Bristol: New Route Development & Rumours

[Aviador]

A good reply being positive but also cryptic.We wait with open arms for them and hope things happen for the good of BRS.

Crypitic or not, its very unusual for such a straight forward answer from airlines via their social media accounts.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

They used to code share on BM flights as well.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Crypitic or not, its very unusual for such a straight forward answer from airlines via their social media accounts.

Perhaps a way of testing whether this is anything more than a standard Turkish Airlines reply (as Aviador says, it goes beyond the usual bland airline social media reply - so I'm told as I'm not 'into' social media) is for someone to ask the same question about another possible Turkish Airlines airport - say LBA.

 

[Kernow Bravo]

The EI flights are hardly codeshares in the purist sense (e.g. no TK flight number, and not even mentioned on the BRS website!) but there is no question that IST is a brand new airport with plenty of capacity and TK obviously have a large widebody fleet so it is quite plausible that they would be seeking to increase connecting traffic. Their strategy may indeed be to expand to several UK regional airports, particularly since Turkey may see opportunities in the UK market post Brexit!

 

[Red Flyer]

Expected announcement tomorrow that I think you will all find positive

 

[BRSregular]

Expected announcement tomorrow that I think you will all find positive

ANY announcement would be positive! It’s been too quiet for too long

 

[Jerry]

Expected announcement tomorrow that I think you will all find positive

New airline? Or new route from a current one?

 

[forest1979]

Interesting...

 

[kraktoa]

So announcement was just Easyjet? Or should we be waiting for Turkish?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

So announcement was just Easyjet? Or should we be waiting for Turkish?

I think that Red Flyer's post related to easyJet.

Apropos Turkish Airlines, heightened speculation arose from the wording of a reply from the airline's social media team following an enquiry about Turkish Airlines' intention for BRS. It might have been peculiar wording from someone whose first language is not English and mean nothing of any importance for BRS, or the reference to 'something up our sleeves' and 'an announcement soon' might indicate that something really is in the wind.

 

[Coathanger16]

I think that Red Flyer's post related to easyJet.

Apropos Turkish Airlines, heightened speculation arose from the wording of a reply from the airline's social media team following an enquiry about Turkish Airlines' intention for BRS. It might have been peculiar wording from someone whose first language is not English and mean nothing of any importance for BRS, or the reference to 'something up our sleeves' and 'an announcement soon' might indicate that something really is in the wind.

I suspect any plan Turkish may have had for serving Bristol will have been put on hold until the 737MAX's are flying again.

 

[Marko1]

Any news with respect to replacement to the German routes and Brussels. I note on social media that the airport says it has no plans on the Brussels route but it is on sale and has been on sale for months starting sept which I find very strange indeed. Also I note that loganair has resumed Brussels flights from Newcastle and will also do so from East Midlands in sept. Opportunity lost?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Any news with respect to replacement to the German routes and Brussels. I note on social media that the airport says it has no plans on the Brussels route but it is on sale and has been on sale for months starting sept which I find very strange indeed. Also I note that loganair has resumed Brussels flights from Newcastle and will also do so from East Midlands in sept. Opportunity lost?

Brussels is indeed very odd. We remember that originally it was on sale from the end of March, having been switched to AR8 equipment (presumably CityJet) with Brussels Airlines taking it back from the flybmi codeshare from that date. It was then put back to early May and then to September which is still the case. Dates and times of flights plus fares are available to book. I just did a test booking until the point that passengers names had to be inserted.

I presume that some people booked flights for April and May and indeed through the summer, given that the 'AR8' flights had been in Brussels Airlines booking engine for several months prior to the end of March.

I certainly would not risk booking at the moment for September and beyond in case those flights are pulled as well. BRS and Brussels Airlines are acting very poorly on this. Why can't they give a rational explanation as to the booking engine which is still showing flights from September, yet the airline and airport seem in denial.

If Brussels Airlines isn't coming back, it's interesting that Loganair will operate BRU flights from NCL and EMA but not BRS which has the longest unbroken BRU route history (with either Sabena and its successors or code share with them) of any of the smaller regional airports. A poster to the BRS forum a few weeks ago intimated that the relationahip between BRS and Loganair is not good. I have no idea whether that is true or, if it is, the reason, but business is business and if something makes money you don't have to like someone to do business with them.

Loganair might be wary of Brussels Airlines actually returning, hence their avoidance.

 

[Marko1]

Any news regarding the lost bmi routes to Germany. Given that there was big confidence of replacing these routes it seems awfully quiet .

