BRISTOL - 4
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Saw this article on the Flight Global link below - is it something to do with Customs / Immigration now being available on the 'other side' of the field?
Bristol airport sets sights on becoming major UK business aviation hub
Bristol airport sets sights on becoming major UK business aviation hub
Brunel to Concorde
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The BFC complex on the south side of the airfield is effectively a second terminal that's used by air taxis, bizjets and the like as well as aviation industry shuttles for Airbus (Toulouse and Hawarden which alone sees around 2,500-3,000 passengers per month) and BAE (Walney Island), with a stated intention of building their business to cater for a much larger number of business flights.
It seems that passengers for larger aircraft will no longer have to use the BRS main terminal now that the BFC complex with its two passenger lounges has been given the clearance described in Pandy's linked report.
I note that BRS has featured prominently in recent discussion in the BHX thread, with particular reference to long haul and airport profitability. Perhaps this post in the BHX thread might find a more appropriate home in the BRS thread.
The Filton issue is certainly arguable and it's been discussed at length in this thread in the past. Briefly, the city council opted to move to Lulsgate in 1957 when they closed Whitchurch Arport because it was too small to develop (a familiar theme?) and bought the former wartime RAF Lulsgate Bottom site next to the A38 which was then the main artery from the North and Midlands to the South West.
Rumour (myth?) has it that they could have relocated to Filton at that time as tenants of the then Bristol Aeroplane Company but chose Lulsgate as they would be the owner/occupiers. In the 1990s BAE, by then the Filton owners, tried to turn Filton into a city airport but, following a public enquiry, the application was rejected by the secretary of state.
The Filton runway was closed at the end of last year by BAE as not being viable (although the various aviation-related industries in and around the site that employ many thousands remain) and isn't going to be reopened despite it turning a profit £1.6 million in 2012.
"Unviable" Filton Airfield made £1.6m before closure | Bristol Post
I think the suggestion that BRS has 'the odd bus connection' slightly underplays the reality.
The Flyer bus (operated for the airport by First Bristol) runs throughout each 24-hour period with 10-minute frequency in both directions from early morning to mid evening, thereafter slightly less frequently and roughly hourly through the night. It carries about 10% of BRS's near 6 mppa and has through ticketing with rail, National Express and local buses. In additon there is a coach from Swansea, Cardiff and Newport that runs hourly at times (two-hourly at other times) for about 20 hours a day with an hourly double-decker bus from Bath again for about 20 hours each day.
It's true there is 'an odd bus' that runs at two-hourly intervals during the day between Weston-super-Mare and Bristol via numerous villages and the airport but it sees relatively little airport traffic.
Moves are afoot to improve road access around south-west Bristol to/from the airport.
Transport scheme will improve Airport journey ? Bristol Airport
As to how the airport reports its profits (also discussed in the BHX thread) I'll leave that to those who have the details. I haven't.
It seems that passengers for larger aircraft will no longer have to use the BRS main terminal now that the BFC complex with its two passenger lounges has been given the clearance described in Pandy's linked report.
I note that BRS has featured prominently in recent discussion in the BHX thread, with particular reference to long haul and airport profitability. Perhaps this post in the BHX thread might find a more appropriate home in the BRS thread.
I will reopen that old chestnut about Lusgate (BRS) being built out of an old farm with little hope of runway expansion and suggest CWL has a better chance of longhaul operations in the future.
If Filton were to remain an option then I'm sure it would have been a good second London airport with all the motorway and rail connections. However the council have chosen otherwise so poor passengers have to navigate in and out of the city centre on the A38 with very little in way of transportation apart from an odd bus connection.
If Filton were to remain an option then I'm sure it would have been a good second London airport with all the motorway and rail connections. However the council have chosen otherwise so poor passengers have to navigate in and out of the city centre on the A38 with very little in way of transportation apart from an odd bus connection.
Rumour (myth?) has it that they could have relocated to Filton at that time as tenants of the then Bristol Aeroplane Company but chose Lulsgate as they would be the owner/occupiers. In the 1990s BAE, by then the Filton owners, tried to turn Filton into a city airport but, following a public enquiry, the application was rejected by the secretary of state.
The Filton runway was closed at the end of last year by BAE as not being viable (although the various aviation-related industries in and around the site that employ many thousands remain) and isn't going to be reopened despite it turning a profit £1.6 million in 2012.
"Unviable" Filton Airfield made £1.6m before closure | Bristol Post
I think the suggestion that BRS has 'the odd bus connection' slightly underplays the reality.
The Flyer bus (operated for the airport by First Bristol) runs throughout each 24-hour period with 10-minute frequency in both directions from early morning to mid evening, thereafter slightly less frequently and roughly hourly through the night. It carries about 10% of BRS's near 6 mppa and has through ticketing with rail, National Express and local buses. In additon there is a coach from Swansea, Cardiff and Newport that runs hourly at times (two-hourly at other times) for about 20 hours a day with an hourly double-decker bus from Bath again for about 20 hours each day.
