Birmingham: EasyJet Flights, New Routes & Base Updates

[Jerry]

The dried fruit forum were saying earlier Danish Air Transport were to do BFS-BHX (the source was Wikipedia !)

They do sometimes operate flights out of Heathrow for BA. So it could be on behalf of them or Aer Lingus?

 

[Ray Finkle]

A poster on another forum contacted BFS to ask about the BHX route. The reply was that Easyjet are currently working out some scheduling issues and they are hopeful of putting the route on sale soon.

So not conformation that it's staying but slightly more positive.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

A poster on another forum contacted BFS to ask about the BHX route. The reply was that Easyjet are currently working out some scheduling issues and they are hopeful of putting the route on sale soon.

So not conformation that it's staying but slightly more positive.

Could have substance, Ray. It seems that easyJet is still working on some of its schedules at BRS for summer 2017.

 

[Ashley]

Route is Back on sale again.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Good news 👍

I know that it was only one route but when you consider it sees circa 200k pax, it would be quite a miss.

 

[Coathanger16]

Good news that Belfast is staying.

I don't mean to sound pessimistic and it may have been covered on here before, but what is going on with easyJet at BHX?

EasyJet clearly aren't interested in operating a base at BHX, and the routes that easyJet does serve could easily be operated by another airline - and likely would be if easyJet pulled out.

I accept that easyJet aren't interesting in having a base at BHX, so why are they bothering with BHX at all? Don't get me wrong, I'm not wanting easyJet to pull out of BHX, it's just frustrating that they aren't growing or reducing their services from BHX.

 

[Brum X]

Evening everybody, great to be back after my New Year break. 🙂

Good to see that we will continue to see those orange and white planes at BHX all year round.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Their ski routes out of Birmingham are very high yielding and make good money.

BFS is unfortunately all about Belfast and what capacity is needed from there. Look at BHX as the 'down route' destination rather than the 'home' destination.

It is regularly reported (most recently by Mr Kehoe) that after the horrendous performance of their EMA operation Easyjet believe that the yields in the Midlands are not there to be had. They are happy for our pax to travel to the likes of LTN.

Thankfully Blue Air, Ryanair, Vueling, Norwegian, Wizz Air, Jet2 and Monarch don't agree 🙂

Brum X it's great to see you back Buddy 👍

 

[Ashley]

Good to have you back Brum X.

 

[richard winterbourn]

While it is good to see BFS confirmed Ray does make in interesting point in his assessment that he believes EasyJet's ski routes out of BHX are high yielding.

OK, so EasyJet don't want a base at BHX, that's their decision to make. But given that there are still many gaps in city destinations not served by BHX, i am at a loss at to understand why this very same airline does not serve the Midlands from bases in other countries.

If it works, good business, but if it doesn't work, the benefit is they don't have a base to close down.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Re: the ski routes, I'm only repeating what I have been told. Whilst it was by someone who should have a decent idea, airline yields are considered commercially sensitive information that is not readily available to the public.

More away based routes is a very good point though.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Easyjet's Euro bases (+Scotland)

Amsterdam - 12 flights per day with KLM and Flybe. Is there room for more?
Barcelona - One of our most populated routes already?
Belfast - Served
Berlin - Schonefeld - Served by Flybe. More capacity would definitely be welcomed.
Edinburgh - Has been served by two airlines in the past. Since BMIbaby went Flybe have a monopoly and fares can be high, I could see Easyjet doing well.
Glasgow - See EDI
Hamburg - Flybe withdrew and Eurowings are cutting capacity. I could see it working.
Lisbon - Monarch are 3/5 times weekly, if there is to be more I'd prefer TAP.
Lyon - Enough demand for two on the route?
Milan Malpensa - Currently 3x daily with Flybe.
Naples - Definitely in need of more. I had hoped for Monarch.
Nice - Monarch are down to 2x weekly, I don't know if last years attack has affected bookings for this summer.
Palma de Mallorca - Can there ever be enough seats to Majorca?
Paris–Charles de Gaulle - Already 6x daily with Flybe and Air France.
Paris–Orly - New route from Vueling.
Porto - Two airlines now on this route.
Toulouse - Not convinced that they'd survive alongside Flybe?
Venice-Marco Polo - Could do with more for summer.

