BIRMINGHAM - 5

[GayFriendly]

Disappointing

So, the green shoots of recovery are being happily felt at a range of UK Airports with some healthy increases. The only green shoots being seen at BHX are those of grass growing in place of ATM's and pax (and at last more bums on TK seats ). BHX will be on the decline (in terms of pax figures) until it can pull in some new routes and airlines to limit the leakage of pax to other airports that offer a better range of European destinations. The excuse wearing thin in my book is that these flights (MAD, FCO and other cities that have been mentioned so many times on this thread) are available from BHX via a hub - yes these services have their place but for many they are not a cost or time effective way to travel.

BHX needs an increase in direct destination and airline choices, whether this is by full service or low cost (or a combination of both). Why can it not pull this off? Even more worryingly is the fact that existing operators are not expanding their operations (OK, WW has three re-introduced routes in 2012), is BHX that much of a low yielding market for airlines? If it is, no wonder BHX still haven't courted the interest of IB to serve MAD when GLA and MAN have....

[nigel osborne]

Lee.Re Egypt Air

I spoke to somone who unloaded it that night, definitely NOT a main deck loader they don't have one Im told!


For starters told it didn't even make it as high as the A300 deck which is why it was 4 hrs late going out.BHX at this time did not have a main deck loader for freighters ,although rumours they might buy one..hmm

Nigel

[nigel osborne]

Gayfriendly,

Yes TK figures are a lot better, but don't forget Mahan ceased operations and PIA have cut capacity, so expect a lot of these extra passengers are due to this .

Nigel

[BHX5DME]

Current Size of UK Airports

Heathrow – 68,815,642 up 4.6% and record ever rolling figure

Gatwick – 33,194,112 up 5.3% (highest ever was 35,601,289 in March 2008)

Manchester – 18,672,879 up 5.6% (highest ever was 22,578,836 in July 2006)

Stansted – 18,269,537 down 3.2% (highest ever was 24,037,747 in October 2007)

Luton – 9,409,045 up 8.0% (highest ever was 10,298,765 in October 2008)

Edinburgh – 9,231,163 up 6.1% and a record ever rolling total

Birmingham – 8,622,400 down 0.4% (highest ever was 9,628,254 in December 2008)

Glasgow – 6,823,390 up 3.3% (highest ever was 8,924,427 in May 2007)

Bristol – 5,777,976 down 0.1% (highest ever was 6,364,047 in October 2008)

[Les Behan]

Nigel,


How exactly do you think it was off-loaded and loaded without a Main Deck Loader? Were they launched into space to be caught on a lower deck? Perhaps parachuted off onto a revolving train of dollies?

I hope your "snouts" were rather better informed in the past than the one you have now.

Nor was it 4 hours late, it was on the ground for 4 hours, with 40,000 kgs off-loaded and 40,000 kgs loaded, not a bad effort for a first A300 with little facilities.(and a bloody miracle without a Main-Deck!).

[OltonPete]

A300F

Les

Per SBS logs landed 20.38 26/2 departed 02.17 27/2 give or take a bit I would say over five hours 30 minutes on the ground.

Pete

[call100]

Originally Posted by Les Behan

Nigel,


How exactly do you think it was off-loaded and loaded without a Main Deck Loader? Were they launched into space to be caught on a lower deck? Perhaps parachuted off onto a revolving train of dollies?

I hope your "snouts" were rather better informed in the past than the one you have now.

Nor was it 4 hours late, it was on the ground for 4 hours, with 40,000 kgs off-loaded and 40,000 kgs loaded, not a bad effort for a first A300 with little facilities.(and a bloody miracle without a Main-Deck!).

Also, BHX don't own any main deck loaders......Perhaps the handling agents might though!!!

[MAG-BHX]

Egyptair Freighter

The Main Deck loader was borrowed to Blue City by Servisair, they had already tried 2 of them prior which did not reach the door, they were third time lucky

[Derwent Dale]

......replace borrowed with hired......

