EDI v BHX
Edinburgh is certainly on a roll at present and it has been a quick
turnaround as up to January their pax figures were awful with
decreases despite an extra two ryanair based compared to the
previous year.
Delta have gone, Lufthansa Frankfurt was down to just one
daily Frankfurt & just two daily AF. No Swiss, no Brussels Airlines
(do have SN), no SAS (there are other operators), no EK and
just one daily Aer Lingus.
Compared to BHX with 2 x EK daily, PK 4 weekly, LH FRA 4 daily,
LH MUC 3 Daily, DUS 3 daily, Air France 5 daily CDG and 2 daily LYS,
3 daily Swiss, 2 daily SAS, 5 daily EI (3 DUB/2 ORK).
All the above are winter frequencies, as BHX is a year-round airport
where EDI seems to live off 8-9 months.
The only service that EDI does better with year-round is probably
Newark but in winter it is fairly close.
If FR were able to fly their four planes this winter it would have been
quite a different story and I assume it is a case that they just cannot make money at BHX in winter on the routes they operate - no doubt they will say due to bhx charges but they new what they were before they started.
On a brighter note (or possibly) Viking are apparently showing three
short season flights from BHX to DLM (2) & BJV (1). The timings are
similar to existing flights by other airlines so it might not be good news
but time will tell.
Pete