Birmingham: New Route Development & Rumours

[JENNYJET]

I also note significant expansion of services at Southend as for BHX I remember that O'LEARY has always had issues with the airport mainly over the matter of fees and other charges.

He favours tertiary airports linked to but not exactly near to cities making BHX an oddity hence keeping what we have got is more important, just my own view of course!

 

[Jerry]

I also note significant expansion of services at Southend as for BHX I remember that O'LEARY has always had issues with the airport mainly over the matter of fees and other charges.

He favours tertiary airports linked to but not exactly near to cities making BHX an oddity hence keeping what we have got is more important, just my own view of course!

Southend is a new base.

 

[Marko1]

And the day that I do see BHX on that list, I will probably choke on my crisps but hopefully it wont be fatal.

I also note Bristol is no where on that list too. I think brs and Bhx are both in the same club

 

[Coathanger16]

I also note Bristol is no where on that list too. I think brs and Bhx are both in the same club

At least Bristol has almost consistent expansion from easyJet each year...

I've said it before on here, but Ryanair seem to be very reactive at BHX only launching new routes to compete with other airlines launching them. Hardly launch any services that are completely new to BHX with no competition.

 

[Marko1]

The same these days applies at Bristol. No unique destinations just whatever easyJet is launching - Seville and krakow are examples of this. I guess you have promising growth with jet2 tho .

 

[mullion]

Ryanair now serves many of the larger airports and has dropped quite a few of the so called tertiary
airports

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I also note Bristol is no where on that list too. I think brs and Bhx are both in the same club

The same these days applies at Bristol. No unique destinations just whatever easyJet is launching - Seville and krakow are examples of this. I guess you have promising growth with jet2 tho .

#5,947 is not a complete list. Ryanair begins BRS-MXP (Milan Malpensa) this summer at 2 x weekly - competing with itself on BRS-BGY (Bergamo) - and it also begins BRS-SVQ (Seville) this summer against easyJet although Ryanair did begin its BRS-SVQ in the current winter.

Currently though BRS-REU (Reus) is dropped but it was only once a week for two months last summer. I think one or two other BRS routes will see slight increases in frequency in summer 19 too, but in general it's little more than standing still in terms of percentage gains.

BRS has seen large Ryanair gains in the winter in recent years though. In winter 2014/2015 there were 53 weekly rotations and 14 routes, whereas in the current winter there are 90 weekly rotations and 25 routes. Has BHX seen similar winter Ryanair growth?

 

[Ray Finkle]

Has BHX seen similar winter Ryanair growth?

BHX has seen some modest FR growth on the sun routes and is probably very slightly up overall but route wise the only news is the dropping of Vilnius. I still find it inconceivable that BHX allegedly turned away an extra 3/4 based aircraft when the route network has been so badly decimated over the last two years.

As for the other points, along with getting airlines to extend some routes to year round Bristol has managed to attract (and keep) destinations such as Seville, Stockholm and Montpellier.

Birmingham cannot even get the likes of Lisbon, Athens and Reykjavik and still has massive under capacity to key destinations such as Rome, Milan, Venice, Berlin etc.

The last couple of years have been an absolute catastrophe for BHX and they have now lost so much ground on other airports I can't see them starting to regain market share for a very long time. The list above demonstrates that there is still growth happening in the UK yet the BHX publicity department must be scratching around for something to do, cue a headline article about handing out bloomin chocolate!

Jet2 have been the one shining light and the airport seem to be fully behind them which is great, but are they the ones to bring back Limoges, Toulouse, Rennes, Vilnius, Athens, Luxembourg, Valencia, Stockholm, Poznan, Chisinau, Gothenburg (just some of the extensive list of routes recently chopped)....... I have my doubts?

Mr Barton has one hell of a job ahead of him but with the airport at a point that is as low as I've ever known it, he has the potential to become a bit of a local hero if he can turn things around. Sadly, as long as the profits keep coming in, I have little confidence that things will change.

It's quite simple Mr Barton, we need easyjet and soon! It's just a shame that everyone can see it apart from those in a position to make it happen

 

[Coathanger16]

I still find it inconceivable that BHX allegedly turned away an extra 3/4 based aircraft when the route network has been so badly decimated over the last two years.

Wasn't even aware that happened - do we know the full story there? Can't understand the logic behind turning away that many based aircraft by an airline that is already established at the airport.

It's quite simple Mr Barton, we need easyjet and soon! It's just a shame that everyone can see it apart from those in a position to make it happen

I do think that is the only way BHX will in the foreseeable future be able to even get close to 20mppa.

Perhaps another strategy for the airport could be to take a leaf out of Heathrow's book. LHR have recently come to an arrangement with the airlines that operate there which basically means the more passengers they get through LHR (through higher loads) the cheaper the airport charges will become.

Perhaps BHX could adopt a similar strategy of reducing fares in line with airlines increasing the number of passengers they carry with an extra reduction if that airline opens a new/unserved route (and maybe a slightly smaller extra reduction if it is an underserved route). This reduction could be on a per season basis and could be cumulative but would only be applied if the airlines launched a new route or based a new aircraft each season. I.e. say the reduction in charges was 5%. If airline x launches a new route for 4 seasons in a row, they would get a 20% reduction in charges (4 seasons x 5% = 20%). If however in season 5 no new routes are launched or no extra aircraft are based, the airline would lose the cumulative charge reduction and would start from 0 (i.e. full charges) again. The reset could be waived under certain conditions e.g. late delivery of aircraft, technical issues (akin to the RR engine issues with the 787), etc - i.e. anything that may prevent an airline from expanding that is outside of their control.

