BELFAST (BHD) - 3
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Bhd Based Flt Deck And Cabin Crew Normally Operate Bhd - Lhr Rotations. However During Summer Months They Often Operate Charters From Bfs. If Cabin Crew Are On Standby Its Not Uncommon At Present For Them To Called To Operate Flights Ex Lhr To Ex Bmed Routes Or Short Haul Euro Routes.
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Belfast, UK
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TOM summer 2009
Just reading the flight pages of the new Thomson Holidays 2009 brochure. From what I can gather BFS are losing the FCA based A320, to be replaced with a Thurs-Mon based TOM aircraft (could it mean capacity increase from A320 to B757??).
Few holes in the timetable noted however...
Tenerife TOM flight arrives BFS, Saturday morning at 01.45, yet first TOM flight out on Saturday not due to leave until 15.55 to Las Palmas.
Sunday TOM flight from Malaga arrives BFS 13.55, next departing flight is the 07.00 Monday morning service to Dalaman.
Not sure what could be coming at a later stage, maybe changing the Verona Lakes and Mountains flight from BHD with bmi, to a TOM operated flight from BFS???
Anyone in the know??
Any idea re TCX for summer 2009??
Appears that Zakynthos and Crete on sale, but no Corfu or Rhodes, maybe dropped??
Few holes in the timetable noted however...
Tenerife TOM flight arrives BFS, Saturday morning at 01.45, yet first TOM flight out on Saturday not due to leave until 15.55 to Las Palmas.
Sunday TOM flight from Malaga arrives BFS 13.55, next departing flight is the 07.00 Monday morning service to Dalaman.
Not sure what could be coming at a later stage, maybe changing the Verona Lakes and Mountains flight from BHD with bmi, to a TOM operated flight from BFS???
Anyone in the know??
Any idea re TCX for summer 2009??
Appears that Zakynthos and Crete on sale, but no Corfu or Rhodes, maybe dropped??
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Just checking the cost of flights ex Stn to Belfast this Thursday evening. I see that Easyjet are about £110 cheaper than Ryanair. I know who I would rather pay my money to and it's not the blue machine. Even Ei are cheaper out of Lhr.
True Blue
The Ryanair flight is probably just nearly full, and the Easyjet and Aer Lingus flights are emptier.
The Easyjet flight was full, I was on it!!
True blue
Just checking the cost of flights ex Stn to Belfast this Thursday evening. I see that Easyjet are about £110 cheaper than Ryanair. I know who I would rather pay my money to and it's not the blue machine. Even Ei are cheaper out of Lhr.
True Blue
The Ryanair flight is probably just nearly full, and the Easyjet and Aer Lingus flights are emptier.
The Easyjet flight was full, I was on it!!
True blue
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The Easyjet flight was full, I was on it!!
However it could be just that Ryanair have higher yields on the route than Easyjet!
Last edited by en2r; 18th Apr 2008 at 22:12.
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The flight I referred to was last night and i am well aware that the real issue is yield.
Let me give another view on yield. I travelled bhd - Stn on Tuesday. The pax nos were quite high, but it was obvious that quite a number of them were on 2p fares, like myself, although I went for business, others were just on a day out. They had all checked in'on-line' so no fees there, no baggage and very little sold on either flight, despite the best attempts of the crew. It seems to me that FR are buying pax at Bhd at the minute and I would guess, the base is costing them a fortune. I saw another post on the load on an early flight from Ema, 22 on it. What will happen when they have to stop the 2p flights? The flights that I used could have been booked the night before for 22.99 plus charges. hardly high yield is it?
I used both Fr and Ezy this week. Ezy are miles ahead, in my opinion. In the cabin, they are just way more professional. Fr, just a hard sell all the time.
True Blue
Let me give another view on yield. I travelled bhd - Stn on Tuesday. The pax nos were quite high, but it was obvious that quite a number of them were on 2p fares, like myself, although I went for business, others were just on a day out. They had all checked in'on-line' so no fees there, no baggage and very little sold on either flight, despite the best attempts of the crew. It seems to me that FR are buying pax at Bhd at the minute and I would guess, the base is costing them a fortune. I saw another post on the load on an early flight from Ema, 22 on it. What will happen when they have to stop the 2p flights? The flights that I used could have been booked the night before for 22.99 plus charges. hardly high yield is it?
I used both Fr and Ezy this week. Ezy are miles ahead, in my opinion. In the cabin, they are just way more professional. Fr, just a hard sell all the time.
