BRISTOL - 4
Brunel to Concorde
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Virtute et Industria, et Sumorsaete Ealle
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BISON
Thank you for confirming the site closure, daniel. I understand entirely why you closed it down and was half expecting you to for the reasons you have given.
Thank you for the work you and your colleague put into the initiative and some positives did emerge: for example, you harnessed much support for the airport's Western Walkway at the time the local authority was prevaricating over its decision as to whether it could be considered GPD.
Airport Name Change
I understood the airport is to go back to its previous title of Bristol Airport which if this is the case I support because calling a regional airport 'International' is pretentious and unnecessary in my view, though some UK airports smaller than Bristol still do so.
February Passenger Figures
They are very good figures especially having regard to the relatively small percentage increase in flight numbers because it means the 14% increase in passenger numbers is not simply the result of a lot more flights.
Thank you for confirming the site closure, daniel. I understand entirely why you closed it down and was half expecting you to for the reasons you have given.
Thank you for the work you and your colleague put into the initiative and some positives did emerge: for example, you harnessed much support for the airport's Western Walkway at the time the local authority was prevaricating over its decision as to whether it could be considered GPD.
Airport Name Change
I understood the airport is to go back to its previous title of Bristol Airport which if this is the case I support because calling a regional airport 'International' is pretentious and unnecessary in my view, though some UK airports smaller than Bristol still do so.
February Passenger Figures
They are very good figures especially having regard to the relatively small percentage increase in flight numbers because it means the 14% increase in passenger numbers is not simply the result of a lot more flights.
Join Date: Jan 2005
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New branding on website the morning, it gone back to just Bristol Airport with a symbol that i guess kind of reflects flight and a boat sail by the looks of it, infact it looks similar to the roundabout art on the A38 (which hasn't been lit up in well over a year), i guess to represent Bristols maritime and flying links?
UK & International Flights (New York) from Bristol International Airport - Bristol International Airport
Cwl just announced MUC with Baby from October, a route not covered from BRS at the mo, and i'd imagine one that would do well over there, seemed successful when BACON were operating it a few years back in BRS, did EZY do it for a little while?
Great news on pax 14% up, just shame theres no where for them to sit in the departure lounge
UK & International Flights (New York) from Bristol International Airport - Bristol International Airport
Cwl just announced MUC with Baby from October, a route not covered from BRS at the mo, and i'd imagine one that would do well over there, seemed successful when BACON were operating it a few years back in BRS, did EZY do it for a little while?
Great news on pax 14% up, just shame theres no where for them to sit in the departure lounge
Brunel to Concorde
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Munich was operated 6 x weekly for about eight years, ending in 2007 when Flybe took over BACon and pulled the plug on all the BACon Bristol routes, much to the well-documented surprise of the airport management.
I can't remember whether the BA franchisee was Brymon or BACitiexpress when the MUC started - it certainly progressed through BACx to BACon.
easyJet never did MUC from BRS.
I remember that in the early 1980s Thomson/Britannia used to operate their summer Lakes and Mountains Austrian holidays to MUC from BRS. We used the route once for a holiday around 1983 with a Britannia Boeing 737-200 followed by a two-hour coach trip to St Wolfgang.
For all its scheduled routes to France, Poland, Spain and Italy there is a surprising lack of destinations to Germany (Berlin and Bremen, the latter a niche route) and none to Scandinavia (Oslo and Stockholm apparently did well when operated as summer-only but fell victim to the downsizing of SAS, and easyJet's Copenhagen also had good passenger numbers but was axed when the Danish government imposed a £7 per passenger tax).
LH's FRA carried over 90,000 passengers in the year it operated and I know the airport was gobsmacked when LH pulled it.
There is another new German route starting soon from South West Britain - Flybe's 3 x weekly service to Hannover from Exeter although it will route via Newcastle. Ironically, Hannover is one of Bristol's twin cities, though two of the others, Bordeaux and Porto, do have easyJet and Ryanair connections respectively.
baby ran MUC from CWL for a year or two in its early days.
I flew out of BRS on Wednesday morning and was pleasantly surprised about the short time it took to transit security in the busy period.
