BELFAST (BHD) - 3
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I take Ryanair's explanation that they are pulling out of BHD because of the runway length at face value.
The conspiracy theory that they were losing money doesn't make sense to me because they were running four flights a day to STN and presumably they were doing similar on other routes. If they were losing money they could have reduced the number of flights while still operating from the airport. For example Derry only has a single daily flight to Stansted which presumably makes a profit since it is not being pulled. OK, so the passenger limit currently operating on Ryanair flights at BHD does affect the profitability of each flight but they operated like that for several years at Derry. The pulling out is more to make a statement of their annoyance, to show that they mean business and to put pressure on the politicians to get it sorted.
No, I think it is just as they have stated and as soon as the runway extension is completed, which it will be despite resident's groups, then Ryanair will return and will run flights to Europe as well as reinstating the domestic flights.
The conspiracy theory that they were losing money doesn't make sense to me because they were running four flights a day to STN and presumably they were doing similar on other routes. If they were losing money they could have reduced the number of flights while still operating from the airport. For example Derry only has a single daily flight to Stansted which presumably makes a profit since it is not being pulled. OK, so the passenger limit currently operating on Ryanair flights at BHD does affect the profitability of each flight but they operated like that for several years at Derry. The pulling out is more to make a statement of their annoyance, to show that they mean business and to put pressure on the politicians to get it sorted.
No, I think it is just as they have stated and as soon as the runway extension is completed, which it will be despite resident's groups, then Ryanair will return and will run flights to Europe as well as reinstating the domestic flights.
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FOK...care to share the figures?
How much was he paying for landing fees? Did that figure remain the same after three years or was it due to reduce or increase?
If you don't have the figures your assertions are worthless.
How much was he paying for landing fees? Did that figure remain the same after three years or was it due to reduce or increase?
If you don't have the figures your assertions are worthless.
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Meanwhile, onto serious operational news (again).
The (Ford Transit) car park minibus that replaced the other (Mercedes) car park minibus that died... has died. Three of us got a lift down to Sydenham today in one of the airfield pick-up trucks, luggage piled up in the back. Will be fine as long as NIR bring in no more than 4.... sorry, 3 people per train. Bird scarer might be also be handy to stop people dropping off passengers on the double yellows.
The (Ford Transit) car park minibus that replaced the other (Mercedes) car park minibus that died... has died. Three of us got a lift down to Sydenham today in one of the airfield pick-up trucks, luggage piled up in the back. Will be fine as long as NIR bring in no more than 4.... sorry, 3 people per train. Bird scarer might be also be handy to stop people dropping off passengers on the double yellows.
Join Date: Jul 2009
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well said Amelia 
Eastern Wiseguy, alas i dont have the landing fee figures, i imagine thats a closely guarded secret with Stephen Ambrose and his gang. I can only surmise about such things.
If you need figures i can tell you that on the Stansted route on many days the passengers figures are without fail in the 150+ per flight, with the morning service often being fully or even overbooked. Yesterday (bearing in mind it was a sunday) had roughly 3800 people booked to fly in and out of BHD
Its also worth note that in the top 20 UK airports, BHD has had the greatest increase on passenger figures, a lot of this is down to Ryanair, and Easyjet i guess
Ryanair make money from credit card charges, bags, excess, charging for bags at the gate, airport check ins, booking changes, priority boarding at the airport, which adds up to a surprising amount and this is before the passenger even gets onboard.
Its also worth pointing out that with Ryanair being a point to point airline, the large number of passengers/families who fly to the likes of Stansted have onward connections, so baggage and any other charges get doubled.
O'Leary may be considered many things, but he didnt turn a failing airline into the biggest low cost airline in Europe by opening a base here or there and just hoping some profit comes in.
As Amelia has said if the routes were not making money he would reduce the daily services, but if you fly with Ryanair anyday you'll find there will usually be 2 Stansted flights in close succession each afternoon, and sometimes the same for Liverpool
Eastern Wiseguy, alas i dont have the landing fee figures, i imagine thats a closely guarded secret with Stephen Ambrose and his gang. I can only surmise about such things.
If you need figures i can tell you that on the Stansted route on many days the passengers figures are without fail in the 150+ per flight, with the morning service often being fully or even overbooked. Yesterday (bearing in mind it was a sunday) had roughly 3800 people booked to fly in and out of BHD
Its also worth note that in the top 20 UK airports, BHD has had the greatest increase on passenger figures, a lot of this is down to Ryanair, and Easyjet i guess
Ryanair make money from credit card charges, bags, excess, charging for bags at the gate, airport check ins, booking changes, priority boarding at the airport, which adds up to a surprising amount and this is before the passenger even gets onboard.
Its also worth pointing out that with Ryanair being a point to point airline, the large number of passengers/families who fly to the likes of Stansted have onward connections, so baggage and any other charges get doubled.
