Ryanair - Beziers to Bristol

[Aire de Drome]

Hello Fellow Spotters. My wife and I are flying to Bristol from Beziers with Ryanair in December, but cannot book as booking is open only for the next month, although many other flights are open right through. Does anyone know when the flights in Dec. open. Can't get any info from the Ryanair website. Thanks in advance. AdD

[MerchantVenturer]

It looks as though this route has been axed for the coming winter as there is no booking availability on the Ryanair web booking engine for any of the winter months: November-March.

It seems that the only UK route that Ryanair is operating this winter from Beziers is to London Luton. There is no booking availability for Beziers to Edinburgh or Manchester, as with Bristol.

Ryanair might put in some last-minute Beziers routes for the coming winter but the chances look slim at this late date.

The Bristol route has been operating all year round since 2008.

It might be back for next summer of course.

[Morrihell]

Certainly hope it's back next year...

We've flown to/from there in September for the past 4 years and it's never been particularly cheap to book (flights have always been nearly full when travelling)

Perhaps there are richer pickings elsewhere for Ryanair this winter, as MV says, it's been year round since 2008, although I think it was possibly once a week in the winter (?)

MH

[Groundloop]

Perhaps there are richer pickings elsewhere for Ryanair this winter,

Probably not! Ryanair ground a significant number of aircraft every winter because of low traffic demand. It's cheaper to park them up than fly them half empty.

[MerchantVenturer]

Perhaps there are richer pickings elsewhere for Ryanair this winter, as MV says, it's been year round since 2008, although I think it was possibly once a week in the winter (?)

It was 2 x weekly in winter (Mon and Fri last winter) and 4 x weekly in summer, although in some years an additional weekly rotation was operated in August.

Peak summer monthly load factors are usually in the high 80s/low 90s per cent but winter can often be as low as 60 per cent. None of this tells us the yield of course but the winter loads would probably have to attract high fares and/or sympathetic treatment from airports to make them viable so perhaps no surprise that it's gone. BRS, like many regional airports, has been seeing a continuing widening of the gap between winter and summer passenger numbers overall (ie with all airlines) in recent years.

I would expect Beziers to return next summer.

The village of Wrington (in whose parish BRS lies) instituted a twinning with Villeneuve-les-Beziers on the back of the Ryanair route and it seems to have been a very successful arrangement, but it might be considered a bit rich by some when there was a lot of opposition to BRS expansion from Wrington including some of those on the parish council. If the route is axed permanently the twinning might find itself in some difficulty - they'll have to use Luton or some other UK airport.