 

[58terminus]

Route is Back on sale again.

I would love to no the full story behind this saga,particularly who blinked first.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Evening everybody, great to be back after my New Year break. 🙂

Great to see you back. We've missed your posts!

Regards

Kevin

 

[Coathanger16]

BFS is unfortunately all about Belfast and what capacity is needed from there. Look at BHX as the 'down route' destination rather than the 'home' destination

I appreciate that, and that is my point really. Surely there are better destinations that easyJet could be serving from Belfast? Or at least increase frequencies on other routes from Belfast.

Again, I'm not hoping that easyJet pull out of BHX, just trying to get my head around their business strategy.

 

[nwoody2001]

I appreciate that, and that is my point really. Surely there are better destinations that easyJet could be serving from Belfast? Or at least increase frequencies on other routes from Belfast.

Again, I'm not hoping that easyJet pull out of BHX, just trying to get my head around their business strategy.

...at the end of the day easyJet will operate the route which offers them the most profit!

According to wiki, in 2015 BFS-BHX was the BFS's 10th busiest route carrying circa 200,000 pax, more than ANY international route out of BFS! In 2015, the BHX route alone accounted for 4.5% of the entire traffic passing through BFS! To scale that up to a BHX for context, in 2015 BHX carried circa 10,200,000 pax. That's like us losing our link to Paris, our 4th busiest route which carried 410,000 pax in the same year!

In terms of BFS and EasyJet at BFS, the BFS-BHX Route therefore has some value!

 

[Coathanger16]

...at the end of the day easyJet will operate the route which offers them the most profit!

According to wiki, in 2015 BFS-BHX was the BFS's 10th busiest route carrying circa 200,000 pax, more than ANY international route out of BFS! In 2015, the BHX route alone accounted for 4.5% of the entire traffic passing through BFS! To scale that up to a BHX for context, in 2015 BHX carried circa 10,200,000 pax. That's like us losing our link to Paris, our 4th busiest route which carried 410,000 pax in the same year!

In terms of BFS and EasyJet at BFS, the BFS-BHX Route therefore has some value!

Fair enough. I guess it just seems strange that they're ok serving BHX from BFS, but not from any of their other bases.

I'd be content if easyJet either had a base at BHX or didn't serve it at all. The current minimal network I just find frustrating.

Edit: what's equally frustrating is the fact that BHX is the only airport in the top 10 busiest airports in the UK that doesn't have an easyJet base (LHR doesn't currently, but easyJet have indicated they'd base aircraft there if it expands)

 

[Ray Finkle]

A route such as BFS-BHX should be ideal for an airline like Easyjet.

It's a short sector that doesn't tie up the aircraft and crew for too long at a time, meaning either more sectors per day or other routes being operated in between. Add to that significant passenger numbers with flights often sold out and prices that can be very high at times and it should be a money maker. The only downside that I can see is the short flight time could mean that less money is spent on board, something which is a decent chunk of a loco's income these days.

I think we just have to realise that, for the time being, Easyjet are not interested in Birmingham. If BHX can work with the other airlines we have to commit to continuous growth we should be in good shape 🙂

 

[Daza]

One thing to add is that BHX is no longer reliant on one airline like many other U.K. Airports are. If airports fall out with a dominant airline it could be disasterous. BHX now has a great range of airlines offering different products. If EZY are not interested in a base it's their loss.

 

[58terminus]

One thing to add is that BHX is no longer reliant on one airline like many other U.K. Airports are.

Spot on. BHX may have missed the boat years ago with Easyjet but it must now irk them that they now have a huge area of the country with no representation,and at the moment to much competition to do much about it..