O'Leary may be considered many things, but he didnt turn a failing airline into the biggest low cost airline in Europe by opening a base here or there and just hoping some profit comes in.
As Amelia has said if the routes were not making money he would reduce the daily services, but if you fly with Ryanair anyday you'll find there will usually be 2 Stansted flights in close succession each afternoon, and sometimes the same for Liverpool
WW, you are correct.
They threatened Derry with withdrawal of services unless the runway was extended. The work was carried out, and they did indeed launch new routes to LPL, PIK, BHX, FAO and ALC. However, the most successful route to STN was chopped and changed from twice daily, to four a week, to daily again. Other routes have come and gone (BRS, EMA, LTN), and current routes often have their frequencies and timings messed around with.
I do however believe that RYR were making money at BHD. I've paid as much as £129 rtn BHD-BRS, which for a low cost airline isn't cheap. I don't have any idea of yield/profit etc made by RYR at BHD, but do know that a while back they said the only RYR base that wasn't profitable was Shannon. Whether that is still the case is anyone's guess.
They threatened Derry with withdrawal of services unless the runway was extended. The work was carried out, and they did indeed launch new routes to LPL, PIK, BHX, FAO and ALC. However, the most successful route to STN was chopped and changed from twice daily, to four a week, to daily again. Other routes have come and gone (BRS, EMA, LTN), and current routes often have their frequencies and timings messed around with.
I do however believe that RYR were making money at BHD. I've paid as much as £129 rtn BHD-BRS, which for a low cost airline isn't cheap. I don't have any idea of yield/profit etc made by RYR at BHD, but do know that a while back they said the only RYR base that wasn't profitable was Shannon. Whether that is still the case is anyone's guess.
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no idea about the situation about LDY. One assumes if an extension was done it wasnt done any closer to the train line? :P
OLeary has made money out of Belfast but i think as someone may have pointed out somewhere, his aircraft are better suited for longer flights, where more cash can be made. Prestwick flights can be done on the 737 in under 18 mins in the right weather (one pilot claims 13 mins!! :S ), which for an aircraft that size is a little wasted. Im told that the aircraft based in Belfast (i cant remember how often they get rotated and swapped for maitenence) is likely being taken down to Barcelona in Nov.
The talk that Ryanair only left because they made no money from Belfast is complete bull!!
OLeary has made money out of Belfast but i think as someone may have pointed out somewhere, his aircraft are better suited for longer flights, where more cash can be made. Prestwick flights can be done on the 737 in under 18 mins in the right weather (one pilot claims 13 mins!! :S ), which for an aircraft that size is a little wasted. Im told that the aircraft based in Belfast (i cant remember how often they get rotated and swapped for maitenence) is likely being taken down to Barcelona in Nov.
The talk that Ryanair only left because they made no money from Belfast is complete bull!!
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no idea about the situation about LDY. One assumes if an extension was done it wasnt done any closer to the train line? :P
If the extension does get the go ahead at BHD, surely it will be years down the line and who knows what other airlines will have entered and have started euro routes by then. RYR may yet come to regret their decision to leave BHD.
Join Date: Aug 2002
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Yes AAron you youngsters ...
Seems the link doesn't work....sorry
Outside the Bredlund Brewery in Sladelse you can see the remains of a BAC 111-510ED One-Eleven plane. Today it's used as dining place for the brewery. Especially pupular used for parties.
Built at Bournemouth in 1968 for BEA, later British Airways. Sold to European Aviation in 1993, eventually ending her career with Air Bristol (later AB Airlines). This was the aircraft recently used to stage a wedding reception, after a couple were married in a DC-3 over London.
Reg. nr: G-AVMN
Type: BAC 111-510ED One-Eleven
Flewn for: British Airways and Air Belfast
Photos of the plane today:
Her flytter snart en ny gst ind
Built at Bournemouth in 1968 for BEA, later British Airways. Sold to European Aviation in 1993, eventually ending her career with Air Bristol (later AB Airlines). This was the aircraft recently used to stage a wedding reception, after a couple were married in a DC-3 over London.
Reg. nr: G-AVMN
Type: BAC 111-510ED One-Eleven
Flewn for: British Airways and Air Belfast
Photos of the plane today:
Her flytter snart en ny gst ind
Seems the link doesn't work....sorry
Last edited by eastern wiseguy; 20th Sep 2010 at 21:53.
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The conspiracy theory that they were losing money doesn't make sense to me
So it makes more sence to you that Ryanair would pull off a route that they are actually MAKING MONEY on????
Join Date: Jul 2007
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So it makes more sence to you that Ryanair would pull off a route that they are actually MAKING MONEY on????
It's possible, if they thought the aircraft could make more money elsewhere......
