Stuck at BRS and trying to get to GLA. Flights being cancelled / delayed / diverted to CWL. Causes seem to be weather and an 'airfield operational systems failure'. Person I spoke to couldn't elaborate. Anyone got any specific info?
Another aviation message board reports this Notam.
RWY 27 ILS U/S. 09 NOV 17:43 2009 UNTIL 09 NOV 22:00 2009
Cat IIIb is on the westerly runway (27) only - not sure if the south-easterly wind would have permitted its use anyway but the wind is very light where I live about nine miles away - and the fog/mist has been around all day in the area even at heights below BRS's 600-plus feet elevation.
There have been turbo prop cancellations/diverts during the day according to the airport arrivals board and nothing at all has landed since 1656.
Cardiff and Birmingham seem to have taken most of the diversions with others going to Exeter and East Midlands.
I emphathise I have no weather, technical or aviation expertise and merely report this in good faith.
Addendum
It seems the airport is now accepting inbounds again. KL 1057 from AMS landed about ten minutes ago.
Last edited by MerchantVenturer : 9th November 2009 at 21:51.
Reason: Addendum
The ILS 27 had been operating close to tolerance for most of the afternoon, but the fault exceeded tolerance at about 5pm resulting in the loss of the 27 Glidepath. Aircraft were unable to make an approach to 09 as the visibility was beneath the absolute minima for the ILS approach on that runway.
Departures were still allowed, I believe. I know the SZ486 from Plymouth, bypassed Bristol and just went straight onto Leeds this evening.
Thanks for the info guys. I have now arrived back in Ayrshire after EZY decided not to bus us to CWL but cancel the flight and put us on the 4pm today. I decided that even though it was 10pm last night to hire a car & drive and although it was not too bad and got to GLA in time for my lunchtime meeting I don't really want to do that again in a hurry.
I noted today that new destinations from BRS are shown in both the booking engine and timetable drop down sections of the Ryanair website, but no availability is shown in the booking engine nor timings given in the timetable section.
The routes are Faro and Palma (against easyJet), Gdansk (back once again), Venice (Treviso) and Valencia. easyJet appear to have axed both Valencia and Venice (Marco Polo) from BRS next summer. In fact, Valencia and Venice (MP) have gone from the schedule this winter as well.
If this transpires it will be further competition with easyJet with both Alicante and Malaga now running against them year round.
easyJet
easyJet have certainly cut back on a lot of routes this winter with even established daily favourites such as Geneva*, Amsterdam and Barcelona not going daily this time of the year.
* Geneva will operate 18 x weekly in the ski season though, at least double-daily on every day.
On Tuesday of this week eight 319s were parked up for most, if not all, of the day.
New aircraft, routes and frequencies for Bristol and Liverpool
Ryanair announces 3 new aircraft and 10 new routes from Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow (PIK) & Liverpool
500,000 £1 CHRISTMAS SEAT SALE
Ryanair, the world’s favourite airline, announced today (19th Nov) that it will invest an additional $210m in UK tourism as it bases new aircraft in Bristol (up one to five) and Liverpool (up two to eight), from 28th March, and opens ten new routes from Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow (Prestwick) and Liverpool Airports, from February next, which will deliver 400,000 additional passengers p.a. and create 400 new jobs at these airports in 2010.
All Ryanair’s new routes from Bristol to Faro, Gdansk, Palma de Mallorca, Venice (Treviso) and Valencia, from Edinburgh to Tampere, from Glasgow (Prestwick) to Carcassonne and from Liverpool to Lodz, Rimini and Trapani will be available for booking tomorrow, Friday (20th Nov), on www.ryanair.com. Ryanair will also increase frequencies on two Bristol and four Liverpool routes.
Ryanair celebrated these three new aircraft and ten new routes by extending its 500,000 £1 Christmas seat sale to midnight Friday (20th Nov), for travel in late December, which is available for booking on www.ryanair.com.
Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:
“Ryanair is delighted to announce three new aircraft and ten new routes for Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow Prestwick and Liverpool airports which will deliver 400,000 additional passengers and create 400 new jobs while ensuring increased competition and choice for consumers.
“Ryanair routes at these airports deliver millions of passengers, and sustain thousands of jobs at each airport and in the surrounding regions every year.
“To celebrate these new aircraft, routes and frequencies Ryanair is extending its 500,000 £1 Christmas seat sale, for travel across Europe in late December, until midnight Friday. Since seats at these crazy low prices will be snapped up quickly, we urge passengers to book them immediately on www.ryanair.com.”
