BELFAST

[carlos vandango]

Nice try but as BHD is close to it's pax limits, and short of space I don't see half a dozen blue boeings making an appearance there anytime soon.

[EGAC_Ramper]

Be it BHD or BFS where are these rumours of Ryanair coming from? Would be curious to know and if at all it is substantiated!!


Regards

[mysecretsmile]

I agree with Carlos on the rumours that Ryanair would start at BHD - how ?
they simply don't have room in the terminal, the stands and the pax cap !

Unless one of the current operators moved out I don't see how they could offer Ryanair any options for new routes ???

Although given the very poor pax nos through BHD so far this year
I could see BHD management virtually paying O'Learly to start something
with them.

[cessnarocket]

ok picture this bmi pulls out of northern ireland heathrow slots being used else were air berlin moves to bfs bhd empty apron plenty off room for blue boeings also the old terminal is being knocked to make a total off 16 stands FACT now giving the loads this year why expand your apron ???

[NWSRG]

To summarise...

This little corner of the world is getting busy...

So, we have...

BMI withdrawing (maybe) or returning to BFS (more likely)...

Air Berlin maybe going to BFS...

FR coming to BHD?

Globespan starting to Orlando (definite)

CO increasing flights to Newark (or going 762 / 763 if they can find one spare...maybe a 787 in the near future...ok, that's a leap too far)

Possibly another transatlantic operator...my money would be on Toronto, but with who? Or maybe Delta to Atlanta?

Wizz Air to three Eastern European destinations...

Did I miss anything?

All good news (apart from the FR business, as I'm still fuming about my recent Dublin - Salzburg experience, but I must learn not to carry grudges!)

Hope with all this fun, the good ATC staff in "lil Norn Iron" will still have some room for a little Cherokee!!

[RT_060590]

Apoligies if I am wrong , does the old terminal really need to be knocked down for stands to be used in that location? they seemed fine when the old term was in use what has put them out of service since it was closed? Also, would it not be a waste of a decent building and machines/resources inside the old terminal?
Again apoligies if I'm wrong or this has been previously answerd!

[True Blue]

BHD

I have asked this question before, but got no answer that makes sense to me. After all the expansion at BHD, why are the pax figures so poor? And let us all remember that the planning rules at BHD have just been ignored, so that is not the reason. I think that the Caa stats for July showed the LHR route under 60,000 and it keeps going down.

Any views?

True Blue

[eastern wiseguy]

60,000 and it keeps going down.

Any views?

Well you could start with the obvious....BHD closes earlier than BFS ....and Bmi are operating smaller aircraft with fewer rotations.....See pprune since 2001 when Bmi moved. I wonder how much longer their contract in the city runs?

[True Blue]

BHD

Closing earlier still doesn't explain. Flybe have expanded a lot at Bhd, I,m taking a guess, but I bet there are more seats on sale out of Bhd than ever, but pax ain't going up.

I would love to see an early morning out of BFS to Lgw, 7am type. Anybody think that we will see it soon? Would be very useful to me.

Also, what are the chances of expansion at Bfs of BMIbaby?

True Blue

[eastern wiseguy]

Closing earlier still doesn't explain

Think it might help!... If you assume an A321 with a load of say 150 on board arriving EVERY night at 2300 as it did into BFS ...do the math ...150x7x52 =54600x Business fares.....not to be sniffed at I would suggest.

Agree with the sentiment to LGW ex BFS ....

[EGAC_Ramper]

Well certainly IF BMI did pull out of Belfast City then all the space left by the Business lounge could go to adding to the departure space. As for Ryanair who knows if they would serve BHD but what likely routes would they serve?

Glad to see more trans-atlantic routes opening up and Wizz Air arriving too.


Regards


P.s. Do FR flights out of Derry operate with restrictions or anything with regards to performance/weight. Interested to know as if they didnt then BHD could be viable.

[BAforever]

Or Maybe Delta to Atlanta

I think its more likley to be Delta to JFK on a 757 than Atlanta because:-
1)They are planning a big expansion from JFK and have been qouted saying that they want to be biggest in Europe
2)Delta dont have any spare 767 to use to European destination (excl LGW)
3)Delta are recieving 10 more 757 next year on lease.
4)Delta can barley fill the ATL-LGW service so a service to Belfast in unlikley as after LGW, A Amsterdam service is probably the most likley.

Look out for an announcement in November!

BAforever

[True Blue]

BHD and BFS

Returning to the subject of the pax figures at BHD. We were all fed this nonsense that the airport many wanted to use, especially business people, was Bhd. Well, it doesn't seem that way when you look at the pax numbers, when the Lhr route moved to Bhd, many, in fact over half of the numbers from a few years ago have voted with their feet and now get to London some other route. The charges out of Bhd added to the cost of the flight are awful. I have travelled to central London for less ex Bfs than the charges alone would have been out of Bhd. So Bhd has a problem, passenger charges are too high and how do they reduce them when they have all thse new facilities to pay for? Added to that, the money has been spent but pax numbers are at best flat.

I can see the sense in AB moving to Bfs. Then the Stn route would have 7X services per day. That would compete very well with Lhr for Lon traffic. At the moment their 2x is not much use to business people. Having said that, see from latest Caa stats that they carried about 9000 pax in June? without damaging Easy. Does this indicate that there was more demand to Stn than Easy catered for and do Easy restrict capacity on many routes out of Bfs?

Out of interest, noticed last night that Baby have the Cwl route up to 2x in the winter timetable.

True Blue

[johnref]

Originally Posted by EGAC_Ramper

P.s. Do FR flights out of Derry operate with restrictions or anything with regards to performance/weight. Interested to know as if they didnt then BHD could be viable.

Until Derry gets the longer runway Ryanair run their 737-800's with first 4-5 and last 4-5 rows blocked off - bringing capacity down from 189 to circa 150

[True Blue]

FR at Ldy

Can anyone explain. I understand that Ldy has a longer runway than Bhd, but Fr has problems there and has to operate with restrictions. Yet Bhd has operated services this year to Spain with a shorter runway. So what is the problem for Fr?

Am I missing something? Sorry if I am wrong.

True Blue

[BAforever]

The runway at LDY is 20 metre longer than the one at BHD so the hight of the runway from sea level? Whether the aircraft has to avoid a built up area? Length of journey? All could be factors

[johnref]

Originally Posted by BAforever

The runway at LDY is 20 metre longer than the one at BHD so the hight of the runway from sea level? Whether the aircraft has to avoid a built up area? Length of journey? All could be factors

and probably the fact that Ryanair use de-rated engines

[EGAC_Ramper]

Thanks Johnref,

this is what I was wondering as EGAE rwy 08/26 is 1852m to EGAC rwy 04/22 with 1829m. Clearly though FR still operate out of LDY but taking these penalties must affect business. I'd like to see FR out of BHD even on a limited basis specially seen as I nae work there anymroe anyways lol.

[airhumberside]

Originally Posted by BAforever

4)Delta can barley fill the ATL-LGW service so a service to Belfast in unlikley as after LGW, A Amsterdam service is probably the most likley.

DL already fly AMS-ATL. And if they can barely fill LGW-ATL, how come they have flown MAN-ATL for a few years and how come EDI-ATL appears to have been doing well since it was launched earlier this summer?

[eastern wiseguy]

I think its more likley to be Delta to JFK on a 757

Are Delta's 75's long range versions? Something tells me they don't have the legs for a transatlantic crossing BFS-JFK.Anyway .......my money is on some sort of half a$$ed Aer Lingus BFS-BOS via SNN thing