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Should keep the hares out of the way Merchant Venturer
Meanwhile.....
BRISTOL INTERNATIONAL ANNOUNCES DIRECT FLIGHTS TO GIBRALTAR
Bristol International has today announced that direct flights to Gibraltar will commence from April 2007 with low fares airline Fly Gibraltar. Bristol becomes one of just four key regional airports to gain the new direct route, opening up links between the Rock, Southern Spain and the South West.
The news follows an historic three-way accord made between Spain, Gibraltar and Britain in September which opens access from the end of the year to the Rock. The opening of the border allows travellers to cross with ease and provides a key gateway to Southern Spain and the popular Costa Del Sol and Costa De La Luz.
Furthermore, the new route will be the only regional link which provides a direct and convenient service for friends and family wishing to visit relatives serving in the British Forces, posted in Gibraltar. This will further enhance commercial maritime links between Devon, Cornwall and the Rock.
Commenting on the news, Tony Hallwood, Aviation Development Director for Bristol International Airport said: “The new route provides an important link for second home owners, businesses with interests in the area, holiday makers and leisure customers looking for a more direct route to this vibrant and popular region. It also provides a convenient link for Spanish and Gibraltar businesses looking to expand their regional interests in the UK.”
Nigel Hutchings, regional affairs director at Business West added: "There are already strong business links between the South West and Gibraltar and this new direct route presents additional opportunities for businesses to participate in dialogue.”
The new service will depart at 09.55am four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Passengers flying on Fly Gibraltar’s Boeing 737-300 aircraftwill also be offered a pre-flight concierge service allowing passengers to pre-arrange meals, buy duty free, hire cars and purchase travel insurance among other services.
Details of the one-way fares will be announced in December when the tickets go on sale.
Cheers RVR27/09
Meanwhile.....
BRISTOL INTERNATIONAL ANNOUNCES DIRECT FLIGHTS TO GIBRALTAR
Bristol International has today announced that direct flights to Gibraltar will commence from April 2007 with low fares airline Fly Gibraltar. Bristol becomes one of just four key regional airports to gain the new direct route, opening up links between the Rock, Southern Spain and the South West.
The news follows an historic three-way accord made between Spain, Gibraltar and Britain in September which opens access from the end of the year to the Rock. The opening of the border allows travellers to cross with ease and provides a key gateway to Southern Spain and the popular Costa Del Sol and Costa De La Luz.
Furthermore, the new route will be the only regional link which provides a direct and convenient service for friends and family wishing to visit relatives serving in the British Forces, posted in Gibraltar. This will further enhance commercial maritime links between Devon, Cornwall and the Rock.
Commenting on the news, Tony Hallwood, Aviation Development Director for Bristol International Airport said: “The new route provides an important link for second home owners, businesses with interests in the area, holiday makers and leisure customers looking for a more direct route to this vibrant and popular region. It also provides a convenient link for Spanish and Gibraltar businesses looking to expand their regional interests in the UK.”
Nigel Hutchings, regional affairs director at Business West added: "There are already strong business links between the South West and Gibraltar and this new direct route presents additional opportunities for businesses to participate in dialogue.”
The new service will depart at 09.55am four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Passengers flying on Fly Gibraltar’s Boeing 737-300 aircraftwill also be offered a pre-flight concierge service allowing passengers to pre-arrange meals, buy duty free, hire cars and purchase travel insurance among other services.
Details of the one-way fares will be announced in December when the tickets go on sale.
Cheers RVR27/09
Brunel to Concorde
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Interesting that BRS has now put out a press release about the Gibraltar route. The intention was mentioned some time ago in PPRuNe and elsewhere but the whole idea of Fly Gibraltar, and indeed the future of Gibraltar Airport, has met some scepticism in the Gibraltar thread in this forum.
Let's hope this announcement means the enterprise is to go ahead.
On another matter, I passed through the airport at morning ‘rush hour time’ for the first time since the new security measures following the alleged terrorist plot announced on 10 August.
I was somewhat concerned to discover the queue from security stretched from the security area along the landing, down the stairs and half across the check-in area floor space. I had passed through at lunch time a few weeks ago when the security queue was minimal.
This time we arrived at 6.30am. Our fight was not due to depart for another two hours so we had a cuppa landside before returning to the security queue at 7am.
By then the tail ‘only’ reached the top of the stairs. We joined it and were pleasantly surprised that we were through security within twenty minutes. We had feared well over half an hour even from the top of the stairs, so well done to those workers involved.