[GayFriendly]

Egyptair

I never for one moment imagined that so much comment would be sparked off about a one off freight movement I found listed on Wikipedia......although as I know nothing about cargo loading and unloading, I am more interested in why Egyptair Cargo came to BHX in the first place and what exactly was this troublesome to offload cargo?

[Les Behan]

Wasn't at all troublesome to offload, with a Main Deck loader!

Was just a one-off, car parts for LandRover, was flown in because of being stuck in the docks at Cairo for some time due to the "revolution" at the time I think.

However, if it all kicks off again because of the Coptics, could become more regular!

[Les Behan]

For some reason, even though am writing LandRover it is coming up with Trabant!

Sorted by taking out the space, but very strange!

[OltonPete]

September route analysis (international) schedule

Sources: Monthly pax from the CAA, average pax from using a bhx blog &
libhomeradar.

Some rotations have been estimated and so has some of the load factors. With Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Munich, Amsterdam, Zurich, Brussels, Copenhagen

I have used planespotters net for seats and these tend to be the maximum all economy where in fact the middle seat is left vacant in business etc. 2010 figures in brackets

Brussels /12932 (9735)/ 52 pax/ 61% load factor
Larnaca /5324 (7584)/ 205 pax/ 96%
Paphos /3214 (nil)/ 201 pax/ 94%
Copenhagen /7864 (6834)/ 82 pax/ 75%
Bergerac /1467 (1173)/ 52 pax/ 67%
Avignon /96 (nil)/ 48 pax/ 62%
Biarittz /nil (1874)
Bordeaux /724 (nil)/ 52 pax/ 66%
Brest /290 ()/ 48 pax/ 62%
La Rochelle /584 (561)/ 37 pax/ 47%
Lyon /3594 (3022)/ 38 pax/ 76%
Nice /5900 (5742)/ 128 pax/ 86%
Paris CDG /28044 (31402)/ 82 pax/ 76%
Toulouse / 361 (308)/ 45 pax/ 56%
Dusseldorf /15927 (15036)/ 46 pax/ 53%
Frankfurt/ 25799 (26155)/ 108 pax/ 69%
Hamburg 2676 (2950)/ 45 pax/ 57%
Hanover /6045 (4910)/ 59 pax/ 76%
Munich /12909 (11882)/ 72 pax/ 80%
Niederheim / nil (3608)
Stuttgart /4133 (3615)/ 43 pax/ 56%
Cork /6973 (6252)/ 58 pax/ 81%
Dublin/ 44942 (50245)/ 131 pax/72%
Knock /4082 (4226)/ 107 pax/ 72%
Shannon /3032 (2312)/ 51 pax/ 70%
Waterford /1120 (1320)/ 31 pax/ 64%
Milan / 5308 (3883)/ 88 pax/ 75%
Trieste /2580 (2509)/ 143 pax/ 76%
Malta /3232 (2163)/ 180 pax/ 95%
Amsterdam / 43833 (37898)/ 107 pax/ 78%
Faro / 22357 (21818)/ 177 pax/ 93%
Oporto / nil (2521)
Alicante / 25456 (26851)/ 163 pax/ 88 pax
Almeria / 3536 (1821)/ 196 pax/ 92%
Girona / 4509 (5795)/ 173 pax/ 92%
Ibiza / 10993 (10910)/ 177 pax/ 87%
Mahon /7275 (6281) 202 pax/ 94%
Malaga / 32366 (31070)/ 167 pax/ 90%
Murcia /9386 (10607)/ 151 pax /89%
Palma / 20312 (19211)/ 159 pax/ 87%
Reus / 4304 (4270) /166 pax/ 88%
Arrecife / 9599 (8003)/ 185 pax/ 92%
Fuerteventura /6188 (3494)/ 182/ 91%
LasPalmas / 5936 (6239)/ 186/ 92%
Tenerife /16635 (14406)/ 189 pax/ 93%
Gothenberg / 1328 (1911)/ 26 pax/ 59%
Zurich /13324 (12465)/ 76 pax/ 74%
Bodrum/ 2042 (nil)/ 176 pax/ 80%
Dalaman/ 6663 (4940)/ 196 pax/ 94%
Istanbul / 5875 (4268)/ 134 pax/ 80-85%
Kaunas / 2384 (2999) / 149 pax/ 79%
Bydogszcz / 4338 (4377)/ 167 pax/ 88%
Gdansk / 2573 (2643)/ 161 pax/ 85%
Katowice /3051 (2608)/ 170 pax/ 90%
Krakow /nil (4291)
Rzesnow /2769 (3049)/ 173 pax/ 92%
Bratislava /4325 (4319) /166 pax/ 88%
Ashkhbad /5068 (5470)/ 149 pax/ 78%
Tehran / nil (4240)
Dubai / 42499 (43731) /354 pax (83%
Islamabad / 8364 (8684) /246 pax/ 76%
Newark /9520 (9609) / 159 pax/ 91%

