BRISTOL - 3

[devon_guy]

However if you look at the route map on Flybe's website all the Bristol routes remain, strange!

[WATABENCH]

Lets just hope things work out as best they can for all the affected BA staff both on the ground and crew, I know what it's like to have uncertainty with regards to your job and the future, what they've put up with for the last few months is not very nice at all (I've just come through a very similar situation), in some respects I expect they're glad it all finally seems to be coming to an end.
Good Luck to you all, and all the best for your future careers whether they be at Flybe, Servisair or elsewhere, To see our countrys flag carrier all but dissapear from BRS is a sad day

[Flightrider]

Yes, sure about the easyJet thing.

It does rather look as though the Flybe take-over is bad news for Bristol. The Bristol routes don't appear in any of the Flybe PR stuff and it looks as though they are being completely cut - Edinburgh, Glasgow, Paris, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Zurich, Milan, Munich - all gone. Suspiciously, new services from Southampton and Cardiff to Paris have appeared (using the BRS slots) and a new link between SOU and Frankfurt is included.

[Marco491]

Agreed. I may not like the uncertainty of having my precious travel plans potentially messed up for the nth time, but I appreciate it is nothing compared with what these people have been put through.

I have always found the Ba Connect ground staff and crews very pleasant, helpful and professional - really flying the flag even if BA itself didn't seem to care - so I hope they all manage to find decent alternatives.

[Red Snake]

Flybe's route map has been updated today on their website. For BRS, it shows GLA, EDI, DUS, FRA, CDG, JER. The former BA Connect routes are in red.

[a1234]

I have to say it is surprising that they've kept GLA, EDI and CDG because surely now that Easy have upgraded that to twice daily and whenever I've been on the domestic routes they have been pretty empty as people usually look straight to Easy.

[Red Snake]

it is surprising that they've kept GLA, EDI and CDG

Yes, that really surprises me also. Our loads are often terrible on GLA / EDI, yet they've been pretty good on MXP / MUC. OK, I don't know what the yields are, but it seems to me that the routes with no competition have been cut & routes left can be dominated by easyJet.

The cynic in me thinks that the slots are to be used for Flybe approved airports, not BRS. And cancelling routes already served by another airline doesn't attract bad press - BA gets the rap for the current route cancellations, Flybe are squeaky clean for the future ones.

[Bristol_Traveller]

Where's LH?

I'm wondering what happened to the (sabre-rattling?) talk from Lufthansa about coming out to open up a new regional base? I assumed there was some brinkmanship going on, but now that the German routes from Bristol are virtually decimated, now's the time to show a hand if you're going to.

The FRA and DUS routes staying open does look like slot hogging, particularly as Flybe had be trying to snag FRA slots for a while for SOU.

I've had to rebook inlaws (from MUC) and find alternate routes for others, and I'm finding myself using LCY and LHR to get out to Germany, Switzerland now.

I always maintained that dead-end routes operated in the middle of the day were the most insane way of trying to serve the GSA. I'm in two minds about what's more annoying; using KL to hub through AMS, or trolling down the M4.

[a1234]

Yes it does look like they are just holding on for now, but why for EDI and GLA? Surely they would have been better off keeping MXP, there is something going on regarding todays announcements and I think there has to be more in this.

As for munich wouldn't be surprised at all to see Easy move in on this one. But I would doubt Lufthansa moving in yet, although they did mention BRS and CWL in the press release months back.

[Vasto1M]

Problems again tonight?

4 EZY’s diverted to CWL (inbound from NCL, CIA, MJV & ALC) and 5 heading to EMA (inbounds from GLA, EDI, SXF, TLS & AGP).

Just the one based aircraft (the inbound VCE) sitting at Bristol tonight. Could make for an interesting first wave in the morning!

[smellster]

Could be something to do with:


EGGD 052320Z 19027G37KT 9999 RA BKN009 09/08 Q0995=
EGGD 052250Z 19027G39KT 9999 RA BKN008 09/08 Q0995=
EGGD 052220Z 19027G42KT 9999 RA SCT009 SCT012 09/07 Q0996=
EGGD 052150Z 19027G39KT 7000 RA SCT010 BKN018 08/07 Q0997=
EGGD 052120Z 19026G36KT 6000 RA SCT015 BKN027 08/07 Q0998=
EGGD 052050Z 20025G36KT 6000 RA SCT015 BKN027 08/06 Q0999=
EGGD 052020Z 20026G39KT 7000 -RA SCT015 BKN027 09/07 Q1000=
EGGD 051950Z 20022G33KT 6000 RA SCT015 BKN025 09/07 Q1000=

and our 25kt (incl gusts) crosswind limit on a wet Bristol runway.
Glad I'm not on earlies tomorrow!

