BIRMINGHAM - 4
Join Date: Aug 2007
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No extended runway, no major development. It is as simple as that.
"If you build it, they will come".
The stumbling block (as always) is who will fund the project? Kehoe and team are trying their hardest to secure funding. Investment banks don't seem to want to lend. Further downturn in ATM's, pax figures expected this year. You can't blame banks for not wanting to lend.
Let's hope the Canadian Teachers Pension fund and Austrailians read these threads and inject some money into what is undoubtedly a long term investment.
Last edited by grundyhead; 13th Feb 2010 at 15:32.
Join Date: Jan 2007
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Coventry wouldn't agree with that!!!
Anyway, the main stumbling block for the development would appear to be the funding for the re-routing of the A45.
Advantage West Midlands have something like £25 million for the project but current EU rules say this is Government money, therefore, forbidden.
The extension will not be up and running until at least 2014 now, so any speculation about long haul hubs will remain just that....
I'm sure BHX, along with many other airports at this time, would just be grateful for an upturn to the pre crunch levels of business.....
Anyway, the main stumbling block for the development would appear to be the funding for the re-routing of the A45. Advantage West Midlands have something like £25 million for the project but current EU rules say this is Government money, therefore, forbidden.
The extension will not be up and running until at least 2014 now, so any speculation about long haul hubs will remain just that....
I'm sure BHX, along with many other airports at this time, would just be grateful for an upturn to the pre crunch levels of business.....
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Advantage West Midlands have something like £25 million for the project but current EU rules say this is Government money, therefore, forbidden.
EC Funding (£24.3m) for Newquay airport is approved
West Midlands has had a constant battering over the years: Rover, HP, Cadbury etc and whoever next JLR?? Industrial decay, regression, destruction of the area. Doesn't seem right that BIA can't have this money.
Maybe BIA should start buying lotto and euro tickets from Spar LOL
Join Date: Jul 2009
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Phased project
It is inevitable that at some stae BHX will get an extended runway and, conversely, the A45 will be re-routed; each being funded from different sources.
If that is to be the case why then should the project not be completed in two phases. If the controlling management at BHX can with the Canadian Teachers Fund and the Australians secure funding, proceed with as much if not all of the runway extension that lies within the airport bounday in the knowledge that clearly no extension could be brought into use until the A45 was diverted.
Madness or radical thinking I don't know. But once any work was started within the airport, it would certainly drive forward the need to find a rapid solution to the other vital and essential element in this equation - the road works. And it could shorten the time taken in the overall construction.
If that is to be the case why then should the project not be completed in two phases. If the controlling management at BHX can with the Canadian Teachers Fund and the Australians secure funding, proceed with as much if not all of the runway extension that lies within the airport bounday in the knowledge that clearly no extension could be brought into use until the A45 was diverted.
Madness or radical thinking I don't know. But once any work was started within the airport, it would certainly drive forward the need to find a rapid solution to the other vital and essential element in this equation - the road works. And it could shorten the time taken in the overall construction.
Join Date: Dec 2003
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"If you build it, they will come".
....yes but they might all go again when the times get hard...!
As I have said before on the BHX forum, careful for what you wish for !
The payments for investment at MAN especially on RW2 will go on for years and is clearly having a detrimental effect on other areas such as lighting, taxiways etc.
....yes but they might all go again when the times get hard...!
As I have said before on the BHX forum, careful for what you wish for !
The payments for investment at MAN especially on RW2 will go on for years and is clearly having a detrimental effect on other areas such as lighting, taxiways etc.
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Baby Barcelona
BMI Baby Barcelona not bookable after 7/6/2010?
Hopefully just a time change but it is not looking good.
On the positive side, Emirates are still operating quite a few
High Density 77W's on EK37/8.
PK791/2 on Saturdays returned yesterday as a 772, complimenting
the 77W on Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday.
Pete
Hopefully just a time change but it is not looking good.
On the positive side, Emirates are still operating quite a few
High Density 77W's on EK37/8.
PK791/2 on Saturdays returned yesterday as a 772, complimenting
the 77W on Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday.
