BIRMINGHAM - 6

[Bagso]

Good luck BHX !

Although it seems a bit hotchpotch does it not, would the airport themselves not make announcement and some good capital from this !

[ATNotts]

Bagso

I would really like to believe this story, but it wouldn't be the first time that the Times of India had written what turned out to be abject nonsense about Air India - I guess they don't make it up, but I reckon their are various factions within Air India, which is afterall essentially an arm of the Indian government, all trying to put forward their own agendas.

I will believe this when there are slots in place, the route is for sale on the website, and the 2nd flight is on it's way - BHX has had too many inaugurals, with the subsequent services never materialising!

Fingers and toes firmly crossed.

[nigel osborne]

ATNOTTS

I think its best believed when one actually lands.However there are now numerous mentions of them starting soon so perhaps it will happen this time.

Delhi before Manchester would be a big coup for BHX if it happens, unless Jet start out of MAN first.


You may remember many years ago Air India reannouncing BHX then just weeks later they started out of Manchester in a last second change .

Nigel

[Invicta DC4]

NEC Advertising

Visited a trade show at the NEC today, saw some adverts in the bridge link from the rail station saying how well the NEC is connected to the world with links to New York, Dubai etc. They also say Los Angeles/Beijing from 2014. I understand that there has been quite a bit of speculation about a service to China once the runway extension is completed, LA is a new one on me and highly unlikely IMO. Do they know something, is it the usual wishful thinking or have I misread the adverts?

[LAX_LHR]

Delhi before Manchester would be a big coup for BHX if it happens, unless Jet
start out of MAN first

No chance of Jet starting MAN before August, especially with the Etihad deal just going through.

[crewmeal]

A rather smug Will Heynes from the airport has just said on BBC Midlands Today that the runway extension will create an extra 2500 jobs by the end of the next decade. Can anyone from the airport enlighten me on what these extra jobs will be?

[nigel osborne]

Invicta DC-4

Re NEC advertising;

Yes you are right BHX does want to operate to Bejiing and LA, however in the short term expect these are probably code shares to be launched, perhaps Emirates and United.

Nigel

[nigel osborne]

Crew Meal,

Probably no more smug than than John Atkins Manchester Airports city Director , who recently said the new World cargo development planned by them would create 1,800 local jobs, and 20,000 lead on jobs from the Enterprise zone.

How many cargo services have MAN lost in recent years (theres a recent list on the MAN thread) !!


Thats what these airport top brass get paid for, bigging up stuff when its a load of smelly stuff in reality, whether they are from BHX.MAN or any other airport.

Nigel

[Laasjet]

It was also said that it would create 250,000 jobs in the region.

It is part of the game to hype everything up in the hope that the proverbial "pie in the sky" will turn into reality.

[LAX_LHR]

A rather smug Will Heynes from the airport has just said on BBC Midlands Today that the runway extension will create an extra 2500 jobs by the end of the next decade. Can anyone from the airport enlighten me on what these extra jobs will be?

The next decade? As in 2030? I would hope that 2500 jobs can be found in 17 years, otherwise something has gone drastically wrong somewhere.
Even growth without a runway extension should see to that surely?

Based aircraft (crew), hangars, new rampers, shop workers, check in staff, ATC, caterers, cleaners, back office, not to mention down the supply chain. 17 years is a long time, especially in this industry.

[Invicta DC4]

Re: NEC Advertising

Nigel

You can already fly from BHX to Los Angeles with United via Newark and Beijing via Dubai with Emirates so I don't understand why they are advertising from 2014 if that's the case.

[Bagso]

I don't want to hijack the thread but in response Nigel the Manchester Airport City Project is actually thee largest construction site in the UK, in terms of scale its thee largest since the Olympics,

It actually trebles the size of the land area taken up by the airport.

Airport City Manchester

.....but totally agree "the suits" do make some silly statements !

[ATNotts]

the runway extension will create an extra 2500 jobs by the end of the next decade

If you want to get some airtime or column centimetres of free publicity from our increasingly shallow and lazy media, both broadcast and print, best way to do it is to make a wild claim about "how many jobs" are going to be created.

I think you'll find that if all the alleged new jobs that O'Leary claims for this and that expansion the Spanish unemployment rate would be nearer 10%, and even UKIP would be crying out for immigrants to the UK!!

[nigel osborne]

Invicta DC-4.

There have certainly been no announcements or even rumours about either starting next year, so doubt if relates to such.

Therefore can only be code sharing whether its LH, SK,AF or someone else Im afraid.

Nigel

[insuindi]

Maybe BHX should not forget to take care of its core business - in April it took a true battering, in fact by far the biggest loss of any big UK airport.

Pax April 2013: 649881 -7.4%
http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=80&pagetype=88&sglid=11&fld=201304

[TSR2]

But on the bright side;

Pax Rolling Year 8,856,770 +2.9% on previous year.

Bigger increase than Heathrow (+0.3%) or Gatwick (+1.4%).

[ATNotts]

PAX numbers down

insuindi

Not wishing to act as the airport "spin doctor" but the timing of Easter this year will have had an impact on the figures, certainly leisure travel wise, and also, with the turmoil following the loss of bmi Baby there was always going to be a fairly significant drop.

That said, they ain't very good -and a few exotic colour schemes and reggies on long haul aircraft aren't going to drastically improve the numbers. BHX core business is Europe, and as you say, that's where the attention needs to go developmentwise.

[chinapattern]

a few exotic colour schemes and reggies on long haul aircraft aren't going to drastically improve the numbers. BHX core business is Europe, and as you say, that's where the attention needs to go developmentwise.

Disappointing figures but hardly surprising; one just hopes that the BHX team are not neglecting their efforts to secure more key European links rather than simply chasing after fantasy long haul flights to grab the headlines and ‘big-up’ the runway extension.

[crewmeal]

I would imagine and indeed hope that the figures for BHX and every other airport will rise over the coming weeks as everyone is p****d off with this lousy weather. With the press forecasting another wet summer, now is the time for airports and carriers to get their act together and allow customers faultless travel.

[Hotel Tango]

The press forecasting a wet Summer makes me optimistic. After all, didn't they forecast a dry and scorching May?