The other thing of note was that the parallel taxiway was closed for work in progress, and departing aircraft had to taxi along about half the length of the runway before turning to take off (we were using 09).
Our captain mentioned the closed taxiway as the reason for a slight departure delay. I wondered if someone like Standard Noise might like to give an idea how much this sort of thing slows down the arrivals and departures procedures.
Let's hope this announcement means the enterprise is to go ahead.
On another matter, I passed through the airport at morning ‘rush hour time’ for the first time since the new security measures following the alleged terrorist plot announced on 10 August.
I was somewhat concerned to discover the queue from security stretched from the security area along the landing, down the stairs and half across the check-in area floor space. I had passed through at lunch time a few weeks ago when the security queue was minimal.
This time we arrived at 6.30am. Our fight was not due to depart for another two hours so we had a cuppa landside before returning to the security queue at 7am.
By then the tail ‘only’ reached the top of the stairs. We joined it and were pleasantly surprised that we were through security within twenty minutes. We had feared well over half an hour even from the top of the stairs, so well done to those workers involved.
The other thing of note was that the parallel taxiway was closed for work in progress, and departing aircraft had to taxi along about half the length of the runway before turning to take off (we were using 09).
Our captain mentioned the closed taxiway as the reason for a slight departure delay. I wondered if someone like Standard Noise might like to give an idea how much this sort of thing slows down the arrivals and departures procedures.
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MV: the work on the parallel taxiway was very much routine for ATC ops. Taxiways and runways need to be resurfaced periodically 'cos they wear out. It's all in a days work...
We applied increased approach spacing of anything from 8-12 miles between successive arrivals to allow for the back-track, rather than the usual 4-6 miles minimum spacing. That said, it varied considerably because some aircraft could vacate via the intermediate D/F intersections (Dash 8s, Jetstreams, E-145s) whilst others needed longer on the runway to complete the turn/ backtrack. B757s and A321s could only use A and B so there was an even longer delay then, plus some interesting decision-making about when to push them back onto Taxiway Z, without totally blocking up the Aprons, especially when 09 was used.
We also played it tactically and tried to accomodate a series of arrivals/departures at times, rather than doing alternate arrivals/departures, in the runway "gaps". Nothing is perfect but we seem to have had relatively few go-rounds due to the back-tracking. Hopefully it'll all be back to normal by the 31st. If any aircrew are reading this, thanks for your patience. I certainly caused delays of up to 5-10 minutes for some of the last flights in a particular sequence of arrivals at peak times but what can you do when someone is #5, say, you need to achieve the approach spacing AND give the Tower a chance to get some of the departures away? Backtracking has been a fact of life at certain UK airports for years, I guess (Luton, Southampton come to mind...)
We applied increased approach spacing of anything from 8-12 miles between successive arrivals to allow for the back-track, rather than the usual 4-6 miles minimum spacing. That said, it varied considerably because some aircraft could vacate via the intermediate D/F intersections (Dash 8s, Jetstreams, E-145s) whilst others needed longer on the runway to complete the turn/ backtrack. B757s and A321s could only use A and B so there was an even longer delay then, plus some interesting decision-making about when to push them back onto Taxiway Z, without totally blocking up the Aprons, especially when 09 was used.
We also played it tactically and tried to accomodate a series of arrivals/departures at times, rather than doing alternate arrivals/departures, in the runway "gaps". Nothing is perfect but we seem to have had relatively few go-rounds due to the back-tracking. Hopefully it'll all be back to normal by the 31st. If any aircrew are reading this, thanks for your patience. I certainly caused delays of up to 5-10 minutes for some of the last flights in a particular sequence of arrivals at peak times but what can you do when someone is #5, say, you need to achieve the approach spacing AND give the Tower a chance to get some of the departures away? Backtracking has been a fact of life at certain UK airports for years, I guess (Luton, Southampton come to mind...)
Brunel to Concorde
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Many thanks ATCOJ30 for that informative and interesting explanation. This is one of the great pleasures and privileges of PPRuNe membership for non-aviation people like me who are interested in the subject.
Looking ahead to the winter generally at BRS, I have had a look at Mayfly for the first week of winter schedules, or to be precise from 1st November to the end of that week.
