BELFAST CITY AIRPORT (BHD)
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Severnside
Age: 36
Posts: 99
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
British Airways flight diverted to Belfast International Airport after 'technical issue'
Forgive my ignorance, but why did BA not just turn around and land back in the city airport??
Forgive my ignorance, but why did BA not just turn around and land back in the city airport??
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Co.Antrim
Posts: 32
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
British Airways flight diverted to Belfast International Airport after 'technical issue'
Forgive my ignorance, but why did BA not just turn around and land back in the city airport??
Forgive my ignorance, but why did BA not just turn around and land back in the city airport??
I would say the fact that The runway at BFS is much longer than that at BHD made the pilots decision to land at BFS. On one engine, to make an approach to a short runway and run the risk of landing deep and having to go around would create a high workload for the crew. In an emergency Situation like this it's more straight forward to land on a nice long runway. I feel this is the main reason but there are no doubt other factors Aswell
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: County Armagh
Posts: 267
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I saw a load of emergency vehicles heading in the direction of the City airport last night and hoped it wasn't aircraft related.
I wonder was the pilot thinking about landing back at the city and then changed his mind and went to Aldergrove? Or maybe the emergency crews I saw weren't heading for the airport at all and were going elsewhere?
I wonder was the pilot thinking about landing back at the city and then changed his mind and went to Aldergrove? Or maybe the emergency crews I saw weren't heading for the airport at all and were going elsewhere?
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 181
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just read in local press that EI are to drop BHD LGW from March. So you are the only operator of a route from your base and you drop it? Is this how they can then provide the extra sunshine flights with this spare a/c? I suppose this opens up the possibility of a "new" carrier on this route. BA??
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: NI
Posts: 1,033
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
If you browse for Belfast -> Heathrow flights on ba.com you are presented with the six BA own-metal flights plus the three Aer Lingus flights under BA codes.
However on aerlingus.com ( once it loads ) you are only shown their three flights...
Joined-up thinking, eh.
City airport press office are still promising nine daily Heathrow flights for Summer 2016. Suggests to me that BA will take-over all Heathrow frequencies and Aer Lingus will shift to leisure routes.
However on aerlingus.com ( once it loads ) you are only shown their three flights...
Joined-up thinking, eh.
City airport press office are still promising nine daily Heathrow flights for Summer 2016. Suggests to me that BA will take-over all Heathrow frequencies and Aer Lingus will shift to leisure routes.
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: dublin
Age: 56
Posts: 523
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
6 to Lhr and 3 to LCY each day is 9 plus EI. We will just have to wait and see as a lot of changes coming over the winter. Will klm up there flights. SÑ Brussels to BRU etc etc
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 1,192
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
BA will reduce the Lhr schedule when it suits them and Bhd will have no say in it. There is no way 9 flights will be maintained.
TB
TB
"BA will reduce the LHR schedule when it suits them". True Bleu, what do you base this cast iron assumption on? From your postings it's a LGW/BFS thing you have on the go. Where does the BA expertise come from? Genuine question.
As an aside. In the same way the plural of cat is cats and not cat's, the plural of any aircraft type is 320s, 737s and not something that requires an apostrophe. Also, their and there are very different things.
Don't demean what you're trying to say (Victoria/airport/66)
As an aside. In the same way the plural of cat is cats and not cat's, the plural of any aircraft type is 320s, 737s and not something that requires an apostrophe. Also, their and there are very different things.
Don't demean what you're trying to say (Victoria/airport/66)
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Northern Ireland
Posts: 2,782
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Cuthere,
I think TrueBlue raises a valid discussion point here. I could frame that slightly differently, BHD LHR has a huge volume of passengers but IAG may seek to streamline the operation and make better use of the slots. The loads compared to someother routes can be lower, there are 9-10 flights a day and monthly passengers in the region of 60k in summer, lower in Winter. Hence, they could easily remove 1 or 2 daily rotations and still have significant. I understand the implications of yield management etc.
Equally the rumours on here or a BA arrival onto LCY may indicate that BA are missing some business partners and an expansion of capacity on this route may mean further competition for London traffic, adding weight to the LHR cut back debate.
It could be argued that Aer Lingus does not add a pint of difference, perhaps only on price on the route, that BA with their focus on connectivity, could serve th is route on their own. Afterall when IAG came to life, IB excited LHR BCN...
However, if the same happened for EI on LHR BHD, you could question the merits of a base for seasonal ops....Hopefully, that is not going to be the case...
Bottom line for me is that is I'd be surprised if IAG do not not look for efficiencies on the route now to some extent to release some slots.
I think TrueBlue raises a valid discussion point here. I could frame that slightly differently, BHD LHR has a huge volume of passengers but IAG may seek to streamline the operation and make better use of the slots. The loads compared to someother routes can be lower, there are 9-10 flights a day and monthly passengers in the region of 60k in summer, lower in Winter. Hence, they could easily remove 1 or 2 daily rotations and still have significant. I understand the implications of yield management etc.
Equally the rumours on here or a BA arrival onto LCY may indicate that BA are missing some business partners and an expansion of capacity on this route may mean further competition for London traffic, adding weight to the LHR cut back debate.
It could be argued that Aer Lingus does not add a pint of difference, perhaps only on price on the route, that BA with their focus on connectivity, could serve th is route on their own. Afterall when IAG came to life, IB excited LHR BCN...
However, if the same happened for EI on LHR BHD, you could question the merits of a base for seasonal ops....Hopefully, that is not going to be the case...