It's true there is 'an odd bus' that runs at two-hourly intervals during the day between Weston-super-Mare and Bristol via numerous villages and the airport but it sees relatively little airport traffic.
Moves are afoot to improve road access around south-west Bristol to/from the airport.
Transport scheme will improve Airport journey ? Bristol Airport
As to how the airport reports its profits (also discussed in the BHX thread) I'll leave that to those who have the details. I haven't.
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Quote: "If Filton were to remain an option then I'm sure it would have been a good second London airport with all the motorway and rail connections."
Only in "FR world".
Only in "FR world".
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Quote: "If Filton were to remain an option then I'm sure it would have been a good second London airport with all the motorway and rail connections."
Only in "FR world".
If I ruled the world I'd put a new London airport (FR or no FR) at Lyneham, plenty of space, M4 about a bit over a mile away and GWR even closer. Don't know about the WX though.
Suppose it'd severely dent BRS traffic
Only in "FR world".
If I ruled the world I'd put a new London airport (FR or no FR) at Lyneham, plenty of space, M4 about a bit over a mile away and GWR even closer. Don't know about the WX though.
Suppose it'd severely dent BRS traffic
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Quote: "If I ruled the world I'd put a new London airport (FR or no FR) at Lyneham, plenty of space, M4 about a bit over a mile away and GWR even closer. Don't know about the WX though."
Quote: "Hullavington is another option - it's right next to M4 J17 (Lyneham would need major road improvements) and right next to the main railway line."
Although on the right side of London, both are way too far out!
Quote: "Hullavington is another option - it's right next to M4 J17 (Lyneham would need major road improvements) and right next to the main railway line."
Although on the right side of London, both are way too far out!
Last edited by Fairdealfrank; 3rd Aug 2013 at 00:39.
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staff travel
my son worked at airport a few years back. we lived in weston then. he used airport taxis and staff were charged 50 pence per journey then. no dout it is gone up a bit since then.
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Bets on when AF to CDG will end.
Once a day to CDG is no use for connecting, and it looks like KL/AF have chosen Schiphol over Charles de Gaulle as their hub (thank heavens). EZY will knock socks off AF on flights to CDG, particularly as KL/AF cling to their ridiculous 'two nights stay' rule on short-haul discount economy fares.
Once a day to CDG is no use for connecting, and it looks like KL/AF have chosen Schiphol over Charles de Gaulle as their hub (thank heavens). EZY will knock socks off AF on flights to CDG, particularly as KL/AF cling to their ridiculous 'two nights stay' rule on short-haul discount economy fares.
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I'm not sure CDG is a good destination for bmi. They need to tie into delivering passengers to hubs, and I doubt that KL/AF would agree to them codesharing into CDG when they're trying to route traffic through AMS.
That said, it seems LH aren't exactly being constructive in enabling transit on the existing BM routes to FRA/MUC. Given that they pulled the rug out from under us at very short notice in March 2009, I would have hoped they could have moved a bit quicker. Maybe their turmoil over SCORE and the 4U integration isn't helping.
That said, it seems LH aren't exactly being constructive in enabling transit on the existing BM routes to FRA/MUC. Given that they pulled the rug out from under us at very short notice in March 2009, I would have hoped they could have moved a bit quicker. Maybe their turmoil over SCORE and the 4U integration isn't helping.
Brunel to Concorde
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Catchment
The airport (in its master plan) puts 1.2 million people within a one-hour drive of BRS. This is effectively the population of the former county of Avon, sometimes known as Greater Bristol or the West Country, albeit the latter term is generally accepted to stretch a bit beyond the old Avon area.
I know of no 30-minute drive-time stats although a substantial proportion of the 1.2 million will fall into this category, even taking into account the city of Bristol's usually congested traffic conditions and the less than ideal road links to the airport.
Over the past decade a consistent pattern has emerged that around 45-50% of BRS's annual passenger numbers begin or terminate their journey in the former Avon area.
The two-hour drive time is reckoned to be within the range of over 7 million people as it extends into much of South and West Wales as well as the entire South West England, although two hours to West Cornwall might be considered theoretical rather than practical - perhaps at 2 am if a generous interpretation of speed limits is factored in.
I know of no 30-minute drive-time stats although a substantial proportion of the 1.2 million will fall into this category, even taking into account the city of Bristol's usually congested traffic conditions and the less than ideal road links to the airport.
Over the past decade a consistent pattern has emerged that around 45-50% of BRS's annual passenger numbers begin or terminate their journey in the former Avon area.