I think though that the airport has gone too far in the number of retail and eating outlets it has allowed to be set up in areas of the departure lounge that formerly contained seating for passengers awaiting their flights.
We sat ourselves down in one of the restaurant areas - plenty of seats in those areas - but didn't want to eat as we had breakfast before leaving. We did buy tea and coffee but I wonder if we would have been turned out had we not done so.
I can't remember whether the BA franchisee was Brymon or BACitiexpress when the MUC started - it certainly progressed through BACx to BACon.
easyJet never did MUC from BRS.
I remember that in the early 1980s Thomson/Britannia used to operate their summer Lakes and Mountains Austrian holidays to MUC from BRS. We used the route once for a holiday around 1983 with a Britannia Boeing 737-200 followed by a two-hour coach trip to St Wolfgang.
For all its scheduled routes to France, Poland, Spain and Italy there is a surprising lack of destinations to Germany (Berlin and Bremen, the latter a niche route) and none to Scandinavia (Oslo and Stockholm apparently did well when operated as summer-only but fell victim to the downsizing of SAS, and easyJet's Copenhagen also had good passenger numbers but was axed when the Danish government imposed a £7 per passenger tax).
LH's FRA carried over 90,000 passengers in the year it operated and I know the airport was gobsmacked when LH pulled it.
There is another new German route starting soon from South West Britain - Flybe's 3 x weekly service to Hannover from Exeter although it will route via Newcastle. Ironically, Hannover is one of Bristol's twin cities, though two of the others, Bordeaux and Porto, do have easyJet and Ryanair connections respectively.
baby ran MUC from CWL for a year or two in its early days.
I flew out of BRS on Wednesday morning and was pleasantly surprised about the short time it took to transit security in the busy period.
I think though that the airport has gone too far in the number of retail and eating outlets it has allowed to be set up in areas of the departure lounge that formerly contained seating for passengers awaiting their flights.
We sat ourselves down in one of the restaurant areas - plenty of seats in those areas - but didn't want to eat as we had breakfast before leaving. We did buy tea and coffee but I wonder if we would have been turned out had we not done so.
Join Date: Oct 2004
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LH & BRS
Its been almost a year since I posted here!
Recall LH started BRS/FRA in Apr 08 & terminated it about Apr 09.
My interest was to try DXB/FRA/BRS/FRA/DXB. The flights were on their booking engine in Dec 07 showing astromonic prices & this continued until May 08. It took them 5 months to sort it out.
As the service only lasted 12 months I've always wondered how much this sort of 'service' effected their loads.
I never flew the route, my feeling was if LH didn't care about my booking / custom (or cared enough to sort their systems out) then why should I care to fly them.
They could of got 4 or 5 DXB/BRS/DXB pa, OK they needed a lot more than that but how many of us were there?
Have they changed? Do you really want them back?
Recall LH started BRS/FRA in Apr 08 & terminated it about Apr 09.
My interest was to try DXB/FRA/BRS/FRA/DXB. The flights were on their booking engine in Dec 07 showing astromonic prices & this continued until May 08. It took them 5 months to sort it out.
As the service only lasted 12 months I've always wondered how much this sort of 'service' effected their loads.
I never flew the route, my feeling was if LH didn't care about my booking / custom (or cared enough to sort their systems out) then why should I care to fly them.
They could of got 4 or 5 DXB/BRS/DXB pa, OK they needed a lot more than that but how many of us were there?
Have they changed? Do you really want them back?
Join Date: May 2005
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Goodness, a whole bunch of us must have anniversary alarm clocks set for BRS-FRA starting (and ending).
There's no doubt that the initial cock-up in loading fares to some POS harmed the impressions people had of the route, though hopefully that was not significant in affecting traffic numbers or profitability in the long term. Or at least, the implications taken into account.
I think it was probably a decision by LH to batten down prior to a set of very black clouds; the economy; ageing 146 fleet; the retirement of the A300 fleet; the indigestion of acquiring LX, OS, SN, and having BD unwillingly rammed down their throats ("go on - it's on wafer thin"). Last in, first out.
