BELFAST (BHD) - 3

[elle may clampit]

Gate 22. You often seem to be very well informed, I look forward to Tuesday, and to what, from my sources in the wider travel industry, is going to be the most significant announcement ever from BFS.
Things are truely hotting up, bring it on.

[gate 22]

Jet 2 to fly twice weekly Tues/Fri BFS/Tenerife next summer, Bfs based aircraft, could this be a 757 for next summer. Effectively all year round service. Extra winter flights haven't worked out what they are yet.

[gate 22]

Are Jet2 not doing Las Palmas too?

As far as I am aware they are initialy doing this winter, not next summer as of yet

[bhd-lonFLYer]

Do you think ei will codeshare with ba on bfs-lhr?
When will the other routes start?
How many aircraft will ei base?

Many Thanks

bhd-lonFLYer

[MUFC_fan]

Now that EI are out of OneWorld alliance, I find it very unlikely.

Willy Walsh said that they would like to re-instate the route, so it could happen if BA want to keep the LHR slots and use them for their long-haul battle with the new arrivales of DL, CO, NW, BMI etc.

[omoko joe]

Not entirely a surprise that Easyjet would pick on Jet2 now that they have finally woken up. Jet2 spent the summer head to head on AGP and PMI.
EI have signed the maintenance deal for buses in BFS so their announcement must be imminent.

[HH6702]

The extra easyjet aircraft is good news for BFS.

Sad news as NCL looses the aircraft to BFS.

[richardnei]

Jet2 now lookig for 757 captains for BFS, according to website.

[MarkD]

mufc fan - if EI could codeshare with KL (Skyteam) while in Oneworld, I'd say they could probably codeshare with BA now.

[en2r]

Now that EI are out of OneWorld alliance, I find it very unlikely.

They already codeshare quite successfully on Cork, Dublin & Shannon-LHR so I'd say BA will jump at the chance of having a codeshare without having to use any of their own slots. EIs membership of Oneworld is irrelevant, the BA codeshare on the other three Irish routes predates Aer Lingus joining Oneworld. Belfast will have to do very well if it is to keep LHR. Cork which seems to be losing a flight has a load factor of almost 80%, even Shannon the poorest performing LHR route rarely dips below 70%. If BFS is significantly below about 70% I don't think EI will have any hesitation in dropping the route. Bit disappointing that Cork is to lose a flight but at least with all flights now to be operated by an A321, capacity won 't drop that much and load factor will climb even higher.

[BELHold]

Be interesting to see where they are going to park the Shamrock especially if there is an arrival during first wave inbound....let the battle for 22 commence!

[NWSRG]

So where are we going to put all these aircraft?

All this expansion is great news for those of us in NI...after years of stagnation, this little corner of the empire is really starting to thrive! It's an exciting place to be these days...

So what development is going to take place (and when) at BFS to cater for all these services? Surely the airport is going to need a few more stands / gates / lounges with all this activity. Is it time to consider a brand new terminal, albeit gradually developed over the long term?

[BELHold]

Anybody any idea what the plans are for the now flattened BA complex..still lots of work going on there....a mini terminal for stand 11 perhaps.

[BHDflyer]

Good to hear easyjet are adding new routes

Good to hear easyjet are basing a 6th aircraft

Bad to hear easyjet are introducing baggage charges

[gate 22]

check out aer lingus thread post by EI-SHN with link to destination map from Belfast. If this proves to be true Barcelona, Malaga and Faro are going to be bloodbaths, overall the only new destination would be Budapest, overall a bit disappointing although they would be picking up Rome and code sharing on AMS. I wonder if this will change after todays EZY announcement. (if this map is true)

[BFS/BHD]

I would say alot of us will be dissapointed if those are the routes. Do we really need more flights to FAO, AGP and BCN. If EI get a codeshare with BA that could be a big blow to BMI. Surprised to see that there are no services to Germany or Scandinavia, personally would of liked a flight to CPH. But still excited to see the shamrocks back!

[True Blue]

If the route map is right, it is indeed disappointing. Great to see Lhr back at Bfs and Ei as well if this is all true. But surely there must be other destinations that could be served,eg mad or germany?

True Blue

[ryan2000]

If our experience in Cork is anything to go by, Aerlingus will concentrate on flying people to sun destinations and LHR/AMS/CDG with. They have no interest in routes that might attract inward tourists and only fly to Warsaw and Berlin to cater for Poles commuting back and forward. It's surprising that Dublin is the only airport on the Island with links to Scandanavia.

[gate 22]

The more I think about those proposed routes, the more I think they are a silly rumour. Surely EI are trying to ‘tread carefully’ with regards to their new base. I don’t think they will do Barcelona, Geneva , Malaga or Faro initially for the following reasons 1. Why would EI risk these routes when first setting up a base with EZY/JET 2 fully engaged on them. Geneva/Barcelona (the latter with 2 operators) are basically daily operations, too risky. 2. You don’t get any money from the air route development body for setting up a route that already is in operation. 3. With large areas of Europe not operated from Belfast why no utilise these markets. For these reasons I would guess an alternative 8 of 1. LHR 2. Amsterdam (as code sharing with KL) 3. Budapest 4. Riga 5. Frankfurt (surely EI could get an off-peak slot) 6. Brussels 7. Rome (as EZY have vacated) and 8. Bordeaux (very popular with N.Ireland folk and EI’s marketing would know this). 5 of these routes EI would receive a start-up cash package. Then once things settle down they may think of the sun destinations.

[840]

I'd broadly agree that your routes sound better.

However, I don't think they'd do Amsterdam and Brussels. Also, I wouldn't be too sure about Frankfurt; it's long gone from Cork and has been declining from Dublin.

I would imagine that Warsaw is quite likely and some kind of service to Manchester or Birmingham may turn up if they are looking to squeeze the last bit of utilisation out of one of the aircraft.