BIRMINGHAM - 6

[mart901]

NOC 4 weekly, WAT 3 weekly and I'm glad to see BHD remaining at up to 7 daily - more power to the flybe elbow! I went to book some EZY flights to BFS yesterday and landed up £10 better off with BE, lack of Saturday flight to BFS surely can't be a good thing and only 1 flight on a Tuesday. Seems BE is holding its own.

[OltonPete]

March International route analysis

Monthly figures from the CAA but I only had a part SBS log for rotations so might not be that accurate this month but did use libhomeradar to help.

Some figures provided by the CAA don't show the split between schedule and IT correctly.

These seem okay but plenty of room for improvement on some.


BRUSSELS.............10382......43.......55%........9900
LARNACA................3328.....166.......86%........3119
COPENHAGEN...........7422......79.......86%........7036
SHARM EL SHEIKH.....5131....197.......92%........3238
CHAMBERY.................586...................%.......318
Grenoble..................3759....125......75%........3785
LYON......................3347......54.......68%............ 0
PARIS (CDG)...........32770......98.......75%......29993
BERLIN (TXL)............3128.....87.......63%........3688
DUSSELDORF...........16968.....52.......60%......14671
FRANKFURT.............25436....103......64%.......22471
HAMBURG.................2626......55......61%........2858
HANOVER...................N/K............................
MUNICH..................15275......92......75%......16128
STUTTGART..............2864......55......70%........1604
GIBRALTAR................2999....115......66%........1062
AMRITSAR/Delhi .4114/4113....229......89%............0
CORK.......................6358......51......72%.......6638
DUBLIN...................57132.....115......70%.....49252
KNOCK.....................1463......49.......63%......2550
SHANNON.................2094......34.......69%......2775
WATERFORD.............1638......59.......75%.......1760
BERGAMO.................3913.....151.......88%......3711
MILAN (MXP)............3627......59.......67%.......2617
ROME (FCO).............3027.....151.......78%......4817
MALTA....................2755.....153.......81%......3002
AMSTERDAM...........39538......90.......80%.....39421
ISLAMABAD..............7904.....232.......73%.....11037
BYDGOSZCZ.............4444.....171.......90%......4388
KATOWICE...............3176.....159.......84%......2833
KRAKOW..................2910.....162.......86%......2854
RZESZOW................2697.....163.......86%......3659
FARO......................8540.....178.......87%......7900
FUNCHAL.................3149.....174.......82%......2801
BRATISLAVA.............2888....160.......85%......2982
ALICANTE...............13529....183.......92%....13906
BARCELONA..............4822.....161.......85%......5702
MALAGA.................11802....184........93%....13379
ARRECIFE...............13283........?.........?%.......7742 IT pax included
FUERTEVENTURA.......7049......?.........?%.......3608 IT pax included
LAS PALMAS.............2936.....133.......67%.....3450
TENERIFE...............16672........?...........?......13417 IT pax included
GOTEBORG...............1179......23.........46%..........0
Stockholm................1519.....76..........66%.....2971
GENEVA.................12495.....136.........85%....11616
ZURICH...................8309.......78.........79%.....9380
ISTANBUL................9728.....108.........70%.....7018
ASHKHABAD..............6260....174.........92%.....5210
DUBAI....................48204.....389........91%....45282
NEW YORK (EWR)......7621.....141........84%......7687

Pete

[JennyB]

Well the airport should be fully open from tonight.

Though possibly the only airport that can shut at night for 6 months for runway extension work and actually open with reduced distances!

[Centre cities]

Runway

Not finished, over time and I bet over budget as well. The question is when will it open, if they require night closures of which there is no chance in the summer you could be talking next winter. Hopefully not.

Will someone be paying the price?

Centre cities

[JennyB]

Already got planned closures for next Winter.

[Centre cities]

Closures

Jenny.

I appreciate that their are closures next winter but I believe that they are to iron out the undulating surface of the existing runway, hopefully not connected to the opening of the extension.

Centre cities

[ATNotts]

Not finished, over time and I bet over budget as well.

Well at least the Germans responsible for Berlin Willy Brandt (BER) weren't given the contract.

It would have probably been 2 years late, rather than 2 weeks judging by the debacle in Berlin!