 

[superking]

Nothing mentioned on the lost BMIR routes. The remark about getting these routes operated by some one else could be a remark to keep people off the airports back,and was said also before any one looked into it.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Any news regarding the lost bmi routes to Germany. Given that there was big confidence of replacing these routes it seems awfully quiet .

As with superking's reply, I've heard nothing to suggest anything is imminent.

As soon as Ryanair announced they were starting a route to Cologne I wondered about the viabiity of Dusseldorf, although flybmi kept it going until they ceased operating, despite Ryanair's Cologne route. I would be extremely surprised if anyone else seriously contemplated re-starting Dusseldorf.

Hamburg too might be very doubtful in spite of the Airbus and Imperial Brands connections at both ends of the route. easyJet tried it over ten years ago but it didn't work for them. Apart from OLT, that began as an in-house operation from Filton to Hamburg and Bremen and was later switched to Lulsgate to try to pick up some public trade in addition to the aviation workers, to my knowledge bmi regional/flybmi was the only other airline to try it.

Clearly FRA and MUC are the big losses, and not only for their Lufthansa onward connectivity. They are important business and commercial hubs in their own right, particularly Frankfurt which is one of Europe's major financial centres.

I note that Brussels is still shown on the Brussels Airlines website as bookable from 1 September at the same frequency as flybmi operated, with AR8 aircraft still shown as the operating aircraft type. Fares are still high though with around £275 being the cheapest return. It makes you wonder how certain the resumption of this route is likely to be.

The airport might have more pressing concerns at the moment with the new North Somerset Council due to decide next month on the planning applications linked to the application to increase the passenger limit to 12 mppa.

 

[Kernow Bravo]

[QUOTE="TheLocalYokel, post: 168078, member: 56"
I note that Brussels is still shown on the Brussels Airlines website as bookable from 1 September at the same frequency as flybmi operated, with AR8 aircraft still shown as the operating aircraft type. Fares are still high though with around £275 being the cheapest return. It makes you wonder how certain the resumption of this route is likely to be.

[/QUOTE]

So presumably all those newly-elected South West MEPs will need to go to London (airports or Eurostar) to commute to work. No doubt most of them have a residence in the London area anyway of course........

 

[TheLocalYokel]

So presumably all those newly-elected South West MEPs will need to go to London (airports or Eurostar) to commute to work. No doubt most of them have a residence in the London area anyway of course........

Half are from the Liberal Democratics and Greens. They are essentially against such things as air travel aren't they because of climate change, so ought to celebrate the (at least current) axing of the BRS-BRU route and they wouldn't use it anyway if they are true to their principles.

 

[Kernow Bravo]

Politicians and principles are not usually two words found in the same sentence without some disassociating clauses! Having said that, in the City of Bristol area the Greens won 35.1% of the vote - by far the largest party.

Whilst the aviation industry is slowly taking steps to be 'greener' (e.g. A320 NEO), one wonders what effect this sort of democratic outcome might have on the BRS (route) development plans going forward. It may only be one segment of the BRS catchment, but not totally insignificant.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Politicians and principles are not usually two words found in the same sentence without some disassociating clauses! Having said that, in the City of Bristol area the Greens won 35.1% of the vote - by far the largest party.

Whilst the aviation industry is slowly taking steps to be 'greener' (e.g. A320 NEO), one wonders what effect this sort of democratic outcome might have on the BRS (route) development plans going forward. It may only be one segment of the BRS catchment, but not totally insignificant.

That was in the EU elections of course. There was no election for the city council this year - it's next year. Currently the Greens hold eleven of the 70 seats on the city council.

One of the quirks of our democratic system is that one of the smallest local authorities in the country (North Somerset unitary authority) has responsibility for deciding the future of the airport which is a major facility for the entire region.

Following last month's local government elections the political colour of North Somerset Council has changed dramatically. The previous huge Conservative majority (36 of the 50 seats - another quirk in that Bristol only has 40% more seats than North Somerset despite having over twice the population) was swept away leaving Independents, Lib-Dems and Greens with a total of 30 seats between them - the Conservatives now have just 13 seats.

All this means that the likelihood of the expansion plans and and the raising of the annual passenger limit to 12 mppa being passed, as would probably have been the case under the previous Conservative administration, is now in considerable doubt. If the applications are rejected the airport could appeal to the Planning Inpectorate or accept the status quo.

The latter would be good news in the future for such airports as Exeter, Cardiff and even Newquay and Bournemouth, although the extra flights that would emanate from those airports would still emit the same gases into the atmoshere of the UK as additional flights from BRS.