Originally Posted by
GayFriendly
Apparently all routes being dropped next summer along with BRS...
...It is very disappointing news for BHX which has been haemorrhaging airlines in the last 12 months. I thought with additional aircraft arriving at BACF there might have even been a small increase in flights at BHX next summer. Of course the MAG group MAN and STN operations survive...
BHX (and passengers) can feel especially peeved, given that BHX > FLR was outperforming MAN both in terms of raw numbers and load factors (94%+ in Jul and Aug - around the same as STN). As the fares were 'reassuringly expensive' there is no reason to suggest that yields were any lower than those surviving routes. This probably points to the logistics of getting aircraft to Brum and perhaps weakness of the other sectors; Malaga and Palma.
There were other routes, though, that BACF could have gone for - uncontested routes that were lost with Monarch; Lisbon (c. 5,000 passengers per month) and Nice (c. 3,000) for example.
Like GF, I had hoped for some expansion at BHX - even perhaps for mainline to step in with a 319 on FLR and perhaps LIS or NCE.
[EDIT: On reflection, while 319's regularly fly into FLR, I'm not sure that BA's subtypes would be able to get in and out]