Pete
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So, Barcelona - yet another destination that seems will be disappearing from the departure and arrival screens.
The route development consultancy, employed by BHX at no doubt great expense (and at a time when jobs that matter to the traveling public, like the Information Desk, are being culled) i'm sure have a plan up their sleeves
The route development consultancy, employed by BHX at no doubt great expense (and at a time when jobs that matter to the traveling public, like the Information Desk, are being culled) i'm sure have a plan up their sleeves
Join Date: Dec 2008
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T1 Security Area
I noticed the new security equipment (automated rollers/scanners etc) currently being installed at T1 this morning. Looks like positions 3/4 are complete with 1/2 and 5/6 yet to be started. From experience at Manchester (where the exact same equipment has been in place for some time) the new system tends to be a little slower than the traditional belts. That being said, it's a bit more organised and efficient for the staff - so swings and roundabouts I guess.
Join Date: Jan 2006
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January Pax down 5.4%
Source: CAA
519716 for January down 7.4% and rolling 12 months 9051612 down 5.4%
This is probably not as bad as I thought, as there was quite a few weather cancellations during the month.
Luton 529105 down 8.1% and rolling 9068416
EDI 513357 down 8-9%? rolling 9002956.
East Mids down 17.6%, Bristol down 9.1%
The difference is that most other airports are adding aircraft for summer
but BHX will be losing two Baby compared to last summer and less FR
flights although four based still.
Pete
519716 for January down 7.4% and rolling 12 months 9051612 down 5.4%
This is probably not as bad as I thought, as there was quite a few weather cancellations during the month.
Luton 529105 down 8.1% and rolling 9068416
EDI 513357 down 8-9%? rolling 9002956.
East Mids down 17.6%, Bristol down 9.1%
The difference is that most other airports are adding aircraft for summer
but BHX will be losing two Baby compared to last summer and less FR
flights although four based still.
Pete
Last edited by OltonPete; 15th Feb 2010 at 18:45. Reason: Incorrect % should 7.4% for January
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Birmingham, United Kingdom
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Emirates Lounge
The Emirates lounge was open for selected airport staff to come and have a look around yesterday, I believe it was open today for passengers. From what I heard a soft opening and then an official launch later.
Anybody have any news or reaction from the passengers. Ive seen it and it is quite nice and comfy inside. Shame about the view though. Would have been better with a view of the other side in my opinion
Anybody have any news or reaction from the passengers. Ive seen it and it is quite nice and comfy inside. Shame about the view though. Would have been better with a view of the other side in my opinion
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Mahan air upgrade
Mahan air are intending to upgrade the bhx service to a A343 in the future after
signing a lease on the Hifly a/c CSTQM. A/c is in IKA for repainting. We
(servisair/aviance) have received a seat map and all weights etc in order to do
loadsheets n check in..
Will let all know what services these are on once relevant emails are received...
What I cannot understand is why an Ethihad or the like are not looking at bhx and getting in on the action.. EK and now W5 are in a sense printing money ex bhx..
Baz
signing a lease on the Hifly a/c CSTQM. A/c is in IKA for repainting. We
(servisair/aviance) have received a seat map and all weights etc in order to do
loadsheets n check in..
Will let all know what services these are on once relevant emails are received...
What I cannot understand is why an Ethihad or the like are not looking at bhx and getting in on the action.. EK and now W5 are in a sense printing money ex bhx..
Baz
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What I cannot understand is why an Ethihad or the like are not looking at bhx and getting in on the action.. EK and now W5 are in a sense printing money ex bhx..
As for other airlines BHX seems well off the radar of all - I see Norwegian are starting EDI and LGW-ARN, both routes served by FR (admittedly to Vasteras not Arlanda). No one serves this route to either airport from BHX.......yes, the routes consultancy are certainly worth the exorbitant fees they no doubt charge
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Emirates/Mahan Air
I must admit Emirates must be quite satisfied with the lack of real competition at BHX but whether there is enough pax to go round if
EY or QR entered the fray is a good question.