 

[Jerry]

Wasn't even aware that happened - do we know the full story there? Can't understand the logic behind turning away that many based aircraft by an airline that is already established at the airport.



I do think that is the only way BHX will in the foreseeable future be able to even get close to 20mppa.

Perhaps another strategy for the airport could be to take a leaf out of Heathrow's book. LHR have recently come to an arrangement with the airlines that operate there which basically means the more passengers they get through LHR (through higher loads) the cheaper the airport charges will become.

Perhaps BHX could adopt a similar strategy of reducing fares in line with airlines increasing the number of passengers they carry with an extra reduction if that airline opens a new/unserved route (and maybe a slightly smaller extra reduction if it is an underserved route). This reduction could be on a per season basis and could be cumulative but would only be applied if the airlines launched a new route or based a new aircraft each season. I.e. say the reduction in charges was 5%. If airline x launches a new route for 4 seasons in a row, they would get a 20% reduction in charges (4 seasons x 5% = 20%). If however in season 5 no new routes are launched or no extra aircraft are based, the airline would lose the cumulative charge reduction and would start from 0 (i.e. full charges) again. The reset could be waived under certain conditions e.g. late delivery of aircraft, technical issues (akin to the RR engine issues with the 787), etc - i.e. anything that may prevent an airline from expanding that is outside of their control.

Isn't that the type of deals that Ryanair usually does? The more they grow the more discount they get?

 

[BHX492]

JetBlue has told the staff that there will be a announcement on the 10 April people think it will be that they launch Europe flights does anyone know if they have any slots at Birmingham

 

[Ray Finkle]

Perhaps another strategy for the airport could be to take a leaf out of Heathrow's book. LHR have recently come to an arrangement with the airlines that operate there which basically means the more passengers they get through LHR (through higher loads) the cheaper the airport charges will become.

I think there is real merit in scaling airport charges to match based aircraft, routes served, numbers of movements and/or passenger throughput. I also wonder if introducing generous discounts for off peak slots could also make a difference to marginal routes, it seems to work at other airports.

I've heard a figure mentioned that easyjet want BHX to pay them per passenger (purely a rumour though and nothing official). If true I'd imagine that BHX have looked at the numbers and worked out that they won't be able to recoup the cash needed to make it viable purely through ancillary revenue streams, so for something to happen one party is going to have to budge. BHX have historically seemed to be all about the profit and I don't think easyjet will be losing too much sleep as long as passengers in our catchment area are prepared to make surface journeys for cheaper flights.

Can Mr Barton break the stalemate?

 

[Ray Finkle]

JetBlue has told the staff that there will be a announcement on the 10 April people think it will be that they launch Europe flights does anyone know if they have any slots at Birmingham

This guy seems to think it will be London.

https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2019/03/02/jetblue-london-announcement/

Does this confirm LHR?

https://thepointsguy.com/news/jetblue-london-service-2019/

During the recent BHX master plan presentations they did say that they were confident of announcing New York 'soon'. I'd desperately love it to happen but won't be getting my hopes up.

 

[BHX492]

This guy seems to think it will be London.

https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2019/03/02/jetblue-london-announcement/

Does this confirm LHR?

https://thepointsguy.com/news/jetblue-london-service-2019/

During the recent BHX master plan presentations they did say that they were confident of announcing New York 'soon'. I'd desperately love it to happen but won't be getting my hopes up.

They are also looking Amsterdam

 

[mullion]

A.net are of the opinion that its LHR and AMS to be announced

 

[BHX SPOTTER 223]

Yh, JetBlue are currently looking at slot for LHR and AMS, Because JetBlue is so consciously going after AMS it is obvious that this is one of their key routes that would like to launch by April this year and JetBlue have alleged that a joint anti-trust partnership of Delta-KLM-Air France is attempting to withhold slots for JetBlue at both LHR and AMS

 

[BHX492]

Yh, JetBlue are currently looking at slot for LHR and AMS, Because JetBlue is so consciously going after AMS it is obvious that this is one of their key routes that would like to launch by April this year and JetBlue have alleged that a joint anti-trust partnership of Delta-KLM-Air France is attempting to withhold slots for JetBlue at both LHR and AMS

Which is going to be hard and there are 0 able slots at ams unlike like lhr where aa/ba have to give slots for 3 daily flights to jfk and 2 daily flights to bos

 

[IanFarquharson]

Remember this !
2020 pax estimate was 19.6m

http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Birmingham-airport-masterplan-2007.pdf

 

[juliet-fox-9]

BHX has seen some modest FR growth on the sun routes and is probably very slightly up overall but route wise the only news is the dropping of Vilnius. I still find it inconceivable that BHX allegedly turned away an extra 3/4 based aircraft when the route network has been so badly decimated over the last two years.

Is there parking space at the Eurohub? If not the only way I can see Ryanair growing is if Virgin/Connect Airways shrink the Flybe operation, which is a very real possibility given their London/Manchester focus.

 

[BHX SPOTTER 223]

Which is going to be hard and there are 0 able slots at ams unlike like lhr where aa/ba have to give slots for 3 daily flights to jfk and 2 daily flights to bos

that is why JetBlue want to join the anti-trust partnership of Delta-KLM-Air France, as this will guarantee to withhold slots for JetBlue as delta and klm already operate out off there