I note that FCA is operating two aircraft most days – a 757 and a 321. I know that some sun flights are taken off for December/January (and sometimes put back in for Christmas/New Year) but is FCA going to retain two based aircraft at BRS for the entire winter? The Santa flights and ski programme also have to be operated.
Sharm el Sheik seems extraordinarily popular next week. The web version of Mayfly shows four flights – TOM and FCA on Thursday, XLA on Saturday and XLA again (but with an A 320 this time, presumably the Air Malta machine) on Sunday.
I know Mayfly is not always completely accurate, especially days in advance, and may be showing one SSH flight too many.
XLA is also operating the Hurghada on Fridays, and elsewhere in PPRuNe there is a report that TOM will start a weekly BRS-Luxor in winter 07/08 which suggests that Egypt is seen as increasingly popular from this part of the world. Strange then that the Taba that operated in the autumn/early winter of 2005 and was supposed to operate Aug to Nov this year didn’t appear, or if it did, it didn’t last long.
TCX, which is operating the new Agadir flight, seems to have work with a 320 next week every day from Wed to Sun (Mon and Tue in next week’s Mayfly still in ‘summer mode’) so is this now a based aircraft at BRS?
Given the huge ski programme, the regular winter sun programme and the FCA transatlantics starting in February, this promises to be another busy charter winter at BRS.
Harping back to ski flights (16 or 17 weekly charters again?), easyJet seems to be operating double daily for much of the winter to GVA, three times a day on Saturdays and some Sundays, rising to four a day on Saturdays from February.
Are winter sports a particular passion for West Country people. Either that or there is something going on in the snow that might be interesting to know more about, and it's passed me by.
Looking ahead to the winter generally at BRS, I have had a look at Mayfly for the first week of winter schedules, or to be precise from 1st November to the end of that week.
I note that FCA is operating two aircraft most days – a 757 and a 321. I know that some sun flights are taken off for December/January (and sometimes put back in for Christmas/New Year) but is FCA going to retain two based aircraft at BRS for the entire winter? The Santa flights and ski programme also have to be operated.
Sharm el Sheik seems extraordinarily popular next week. The web version of Mayfly shows four flights – TOM and FCA on Thursday, XLA on Saturday and XLA again (but with an A 320 this time, presumably the Air Malta machine) on Sunday.
I know Mayfly is not always completely accurate, especially days in advance, and may be showing one SSH flight too many.
XLA is also operating the Hurghada on Fridays, and elsewhere in PPRuNe there is a report that TOM will start a weekly BRS-Luxor in winter 07/08 which suggests that Egypt is seen as increasingly popular from this part of the world. Strange then that the Taba that operated in the autumn/early winter of 2005 and was supposed to operate Aug to Nov this year didn’t appear, or if it did, it didn’t last long.
TCX, which is operating the new Agadir flight, seems to have work with a 320 next week every day from Wed to Sun (Mon and Tue in next week’s Mayfly still in ‘summer mode’) so is this now a based aircraft at BRS?
Given the huge ski programme, the regular winter sun programme and the FCA transatlantics starting in February, this promises to be another busy charter winter at BRS.
Harping back to ski flights (16 or 17 weekly charters again?), easyJet seems to be operating double daily for much of the winter to GVA, three times a day on Saturdays and some Sundays, rising to four a day on Saturdays from February.
Are winter sports a particular passion for West Country people. Either that or there is something going on in the snow that might be interesting to know more about, and it's passed me by.
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Having done the old backtracking trick at Belfast City for years, I can't say I've found this to be a problem. Most of the pilots got used to it fairly quickly and they have helped by making sure they make their landing roll as short as poss to help us out. It's all going swimmingly and with any luck, the pax shouldn't notice any difference. But when it gets foggy, well..........
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Taxiway Golf work in progess
I should think ATC at BRS will be relieved at the iminent reinstatement of taxiway Golf. Witnessed a Thomas cook A320 backtrack after landing then take taxiway Foxtrot to vacate the runway instead of Delta. Tower advised him to keep moving in case he sank.The other week saw an Easy jet A319 miss taxiway Delta and brought to a halt before it could use Foxtrot,tower had to get a ASU vehicle to turn him on to the western apron and back on to Delta.In the mean time a log jam developed behind. Don't know if the boys and girls in the tower do juggling in their spare time,but certainly had their work cut out at the busy times doing pushbacks,clearances,landings,take offs and the constant questions about slot times.If 2007 turns out to be busier then 2006 I would have thought a ground controller will be a must at peak times.
