Birmingham-7

[chaps1954]

It does seem rather strange that New York is finishing so early however Toronto is no suprise as weather can be a tad cold then but New York has the shopping.

[canberra97]

Originally Posted by ATNotts

I don't believe BHX management expected Primera to be any sort of "saviour"; BHX doesn't need saving for starters, and second, it's unclear to me whether Primera's arrival on the T/A scene was the catalyst for the departure of UA / TS, or the consequence of the departure of said carriers. YYZ now has on offer more seats per week than it has had for years, and BHX has managed to get reconnected with New York. I am sure Primera is in BHX for the long game, and it's very difficult to judge them until the first summer season is done and dusted. As indication of just how difficult the T/A market is, I heard today on ZDF (Germany) TV news that Lufthansa and cutting their direct service between Berlin and New York, due to poor demand. If Berlin has issues making NY work, it puts BHX into some sort of perspective.

I am surprised however that Primera EWR is only bookable till 9.12.18, that seems a rather arbitrary date, and I would have expected the service to go into hibernation in the first week of January, but I assume they have done their homework.

It was always Lufthansa plan to operate both DUS to JFK and TXL to JFK temporarily before handing the routes over to Eurowings, as quoted by LH because of slot availablity at JFK the DUS to JFK has been suspended for the summer season and TXL to JFK has suffered due to the late arrival of the five former A343 from Brussels Airlines that are destined for Eurowings.

Lufthansa are concentrating operations at their primary hubs in FRA and MUN with Eurowings operating the former Lufthansa flights originating from BERLIN, COLOGNE, DÜSSELDORF, HAMBURG, HANNOVER, STUTTGART.

[Centre cities]

Primera

Just to clarify on Primera from December.

The schedule quoted earlier is correct from the website however:

The 3 per week Malaga services are W flights with a Malaga based aircraft that operates to Birmingham, Manchester and Paris. This is likely to have been the BHX based aircraft.

At present a 738 is based Thursday to Sunday and operates in from Iceland on Thursday and back out on Sunday.

The New York and Toronto now show that same operating dates as Stansted and I would expect this to now be extended at both airports, to stop the service prior to the Christmas break would not make sense.

The website needs to be watched on an almost daily basis but the schedule for the winter period is starting to make more sense. The disappointment is the weekly Canaries flights, 2 per week would give passengers much more flexibility than the 1 per week 7 or 14 day breaks.

Centre cities

[LAX_LHR]

Turkish using an A330 on 29th March. Morning flight.

[nigel osborne]

Originally Posted by GayFriendly

Chinapattern, that seems a reasonable summary, this is what has appeared on the Primera website since yesterday, all bookable from 9th December:

Alicante: Thurs and Sun from 9th Dec - 7th April

Gran Canaria: Fri from 7th Dec - 5th April

Malaga: daily until 9th December, then Tues/Thurs/Sun until 5th April

Reyjkavik: Sun 9th Dec, Wed 19th Dec, Tues 1st Jan then Sun from 13th Jan - 7th April

Aircraft operates inbound Thursday 6th and 13th December, and from 17th Jan

Tenerife: Sat from 8th Dec

Barcelona is daily from 1st October-9th December, not bookable afterwards - why run a route only for 3 months at this time of the year??

Long Haul:

New York: Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun until 9th Dec

Toronto: Tues/Thurs/Sat until 8th Dec

So it would seem the BHX base uses a KEF based aircraft from 9th Dec with flights only operating from Thurs-Sun until April, apart from AGP which also flies on a Tuesday, totalling 8 flights per week.

I can't see them having an aircraft sat around on a Mon and Wed doing nothing to operate a single Tuesday Malaga flight?

Interestingly, MAN-AGP has now appeared, 4 times per week from 24th October. More routes to come from MAN me thinks.

One assumes EWR, YYZ start again after 9th April along with short haul winter routes hopefully continuing through the summer

The STN schedule is much more robust than BHX over winter, with daily EWR and ALC, 5 times pw IAD and YYZ and 3/4 times pw AGP, TFS, LPA. Goes without saying they are obviously doing much better from STN than BHX, no surprise really.

So many pieces of the Primera jigsaw to still put together. It doesn't make any sense to me unless there is more to come? They have not become 'the saviour' that I think BHX management were hoping they might be.

The start of Manchester flts is a worry for us.

With the MAG group airport of Stansted being their other main focus I hope they don't just switch flts from BHX to Manchester next year ..

[Logohu]

With the MAG group airport of Stansted being their other main focus I hope they don't just switch flts from BHX to Manchester next year ..

I doubt that will happen. I expect one of the reasons Primera chose BHX over MAN is the lesser transatlantic competition from Thomas Cook, Virgin, UA, AC, Icelandair etc. That isn't going to change so if they really wanted to operate from MAN rather than BHX, why go to BHX in the first place ? A common factor between BHX and STN is that they both have limited transatlantic competition.

