BELFAST INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - BFS (Aldergrove)

[tigger2k8]

Kavs8, thats normal for winter now, base aircraft drop to 2 until next year in march, ALC, FAO, BCN and FCO get suspended

edit - ah, i didn't realise BCN was previously on sale for winter.. is a strange one

[Jamie2k9]

Did BFS - BCN not operate last winter??. As ORK - BCN is being dropped aswell EI must want people to go through DUB or is it charges at BCN.

[BFS101]

Kavs8, thats normal for winter now, base aircraft drop to 2 until next year in march, ALC, FAO, BCN and FCO get suspended

One aircraft is dedicated to LHR, while the second unit does either a TFS or ACE, with Malaga X4 week after the ACE. The absence of BCN that was previously on-sale for this winter, now leaves a gap in the schedule X3 times a week, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday before the TFS flights.

Last winter EI operated to Munich which has since been pulled.

Did BFS - BCN not operate last winter??. As ORK - BCN is being dropped aswell EI must want people to go through DUB or is it charges at BCN.

Easyjet still operating to BCN from Belfast through the winter. More than enough capacity I'd say during the low demand months.

Question is what will EI replace the BCN flights with, if any?? Will the aircraft sit on the apron three mornings a week??

[ara01jbb]

I think this all reflects on under-investment in NI as a whole, but undeniably the NW in particular. BFS should be much more accessible to NI's second city than it is (in lieu of LDY having a larger route network). The train line goes pretty close to the place, so a railstop is a no brainer.

The line does indeed go right past BFS, but no trains use it anymore.

Since the Mossley Viaduct re-opened, it's been quicker Belfast - Antrim that way rather than via Lisburn and Aldergrove. There are some more trains due for delivery next year, which should replace all the slam door and Larne Line trains. But a new station at BFS would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds (they're very expensive things to build, in terms of accessibility and the endless regulations relating to railways) *and* you'd have to persuade NIR to invest in a new service (Belfast - Lisburn - Antrim) in addition to the existing services. Plus it's almost all single track so a nightmare to schedule convenient clockface departures.

On the ongoing debate re: the appeal of BFS/BHD vs DUB, it's worth noting that Aircoach are quitting the Belfast / DUB run even sooner than they previously announced. The last bus runs on Wednesday, not the end of the month as previously announced.

[NorthernCounties]

The problem is when Northern Irish ministers have to deal with real problems, I frequently use BHX airport as I study there, and it has circa 9m pax per year, it's station came along around the 70's, (You can assume how low the pax no. was then). Yet Conor Murphy spouts some dribble saying that for an Airport to have a rail link it needs at least 10m pax?! Someone needs to inform those in GB about this! This would also support a circular route from Belfast to Antrim and Lisburn. Search Northern Ireland Network Enhancement on Wikipedia to see other suggestions for improvement which unfortunately will fall on deaf ears!

[Aaron9890]

Air Canada

Any news on air canada at bfs. I remember someone saying that they were holding talks together about it

[Aaron9890]

News - Belfast International Airport

[tigger2k8]

Any news on air canada at bfs. I remember someone saying that they were holding talks together about it

nothing new yet, last i heard there was talks with air canada looking a subsidy but that was months ago

[Aaron9890]

Thomas Cook

Does anyone know what aircrft thomas cook have based at BFS

is it 2 a320's

because i remember seeing a thomas cook scandinavia at belfast when i was travelling to reus. i think it was an A330-343 it was a big plane anyway

[Aaron9890]

Actually is it 3 aircraft based at BFS

cause on the arrivals / departures list they have

TCX837K
TCX553L
TCX917L

[Torque2]

No, there is 1 aircraft based at BFS, it is currently an A321 which will change first week in November to an A320 for the winter. The other aircraft rotate through to do specific flights and are not BFS based.

[tigger2k8]

Just an update on the EZY MLA flight, there's 2 options EZY are looking at

1. A320, even though some have said its not happening
2. Cap the passengers at 120

[BFS101]

Seems a little strange that EZY would put the seats on sale without knowing if BFS was to get a suitable aircraft.

A320 availability surely should be known well in advance, especially with the summer 2011 flights now on sale. If capping the capacity of the 319 to 120, surely will affect profitability of the route. Will EZY adjust seat prices to compensate??

Seems a little back to front. Decide on a new route, and then once on sale, figure out how they'll actually be able to fly it??

[tigger2k8]

I'd have though the same BFS101...

Also EI is to replace some of the BCN flights with an increased flights to other current destinations

[BFS101]

Also EI is to replace some of the BCN flights with an increased flights to other current destinations

Any more details?? One aircraft is dedicated to LHR, while the other does TFS X3, ACE x4 and AGP X4 after the ACE's. The vacant times are X3 morning slots, required to be back at BFS to operate the afternoon Tenerife.

So will Malaga go daily??? Or is to destinations served in Summer but pulled for winter, FAO or ALC???

[tigger2k8]

as far as i know they have tweaked the schedule, on the days that BCN gets replaced whatever flight the aircraft does later in the day is pushed back slightly, meaning a later return to BFS... at what stage these flights will be put on the schedule or what dates they run, i dont know, but i think theres around 22 flights to be put in over the duration of the winter schedule.. alot less than what was pulled

no doubt more details will be soon, but thats all ive heard so far

edit - just to add in, it could change again, EI had the confirmed schedule up (which had BCN) and that changed just 2 weeks ago

[gate 22]

So with the departure from BHD next week of FR, has BFS only managed to attain an extra LPL and EMA rotation? 800,000 passengers up for grabs hmmm! no Canada, Orlando, Brussels.......I sometimes wonder about management up there.

[tigger2k8]

Extra BRS flights compared to summer, as for STN, nothing yet...think they are waiting to decide on the LTN first... To be honest you could get away with x4 to STN a day in winter, apart from peak times

[BFS101]

Though maybe rather than just getting bums on seats, EZY and others will take this reduction in capacity to improve yields to a more sustainable level on their routes, with over capacity already potentially existing to many of the former FR destinations, or neighbouring airports.

When you quote that FR handled 800K passengers from BHD, many of these could well be opportunistic passengers, travelling on day trips or weekends for £10 return. Would be interesting to know per centage of BHD passengers on promotional fares, and average fares from BHD.

EZY and the other airlines operating from Northern Ireland, tend to only offer more realistic sustainable fares, EZY base fare usually about £40 return. So out of the 800K former FR passengers, many may not choose to avail of other airline services as the price is going to be much higher. Those who were savvy could travel many times a year with FR for basically little or nothing, and I personally think the remaining airlines are not proactively chasing these types of passengers.

[tigger2k8]

if the flights fill up or get close to capacity then they will no doubt look at adding more.. plenty of gaps in winter schedules, but why add a wave of new flights not knowing if everyone will start flying with EZY from BFS instead?As BFS101 has said, EZYs fares are more realistic.. i think they are taking a bit of a risk as it is with the extra BFS-LPL flights, also WW is taking a risk with the extra EMA flights, even tho BE will be serving the 2 routes from BHD where they originally got dropped by FR