True Blue
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Let me give another view on yield. I travelled bhd - Stn on Tuesday. The pax nos were quite high, but it was obvious that quite a number of them were on 2p fares, like myself, although I went for business, others were just on a day out. They had all checked in'on-line' so no fees there, no baggage and very little sold on either flight, despite the best attempts of the crew. It seems to me that FR are buying pax at Bhd at the minute and I would guess, the base is costing them a fortune. I saw another post on the load on an early flight from Ema, 22 on it. What will happen when they have to stop the 2p flights? The flights that I used could have been booked the night before for 22.99 plus charges. hardly high yield is it?
On another note, the 2p fares aren't just on BHD-STN, they're also frequently seen on routes to London from ALL of Ryanair's other Irish airports.
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EN2R
Let me explain if I can.
You replied suggesting that the reason for the difference in fares was that Fr was probaby well booked and Ezy and Ei not so. I was on the Ezy flight and it was full. Fr might have been well booked as well, but a lot of those pax are being bought at the moment, no profit there. Fr might have been charging £150 plus on their flight last night at the end, but what was the average? When you have pax at 2p, that pulls the average down mightily.
Fr have been very good at creating the impression that they are much cheaper that other airlines, when in fact at times they can be as dear as hell. If you were paying £150 plus tax to fly Lon to Bhd, who would you rather fly with, Fr or Bd?
In my opinion Fr and Bhd married for the wrong reasons. Bhd out of panic at falling pax nos and fr out of spite because Ei decided to go to Bfs. Good business decisions are never made when made for reasons like these. After Ei opened at Bfs, we saw lots of articles about the poor loads that Ei were getting at Bfs But where has the questions been asked about the Fr planes operating at Bhd with the 20-30 pax on board? All successful companies get to a point where they start making bad decisions, witness the banks and the credit crunch issues at the moment.
So to sum up, I see an airline that is having to buy business at the moment and if they drive others out of the market, will turn out just to be as expensive as the legacy carriers in a monpoly sitution. Only we will have high fares and no service, with everything else to pay for on top. That is if they haven't pulled the plug at Bhd before then if the pofits don't come quckly.
Just my private views.
True Blue
Let me explain if I can.
You replied suggesting that the reason for the difference in fares was that Fr was probaby well booked and Ezy and Ei not so. I was on the Ezy flight and it was full. Fr might have been well booked as well, but a lot of those pax are being bought at the moment, no profit there. Fr might have been charging £150 plus on their flight last night at the end, but what was the average? When you have pax at 2p, that pulls the average down mightily.
Fr have been very good at creating the impression that they are much cheaper that other airlines, when in fact at times they can be as dear as hell. If you were paying £150 plus tax to fly Lon to Bhd, who would you rather fly with, Fr or Bd?
In my opinion Fr and Bhd married for the wrong reasons. Bhd out of panic at falling pax nos and fr out of spite because Ei decided to go to Bfs. Good business decisions are never made when made for reasons like these. After Ei opened at Bfs, we saw lots of articles about the poor loads that Ei were getting at Bfs But where has the questions been asked about the Fr planes operating at Bhd with the 20-30 pax on board? All successful companies get to a point where they start making bad decisions, witness the banks and the credit crunch issues at the moment.
So to sum up, I see an airline that is having to buy business at the moment and if they drive others out of the market, will turn out just to be as expensive as the legacy carriers in a monpoly sitution. Only we will have high fares and no service, with everything else to pay for on top. That is if they haven't pulled the plug at Bhd before then if the pofits don't come quckly.
Just my private views.
True Blue
I REALLY SHOULDN'T BE HERE
Bhd out of panic at falling pax nos and fr out of spite because Ei decided to go to Bfs.
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From what I can gather BFS are losing the FCA based A320, to be replaced with a Thurs-Mon based TOM aircraft (could it mean capacity increase from A320 to B757??
Why it looks like there is an aircraft based from Thurs-Mon is that those are the days Thomson sell their product from Belfast. The flights are still shared with Falcon, who will be also be having the allocation on the other days of the week. Falcon do not put their summer 2009 programme on sale for quite a few months yet, hence why it appears this way.
Incidentally, Dublin are losing the 757 in summer 09 as well, to be replaced by an A320, also subleased from Skyservice.
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FR at City Airport
I would disagree that Ryanair are trying to buy business, the widespread reduction of fares to zero levels is an investment into a price statement, low cost travel is well established in the London Belfast Market, so in Ryanair fashion it is dropping fares like crazy until some of the competitors ditch frequency.
Despite the rational for setting up at the City airport, Ryanair have done alot for passenger numbers at the city airport and some jobs.
I would be so sure that Ryanair dont pay one penny of airport fees for these ZERO fares, this is agreed at a certain level with the airport, and as for the APD of £10 per journey, most of this is covered by APD collected for No shows, the same money that never gets paid to the government.