[daz211]

Originally Posted by Logohu

I doubt that will happen. I expect one of the reasons Primera chose BHX over MAN is the lesser transatlantic competition from Thomas Cook, Virgin, UA, AC, Icelandair etc. That isn't going to change so if they really wanted to operate from MAN rather than BHX, why go to BHX in the first place ? A common factor between BHX and STN is that they both have limited transatlantic competition.

I agree but in a way disagree only due to the way flights are searched for now if you were looking for flights from Manchester to the states it’s easier to use say skyscanner at which point you would see the primera flights along side the above mentioned carriers and the fares at the moment are very competitive where as Stansted and Birmingham are less likely to be searched due to the publics knowledge of where transatlantic flights operate if your looking for transatlantic flights you more than likely to search LGW or LHR instead of STN or LON and further up the country you would be searching MAN over LPL
So you would get more bookings through comparison sites due to the amount of searches and the competitive prices.

[chaps1954]

Daz yes I agree with what you are saying it`s like people automatically look at London

Ian

[nwoody2001]

You are indeed correct but that is not how you run and sustain a route. Yes you are more likely to get awareness of your route from MAN over BHX, but with the amount of competition, this will guarantee that yields are limited in order to beat your competitor.


To my eye, the opportunity for Primera at MAN is European sun sector in the void left by Monarch, Vueling and Norwegian, and not the TATL sector which at MAN is saturated.


That's not to say they will get an easy ride at BHX. The true sign will be the summer 19 schedule!

[LAX_LHR]

While PF would have a tough time on the traditional TATL ex MAN (NYC/BOS), there could be a niche to carve in new routes like Washington, and adding capacity on Toronto and possibly PHL.

As far as intense competition goes, it didn’t stop PF adding CDG against AF/D8/XL and so on, and while STN has limited TATL, London-US (when looking at the bigger picture) is hardly devoid of competition, is it?

But saying that, I don’t think BHX should be worried if MAN TATL does happen. PF would be competing with MAN based carriers, not its own services at BHX. The timetable at BHX should be more than capable of standing on its own 2 feet regardless of what happens up the M6.

[FLYAIR10]

VLM resumes flights to Antwerp

On Monday March,26th VLM airlines resumes their flights from BHX to Antwerp.
5 flights a week.
Today they launched a promo-tariff of GBP 39 one way (GBP 79 return)

Sales period: SAT 17 MARCH 2018 up to and including SUN 25 MARCH 2018
Travel period: 26 MARCH 2018 - 27 OCTOBER 2018

Curious to see how many seats they can sell at this bargain price...

FlyVLM - English

[LAX_LHR]

Originally Posted by LAX_LHR

Turkish using an A330 on 29th March. Morning flight.

Also using an A330 on the PM flight 14th April.

[ssflyer]

Originally Posted by LAX_LHR

Also using an A330 on the PM flight 14th April.

Easter Hols-start and finish?
SS

[LAX_LHR]

I’d imagine so, TK are masters at matching capacity with demand, it’s a huge benefit of having such a versatile fleet. A319 for low loads with the ability to switch right up to the B77W when the loads are high.

[Matt995]

Runway 33 Glide Path now out of service till 19th June...

C1620/18: Birmingham: Glide path (ILS) unserviceable
Q) EGTT/QIGAS/I/NBO/A/000/999/5227N00145W005
ILS GP RWY 33 OUT OF SER
FROM: 19 Mar 2018 13:46 GMT TO: 19 Jun 2018 17:00 GMT (18:00 BST)

[Centre cities]

Originally Posted by Matt995

Runway 33 Glide Path now out of service till 19th June...

C1620/18: Birmingham: Glide path (ILS) unserviceable
Q) EGTT/QIGAS/I/NBO/A/000/999/5227N00145W005
ILS GP RWY 33 OUT OF SER
FROM: 19 Mar 2018 13:46 GMT TO: 19 Jun 2018 17:00 GMT (18:00 BST)

It must be wet again, that is good is it not, an ILS that only works in good weather.

Centre cities

[eggc]

Januarys pax figures on CAA now, and TBH better than thought they might be at -4%. Considering the number of MON frames missing I think that's quite a result. Seems BHX and MAN will soon fill the void MON left and be back to positives

[LGS6753]

S18 slot allocations published:

https://www.acl-uk.org/wp-content/up...son-Report.pdf

Overall reduction in seats (due mainly to Monarch): 8.6%
Numerous airlines not operating in S18 including Aegean, Air Transat, BMI Regional (minimal), Cobalt, Evelop, Germanwings, Icelandair, United.
Major increases from TUI, Thomas Cook, Jet2, Primera.

[jfy1999]

TUI Summer 2019

Agadir, Izmir, Thessaloniki and Split have all been announced.

Routes which will reportedly see more flights include Antalya, Cape Verde and Naples.

[FLYAIR10]

VLM Reopens Birmingham-Antwerp route

Today VLM resumed flights between BHX and ANR.
5 Flights a week.

Source:

VLM Airlines reopens Antwerp-Birmingham route - Aviation24.be

Home - All information about Antwerp International Airport

FlyVLM - English