BIRMINGHAM - 5

[nigel osborne]

egnxema re UA 757.

I understand what your saying, however the bottom line is that BHX now has to try and fill a larger number of higher price seats that is my point .

[worcsbert]

50% of the UA Economy plus seats do not get charged for through Elite members taking them for free, the other 50% will be used regardless, the price of the ticket to sit in them is not higher. It is a additional extra cost, if no one pays for them, they will still be used.

[crewmeal]

Mint Airways

Mint Airways Boeing 757-28A EC-LBC which arrived on Christmas
Eve spent the day parked up - the aircraft is now BHX based and
is available for general charter work

Taken from BHX blog. Why would Mint base a 757 at BHX hoping for charter work? Please no more ATQ flights

[EastMids]

I understand what your saying, however the bottom line is that BHX now has to try and fill a larger number of higher price seats that is my point

No, on United all the seats in economy/economy plus are sold as standard economy seats... Once a passenger has bought an economy class ticket, they have the option to pay more for extra leg-room as an add-on (United frequent flyer program members get the add-on for free). This add-on allows the passenger to select a seat towards the front of the cabin in the section called "economy plus" which has the extra leg room - if a passenger doesn't buy the add-on, the extra leg-room seats are blocked to them. If no one buys the extra leg room, these seats still get sold as normal economy seats and the lucky ones who book last minute may well get the extra leg room for free.

The net result is that economy class tickets are no more expensive - it's just that United gets some extra revenue from up-selling extra leg-room seats, otherwise known as "economy plus". The new United has made the decision that the extra revenue generated from up-selling extra leg-room seats compensates for the loss of six seats per aircraft.

Andy

[nigel osborne]

Thanks Andy,worcbert,

So economy passengers are being ripped off.. if they want more leg room and offer to pay more..when they have a reasonable chance anyway of a free upgrade if they do not pay any more ..crikey what a murky business it is !

Will remember that one in the future..

Nigel

[EastMids]

Not really being ripped off... Every single one of the 108 normal leg room seats has to be allocated to someone before anyone [except United frequent flyer program members] gets the extra leg room for free. And almost invariably if the flight is NOT full, what happens is that 108 passengers who haven't paid for extra leg-room are crammed in the back, whilst those who have paid/qualified for extra leg-room not only get the extra leg-room but also get the empty seats next to / between them. It often makes for a significantly more comfortable flight than being in the normal leg-room seats. Despite there being no cabin divider inbetween normal economy and "economy plus", in order to protect the benefit for those who have paid for "economy plus", United flight attendants are getting pretty good stopping passengers who haven't paid the add-on from creeping forward into extra leg-room seats after the doors are closed.

Its the same on most other airlines actually - in the end, if no one pays for extra leg-room (easyJet, bmiBaby, British Airways) those seats will still be sold as normal seats and someone might get lucky and get the extra room for free when they check-in... Passengers who want extra leg-room are paying for a guarantee they'll get it, rather than taking what on many occasions would be a rather significant risk of ending up with a normal seat.

Andy

[groundhogbhx]

Mint Airways

The Mint a/c is based at BHX for ad-hoc flights, much the same as the Air Finland a/c have been for the last 2 summer seasons. Not sure how much work they expect to pick up though

[Jonnyf]

2012

2012 seems to be a positive one for Birmingham from the current looks of things

-BmiBaby re-introducing Barcelona, Lisbon and Rome
-Aer Arann bringing back Waterford
-Monarch Introducing 5 new routes of Dubrovnik, Heraklion, Milan-Malpensa, Venice and Rome even though 4 of them are not new to the airport.
-Lufthansa bringing Berlin Connection increasing there presence at Birmingham
-Turkish Rumoured to be increasing Istanbul to a Daily service
-Increase in Business traffic with the completion of the Eurojet facility

Also the start of constructing the long awaited Runway extension

Lets hope the trend has changed for Birmingham and we start to grow again

[mart901]

Has RE definately confirmed that about WAT route? Theres nothing on their website as yet.

[nigel osborne]

Johnnyf.

Agree there are some positives this year especially the start of the runway project.

However I think the increase in APD this year,recession and now expected 10% increases in airfares due to the new Carbon Trading inclusion of aviation..will be a very tough year for BHX

Nigel

[Jonnyf]

Birmingham Airport boss Paul Kehoe revealed airlines and holiday companies are expected offer cut-price deals during the Olympics, with deals are to be announced over the coming weeks. He said: ‘Not everyone will want to stay in Britain but there will be planes coming in full and leaving nearly empty while the Olympics are on. So we expect to see some good deals being offered by airlines.’

Mr Kehoe also said that he wants to see more investment in Birmingham to allow for more flights, adding: ‘The Government needs to recognise the value of regional airports.'

Hopefully this will reduce the damage of APD by a certain percentage and heard Waterford from another forum

[revo]

RE Waterford

I can confirm 100% Aer Arann will not be operating Waterford to Birmingham next summer

[Evanelpus]

Also the start of constructing the long awaited Runway extension

I'm guessing the entension is the 15 end and how much extra are they getting?

[Occams Razor]

400m. 33 end.

[Evanelpus]

Will that have any effect on the A45?

I remember many years ago there was talk about a "bridge" over the road.

[revo]

Runway extension

The A45 will be diverted around the extension to the runway, they were going to tunnel the road under the runway but this was found to be too expensive

Revo

[Evanelpus]

Thanks Revo, was beginning to think I'd ever see the extension in my lifetime!

[nigel osborne]

Re runway extension.

Re runway extension;

It has now been reduced to 350 metres from the original 400m and the road diverted a bit more to put enough spacing between the end of the extension and the diverted road .

A bridge will therefore not be needed, although the RESA ( Runway end safety area) goes from the intended "recommended" to lesser "statutory" distance but enough space between to comply with CAA regs.

The 4 construction companies putting in tenders were confirmed today and one will be selected and announced in February.

Start date for diverting the A45 will be July 2012, start date for runway extension June 2013 completion 2014.


Nigel

[BDS10]

I understood that there had been a reduction in the proposed increase in runway length just after planning permission had been given to save money. Is the 400m to 350m a further reduction?

[nigel osborne]

BDS10

The decision was taken in 2010 after in became apparent that BHX couldn't afford the bridge.. fortunately they had written into the application this possible amendment.

It is that amendment that takes 50m off the original length.

However don't know if the 150m starter strip proposed (separate to the counted runway length) still goes ahead or whether that has also been removed..cannot find the new new plans anywhere.

Nigel