Travelled through BHD on business a couple of times in the last few weeks (first time in quite a few months) and would like to say what a disappointing experience it was. Two wet & windy (early) mornings, so on the first occasion I parked close to a courtesy bus stop. Was waiting there for a few minutes before I saw the notice that the bus service was suspended apparently indefinitely
. After getting soaked on the walk to the terminal I joined the flybe check in / bag drop queue which was queued back right the way down the terminal as usual. Went through security (painless enough) to the rip off airside restaurant, then got soaked again walking out to the plane as Belfast's two airports only have one airbridge each and (for the most part) you only get to use them if you fly with one particular airline 
. On the return journey the checked bags came out reasonably quickly but the two rip off parking machines outside the terminal weren't working, one was not labelled as such and ended up swallowing my ticket. On my second trip a week later I saw people using the same machine (the one next to it still hadn't been fixed) so I went to use it. No joy, but at least it didn't eat my ticket - and it still wasn't marked as faulty even though they knew about it a week earlier
. Had to join the queues inside, which were, as expected, queued half way down the terminal 
.Come on BHD, get it sorted
Join Date: Sep 2010
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Air UK at BHD
From memory it was about1998 they were thre. They arrived just as the new arrivals hall opened. But did not stay long. The LBA service did ok with the 360 G-DASI. dont think they used the F27.
!At the same time Fly BE had a 737 of air uk leisure knocking about on a few flights, as well as one from Martiair and .TEA
They also used an A320 one christmas.Think it was an Irish one.
The best ones had to be the Tridents! now they knew how to stop my schoolteacher in her tracks!.We were used to Canberas and other military jets , but the day they went out they were loud
The anti airport group would not of approved
but then no one bothered that the TV picture wobbled in those days.
!At the same time Fly BE had a 737 of air uk leisure knocking about on a few flights, as well as one from Martiair and .TEA
They also used an A320 one christmas.Think it was an Irish one.
The best ones had to be the Tridents! now they knew how to stop my schoolteacher in her tracks!.We were used to Canberas and other military jets , but the day they went out they were loud
The anti airport group would not of approved
but then no one bothered that the TV picture wobbled in those days.
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Air UK at BHD
From memory it was about1998 they were thre. They arrived just as the new arrivals hall opened. But did not stay long. The LBA service did ok with the 360 G-DASI. dont think they used the F27.
!At the same time Fly BE had a 737 of air uk leisure knocking about on a few flights, as well as one from Martiair and .TEA
They also used an A320 one christmas.Think it was an Irish one.
The best ones had to be the Tridents! now they knew how to stop my schoolteacher in her tracks!.We were used to Canberas and other military jets , but the day they went out they were loud
The anti airport group would not of approved
but then no one bothered that the TV picture wobbled in those days.
!At the same time Fly BE had a 737 of air uk leisure knocking about on a few flights, as well as one from Martiair and .TEA
They also used an A320 one christmas.Think it was an Irish one.
The best ones had to be the Tridents! now they knew how to stop my schoolteacher in her tracks!.We were used to Canberas and other military jets , but the day they went out they were loud
The anti airport group would not of approved
but then no one bothered that the TV picture wobbled in those days.
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It would have been about 1978 ish. was in Elmgrove school then and they went out over the top. a slight left of noise abatement!
They were in due fog at BFS.
there may have been a vanguard in at the same time
i was only 6 at the time.so details a little faint!
it was a few years after the buckaneer crashed, that was 1972
They were in due fog at BFS.
there may have been a vanguard in at the same time
i was only 6 at the time.so details a little faint!
it was a few years after the buckaneer crashed, that was 1972
Last edited by dog in park; 21st Sep 2010 at 11:15.
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From memory it was about1998 they were thre. They arrived just as the new arrivals hall opened. But did not stay long. The LBA service did ok with the 360 G-DASI. dont think they used the F27
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Runway Extension - Business Case
I've been wondering what the actual business case is for the runway extension...
I can't find an actual figure for the cost of the extension, but it must be an 8 figure sum anyway...even with FR in place, how many additional routes / passengers would the extension have created (and how much of the revenue would have come to the airport). Now that FR have gone (maybe temporarily) the business case must have changed again.
Maybe I'm not considering the whole picture (and I'm sure the management at BHD have) but it seems a very significant investment, but for what return?
Also wondered is it all a financial game...build the capital value of the airport, and hopefully see route growth with it, then flog it off to the next buyer? Although given the climate today, even that seems a long shot.
I can't find an actual figure for the cost of the extension, but it must be an 8 figure sum anyway...even with FR in place, how many additional routes / passengers would the extension have created (and how much of the revenue would have come to the airport). Now that FR have gone (maybe temporarily) the business case must have changed again.
Maybe I'm not considering the whole picture (and I'm sure the management at BHD have) but it seems a very significant investment, but for what return?
Also wondered is it all a financial game...build the capital value of the airport, and hopefully see route growth with it, then flog it off to the next buyer? Although given the climate today, even that seems a long shot.