So not looking too bad in general with the major European cities looking quite
good.

No doubt Istanbul is the pick but even Stuttgart increased without extra
capacity.

Pete

[EGBE0523]

Pete,
As fascinating as your stats are could you possible sort them into alphabetical order or even by load factor high to low before uploading? thanks

[Ian Brooks]

They are in order taken from CAA web site as they are in country and region order

Ian

[nigel osborne]

Main deck and 747

Les, Gayfriendly,all,

Its a very important issues as without one BHX cannot handle 747/MD-11 freighters as it has done in the past,(Tower Air,Kalitta,Polar Air,World,Gemini, MAS,Lufthansa) etc.

Can you also confirm that BHX now have a loader that can get up to and unload a 747 freighter, as BHX confirmed to me they didn't have one last year.

I heard recently they were going to buy one but no one will confirm if they now have one.

However I am told they have recently marked out a 747/MD-11 stand Elmdon side which if true suggests they will need one.

Nigel

[OltonPete]

Stats & Prague

EGBE0523

Ian has summed it up beautifully, my time is limited (believe it or not) and at present this is the easiest way but if I can format it in a more user friendly way in the future I will.

BMI Baby Prague

Hurrah - not quite a brand new route but re-instated. First flight (again) Friday 21 October 2011 17.45. It will be four a week (five a week briefly in December) on Monday, Thursday, Friday & Sunday until next May when it drops to three a week.

Pete

[getonittt]

RE : September route analysis (international) schedule

Thank you pete for sharing the information you have , it really tells a story that all routes are performing well in these current hard times , and the decrease seems to be the cessation for no particular reason of ex RYR routes (BIQ, OPO, NDN & KRK) .

No doubt Istanbul is the pick but even Stuttgart increased without extra
capacity

It's interesting you mention Stuttgart as i'm a pretty regular user of this service and when i travelled in september both legs were pretty much full. This is a little gem of a route and it's no wonder it's probably , together with Milan , one of the only routes that still survive having been passed down from the original birmingham executive days and has had continuous service. in my opinion it would be a prime route for the EMB175 , certainly in the summer anyway.

[MAG-BHX]

Comtel Air

HiCan anybody offer any info on the Comtel Air operation from BHXThanks in advance.

[sam1993]

Courtesy of flyintobhx.co.uk - Birmingham Airport's No.1 enthusiast web site

Takhar Travel, a travel agent with a long history within the Indian market have now commenced a new twice weekly charter service from Birmingham to Amritsar. Comtel Air (the latest airline for the travel agent) started flights on the 1st October 2011 and like before (with Air Sylhet/Akal Air) operates via Vienna due to Indian traffic rights. Comtel Air will initially be using a Privilege Style Boeing 757-200 during the month of October before being handed over to Mint Airways from November who will also be using a 757-200.

Initial bookings have been very good with a load factor just under 90%, clearly benefiting from the withdrawal of the Mahan Air service. As a result, Comtel Air are already planning a 3rd weekly service on a Friday. The airline will also pick up and drop off passengers in Vienna. View the new schedules below...

Comtel Air schedules:
COE731/732 Arr 17:15 - Dep 18:40 - Saturday & Sunday .