Last edited by anoraknophobia; 1st Nov 2006 at 17:21.
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Easy A320? Hope not! A319 mefinks!
Aye from what Ive heard its been fun and games, especially when LVP's are in force.
Can ATCOJ30 or Noisy advise; will new hold G4 and repositioned G2/3 be operational straight away? Or not until the next airac is effective?
Aye from what Ive heard its been fun and games, especially when LVP's are in force.
Can ATCOJ30 or Noisy advise; will new hold G4 and repositioned G2/3 be operational straight away? Or not until the next airac is effective?
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Who needs an Xbox when you have that kind of thing at work! We're used to it though, it happens even when Golf is open (a certain lo cost airline from the Emerald Isle like to think Foxtrot is the saviour of their turnaround times).
Foxtrot is only rated up to Fk100, owt heavier runs the risk suffering a little mishap.
ATCO - Can't remember offhand, only seen the plans once, and even then I wasn't much interested. Still, we shall discover all in the fullness of time.
As for me, I'm looking forward to the next 5 months (on nights anyway). I am relishing my forthcoming research into eyelids, more particularly, should they have holes in them or has evolution provided adequately functioning units already?
Foxtrot is only rated up to Fk100, owt heavier runs the risk suffering a little mishap.
ATCO - Can't remember offhand, only seen the plans once, and even then I wasn't much interested. Still, we shall discover all in the fullness of time.
As for me, I'm looking forward to the next 5 months (on nights anyway). I am relishing my forthcoming research into eyelids, more particularly, should they have holes in them or has evolution provided adequately functioning units already?
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Any word on Aer Lingus pulling out of Bristol (again) after the winter season. Flights aren't bookable on the website and they just announced several increases in frequencies on other routes yesterday.
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The first First Choice long haul flight departed on Monday. Didn’t get off to a great start though. It was about 1 hour 30 late leaving Bristol and was declared tech on arrival in Manchester, so the passengers had to get off and wait while a fault was fixed, they sorted a replacement crew and left Manchester four hours later.
Also can confirm Aer Lingus are gone after March.
Also can confirm Aer Lingus are gone after March.
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Wasnt quite the first FCA long haul; technically, yes, but it was a one off. The FCA Long haul schedule starts in Feb I believe. Yes, Im a pedant...
Thanks for that info, though. I knew it was quite late arriving at Bristol as I was waiting for it at work! Nice landing though I must say :-).
Thanks for that info, though. I knew it was quite late arriving at Bristol as I was waiting for it at work! Nice landing though I must say :-).
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FlyBe to acquire BA Connect
With the news that Flybe is hoping to acquire BA Connect what will this mean for Bristol? As noted on this forum FlyBe appear to be curtailing their ops at Bristol in favour of Exeter.
Also would this have any effect on the Tenerife service flown by BA Connect (GB Airways) as they will not be included in the sale.
Has anybody in the know heard anything on the grapevine?
Also would this have any effect on the Tenerife service flown by BA Connect (GB Airways) as they will not be included in the sale.
Has anybody in the know heard anything on the grapevine?
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Noticable lack of commitment from FlyBe over Bristol
All the other regional statements have some wording committing to the airport, although the expanded route map still shows BRS routes.
It'll all come out in the wash, no doubt. But I'm concerned, being based here. Please, not the 'Orrible Orange.
BRS is twice the size by passenger numbers of SOU & EXT put together. Will they really drop it?
All the other regional statements have some wording committing to the airport, although the expanded route map still shows BRS routes.
It'll all come out in the wash, no doubt. But I'm concerned, being based here. Please, not the 'Orrible Orange.
BRS is twice the size by passenger numbers of SOU & EXT put together. Will they really drop it?
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Life after BACon
I would also be a bit uncomfortable about Easyjet dominating all the routes around BRS. One of the benefits of the BACon route to CDG was it flew at useful times to do a day's business in Paris; the same is not true of Easyjet's "once a day" policy, which sees me continue to bash down the M4 to LHR to pick up flights to mainland Europe. (Next stop ROM - three days out of the office if I fly with EZY, 1 day if I fly with BA from LHR).
The ray of sunshine behind BACon departing might be the arrival of LH to take over the German routes. This would be a real bonus for using FRA/MUC/DUS/HAM as hubbing points into Germany, Austria, Switzerland and onto the Star Alliance long-haul network.
