0950

NCL-BRS 1545-1650
BRS-NCL 1715-1820

Tuesday and Wednesday

BRS-NCL 1910-2015
NCL-BRS 2040-2145

Thursday and Friday

NCL-BRS 1545-1650
BRS-NCL 1715-1820

NCL-BRS 1850-1955
BRS-NCL 2020-2125

Saturday

BRS-NCL 1300-1405
NCL-BRS 1430-1535

 

[alphagolf]

According to the Bristol Airport Mayfly from Sunday 4th May the based fleet will be as follows:-

5 x A320's
6 x A319's

Correct me if I am wrong but this would be quite a capacity increase compared to Summer 2014

 

[TheLocalYokel]

According to the Bristol Airport Mayfly from Sunday 4th May the based fleet will be as follows:-

5 x A320's
6 x A319's

Correct me if I am wrong but this would be quite a capacity increase compared to Summer 2014

Looking at last summer May seemed to be 8 319s and 2 320s, then from June it was 8 319s and 3 320s.

So yes, it's a welcome increase in capacity over last year. I set out my thoughts for the rest of the year generally for the airport (not just easyJet) in the BRS CAA Stats forum a couple of weeks ago and concluded that the airport will need the extra easyJet and Thomas Cook capacity in the form of larger airport if it is to see growth at all this summer. 20,000 passengers will be lost with the axing of TOM's Cancun and Sanford routes, and Ryanair is slightly down on last summer.

 

[superking]

looking at the mayfly and see an ezy A320due in this evening, is this the 5th A320 that was talked about or just a change over.its due in from lgw, as im sure a straight change is done down the line when needs be.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

looking at the mayfly and see an ezy A320due in this evening, is this the 5th A320 that was talked about or just a change over.its due in from lgw, as im sure a straight change is done down the line when needs be.

I'm assuming that's the fifth 320.

The winter complement of 10 aircraft (4 x 320s and 6 x 319s) has continued since the end of March - albeit in the winter proper it was 3 x 320s and 7 x 319s - but tonight's fifth 320 will raise the base to the summer complement of recent years of 11 aircraft (last summer it was 3 x 320s and 8 x 319s).

 

[big g]

That is correct it was the 5th 320 for the base arriving.

 

[superking]

It would be nice if we could hold on to all the a320 for the winter season.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

easyJet BRS-CDG

I've mentioned this before and the situation does not improve.

Each weekend for the past five or six weeks I check availability on the route for the following week and without exception anywhere from three to five of the sectors for the following week will already have sold out.

This evening the situation is the worst I've seen yet. Next week all days on the CDG-BRS sector are sold out from Sunday 18th through to Saturday 24th - that's seven consecutive days with no availability. On BRS-CDG tomorrow (18th) and Friday 23rd are sold out.

Now that Air France has pulled out the single daily easyJet service is the only connection between Bristol and Paris. I wonder how many would-be customers have had to look elsewhere and how many won't look again at easyJet's CDG service as it's so consistently sold out days before the flights.

If easyJet is not interested in increasing its number of rotations maybe bmi regional could operate a 2 x daily service to CDG or Orly. There is obviously an unsatisfied demand and it would also provide a day trip possibility if timings were right.