I would say that there definitely is if it was QR and they targeted
the obvious connection to their newish Amritsar service. Whether
these pax would provide a sustainable yield, I have no idea.
January which was an awful month generally produced 39728 pax to Dubai
and Tehran 5244 (175 per flight?).
The Dubai was the second highest ever but might include diverted
pax although this might balance out as one Gatwick diverted flight
operated the BHX EK38 one after the inbound EK37 diverted away.
38728 equates to 320 per flight and around 81% load factor.
This month is seeing a lot of upgrades on EK37/38 to 442 seat
aircraft, probably due to half-term.
Qatar would probably want about 225 pax per flight and say 17 flights
a month (4 a week), then this would be less than 8000 pax a month, which should be possible but would no doubt squeeze Mahan & Turkmen a bit as well as EK.
As for route development, it has gone backwards fast since the announcement of this outside company and it is something when
Norwegian see more mileage in competing with Ryanair at EDI than having a route to itself at BHX.
EDI is very strong in the summer months and it is understandable if it is a seasonal route but FR proved at BHX there is a market to Stockholm year-round, it was just unfortunate they could not get the yield on a 189 seater. Although I suppose DY would have the same problem with their aircraft.
Pete
EY or QR entered the fray is a good question.
I would say that there definitely is if it was QR and they targeted
the obvious connection to their newish Amritsar service. Whether
these pax would provide a sustainable yield, I have no idea.
January which was an awful month generally produced 39728 pax to Dubai
and Tehran 5244 (175 per flight?).
The Dubai was the second highest ever but might include diverted
pax although this might balance out as one Gatwick diverted flight
operated the BHX EK38 one after the inbound EK37 diverted away.
38728 equates to 320 per flight and around 81% load factor.
This month is seeing a lot of upgrades on EK37/38 to 442 seat
aircraft, probably due to half-term.
Qatar would probably want about 225 pax per flight and say 17 flights
a month (4 a week), then this would be less than 8000 pax a month, which should be possible but would no doubt squeeze Mahan & Turkmen a bit as well as EK.
As for route development, it has gone backwards fast since the announcement of this outside company and it is something when
Norwegian see more mileage in competing with Ryanair at EDI than having a route to itself at BHX.
EDI is very strong in the summer months and it is understandable if it is a seasonal route but FR proved at BHX there is a market to Stockholm year-round, it was just unfortunate they could not get the yield on a 189 seater. Although I suppose DY would have the same problem with their aircraft.
Pete
Join Date: Jan 2007
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Pete, You are right about the contracting out of the route harvesting...I don't know exactly how much we are paying them, but they are certainly not delivering anything of any significance.
I know it's a difficult market at the moment, but, I think the money should be saved and the process brought in house again.
BHX has masses of capacity at the moment, it's a shame it's not being taken...
I know it's a difficult market at the moment, but, I think the money should be saved and the process brought in house again.
BHX has masses of capacity at the moment, it's a shame it's not being taken...
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Marketing
call100
I get the impression that PK is not likely to tolerate a company not delivering? What is their exact role, anybody who has been around the
West Midlands for a while would generally know what routes are realistic,
the problem is persuading airlines to risk them in these difficult times.
Is this company dealing directly with the airlines or just advising
BHX of their options? I just do not see how this arrangement can be
justified unless it is just to identify future long-term markets which are currently untapped.
Personally I just want them to concentrate on delivering Madrid,
Rome, Venice, Berlin, Stockholm, Oslo and Athens and that is surely
just down to persuading an airline(s) to take the risk and PK should be
getting involved himself if things aren't progressing by delegation.
Pete
I get the impression that PK is not likely to tolerate a company not delivering? What is their exact role, anybody who has been around the
West Midlands for a while would generally know what routes are realistic,
the problem is persuading airlines to risk them in these difficult times.
Is this company dealing directly with the airlines or just advising
BHX of their options? I just do not see how this arrangement can be
justified unless it is just to identify future long-term markets which are currently untapped.
Personally I just want them to concentrate on delivering Madrid,
Rome, Venice, Berlin, Stockholm, Oslo and Athens and that is surely
just down to persuading an airline(s) to take the risk and PK should be
getting involved himself if things aren't progressing by delegation.