It's probably also the case (as bravoromeosierra says) that they underestimated the extent to which KL and AF would be cutting fares Europe-wide to hold onto traffic.
I was just wondering myself if we might see another BD orphan re-housed at BRS to operate FRA. However, it appears elsewhere that BD are looking at operating GLA-FRA, and there seems to be another BD aircraft off to operate LHR-DRS, so maybe there's nothing left to put in Lulsgate.
In the meantime, I guess we hope that the airports route development team are working on it, and hoping that BRS-BRU is showing the LH group that there is benefit of putting more into BRS.
There's no doubt that the initial cock-up in loading fares to some POS harmed the impressions people had of the route, though hopefully that was not significant in affecting traffic numbers or profitability in the long term. Or at least, the implications taken into account.
I think it was probably a decision by LH to batten down prior to a set of very black clouds; the economy; ageing 146 fleet; the retirement of the A300 fleet; the indigestion of acquiring LX, OS, SN, and having BD unwillingly rammed down their throats ("go on - it's on wafer thin"). Last in, first out.
It's probably also the case (as bravoromeosierra says) that they underestimated the extent to which KL and AF would be cutting fares Europe-wide to hold onto traffic.
I was just wondering myself if we might see another BD orphan re-housed at BRS to operate FRA. However, it appears elsewhere that BD are looking at operating GLA-FRA, and there seems to be another BD aircraft off to operate LHR-DRS, so maybe there's nothing left to put in Lulsgate.
In the meantime, I guess we hope that the airports route development team are working on it, and hoping that BRS-BRU is showing the LH group that there is benefit of putting more into BRS.
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Quote<< I can't remember whether the BA franchisee was Brymon or BACitiexpress when the MUC started - it certainly progressed through BACx to BACon.>>Unquote
It was CitiExpress, a few weeks after I started at BRS. Then progression to BACon, as stated.
Loads were reasonable, often problems with weight and trim once > 40 pax on the E145, but yields were average.
GB
It was CitiExpress, a few weeks after I started at BRS. Then progression to BACon, as stated.
Loads were reasonable, often problems with weight and trim once > 40 pax on the E145, but yields were average.
GB
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Great news indeed about Wizz. I really like flying with them and they seem to be going from strength to strength with their diverse route network. Maybe they will be the ones to bring the German and Scandinavian destinations to Bristol. Hopefully Warsaw will work out for them. What was the reason EZY dropped it?
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loads were always very busy on the BRS-WAW but U2 have dropped it from the entire network so they must have fallen out with the airport over landing fees! same thing happened with Gdansk which FR took over.
Brunel to Concorde
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Wizz Air
Very good work by the routes team to get this airline on board.
I've been looking at the Wizz route network and at first glance it's not easy to see what other destinations might be served because most of the obvious ones are already flown by other airlines.
It seems that Wizz either flies within central/eastern Europe or between central/eastern Europe and western Europe.
Sofia (already served in winter by ski charters), Belgrade and Bucharest might be possibilities though I'm not sure what demand exists, but I might have thought that about the likes of Riga and Bratislava that Ryanair seems to serve with pretty decent loads.
The Bristol Evening Post continues its negativity towards the airport saying the Wizz flights will replace the easyJet flights to Warsaw that were discontinued a couple of years ago 'through lack of demand'. The load factors didn't suggest that, far from it, and the paper conveniently failed to mention that easyJet then axed all its Warsaw routes.
I sometimes wonder whether this rag is the unofficial publicity organ of SBAE.
I've been looking at the Wizz route network and at first glance it's not easy to see what other destinations might be served because most of the obvious ones are already flown by other airlines.
It seems that Wizz either flies within central/eastern Europe or between central/eastern Europe and western Europe.
Sofia (already served in winter by ski charters), Belgrade and Bucharest might be possibilities though I'm not sure what demand exists, but I might have thought that about the likes of Riga and Bratislava that Ryanair seems to serve with pretty decent loads.
The Bristol Evening Post continues its negativity towards the airport saying the Wizz flights will replace the easyJet flights to Warsaw that were discontinued a couple of years ago 'through lack of demand'. The load factors didn't suggest that, far from it, and the paper conveniently failed to mention that easyJet then axed all its Warsaw routes.
