BRISTOL - 4

[MerchantVenturer]

Ryanair

Since they set up its BRS base in 2007 Ryanair has seen routes come and go with bewildering rapidity at times. This is a list of those the airline once tried (may not be a complete list) but doesn't any more, with routes now operated by other airlines marked with an asterisk:

Derry, Dinard, Gdansk*, Grenoble*, Katowice*, Salzburg*, Scezecin, Shannon, Cagliari, Eindhoven, Pau, Perpignan, Montpellier, Toulon, Trieste, Bydgoszcz, Bratislava, Rimini, Porto*, Belfast City, Marrakech*, Seville, Riga and Lodz.

Summer 2015 should see 28 routes according to Kenny Jacobs but Reus appears to be not available for booking which would leave 27.

As for Gran Canaria, Ryanair operates once per week in winter, twice a week in summer.

The point I was trying to make was that if Ryanair ever did assume easyJet's mantle of biggest airline at BRS it would not be a case of expanding a bit here and there but one of substantial route development.

That's why I'm sceptical although no timescale is given so it could be something that might occur gradually over the next decade or longer. Certainly the BRS management thinks that 10 mppa and more overall pax figures are achievable in the future - it's currently at 6.3 mppa with anticipated growth of 6-8% this year and expecting to go through 7 mppa in 2016 according to the airport's aviation director - and the passengers would have to come from somewhere and have services to use.

[santito]

According to the BMIr thread, BRS-DUS is a new 6 weekly service!

[MerchantVenturer]

bmir BRS-DUS

I can't see anything on the BRS or bmir websites about this although I was told at the end of last week by someone who is fairly reliable on BRS matters that BRS-DUS was in the frame with bmir for this summer. There might also be a couple of other new bmir routes from BRS for the summer.

[virginblue]

As I mentioned in the BM-Thread, flights have gone live on the DUS-airport website.

[CabinCrewe]

yet still no LH codeshares.... like their orher attempts, wont be in the same format come 2017...

[globetrotter79]

Also twice weekly (tue/sat) BRS-NTE

[MerchantVenturer]

bmi regional

The BRS-DUS service is now shown on the bmi regional website booking engine, commencing 27 April.

There is also a new service from that date BRS-CDG at 2 x daily Monday-Friday and daily Sunday (no Saturday), and a July-Sept BRS-NTE (Nantes) service on Tuesday and Saturday. These are the other new routes I alluded to in my previous post.

easyJet operates BRS-CDG daily and has no competition since Air France pulled out a year ago. Despite regularly selling out sectors well in advance (currently four are sold out over the next week) easyJet has not increased frequency, probably in part because it is able to charge very high fares for late bookers - over the next week single sector fares are well over £100 in many cases with one at £244.

It now remains to see if easyJet will respond to bmir's initiative on the BRS-CDG route.

[cornishsimon]

Nice addition to the regional route at BRS.

Where are the aircraft coming from for this expansion ?

And is CDG operating with a codeshare with anyone ?


cs

[MerchantVenturer]

bmi regional

Looking at the timetable it looks as though six aircraft will be required at times to operate the timetable. There are also bmi regional aircraft at BRS that operate the Airbus corporate shuttle to Toulouse and Hawarden and an aircraft that operates BRS-BRU 3 x daily for Brussels Airlines.

It may be that the times when six aircraft are needed are when the Airbus corporate shuttle aircraft are not required, in which case there might only be a need for only five dedicated aircraft to operate the new public timetable.

There has been no information about code shares published so far as I know apart from the existing LH code share on the FRA and MUC routes.

In summary the rotations will be as follows:

ABZ 3 x daily M-F, no Sat, 1 x daily Sun
FRA 3 x daily M-F, 1 x daily Sat, 1 x daily Sun
MUC 2 x daily M-F, 1 x daily Sat, daily Sun
HAM 2 x daily M-F, no Sat, 1 x daily Sun
DUS 1 x daily M-F, no Sat, 1 x daily Sun
CDG 2 x daily M-F, no Sat, 1 x daily Sun
MXP 1 x daily M and F
NTE 1 x daily Tue and Sat (early July-early Sept)

[Flightrider]

The concept of restoring a decent business schedule on BRS-CDG with a day return facility is a sensible one, but that isn't what they've done! The afternoon departure ex BRS at 1350 and last departure ex CDG at 1640 (presumably so the aircraft can do the new evening DUS?) is going to be....well, interesting.

[MerchantVenturer]

bmi regional

You're right. It's still possible to get in a reasonable day in Paris by flying out with bmi regional and returning with easyJet (departs CDG 1900 each weekday evening through the summer) but that's not what bmi regional would want.

All the flights from BRS this summer seem to be on the E145 except both HAM rotations (as has been the case since the route started) and the middle ABZ rotation that are on the 135.

[MerchantVenturer]

bmi regional

As the timetable currently stands, this is the schedule from BRS from 27 April, departure and arrival times for each flight. Most of the time this can be worked by five aircraft.

On Friday evenings when a sixth appears necessary it might be possible to use an Airbus shuttle aircraft, and a poster on another aviation forum whose identity I know and who is extremely well informed on BRS matters posted last night that there will be new timings on Aberdeen and Munich.