Pete
Join Date: Jan 2007
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As I understand it this company is supposed to go out and get the routes for the airport. Not just advise.
As for PK, when he arrived and the Commercial Director left (varying reasons on how/why he left) he said he was taking on responsibility personally for routes. Then he hired this company. I don't find anyone that is impressed at the moment. That said, it is a difficult market at present so hoping for some good news in the long term.....Geez I want to be positive!! It's so damn hard these days!!!
As for PK, when he arrived and the Commercial Director left (varying reasons on how/why he left) he said he was taking on responsibility personally for routes. Then he hired this company. I don't find anyone that is impressed at the moment. That said, it is a difficult market at present so hoping for some good news in the long term.....Geez I want to be positive!! It's so damn hard these days!!!
Guest
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Personally I just want them to concentrate on delivering (...) Berlin,
It's quite clear that BER wouldn't work from BHX, plus it was tried and failed already (though not 5x like CGN). Just look at BE's loads even for FRA, which is a much better market in all respects. The small interest in BER from the Midlands are covered well by FR from EMA and EZY from LTN. I hope no airline is stupid enough to again waste money on trying BHX-BER Rome, Madrid, sure these could be different stories. But all those destinations are easily reachable with connections. BHX should focus on keeping existing routes.
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Berlin
jpthomas72
I don't agree re your comments re Berlin, I think the last time it stopped
was due to the fact the airline went under (DUO) and I am not the
only one although I am not sure about a full service operator.
The Route Shop | Birmingham International Airport (BHX/EGBB)
Okay Cologne is flagged up as well, which doesn't add to the credibility of the article but never mind, as the rest are pretty much as you would expect.
Under the BA franchise TXL was carrying over 3000 pax a month (CAA 2003)which averaged out at 36 a flight although it was lower under Duo.
However if it was a goldmine LH or BE would have tried it by now but it is a route made for ryanair or easyjet. Obviously the former is ruled out as you rightly say it is covered by them at East Mids. However easy has a base at SXF but they seem to be uninterested in BHX. So in the short-term it isn't going to happen but it is not looking good for the rest either.
flybe's Frankfurt to be fair does compete with LH and I was amazed that they kept it after the Connect takeover but yields are supposed to be good (if you believe what you are told) and the same goes for Stuttgart
(have you seen the CAA stats!!!!) and Dusseldorf.
Pete
I don't agree re your comments re Berlin, I think the last time it stopped
was due to the fact the airline went under (DUO) and I am not the
only one although I am not sure about a full service operator.
The Route Shop | Birmingham International Airport (BHX/EGBB)
Okay Cologne is flagged up as well, which doesn't add to the credibility of the article but never mind, as the rest are pretty much as you would expect.
Under the BA franchise TXL was carrying over 3000 pax a month (CAA 2003)which averaged out at 36 a flight although it was lower under Duo.
However if it was a goldmine LH or BE would have tried it by now but it is a route made for ryanair or easyjet. Obviously the former is ruled out as you rightly say it is covered by them at East Mids. However easy has a base at SXF but they seem to be uninterested in BHX. So in the short-term it isn't going to happen but it is not looking good for the rest either.
flybe's Frankfurt to be fair does compete with LH and I was amazed that they kept it after the Connect takeover but yields are supposed to be good (if you believe what you are told) and the same goes for Stuttgart
(have you seen the CAA stats!!!!) and Dusseldorf.
Pete
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: West Mids
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The Routeshop pitch is saying nothing to potential airlines that the Marketing Team hadn't been saying for years. Very often they had airlines interested only to be thwarted by the bean counters who thought BA were going to stay and pay high pax rates forever. The consultancy not a stroke of genius, it is merely a method of turning fixed costs into variable costs in terms of route developments.
I wonder if BHX is going to be the airport remembered as the one that reached for the stars only to have the rug pulled from under its feet?
I wonder if BHX is going to be the airport remembered as the one that reached for the stars only to have the rug pulled from under its feet?