The two-hour drive time is reckoned to be within the range of over 7 million people as it extends into much of South and West Wales as well as the entire South West England, although two hours to West Cornwall might be considered theoretical rather than practical - perhaps at 2 am if a generous interpretation of speed limits is factored in.
Last edited by MerchantVenturer; 12th Aug 2013 at 11:21.
Brunel to Concorde
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CAA stats July 2013
CAA stats for July show that 678,831 passengers passed through the terminal, up 3.6% on July 2012. This is the best ever July beating last year (the previous best July) by 23,000 passengers.
The rolling 12-month total stands at 6,013,520 which is up 2.6% on a year ago and is the first time the 6 million barrier has been breached since 2009 when annual passenger figures fell by around 10% to 5.615 million, the first annual drop since 1996 and only the fourth since 1974, such has been the consistency of growth.
The calendar year to date is up 2.94% to 3.48 million on the same period in 2012 suggesting that 2013 will be the fourth successive year of growth since the fall in 2009.
The bmi regional routes with one exception (Hamburg) have continued to grow, viz:
Aberdeen (E145) 3192 passengers, load factor 65.1%
Frankfurt (E145) 2662, 54.3%
Hamburg (E135) 1845, 49.7%
Hannover (E135) 986, 55.4%
Munich (E145) 1560, 59%
Milan Malp (E145) 1463, 55.3%
(Based on all advertised rotations operating)
Infrastructure Expansion
The design engineering company that was appointed 18 months ago to prepare for the first part of the terminal building extension (the western end) has recently taken space on a large advertising hoarding along the approach road to the airport with a striking picture of the expanded airport apparently taken from the digital images prepared for the airport some time ago. The banner to the advertisement talks about being proud to be involved with the airport's 'prestigious' development.
With passenger figures continuing to rise and the airport's past statements that the expansion would go ahead incrementally as traffic built up, it might be that the time is approaching when some announcements will be made. The same applies with the proposed central walkway plans which the airport CEO said were 'progressing' when he spoke at the recent airport consultative committee meeting.
The rolling 12-month total stands at 6,013,520 which is up 2.6% on a year ago and is the first time the 6 million barrier has been breached since 2009 when annual passenger figures fell by around 10% to 5.615 million, the first annual drop since 1996 and only the fourth since 1974, such has been the consistency of growth.
The calendar year to date is up 2.94% to 3.48 million on the same period in 2012 suggesting that 2013 will be the fourth successive year of growth since the fall in 2009.
The bmi regional routes with one exception (Hamburg) have continued to grow, viz:
Aberdeen (E145) 3192 passengers, load factor 65.1%
Frankfurt (E145) 2662, 54.3%
Hamburg (E135) 1845, 49.7%
Hannover (E135) 986, 55.4%
Munich (E145) 1560, 59%
Milan Malp (E145) 1463, 55.3%
(Based on all advertised rotations operating)
Infrastructure Expansion
The design engineering company that was appointed 18 months ago to prepare for the first part of the terminal building extension (the western end) has recently taken space on a large advertising hoarding along the approach road to the airport with a striking picture of the expanded airport apparently taken from the digital images prepared for the airport some time ago. The banner to the advertisement talks about being proud to be involved with the airport's 'prestigious' development.
With passenger figures continuing to rise and the airport's past statements that the expansion would go ahead incrementally as traffic built up, it might be that the time is approaching when some announcements will be made. The same applies with the proposed central walkway plans which the airport CEO said were 'progressing' when he spoke at the recent airport consultative committee meeting.
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On the BM load factors, there's the ever present asterisk of "good load factors can disguise awful yields".
I think that might partly explain HAM's apparent plateau. I rather suspect that route's demand is somewhat more intrinsically inelastic than the others, so yield is easy to obtain despite lower load factors. It certainly appears to be the case looking at lowest available fares on that route across a selection of dates.
FRA and MUC are the ones that need volume, IMHO. They either need to be cost-effective feed-throughs into the broader LH/*A network, or protect themselves against EZY (or even worse, FR) jumping in where they sniff an opportunity.
I met someone recently who had a choice between FR and BM from MIL. They took the time to compare cost and benefits, and plumped for BM from MXP, and were very impressed. Let's hope more people are getting similarly cannier about their flight purchasing.
I think that might partly explain HAM's apparent plateau. I rather suspect that route's demand is somewhat more intrinsically inelastic than the others, so yield is easy to obtain despite lower load factors. It certainly appears to be the case looking at lowest available fares on that route across a selection of dates.
FRA and MUC are the ones that need volume, IMHO. They either need to be cost-effective feed-throughs into the broader LH/*A network, or protect themselves against EZY (or even worse, FR) jumping in where they sniff an opportunity.
I met someone recently who had a choice between FR and BM from MIL. They took the time to compare cost and benefits, and plumped for BM from MXP, and were very impressed. Let's hope more people are getting similarly cannier about their flight purchasing.