Bottom line for me is that is I'd be surprised if IAG do not not look for efficiencies on the route now to some extent to release some slots.
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Ballymena
Posts: 1,438
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
" True Bleu, what do you base this cast iron assumption on? From your postings it's a LGW/BFS thing you have on the go. Where does the BA expertise come from? Genuine question. "
Cuthere, thank you for taking such an interest in so many of the posts I make. Although it is True Blue!
I have no inside knowledge of BA or their intentions, but I do have this:
1. Plenty of life experience. You will eventually discover that this is very valuable and helps you see through all the spin that governments and businesses like to bombard us with. Pity so many of the general public believe it all.
2. My qualifications in and knowledge of economics
3. My knowledge in and personal experience of capitalism.
Let me give you two examples. The expansion a few years back at Ldy when about 30 families were forced out of their homes and about £20m of tax-payers money spent on a runway expansion. It matters not whether that money came from North or South, it was still our money, tax-payers. It was supposed to herald the start of expansion at Ldy, we were all told in many press releases. What has happened since?
Second example, how many times since EI came to N Ireland have we read press releases that they were looking to increase flights to Lhr. What happened? Or that the reason they were moving from Bfs to Bhd was to get access to the higher yields down there. Do you think it was a roaring success?
I could go on, but if you believe that BA will not take the opportunity now to see how few rotations per day they can get away with to Bhd, well that it up to you. And if they believe that they could make more money on the slots at Lhr, they would drop Belfast like a stone, because that is how capitalism works in 2015, it is all about profit and little else. Something I don't fully agree with.
On your final point, like me make my position very clear to you. Yes I believe that a country the size of NI with three airports is complete madness. You tell us how successful Ldy is? There was a link on this thread recently, that some ridiculed, to a story about the profitability of Bfs and Bhd. Both are barely making a profit. How long can that continue? You have in the past commented on the toilets at Bfs, where do they get the money from to improve if the profits are not there? I look forward to hearing what your solution would be to two airports fighting over the same traffic and cutting fees to the bone to try and secure the business. How sustainable is that? Remember that without a decent profit, there is nothing.
TB
Cuthere, thank you for taking such an interest in so many of the posts I make. Although it is True Blue!
I have no inside knowledge of BA or their intentions, but I do have this:
1. Plenty of life experience. You will eventually discover that this is very valuable and helps you see through all the spin that governments and businesses like to bombard us with. Pity so many of the general public believe it all.
2. My qualifications in and knowledge of economics
3. My knowledge in and personal experience of capitalism.
Let me give you two examples. The expansion a few years back at Ldy when about 30 families were forced out of their homes and about £20m of tax-payers money spent on a runway expansion. It matters not whether that money came from North or South, it was still our money, tax-payers. It was supposed to herald the start of expansion at Ldy, we were all told in many press releases. What has happened since?
Second example, how many times since EI came to N Ireland have we read press releases that they were looking to increase flights to Lhr. What happened? Or that the reason they were moving from Bfs to Bhd was to get access to the higher yields down there. Do you think it was a roaring success?
I could go on, but if you believe that BA will not take the opportunity now to see how few rotations per day they can get away with to Bhd, well that it up to you. And if they believe that they could make more money on the slots at Lhr, they would drop Belfast like a stone, because that is how capitalism works in 2015, it is all about profit and little else. Something I don't fully agree with.
On your final point, like me make my position very clear to you. Yes I believe that a country the size of NI with three airports is complete madness. You tell us how successful Ldy is? There was a link on this thread recently, that some ridiculed, to a story about the profitability of Bfs and Bhd. Both are barely making a profit. How long can that continue? You have in the past commented on the toilets at Bfs, where do they get the money from to improve if the profits are not there? I look forward to hearing what your solution would be to two airports fighting over the same traffic and cutting fees to the bone to try and secure the business. How sustainable is that? Remember that without a decent profit, there is nothing.
TB
Join Date: May 2011
Location: antrim
Age: 63
Posts: 0
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
True Blue
It will continue until one of the airports is no longer sustainable as a business. Trying to reverse engineer an aviation policy is never going to work, the time to form a one airport model for NI should have been taken years ago.
BTW, with your qualification and experience in economics, have a look at the last Harbour accounts. Some very creative accounting going on to minimise tax liability, doesn't mean there is no profit being made, simply that it is being creamed off before it gets onto the wrong part of the balance sheet.
There was a link on this thread recently, that some ridiculed, to a story about the profitability of Bfs and Bhd. Both are barely making a profit. How long can that continue?
BTW, with your qualification and experience in economics, have a look at the last Harbour accounts. Some very creative accounting going on to minimise tax liability, doesn't mean there is no profit being made, simply that it is being creamed off before it gets onto the wrong part of the balance sheet.
I REALLY SHOULDN'T BE HERE
BFS vs BHD is a nonsense. Neither airport has the infrastructure to absorb the traffic of the other. The setup in NI is not that unusual - there are plenty of other cities around Europe served by multiple airports, some of which have a lower population than the greater Belfast area. I fully expect that in twenty years time the Belfast area will continue to be served by the two airports (hopefully with some investment during the interim).
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Northern Ireland
Posts: 464
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
BFS vs BHD is a nonsense. Neither airport has the infrastructure to absorb the traffic of the other. The setup in NI is not that unusual - there are plenty of other cities around Europe served by multiple airports, some of which have a lower population than the greater Belfast area. I fully expect that in twenty years time the Belfast area will continue to be served by the two airports (hopefully with some investment during the interim).