New Ryanair routes:
Bristol
Route
Begin Faro 31 Mar Gdansk 1 Apr Palma 31 Mar Treviso 31 Mar Valencia 25 Feb
I've had a look at the Ryanair web timetable and web booking engine for next summer now that the new destinations are available.
Of the new routes Venice (Treviso) will be 3 x weekly; Valencia 3 x weekly; Gdansk 2 x weekly; Palma 5 x weekly; Faro 4 x weekly.
Malta will be 3 x weekly (up from twice weekly last summer and this winter) and Malaga daily (up from 4 x weekly this winter).
Of last summer's routes Eindhoven and Porto seem to have been dropped, as has Shannon. Marrakesh is retained for summer having been only a winter route previously.
A detailed study of the web timetable and web booking engine throws up numerous anomalies.
On several evenings the timetable shows a need for six or seven based aircraft - based because of the timings, unless one or two from elsewhere will fly away from Bristol empty late each evening which is not likely. The timetable as currently published is confirmed in the booking engine for some test days I tried. I used the period 17-24 May.
For example the following timetable schedule is confirmed on a couple of the days I tried the booking engine (time from BRS and time back into BRS).
There is also a daily morning service to Belfast City out at 1010 and back at 1255 but on most days five departures will have occurred to other destinations in early morning, none of which gets back in time to operate the BHD. There are other anomalies including Thursday evening with work for only four aircraft.
I can't imagine that two more aircraft will be based at BRS next summer in addition to the extra one already announced.
As it appears, people will be booking flights today for next summer some of which will have their timings or even days altered from what is in the timetable and booking engine - unless there is another explanation that eludes me.
I could suggest an explanation. FR will see which routes sell, and cancel the one that doesn't about two weeks out - and offer people their money back, whilst leaving them in the lurch.
Flybe announced today that they will operate year round from BRS to Isle of Man on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 28 March 2010, with an additional Saturday service from May to September.
The route was lost when Eastern pulled out a couple of years ago. Flybe used to operate it in their Jersey European days.
Flybe will also increase BRS-Jersey rotations next year to daily in the main part of the summer.
Notice Qatar Airlines have a huge number of 787s and A350's on order.
I wonder if BRS is a potential target for them? I understand none of their current fleet are suitable (We're a little short on tarmac for the A330), but I can see them turning up in a shiny new 787 in a few year's time?!
A UAE connection for BRS for those heading to Asia... That would be nice!
I have often wondered if we could see QR at BRS...If you think about it they use/used a A319LR to the like of ARN etc so wonder if they could do the same to BRS.
I hear also that VCE is def gone this year with Easyjet, which is a shame, so looks like it is RYR to Treviso only.
Not according to the Bristol Evening Post. That organ of journalistic non-excellence (it's not even printed in the city any more), that seems to make an almost daily ritual of reporting airport activities in a negative light, carries a headline today stating that, Bristol Airport expansion could be grounded by lack of business class passengers.
It's only when you read the article that you see they are reporting the conclusions of the Commons Transport Select Committee that long-haul travel from UK regional airports is unlikely to see expansion, which they base on the fact that BA and bmi have axed transatlantic flights from Manchester because of fewer business passengers.
BRS has already stated in its master plan that potential long haul scheduled routes from the airport are limited in number and that New York, Washington, Dubai and Atlanta are the most likely to succeed in the future. That was written over four years ago but I doubt that their views on this have changed in the interim.
As for Qatar, possible I suppose at some point in the future but the thought remains that they would be looking for bigger fish in the first instance.
easyJet
Valencia also seems to have gone for summer 2010 and that too has been picked up by Ryanair.
Bristol City Council
The city council is one of a number of local authorities in the area to have formally objected to airport expansion. It is 'run' (in the loosest sense judging from their track record and I'm not a party political animal) by the Liberal Democrats whose leader is Barbara Janke.
Now Leader Janke and some acolytes are off to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in order to 'network' with people of like mind - Bristol is supposedly a Green city and was one of the eight finalists for European Green City of the Year earlier this year - the only UK city shortlisted.
So our Leader has a good excuse for a jolly at public expense.
When asked on local radio this morning if she was travelling by ferry and train she told the interviewer that she couldn't possibly spend more than two days there and would have to fly.
Perhaps she might like to consider that business people's time is also valuable, probably more so than hers in most cases, and they would appreciate the opportunity to travel from their local airport and not just to those places currently flown from Bristol. Support rather than hostility from local councils might also encourage airlines to increase services. easyJet might even restore the Copenhagen route and she could then have flown from Bristol herself to see what a very useful facility the airport has become and how it might become even more useful in the future.
Or is she already one of those 'antis' who use the airport covertly to creep away on their summer holidays to the Alicantes, Malagas, Palmas etc?
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