[Invicta DC4]

I'm assuming that the runway length has been reduced to it's original length because the new NATS charts came into force today showing the new runway extension and taxiway as available. From what I can see from the NOTAMS, the new taxiway isn't finished yet and will not be for another 2 weeks.

[nigel osborne]

Centre Cities,

Yes the runway extension opening has turned into a shambles.Two deadlines missed and the latest from the airport..no date yet fixed for its opening.

It started off acceptable, we had 3 months of floods so that can account for a big part of the delay.Expected opening went from mid April to late April then 1st May all missed.

However we have then had over 2 months of fairly dry weather.Yet during the day when you would have expected them to ramp work up,the new taxiway in the day was abandoned with hardly any work going on.

Its only in the last 2 weeks that the contractors have been like headless chickens with extra staff working on the still unfinished taxiway in the day.

They should have put more resources into it in the day..the fact they haven't may point towards very weak penalty clause implications imposed by BHX ?

There has been a reshuffle of the BHX management Im told, the day after the airport shrugged its shoulders when it would now be open..not sure if its connected.

If there is any good news perhaps its the fact that BHX has not been able to secure an airline that needs the extension from May.


Nigel

[oceanhawk]

Runway works.

14 day delay to the opening of the new runway extension and taxiway Sierra . Declared distances reduced and Rnav Sid trial introduced. Looks like resurfacing and replacement of lighting down the 15 end still a long way from finished as well.

[nigel osborne]

oceanhawk.

Lets hope so. Im told that the latest NOTAMS runs to mid May, but may well get extended.

Nigel

[Invicta DC4]

The extension is open, but nothing can use it as backtracking is not allowed according to NOTAMS.

[kgoodall]

It would be nice to see it open on the 14th - I'm booked on the flight form Toronto that day.

[oceanhawk]

Runway works.

Nigel.
It looks like the extension part will be finished and useable some time soon. The other end look s to be a different matter.
Ils 15 is cat 1 only and 33 glide path is u/s , both until futher notice . The lighting has an affect on the type of approach as well.
The question is, with regard to resurfacing , how will the contractors have access to complete now the season is upon us?

[nigel osborne]

oceanhawk.

They are 2 seperate projects but linked. The runway extension has been complete for a week or so but the new taxiway is the problem.

Think the 2nd project.. plan is to restart the resurfacing work in November, so looks like yet another winter with no Cat 3..poor show !

Nigel

[oceanhawk]

Runway.

Nigel.
Thanks . That all adds up.

[ATNotts]

Seems to me as though the "experts" here have increased their field of expertise.

Not only can they run an airport, and airline operations and marketing departments better than the professionals, they have now become experts in civil engineering and construction.

I wish I was as clever and that my foresight was half as good as my hindsight!

[JennyB]

Not only can they run an airport, and airline operations and marketing departments better than the professionals, they have now become experts in civil engineering and construction.

Possibly some experts in civil engineering and construction could have been employed by the airport?

Yes, there was some rain this Winter(who would have expected that eh?), but basically it's been the best Winter for about 5 years.

There wasn't one night lost to snow or ice this Winter, not once did they not close the runway at night due to weather, generally starting early and often finishing late.

Somebody screwed up on their estimates down the line somewhere.

[ATNotts]

JennyB

Yes, there was some rain this Winter

That is probably the understatement to end all understatements!

I am not an employee of the airport company, nor of any of the contractors involved, but neither am I, nor most others here I would wager, an expert on the extending and resurfacing of the runway, and the difficulties of doing so, whilst keeping the (single runway) airport open for business when it needed to be.

I feel sure that the airport has robust penalty clauses in place for over runs in the contract, but equally the extremely wet weather must have been a mitigating circumstance. The contractors are hardly new to projects such as this, and won't have "deliberately" sought to delay the project - but hey, sh1t happens!

After waiting 40 years for a decent runway length, I really can't see that a few weeks makes much difference either way. I don't imagine anyone here has unintentionally arrived late for work, delivered orders orders late, or even delivered the wrong stuff? I know I have!

[JennyB]

That is probably the understatement to end all understatements!

Not really, actually less rain than the previous Winter in BHX, and as I stated before, no disruption at all due to snow or ice, which could have been expected based on the last few heavy Winters.

Sure that they would have allowed at least 10 days loss due that in contingency planning which were not actually needed.