BRISTOL - 4

[Pandy]

BAA strike

IF and its a big IF the BAA strike goes ahead what position would BRS find itself in?

I assume it is a given that existing scheduled operators such as AF / KL / SN possibly CO would upscale their offerings and maybe even offer an additional service or two to assist the 'must flys' on strike days - they would certainly have spare aircraft.

My questions are
1) if an existing operator such as AF/ KL / SN wanted to (effectively) divert some of their LHR or SOU services to BRS, maybe even to a destination they don't presently serve (say AF to Nice)

2) if a carrier who doesn't presently serve BRS such as say LH wanted do the same

Would it be possible to arrange? could BRS handle much additional traffic at this time of year? and would it be worth it for the airline?

[Standard Noise]

Could BRS handle more traffic at this time of year? Yes, most definitely

[airhumberside]

My questions are
1) if an existing operator such as AF/ KL / SN wanted to (effectively) divert some of their LHR or SOU services to BRS, maybe even to a destination they don't presently serve (say AF to Nice)

Not sure why AF would fly BRS-Nice when they dont fly LHR-Nice

AF/SN/KL serve the same destination from BRS as they do from LHR

[Deano777]

Someone a couple of pages back mentioned a possible 7 new routes for Flybe over the next 2 years? Do you think there's a possibility of Flybe ever returning to BRS as a base (ok it was BAconnect) to serve these routes? Or do you think the routes will be operated from European bases?

Thanks.

D777

[Ringwayman]

If anything, I can see AF & SN in particular just rebooking passengers onto Eurostar. As for KL, they could choose LTN or BOH as I think it's a bit easier for them to get passengers to London from either of those airports than it would be from Bristol.

[WATABENCH]

Maybe just upgrade in aircraft for strike days if anything? for example F70 to B737, just so theres additional capacity if needed? Lets not forget that EZY also fly these routes so pax may have option to re book through BRS or LTN to AMS, CDG, NCE, CIA etc
I believe (correct me if wrong) that LGW is no longer BAA run, so plenty of options for LHR pax without maybe the need of extra flights through Brizzle.

[MerchantVenturer]

BRS-BHD

As has been highlighted in other PPRuNe forums Flybe is to step in to replace some of the 'lost' UK routes to/from BHD following Ryanair's decision to pull out of BHD.

Flybe will operate BRS-BHD 'up to twice a day' from 31 October.

Mention has been made elsewhere in PPRuNe that Flybe operated this route in the past but pulled it, apparently in the face of competition from easyJet on BRS-BFS.

The route was stopped at the end of October 2006 along with BE routes from BRS to Toulouse, Bergerac and Bordeaux, again it seems primarily because of easyJet competition.

There was at the time and since a barely concealed difference of opinion (I put it no stronger than that) between BRS and Flybe which may, in part, explain the airline's decision to axe the entire BAConnect route network in early 2007 when it took over that airline.

In the past year or so it seems the tiff as been resolved leading Flybe to start an Isle of Man route earlier this year (to complement its sole remaining BRS route - to Jersey) and to include Bristol in its long list of airports that might see development when the large number of new aircraft begin to enter its fleet.

The other point to make is that Ryanair have been steadily gaining ground on easyJet on the Bristol-Belfast route this year, culminating in more passengers being carried on the FR BHD route than on the easyJet BFS route in both June and July.

This may have encouraged Flybe to believe that it can now fly successfully in tandem with easyJet, though the latter had already increased the number of some weekday rotations for the coming winter over its current summer schedule.

[Standard Noise]

In the time I've been here, I've used the services of all three airlines who have flown BRS-BFS/BHD. Flybe have never been cheap despite claiming to be 'lo cost'. I don't see that changing when they return to the route.

Cheapest flights (approx) I've had - Flybe £50, Easyjet £39, RYR £7 (although more usually £18-28)RTN. For convenience, the City is better for me, but I won't pay through the nose to fly into it just because the route exists. There may be an argument that RYR created demand partially because of their pricing, but the fact is that they did well due to being cheaper, on the whole, than Easyjet. If that rings true, then it is natural to assume that many will migrate to Easy as they are again generally cheaper than Flybe. I hope they are, can't abide that pigsty Aldergrove.

[Goldilocks95]

looking at the times for the flights, they dont seem very convienient for brs pax.
BristolBelfast City
BE924
11:05 12:15
BE928
20:05 21:15

Belfast CityBristol
BE923
09:30 10:40
BE927
18:30 19:40

[Cloud1]

Flybe may not be the cheapest but at least you can rely on them putting you up in a hotel overnight if the flight is delayed until the next day or worse, cancelled altogether. I have read all to often cases where passengers have had to fight to get costs reimbursed with certain Irish carriers......sometimes it may be worth paying the extra few quid.

Unfortunately whilst Ryanair fares benefit many, they have led to a public attitude of expecting everything for nothing. I can guarantee that no airline will offer seats BRS-BHD for £7.00....well only one but they have pulled the plug.