We wait and watch with interest.
The ray of sunshine behind BACon departing might be the arrival of LH to take over the German routes. This would be a real bonus for using FRA/MUC/DUS/HAM as hubbing points into Germany, Austria, Switzerland and onto the Star Alliance long-haul network.
We wait and watch with interest.
Brunel to Concorde
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The Embraers typically averaged 30-40 pax per day most months on the European routes, sometimes a bit less in the winter.
Would LH be happy with this sort of loading?
As B_T has said, the European routes (except CDG) are once daily which precludes doing a day's business and then coming home that day.
Would any airline be able to sustain a twice daily service from a regional airport like BRS to these European destinations, and more importantly, could they get slots at the times business travellers would want? Probably not in most cases.
BACX did try FRA double daily last year but it did not last long.
It would be a shame to lose these key business routes but such is life.
My main thoughts are for the staff of BAConnect in these uncertain times for them.
Would LH be happy with this sort of loading?
As B_T has said, the European routes (except CDG) are once daily which precludes doing a day's business and then coming home that day.
Would any airline be able to sustain a twice daily service from a regional airport like BRS to these European destinations, and more importantly, could they get slots at the times business travellers would want? Probably not in most cases.
BACX did try FRA double daily last year but it did not last long.
It would be a shame to lose these key business routes but such is life.
My main thoughts are for the staff of BAConnect in these uncertain times for them.
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MV is absolutely right about the poor loadings on the BACon services, and the failure of the twice daily to FRA.
Sometimes poor loadings are due to poorly timed services. LH run fairly full A319's out of BHX to FRA and MUC, which I would guess are probably 30% full of people going to FRA and MUC and the remainder people hubbing through onto other LH or StarAlliance destinations.
The KL AMS service is very popular, and I would guess most of the people on those flights (4 a day) are actually connecting on through AMS to somewhere else on the KLM/SkyTeam network.
BACon's big handicap was that Bristol wasn't connected to the rest of the BA (or even OneWorld) network anywhere, so passenger numbers were limited to the "point to point" traffic.
Looking at (and using) LH's attractve European and Long-Haul fares, I think they'd get good traffic out of BRS. They'd certainly get more of my business (which, admittedly would come out of BACon and KLM as well as cutting down trips to LHR).
Bristol deserves better hubbing than KL/AMS and SN/BRU (God help us). Having access to FRA/MUC as *hubs* would be a superb improvement.
Sometimes poor loadings are due to poorly timed services. LH run fairly full A319's out of BHX to FRA and MUC, which I would guess are probably 30% full of people going to FRA and MUC and the remainder people hubbing through onto other LH or StarAlliance destinations.
The KL AMS service is very popular, and I would guess most of the people on those flights (4 a day) are actually connecting on through AMS to somewhere else on the KLM/SkyTeam network.
BACon's big handicap was that Bristol wasn't connected to the rest of the BA (or even OneWorld) network anywhere, so passenger numbers were limited to the "point to point" traffic.
Looking at (and using) LH's attractve European and Long-Haul fares, I think they'd get good traffic out of BRS. They'd certainly get more of my business (which, admittedly would come out of BACon and KLM as well as cutting down trips to LHR).
Bristol deserves better hubbing than KL/AMS and SN/BRU (God help us). Having access to FRA/MUC as *hubs* would be a superb improvement.
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The BA routes not served by anyone else are ZRH, FRA, MXP, MUC. The flights are usually fairly full with mainly business travellers, so I assume the yields are reasonable. But we suffer from them being at silly times of the day - mid-morning to mid-afternoon is hopeless for business travellers as it wipes out the entire day.
I'm sure early morning flights of the above would attract more people. But I suspect KLM has most of the BRS business travel & could well pick up more now.
EDI & GLA have taken a real beating since EasyJet started & CDG could go the same way with a couple more rotations.
Flybe may try out the FRA/MUC/MXP routes, but, from a quick poll of my BRS colleagues this morning, none believe we'll be working for Flybe at BRS 6 months from now.
I'm sure early morning flights of the above would attract more people. But I suspect KLM has most of the BRS business travel & could well pick up more now.
EDI & GLA have taken a real beating since EasyJet started & CDG could go the same way with a couple more rotations.
Flybe may try out the FRA/MUC/MXP routes, but, from a quick poll of my BRS colleagues this morning, none believe we'll be working for Flybe at BRS 6 months from now.