Originally Posted by
GayFriendly
The catchment area if an individual airport is so difficult to geographically define these days as the UK is a relatively small country and so many airports within easy reach of so many. My nearest airport is BHX (I live in Worcester) and I always research flights from there first but in the past 18 months I've also flown from MAN, BRS, STN and LTN none of which I consider to be in their catchment areas based on where I live. My decision to fly from these airports varied - mostly to do with flight times, frequency of flights and days I needed to travel and destination.
BRS strength is that it is the only relatively easily reached 'major' airport for South Wales, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall (relatively affluent areas). BHX being in the middle of the UK doesn't have claim to an individual area to mop up passengers from and yes, big parts of its geographically close populated areas are very deprived.
BRS on the other hand (like BHX) also suffers from the proximity of LHR, particularly for those living in Wiltshire and Berkshire its as easy to get to LHR as BRS both driving and on public transport.
I would wager it's also just as easy to get to BHX from Cheltenham and Gloucester as to BRS. If working properly you can get from Cheltenham to BHX by train in just over an hour much the same as catching the train to Temple Meads then the bus to BRS . As for road access to BRS, we all know how bad that is!
I wonder if easyJet will see some leakage of pax north of Bristol to BHX?
Other than second home ents Cornwall is among most deprived places in Europe as are the Welsh Valleys for that matter . Plymouth and Exeter has sizable areas of deprivations as well.
Wealth in England and Wales (excluding London) is concentrated along the M4 /M3 Corridors North and East of Basingstoke , with enclaves around the fringes of South Manchester and between Birmingham and Banbury. and around Milton Keynes.
That said all four London Airports ( not City) have advantages in depth of services available supporting inward travel that are mitigating of traditional concepts of catchment ( determined as up to 2 hour travel radius) Only Manchester comes close to competing with them.
That said more generally Bristol has done exceptionally well in recent years mainly down to Easy in tapping into some the M4 corridor clientele west of Newbury and indeed the burgeoning middle classes nearer the city itself. I don’t believe although don’t have the numbers to support it, that traffic from Wales southern coast line is a massively significant factor.
Many that have the wherewithal are I expect on the GWR to those London Airports to be honest.
However you try to square it Birmingham underperforms that is for sure and lack of local support surely doesn’t help in reaching the point of self sustaining growth .
Like Manchester, through now history both made strategic mistakes at the beginning of the millennium in recognition of the changed face of mass travel and as created by the flexible fares and lower operating cost models .
I believe the shock of BA withdrawal were both unplanned or recognised in their business plans. And it took a further decade to restore that impact , indeed both airports are only now delivering the necessary infrastructure needed to address these changed fortunes. Both have have sustained credible consumer criticism over the last few years .
Some of the growth at Bristol and until COVID at Liverpool may be a consequence of that disappointment alone. All of the early century growth at Liverpool was down to MAG negligence of the market.
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Rant over .