Aer Lingus have a job on there hands to develop their markets when these same routes have too much capacity ( most of them), however, Aer Lingus have an excellent operating margin, they actually have a very desirable cost base, one that can compete with Ryanair on many of its routes and still offer value service and deliver a profit.
I check Flybe for a flight on Gatwick and it says £0.00 then when you add in all the charges a £0.00 flight on Flybe ends up alot more expensive than a £0.00 flight with any of the other market competitors. Does anyone else find this?
Despite the rational for setting up at the City airport, Ryanair have done alot for passenger numbers at the city airport and some jobs.
I would be so sure that Ryanair dont pay one penny of airport fees for these ZERO fares, this is agreed at a certain level with the airport, and as for the APD of £10 per journey, most of this is covered by APD collected for No shows, the same money that never gets paid to the government.
Aer Lingus have a job on there hands to develop their markets when these same routes have too much capacity ( most of them), however, Aer Lingus have an excellent operating margin, they actually have a very desirable cost base, one that can compete with Ryanair on many of its routes and still offer value service and deliver a profit.
I check Flybe for a flight on Gatwick and it says £0.00 then when you add in all the charges a £0.00 flight on Flybe ends up alot more expensive than a £0.00 flight with any of the other market competitors. Does anyone else find this?
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Thanks for the info Jetsetterbfs, glad to hear BFS will not be loosing a based aircraft.
Strange that with Falcon being owned by First Choice, and now part of TUI, Falcon dictate when to release summer 2009 product, and not at the same time as all other UK airports, for First Choice . Falcon is a very successful brand in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland, but with money tight and businesses trying to squeeze every penny for profit, I'd have thought Falcon would just become a brand name for First Choice here, and decisions made from mainland UK and so holidays released collectively with mainland.
Other First Choice brands list BFS departures, such as Eclipse Direct, First Choice Holidays and Sunstart, so basically they have to hold back until Falcon decide to release summer 09, and then these details can be included in their brochures. Not wanting to have job loses at Falcon/JWT but would it not be more cost effective to see BFS as any other UK airport re brochure launches, route development etc???
Similarly regarding Falcon/JWT departures from SNN/DUB/ORK.
Strange that with Falcon being owned by First Choice, and now part of TUI, Falcon dictate when to release summer 2009 product, and not at the same time as all other UK airports, for First Choice . Falcon is a very successful brand in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland, but with money tight and businesses trying to squeeze every penny for profit, I'd have thought Falcon would just become a brand name for First Choice here, and decisions made from mainland UK and so holidays released collectively with mainland.
Other First Choice brands list BFS departures, such as Eclipse Direct, First Choice Holidays and Sunstart, so basically they have to hold back until Falcon decide to release summer 09, and then these details can be included in their brochures. Not wanting to have job loses at Falcon/JWT but would it not be more cost effective to see BFS as any other UK airport re brochure launches, route development etc???
Similarly regarding Falcon/JWT departures from SNN/DUB/ORK.
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It would completely make sense, but unfortunately the Falcon management are very difficult to deal with and do not like taking chances with their market share from Belfast. For example, the last "new" route they had from BFS was a weekly Kefalonia: high yield market, well-off clientele, a bit different from the normal bucket and spade. Even though this router did very well for FCA, it wasn't back the next year and was instead replaced by a second Tuesday Palma.
It is bizarre to think that as a whole, TUI UK and Ireland are moving away from short-haul mass market to more medium and longer haul destinations, but Falcon keep pulling back in Ireland. If I ever see an FCA B767 operating longhaul out of Belfast I shall eat my hat.
It is bizarre to think that as a whole, TUI UK and Ireland are moving away from short-haul mass market to more medium and longer haul destinations, but Falcon keep pulling back in Ireland. If I ever see an FCA B767 operating longhaul out of Belfast I shall eat my hat.
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BFS
Would you like mayo on that hat!!!! Im hearing down here in Dub of a fortnigtly dub-sfb 767 flt ops week about dub/bfs as in dub-sfb-dub one week then bfs-sfb-bfs the next week thru the summer
!!! Also that the Skyservice yyz-dub-zag b757 flts are now going to tech stop in BFS rather than Dub this year!!
!!! Also that the Skyservice yyz-dub-zag b757 flts are now going to tech stop in BFS rather than Dub this year!!
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Manx2
L410 burst starboard main tyre on landing 04 at BHD. A/C stopped on A1 taxiway/ 4 pax, no injuries. Runway closed while a/c recovered off A1. Engineers now here repairing wheel and replacing tyre. A1 taxiway closed.
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Manx2
Check out this "quality" piece of journalism from BBC NI for more on the subject:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7360357.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7360357.stm