So, the green shoots of recovery are being happily felt at a range of UK Airports with some healthy increases. The only green shoots being seen at BHX are those of grass growing in place of ATM's and pax (and at last more bums on TK seats
). BHX will be on the decline (in terms of pax figures) until it can pull in some new routes and airlines to limit the leakage of pax to other airports that offer a better range of European destinations. The excuse wearing thin in my book is that these flights (MAD, FCO and other cities that have been mentioned so many times on this thread) are available from BHX via a hub - yes these services have their place but for many they are not a cost or time effective way to travel.
BHX needs an increase in direct destination and airline choices, whether this is by full service or low cost (or a combination of both). Why can it not pull this off? Even more worryingly is the fact that existing operators are not expanding their operations (OK, WW has three re-introduced routes in 2012), is BHX that much of a low yielding market for airlines? If it is, no wonder BHX still haven't courted the interest of IB to serve MAD when GLA and MAN have....