BRISTOL - 4

[marko1]

New flights next summer (july to sept) to enfidna with syphax airlines every saturday evening

[MerchantVenturer]

Enfidha

There will also be a Nouvelair flight (A320) to NBE on Wednesdays, apparently being used by Thomson but I don't know whether exclusively so.

Looking at the Thomson and Thomas Cook websites they will continue to operate this summer as in summer 2013 with TOM on Sundays (although this year I believe it will be a 'W' flight) and TCX 3 x weekly (Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays) in peak season.

With Nouvelair and Syphax this will give six weekly rotations in peak summer with TCX also upgraded from A320 to A321.

2014

Robert Sinclair, BRS CEO, has given an upbeat message for the New Year saying the airport expects 2014 to be the busiest year in the airport's history.

2008 holds that record with 6.229 mppa. 2013 is in second place with a final total expected to be above 6.1 mppa - the 12-month rolling total at the end of November was 6.113 million.

2013 will have seen nearly 200,000 additional passengers so to overhaul 2008 will not actually require such a large number. The last two years will have seen annual passenger numbers increase by around 350,000.

If the forecast is correct the additional room in the departures area brought about by the central pier with its four new pre-boarding zones serving up to six departure gates currently under construction will be sorely needed.

The CEO also looks forward to improved access to the airport with the South Bristol Link and Metrobus routes. Press reports suggest the projects will see construction begin in May this year. Plans have been approved and funding is in place.

I don't think that road access will be dramatically improved but some of the worst pinch points will be removed around the south western edge of the city.

[marko1]

istanbul

Does anyone think we may see a turkish service to istanbul from bristol anytime soon? I know its on the airports target list but i really think this could be a successful route. Looking at turkishs route network bristol could fit right in - right aircraft type etc

[MerchantVenturer]

Turkish Airlines to Istanbul

anno aero discussed this, albeit nearly a year ago.

In a discussion about BRS the aviation analyst site pointed out that the airport has 'aggressively' promoted itself as a candidate for a MEB3 (Emirates, Etihad, Qatar) route but that runway limitations might be an obstacle.

If that is the case anno aero suggested that Turkish Airlines to Istanbul is 'the most obvious solution' for a hub link to the east.

A month or so before its BRS piece anno aero published an article about Turkish Airlines in which it reproduced a copy of a note it had acquired that showed over 30 routes the airline intended to launch in 2013. BRS was not on the list, neither was any other UK airport.

I suppose only Turksh Airlines will have some sort of idea whether BRS interests them. The airport too might have an inkling because I have no doubt the two have spoken at some time and possibly continue to do so.

The full anno aero essays referred to above, which I say again are around a year old, can be read at these links:

Bristol Airport set to hit 6m passengers again; easyJet rules the roost

The big leak: Which airports are on Turkish Airlines? route network shopping list? - anna.aero

[MerchantVenturer]

Turkish Airlines to Istanbul

Further to my previous post, a piece has appeared in The Independent today written by the ubiquitous Simon Calder that discusses the transit market at hubs with particular reference to LHR and the movement of traffic to Middle East hubs and increasingly to Istanbul.

I don't know how well informed he is but this paragraph caught my eye:

Turkey's national carrier has been slow in exploiting its location, but is now expanding relentlessly – serving more places in Africa than any other airline. Unlike its Gulf-based rivals, which have to decide if they could fill a wide-bodied plane, Turkish Airlines can deploy smaller 737s to places such as Birmingham and Edinburgh, with Bristol tipped to be next. This provides an exotic short-break destination, but it also unlocks Asia, Africa and (soon) Australia to passengers from these airports.

The full newspaper article can be read at:

Simon Calder: Transit traffic and the airport problem - News & Advice - Travel - The Independent

[marko1]

Very interesting. Simon is very much an expert in all things travel so who knows. I think it would be a big coup if bristol can get an Istanbul link.

Also there seems to be a lot of swapping and changing with Ryanair for next summer. Bratislava, lodz and Szczecin appear to have been dropped and there are no flights on sale yet for Katowice. Will they still be basing four aircraft this summer.

Just noticed that easy jet will be offering three flights to faro on Saturdays this summer.

[OltonPete]

Turkish

I am in the "when" not "if" club and surprised it hasn't been announced for 2014 although there is still just about time for a June/July start.

I know you can't just use passenger numbers per airport as a guide but Bristol is one of a few 6 million pax and above airports not to have TK (exc FR dominated ones and probably the unlukiest - Glasgow).

There are even airports with lower figures with TK services (excluding Germany obviously) such as Bilbao, Valencia, Naples and Bologna. I realise there is more to it that that such as ex-pat population, nearby airports, competition, the greater metro area but taking all that into account I still believe Bristol will be the next UK airport although Glasgow I am sure think they deserve it after actually making it into a TK press release only to have EDI to start.

Pete

[Buster the Bear]

Luton! No Turkish Airlines flight from this airport with over 9mppa.

[OltonPete]

TK

Buster

Orly as well, more no doubt and although Stansted has flights to Turkey it is still competition.

As I said not straightforward, just found Billund is served as well by TK which although not daily is a reasonably quiet airport.
I

Pete

[Bristol_Traveller]

TK already serve the London market out of LHR and LGW, so it wouldn't make sense to also fly from LTN which is almost entirely LCC and charter.

BRS-IST would be a good route to have, although it would affect *A demand through FRA/MUC. There seems to be very intense competition between LH and TK. (LH recently significantly devalued TK flights in Miles and More to match the devaluation of their own flights).