[mathers_wales_uk]

When i left CWL 1am this morning there were 3 a/c closed up and the 4th had returned back to ramp after being told the weather in scotland. It still had intentions of going.

This might mean they will be missing out the first sector of either Gla or Edi.

[Marco491]

Bristol Traveller you should try trolling down the M4, then the M5, then the A38 - at night - in the rain

Selfishly I had hoped for a shift to EXT, but I know I shouldn't blame other people for the lack of ambition at PLH...

I guess I can understand the Flybe focus on Southampton (gives the stock-broker belt an alternative to LHR), but the FRA-BRS planes are always fairly full so I can't believe the route is a loss-maker. You're probably right about slot hogging, though, just a matter of time.

What was this that LH have been saying?

[Devonair]

It is my understanding Flybe always try new routes from SOU first before rolling them out at EXT depending on their success. Hopefully EXT will have German routes within a year or so.

[Bristol_Traveller]

Here's what was reported at the end of last year about a potential LH touchdown at Bristol. I did write them a letter (given I'm one of their better customers) encouraging them to follow through, but to no avail.

http://news.cheapflights.co.uk/fligh...nsa_consi.html

I don't want to fly KLM/SkyTeam around the world. I want to get on at BRS, transfer at FRA or MUC and on around Europe and Asia. There's nothing more depressing than Landing at LHR in the p*****ing rain, and having 3 hours drag to go.

[elgan]

Flybe to close BRS Base sorry guys. All routes dropped with the exception of JER. All the best to those affected by this decision.
http://nextgenerationairline.com/pdf/brs.pdf

[Marco491]

Thanks for the link Bristol Traveller, and the vague hope.

Don't have your rest-of-the-world problem but couldn't agree more about LHR.
Notwithstanding the distance, on a good day it takes well over an hour from plane to car (thank goodness for Hertz Gold), and then up to 30 mins in the rush hour to leave the perimeter.

Compare that with BRS where I would swear that one morning I was sitting in my car before my seat on the plane had had a chance to go cold.

[WATABENCH]

What a shame BE have made that discission, although most of us could see it coming, I still believe that FR would fill the void quite nicely, they've added extra DUB with the closure of the CWL route, and added SNN & GRO recently, they have no bases in the south west at all, so surely it would make good business sense, I imagine the airport is a bit worried with regards to making BRS seem like just a LOCO hub, but hey beggars can't be choosers, get FR in now, fill these lost BA routes, plenty of crew available to work in the area, and give EZY a run for their money.
With the BRS marketing team being as good as they are I cant see the airport being without these routes for very long.

[a1234]

Can't really see how RYR can take over these routes seeing as they serve none of the lost airports, and since most of the pax that used the German routes were primarily business people I can't see many choosing to fly to Hahn instead of Frankfurt so really many will just go down the LHR from now. Although if lufthansa come in then it is possible to see these replaced, wouldn't be surprised to see MCH taken on by Easy though.

[Bristol_Traveller]

I think the difficulty that BACon faced (and Flybe might have faced) is that "once a day" routes with no onward connections are pretty duff for business users. Aside from the fact I won't fly FR (with the exception of BRS-DUB), I definitely wouldn't want to be dumped, unreliably, in Hahn in preference to a reasonably reliable journey to a well connected airport like LHR. And a lounge at both ends of the journey.

I fear that, unless the Route Development team secure a full service operator to take over some of these routes, Bristol is going to slide towards being a loco airport, with all of what that entails. Maybe it's going that way already? Giving up gate space for retail, closing the frequent fliers programme, spartan/crowded gate areas (yes, I'm thinking of the Bus Gates 8A...).

What are the options now for a business traveller wanting to start a journey at Bristol (and not do a once-a-day-trip with EZY)? KLM? SN? CO? It's not an impressive lineup.