I suppose his might mean that some of the ABZ and MUC flights will be operated by aircraft from those bases.

Monday

0640-1030 Frankfurt
0700-1020 Aberdeen
0700-1045 Hamburg
0720-1140 Paris Cdg
0815-1245 Milan Malpensa
1130-1625 Aberdeen
1150-1540 Frankfurt
1205-1710 Munich
1350-1655 Paris Cdg
1630-2045 Frankfurt
1650-2035 Hamburg
1710-2200 Munich
1725-2055 Dusseldorf
1740-2050 Aberdeen

Tuesday

0640-1030 Frankfurt
0700-1020 Aberdeen
0700-1045 Hamburg
0720-1140 Paris Cdg
1130-1625 Aberdeen
1150-1540 Frankfurt
1205-1710 Munich
1220-1510 Nantes from 4 July
1350-1655 Paris Cdg
1630-2045 Frankfurt
1650-2035 Hamburg
1710-2200 Munich
1725-2055 Dusseldorf
1740-2050 Aberdeen

Wednesday and Thursday

0640-1030 Frankfurt
0700-1020 Aberdeen
0700-1045 Hamburg
0720-1140 Paris Cdg
1130-1625 Aberdeen
1150-1540 Frankfurt
1205-1710 Munich
1350-1655 Paris Cdg
1630-2045 Frankfurt
1650-2035 Hamburg
1710-2200 Munich
1725-2055 Dusseldorf
1740-2050 Aberdeen

Friday

0640-1030 Frankfurt
0700-1020 Aberdeen
0700-1045 Hamburg
0720-1140 Paris Cdg
1130-1625 Aberdeen
1150-1540 Frankfurt
1205-1710 Munich
1350-1655 Paris Cdg
1600-2030 Milan Malpensa
1630-2045 Frankfurt
1650-2035 Hamburg
1710-2200 Munich
1725-2055 Dusseldorf
1740-2050 Aberdeen

Saturday

0640-1030 Frankfurt
0700-1130 Munich
1530-1820 Nantes from 4 July

Sunday

1205-1710 Munich
1325-2050 Aberdeen
1500-1830 Dusseldorf
1630-2045 Frankfurt
1740-2125 Hamburg
1910-2210 Paris Cdg

In addition to the Airbus corporate shuttle between BRS, Toulouse and Hawarden and the 3 x daily BRS-BRU for Brussels Airlines, bmi regional will also operate summer weekend charter flights for tour companies from BRS to Verona and Bastia.

[virginblue]

The two aircraft for the new flights from MUC to RTM, BRN and LGG are fully utilized. They cannot do additional BRS flights from the MUC end.

[tpm]

Bristol-business.net has a story that suggests Ryanair might be preparing to add direct flights to cities such as Cologne and Stuttgart as part of its expansion at Bristol Airport.

[bravoromeosierra]

Slot permitting of course, would they'd not been better off having the DUS flight when the CDG one is and VV?

[MerchantVenturer]

Ryanair - Germany

I wonder if this is speculation based on Kenny Jacobs' recent comment to the Bristol news media that BRS would be involved in Ryanair's expansion when its new aircraft became available with Germany and Scandinavia mentioned.

As tpm points out the news article mentions 'cities such as Cologne and Stuttgart'.

The report also says that bmi regional's route to Nantes that begins later this year is a new one for BRS. It's not - Aer Arann operated it in summer 2007 - and Dusseldorf is said to have been previously operated by Aer Lingus. The last carrier on BRS-DUS was BAConnect which ceased when Flybe took over BACon also in 2007 and axed most of the BRS routes.

bmi regional

Many thanks virginblue for information re Munich base commitments.

[MerchantVenturer]

bmi regional

Re post 2652, the timetable has now been amended re Munich and Aberdeen with the evening MUC rotation replaced by an early morning one - the lunchtime/afternoon rotation remains as it was.

Aberdeen sees a slight reduction with Monday and Tuesday now 2 x daily and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday still 3 x daily, and Sundays still single daily.

The morning ABZ rotation together with the middle rotation on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays will be worked by ABZ-based aircraft.

Finally, the Milan Malpensa timetable has been doubled from late May to 4 x weekly with flights on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

[santito]

Seems like BMIr are still ramping up the frequencies, which can only be a good thing....

Do we have any insights into what loads are like? Are all these routes performing?

[Centre cities]

South Wales

Not aircraft related but important never the less.

It appears a major UK coach company is improving the links between South Wales and Bristol Airport with a new 24 hour a day dedicated Bristol Airport service from South Wales with airport liveried vehicles.

Does not sound much but this is surely an indication of the passenger numbers from South Wales using Bristol Airport as their local point of travel and an indication that the airports tentacles are beginning to spread further.

Centre cities.

[bravoromeosierra]

The airport uses some rather dramatic language on its Facebook page about FirstGroup's "high profile" (really?) exit from operating the Greyhound services to South Wales.

I assume patronage/and or yields were too poor to sustain the Greyhound services so what's different about the National Express effort?