BOURNEMOUTH - 3

[Pain in the R's]

Joined up building = joined up thinking. something MAG lacks at BOH

[Flitefone]

Don't forget

Flybe have many years of operations at SOU. As a rule, they know exactly who buys their flights and where those passengers live. Flybe has years worth of data to demonstrate what the real trends are.

I have said on the SOU thread that the potential for some Flybe operations from BOH has merit for that reason. It is also because most of the pax living in the one hour drive catchment area of BOH are that much further in time and distance away from the competing flights available from LHR and LGW.

That said the CI and I think most of the smaller regional France routes in particular will always be much larger at SOU because of the fast rail link to London.

FF

[adfly]

My only concern is Flybe could lose out quite significantly at SOU if the BOH base 'dilutes' their routes too much. Currently they offer quite good frequencies to most major domestic destinations as well as the Channel Islands and the likes on DUB, AMS and ORY, which for some makes it a good alternative to trekking to Gatwick or Heathrow to fly to those places. If a frequency were to be lost in favour of duplicating the route at BOH then this could make the existing business routes less attractive to these passengers.

Having said that I guess a single frequency from to AMS/DUB/ORY/CDG/BHD and maybe a combined GCI/JER like they do from EXT could cater well for primarily leisure travellers and could probably be added without diluting the routes from SOU too much. As for domestics I could see a couple of flights a day to GLA/EDI and a couple to MAN, mainly to connect to the 'hub' there. Finally Flybe should be able to make a good go of a few regional French routes from BOH with smaller aircraft, as Ryanair have already tried and dropped the likes of NTE, LIG, MRS.

[Wycombe]

I will take a punt and suggest that Flybe will place some 175's at BOH to operate the sun routes, away from the limitations of SOU's runway for that aircraft.

All the high-frequency domestic/close Europe business-oriented routes to stay at SOU for well-documented reasons.

[adfly]

That is a possibility, but I can't see them taking on Ryanair head on, they have essentially 100% of the market for the 'sun routes' out of SOU which means the only competition they have to worry about is indirect.

[Siggyboy]

There was a Flybe 175 at BOH last week and another this morning..parked right in front of terminal building.

[possibleconsequences]

Where does this Flybe rumour come from?
As i understand it Flybe have just announced a return to profit by consolidating routes and cutting bases in the UK from 11 to 7. It seems implausible that they are now about to announce another new base next door to their main operation.
Hope i'm wrong but just saying…

[ATNotts]

possibleconsequences

Comes from post #675 on this thread - from a contributor who is a "BOH Supporter".

I too find it completely at odds with the Boss's stated policy, and as such I won't be popping down the bookies to put any money on it happening. But of course, you never know!

[Wycombe]

I don't think BOH would be a base as such, it would use crews from SOU.

A bit like what I think happens at NQY, which is crewed from EXT.

There is some more info (although subsequent posts suggest there shouldn't be) over on the Flybe thread.

I based my thoughts purely on supposition.

[Bournemouth Air]

The old arrivals (portacabin) has since disappeared although only recently.

The original plans was a identical building as the departure building. The plans where changed as a cost saving to the new eco arrivals so unsure if they will ever connect although the new arrivals hall is far too small.

The land outside could have been used a lot better as a dedicated drop off lane as like luton.

[adfly]

I think they will regret not going with the original larger arrivals building in the future, the new one won't be very good at all once passenger numbers increase beyond their current levels.

[turbroprop]

Will they increase?

[adfly]

Why wouldn't they in a few years time?

[turbroprop]

Regarding the size of the terminal. Normally people who manage airports or plan develop them are competent and good at their jobs. The chances are they looked at the potential for BOH and revised their plans and decided to downsize the size of the terminal to meet demand. You can over hype the potential and get it wrong. Look at Doncaster, when the airport was being developed, according to the press releases it was going to be massive and the terminal was built to meet this demand, which sadly failed to materialise. Now look at Humberside, yes like any airport you can say if the terminal was bigger it could have more flights, but their business is based on the capacity that the facilities can accept. Like many smaller regional airports eg Exeter there are many advantages. Staff tend to be friendlier, lack of crowds, not far to walk to either the aircraft or car parks from the terminal. If BOH is not making a loss with their business model then they have their plans right. Also look at BOH as a whole, or many regional airports for that matter, they generate income from many sources. Passenger handling yes, rental of hangars / out buildings, aircraft maintenance / storage, freight, light aircraft landing fees and the big bad one.... CHARGING TO DROP OR PICK UP PASSENGERS. So if BOH happy with pax numbers and they are making money why expand to the point where the terminal can not cope.

[Phalconphixer]

As a former employee for fifteen years with Cobham at BOH. my take on the situation now is just the same as it always has been.
The god awful Catch 22 ... the airlines wont come until the external transport links are improved and the transport links won't be improved until there is the demand from airlines and pax...
The train station at Christchurch, literally just down the road has no connection with the airport and only the all stations stopping services call there. The road link from the A338 has been talked about for years but the only revenue spent has been on the installation of yet more speed cameras...

[davidjohnson6]

There is a bus from Christchurch's main shopping street to a quiet residential area slightly less than 2 miles from the airport. Useless in bad weather or with heavy luggage, but because it is run for locals rather than to fleece airport passengers, the local bus fare is very cheap.

Yes, I have taken this bus and yes, I have also walked the 2 miles onward to BOH

[possibleconsequences]

''The land outside could have been used a lot better as a dedicated drop off lane as like luton''

This was the original idea until the attack on Glasgow airport. To prevent anything similar Bournemouth had to remove any idea of direct vehicular access close to the terminal entrance, hence the drop off lane disappeared and we have large concrete blocks and a barrier outside the arrivals hall.

[turbroprop]

Yes true, but you can easily set a parking rate for the first 15 mins free. Thus allowing a simple drop off without all those welcoming sighs that say "PAY £2.50 or else". It works in mainland Europe. Gdansk for example allow free drop off and call the "kiss and cuddle lane".

[MARKEYD]

Bournemouth handled 76 , 936 passengers in May up 1.5 % on last year .
A good start to the summer season

Thomson averaged 95 % on all there flights with Ryanair averaging around 150 passengers a flight

Newmarket flights with Small Planet 737 300 to Naples and Verona had good loads while the Jet 2 cruise charter went out full ( extra flight now scheduled for next summer taking it up to 3 flights )

Dublin averaged 34 passengers with Aer Lingus Regional

[adfly]

With the loads Thomson seem to get consistently from BOH it surprises me that Thomson haven't expanded their offering. There is 1 extra flight per week next year to NBE with Nouvelair but I do wonder if a second aircraft could be used for the summer season, to add extra flights to the most popular routes and bring back the likes of HER, REU, FAO, SSH (year round), AGP, LCA, NAP all of which have been previously operated by TOM or other airlines in the past, and most of which did very well.