I sometimes wonder whether this rag is the unofficial publicity organ of SBAE.
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It seems that Wizz's route network mainly involves either Katowice or Budapest. I would like to see maybe more flights to Budapest from BRS as FR only fly on a couple of days each week and it is more of a weekend destination than a business destination in my opinion.
Anyway, I cant wait to see if Wizz open up more routes to/from BRS. They have some very interesting destinations, but like MV said, whether the demand is there is another matter altogether.
and to the last poster, not all Bristolians are backward thinking! Its just the NIMBYs need to be vocal to try and get heard. Everyone else wants expansion at the airport, the new stadium, the new south Bristol/A370 link road etc.
Anyway, I cant wait to see if Wizz open up more routes to/from BRS. They have some very interesting destinations, but like MV said, whether the demand is there is another matter altogether.
and to the last poster, not all Bristolians are backward thinking! Its just the NIMBYs need to be vocal to try and get heard. Everyone else wants expansion at the airport, the new stadium, the new south Bristol/A370 link road etc.
What has happened tothe general seating area in the departure lounge at BRS? The whole area now resembles a cheap shopping centre with Costa Coffee taking up the space that was for seating (for those pax not wanting to eat or drink - upstairs just resembles a eating court. Bad show - no where to go really except pay some dosh for the so called exec lounge.
Nivsy
Nivsy
Brunel to Concorde
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I flew out of BRS on Wednesday morning and was pleasantly surprised about the short time it took to transit security in the busy period.
I think though that the airport has gone too far in the number of retail and eating outlets it has allowed to be set up in areas of the departure lounge that formerly contained seating for passengers awaiting their flights.
We sat ourselves down in one of the restaurant areas - plenty of seats in those areas - but didn't want to eat as we had breakfast before leaving. We did buy tea and coffee but I wonder if we would have been turned out had we not done so.
I think though that the airport has gone too far in the number of retail and eating outlets it has allowed to be set up in areas of the departure lounge that formerly contained seating for passengers awaiting their flights.
We sat ourselves down in one of the restaurant areas - plenty of seats in those areas - but didn't want to eat as we had breakfast before leaving. We did buy tea and coffee but I wonder if we would have been turned out had we not done so.
I made the above comment in this thread three weeks ago.
Whilst I appreciate that airports have to maximise profits they ought to ensure that the passenger experience is at the very least a reasonable one.
At busy times this is sometimes no longer the case.
I have some sympathy because the airport's attempt to obtain planning permission for its much-needed major expansion is now four years behind the original timeline thanks to the perpetual opposition from the usual suspects and the airport's attempts to go back and come up with things to satisfy their complaints - it never will but to its credit the BRS management has tried very hard.
It's possible that another year or two will pass before final approval is given (if it is) bearing in mind a possible change of government may well call in the whole thing for a planning enquiry. Even if it doesn't appeals and/or legal challenges are likely to slow things down.
This year may see 6 mppa again after the fall in numbers in 2009 so the crowding will not get any less.
What should help a bit is the western walkway (due to open later this spring) that will remove a significant number of passengers waiting for flights in the main departure area towards the periphery. However, because it is being built as general permitted development the walkway and waiting areas therein will have no facilities, so no additional public seating.
Airport Flyer
Frequency increases from 15-minute intervals to 10-minute from next week, as was reported some weeks ago.
I was at Temple Meads rail station this afternoon for nearly an hour and I noticed that the Flyer was very busy inbound and outbound.
The majority of passengers going to the airport seemed to arrive by the London trains which would mean they boarded at Bath, Chippenham, Swindon or further east. The chances are that some came from east of Swindon which, if this the case, demonstrates again that the Flyer is certainly a decent substitute for the lack of a direct rail connection to the airport.
Loading cases externally under the vehicle floor still takes an unacceptable amount of time when the service is busy so the new coaches with internal luggage facilities should speed up loading and enable the coaches to more easily keep to the timetable.
I rode the Flyer from Temple Meads to the airport recently and the journey was accomplished in 18 minutes but that was exceptional.