The block time for BRS-IST must be approaching 4 hours. Not sure how much fun that is on a 737. (It's no fun doing transcon US on one). Out of LHR they use 321s and 777s, with occasional appearance of First Class cabins (sold as Business seats).

I guess they'd operate an afternoon flight, for connections to Asia, rather than a morning flight (probably with a nightstop) for connections to the US. I can't see them wanting to do both.

Maybe Simon Calder gets his info from reading this forum?!

[bravoromeosierra]

KLM will now use the E190 on all rotations as per the summer schedule.

[Bristol_Traveller]

SQ and FGW launch 'Fly-Rail'

A new initiative from Singapore Airlines and First Great Western allows through ticketing (on SQ issued tickets) from various railway stations in the West.

Here's the press release from the FGW website:

First Great Western and Singapore Airlines are proud to announce the launch of through-ticketing from selected towns and cities in the South West and those served by Singapore Airlines' route network from London Heathrow Airport, including the Heathrow Express rail link between Paddington Station and the airport. Travellers will therefore be able to purchase a ticket for hundreds of different route options such as Cardiff to Singapore, or Sydney to Plymouth, etc.

The stations on our network which will be open to these arrangements are as follows:

Bath Spa
Bristol Parkway
Bristol Temple Meads
Cardiff Central
Exeter St. David's
Oxford
Par
Penzance
Plymouth
St. Austell
Swansea

Bookings open on 24JAN14 at this website.

It looks like it's being powered by Accesrail, which operates as a virtual airline with the code 9B. Each train is allocated a 9B 'flight number', and many UK railway stations are already allocated IATA airport codes.

[anothertyke]

Is this genuinely a through ticket in the same sense as say Manchester-Seattle via Heathrow on BA? What happens if the train/plane is two hours late? Does SQ look after you?

[Keyvon]

Yet another new Ryanair route: Bologna (Tue-Sat) from April 1.

[marko1]

Has it been confirmed that Ryanair will be basing four aircraft this summer? I had a quick look at a Saturday in August and I can only see use for three so far. Is there a chance that more routes may be announced ? I noticed Katowice is still on the list of destinations but not available to book

[ub2]

yes there will be 4 a/c based but there are still some gaps, I have heard that ktw is being dropped but is still operating this winter

[MerchantVenturer]

The Ryanair timetable at BRS is usually a work in progress until just before the season begins. It may be at other airports too.

I used to try to compile the latest timetable in the months leading to a season but there were invariably so many changes along the way with routes coming and going, timings changed and occasionally even days changed that I don't look in detail any more until early March each year for the forthcoming summer season.

This is not a criticism of Ryanair, just a statement of how it seems to be.

I do keep a list of routes dropped by airlines at BRS going back many years and Ryanair does bring back routes that it previously dropped.

For instance, this summer Bratislava, Scezecin and Lodz seem to have been dropped and possibly Katowice.

Bratislava operated from 2007 but was dropped for summer 2011 before being brought back that winter and eventually became a summer route. Scezecin ran in 2008 and 2009 and was then dropped before, perhaps surprisingly, being brought back for summer 2013. Katowice operated from 2007 until 2009 and was dropped but re-appeared in winter 2011/2012 and has remained year-round since. Lodz commenced in summer 2012 and also operated in summer 2013.

Other Ryanair routes currrently operating that have been dropped and brought back in the past include Gdansk and Budapest, and it was announced around this time in 2012 that Dinard would be brought back for that summer, having last operated in 2008. It was put into the booking system then dropped out a few weeks later.

I hope that Bologna won't join the list of one-season FR routes out of BRS which include Cagliari, Eindhoven, Perpignan, Montpellier, Toulon, Trieste and Bydgoszcz (lasted two months) or those that lasted a little longer such as Derry, Grenoble, Salzburg, Shannon, Pau, Rimini, Porto, Belfast City, Marrakech, Seville and Riga, although some of these routes are now operated by other airlines.

[Bristol_Traveller]

Is this genuinely a through ticket in the same sense as say Manchester-Seattle via Heathrow on BA? What happens if the train/plane is two hours late? Does SQ look after you?

Yes, it's all issued on one PNR, and one ticket number (presumably SQ's 618 stock). The rail segments are treated as flights.

That means a delay in one segment will trigger an automatic re-accomodation of the passenger on a new flight. (In practice, it'll be interesting to see how train delays are relayed to SQ, so they know you really were on a delayed train, not just trying to 'rebook' yourself to a later flight).

The system behind it has existed for a while, and travel agents have been able to use it, but this seems to be the first time it's been marketed directly to consumers.

Is this SQ's way of avoiding competition out of BRS from the EK,TK and QR's, given that there's no aircraft that can fly BRS-SIN from our little driveway.

[ub2]

now only 3 Ryanair a/c to be based as of end of march, some routes back to non based

[MerchantVenturer]

Ryanair

Not surprised that there's been another change - see my #2357.

Last summer the presence of so many non-based aircraft operating routes seemed to spread the arrivals/departures load a bit more evenly throughout the day.

Brussels Airlines BRS-BRU

The summer timetable is now showing the route operated for Brussels Airlines by bmi regional, still 3 x daily on weekdays. Until the last few days it was shown as a SN ARJ.

bmi regional operated the route for SN before Flybe took it over.

Passenger numbers have risen substantially in recent years from 31,250 in 2009 to 49,046 in 2013, an increase of 17% on 2012. It's to be hoped the smaller bmi regional aircraft won't impact negatively on the passenger growth on this route.