[BleadonHell]

Plans for Bristol Airport hotel approved

31.08.10

Pedersen Hotels plans for a new hotel at Bristol Airport as part of a £150 million redevelopment programme have been approved by North Somerset council. The hotel will have 250 bedrooms, and is scheduled to open in the winter of 2012. It will be a four storey building with facilities including a bar, restaurant and meeting rooms.

The hotel is to be built very close to the airport terminal, a mere 100m away, offering a convenient and easy stroll to the airport. Pricing will be set higher than the majority of its competitors due to the advantages of its location. Objections to the hotel related to the impact of additional traffic on the area, but this was balanced by the benefit of the 125 new jobs that will be created.

[WATABENCH]

Aer Lingus A320 in BRS the other day, anyone know why? both ATR's came in for SNN and ORK so cant of been to cover them

[Goldilocks95]

came in on emergency due tech issue, not sure exactly what. It was operating a flight from DUB to JER, left after approx 90 mins.

[MerchantVenturer]

'Further Good News'

Referring to Flybe taking over the Ryanair service to Belfast City and the airport's August passenger figures (a small percentage rise of under 2% but a continuation of rises seen every month this year except April when flights were severely curtailed by the volcanic activity) Shaun Browne, Aviation Director, made the following comment on the airport website this week:

We hope to have further good news for travellers soon as we look to build the South West’s connectivity to key destinations across the world.

Could this be the return of the much-missed Lufthansa connection to Frankfurt?

Some airlines are loooking sideways at Germany because of the impending aviation tax but FRA was a significant feeder into LH's worldwide network.

[tpm]

Some airlines are loooking sideways at Germany because of the impending aviation tax but FRA was a significant feeder into LH's worldwide network.

Surely there must be other reasons too though? Connectivity to Germany has been bad for years, with the exception of a short-lived Easyjet BRS-HAM route a while back, the Airbus-targetted Bristol-Bremen OLT route, and of course the Berlin route. I simply can't believe it's not possible to operate e.g. Bristol-Hamburg, Bristol-Munich, or Bristol-Dusseldorf/Cologne profitably a couple of times per week, even without feeding into a hub like Frankfurt.

[MerchantVenturer]

Re 'Further Good News'

Germany and Scandinavia are certainly glaring gaps in the otherwise fairly comprehensive BRS European network though, of course, Germany wasn't too bad in the days of BAConnect and its predecessors with daily flights to FRA, DUS and MUC using the 50-seat ERJ 145s.

All that went over three years ago when Flybe decided to axe the BRS BACon base when it assumed control of the airline as its management decided it would be unprofitable.

The reason I speculate on LH is the reference .................we look to build the South West’s connectivity to key destinations across the world which to me suggests a route to a hub, unless of course it's a replacement transatlantic carrier for Continental which I don't think it is for one minute.

Or maybe it's Shaun having a bit of fun to get the BRS posters on PPRuNe adding 2 and 2 and making 97.

[crackling jet]

Bristol Developement

As reported, the hotel has now had local authority approval along with the terminal expansion a couple of months ago. There has been little noise from the anti expansion campaigners apart from them begging for funds to fight the plan, though now it has come to them putting their hands in their pockets- nothing, not a sign of them, are they remembering the Stanstead issue where court costs were awarded to the airport authorities, and don't want any of that.

So what is actually happening now, i believe after North Somerset approved the terminal plan it was off to the transport secretary for the final sign off and understood it was a matter of weeks for this, so anyone know the status so far as nothing has been mentioned lately.

The hotel statement says that it will be open summer 2012, but noting regarding the terminal/airport expansion.

[trafficnotsighted]

Hotels are going up everywhere. Exeter have just anounnced that a Hilton Hotel will be built next to the Flybe training facility.

[MerchantVenturer]

Expansion plans timeline

crackling jet,

My understanding is that the major expansion plans are of a type that must be notified to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (currently Eric Pickles) when a local authority is minded to approve them.

The secretary of state has 21 days to respond to the local authority and can either tell it he will not intervene or, alternatively, call in the planning application in which case a public enquiry would be held presided over by a planning inspector who would ultimately make recommendations to the secretary of state.

It sounds a very quick way to get a decision as to whether planning applications will be called in.

Unfortunately, there is a snag. The secretary of state may feel he needs more time to decide whether to intervene in which case he can issue a holding notice to the local authority which in effect gives him as much time as he likes to decide on his course of action.

This seems to be what has happened with the airport application. Perhaps someone should jog the secretary of state's memory or the plans might be going yellow and gathering dust in a filing cabinet until the next general election.

I believe the hotel planning application is a separate one with no need for it to be formally notified to the secretary of state.

[a bristolian]

BRS Planning

MV

I think you will find that a decison has just been made by the Secretary of State.

I think you know I only post when things are certain and positive!

a bristolian