Birmingham-7
Westbound, I'm very pessimistic about, can't see anything viable on the horizon, and the more Manchester expands and becomes a magnet for long haul carriers, the less likely it becomes that BHX will get much more in the way of new higher frequency long haul. It was bad enough being too close to LHR, even worse now it's "too close" to what has become the UK's second most important airport for long haul!!
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Long-haul & Ryanair
EK39 A388 Dubai 11:25
QR33 B788 Doha 12:25
PK791 B772 Islamabad 15:15
TOM493 B788 Langkawi 16:55
AI117 B788 Amritsar 17:15 delayed 20:51 - 11:36 flight time
EK37 A388 Dubai 18:45
Rubbish really just two flights on the worlds biggest passenger airliner in high config, a triple seven and a TUI flight from Malaysia etc etc.
By the way Air India are selling tickets from 1st April which is a bit surprising a day after the flight was suspended and very naughty if they haven't got a solution to their problems. Whether crew shortages/aircraft are part of the issue, not many airlines could add over two hours on to a flight time and still expect to make money flying between a regional airport in India (ATQ) to a regional airport in the UK (BHX) when your main customer bases is VFR. Also I would want to be the Air India executive that made the decision when the Punjabi politicians come knocking on the door.
Ryanair
Alicante to become double daily from July - Second Wednesday flight added.
Pete
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Well we got a message at 9pm last night saying flight would be delayed by 3 hours this morning thus missing our connection to LPA. They have rebooked us LHR to LPA with BA so we are now on the train to Heathrow at our own expense. Interesting that the plane we were due to take this morning landed on time from Brussels last night for the night-stop so not sure what the issue is
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Brussels
Well we got a message at 9pm last night saying flight would be delayed by 3 hours this morning thus missing our connection to LPA. They have rebooked us LHR to LPA with BA so we are now on the train to Heathrow at our own expense. Interesting that the plane we were due to take this morning landed on time from Brussels last night for the night-stop so not sure what the issue is
More to cheer you up - A Brussels Airlines A319 is currently flying for Swiss Geneva - Dublin so the parent airline is not short of aircraft if they can sub them out. Looking at this thread and Bristol - Brussels discussion on the Bristol thread it seems chaos is the way to describe them but not helped by the weather.
Just to rub salt in, the other SN Air Nostrum CRJX operated on time into Brussels this morning and most of the SN network is on time today other than your original aircraft running late back into Manchester. Therefore weather does not appear to be the main problem today but more likely crew hours or tech. Of course the crew hours might have been caused by the weather. The early morning departure crew I think normally arrives the day before on SN2047 which yesterday was not a CRX but an ex SAS Cityjet CRJ9 so I assume this is the issue. I doubt you can fly an Irish Registered CRJ9 one day and then a Spanish registered CRJX the next but could be wrong and maybe there wasn't a dead-head crew available (doubt there would be room on the flight for spare crew).
Air India - It was the last day today but cancelled. Still bookable from April and fares in May are normal.
Pete
It was the last day today but cancelled. Still bookable from April and fares in May are normal.
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They will probably claim weather causing knock-on crewing issues and of course when you sub out a route to another airline operating a mini-fleet at the hub (Air Nostrum/Cityjet BRU) the service is at risk to disruption but this is avoidable with planning by Brussels Airline but I suspect their masters across the border are pulling the strings in respect of cost-savings
More to cheer you up - A Brussels Airlines A319 is currently flying for Swiss Geneva - Dublin so the parent airline is not short of aircraft if they can sub them out. Looking at this thread and Bristol - Brussels discussion on the Bristol thread it seems chaos is the way to describe them but not helped by the weather.
Just to rub salt in, the other SN Air Nostrum CRJX operated on time into Brussels this morning and most of the SN network is on time today other than your original aircraft running late back into Manchester. Therefore weather does not appear to be the main problem today but more likely crew hours or tech. Of course the crew hours might have been caused by the weather. The early morning departure crew I think normally arrives the day before on SN2047 which yesterday was not a CRX but an ex SAS Cityjet CRJ9 so I assume this is the issue. I doubt you can fly an Irish Registered CRJ9 one day and then a Spanish registered CRJX the next but could be wrong and maybe there wasn't a dead-head crew available (doubt there would be room on the flight for spare crew).
Air India - It was the last day today but cancelled. Still bookable from April and fares in May are normal.
Pete
More to cheer you up - A Brussels Airlines A319 is currently flying for Swiss Geneva - Dublin so the parent airline is not short of aircraft if they can sub them out. Looking at this thread and Bristol - Brussels discussion on the Bristol thread it seems chaos is the way to describe them but not helped by the weather.
Just to rub salt in, the other SN Air Nostrum CRJX operated on time into Brussels this morning and most of the SN network is on time today other than your original aircraft running late back into Manchester. Therefore weather does not appear to be the main problem today but more likely crew hours or tech. Of course the crew hours might have been caused by the weather. The early morning departure crew I think normally arrives the day before on SN2047 which yesterday was not a CRX but an ex SAS Cityjet CRJ9 so I assume this is the issue. I doubt you can fly an Irish Registered CRJ9 one day and then a Spanish registered CRJX the next but could be wrong and maybe there wasn't a dead-head crew available (doubt there would be room on the flight for spare crew).
Air India - It was the last day today but cancelled. Still bookable from April and fares in May are normal.
Pete
LH Group are becoming masters of cross fleeting these days with Air Dolimiti flying for parent from Munich, whilst Austrian flying for Swiss near daily and indeed operating a few long haulers from Munich l
I have little simpathy with Zulu on his problems choosing to go via Brussels to The Canaries . There are a host of UK options available, and it’s ironic he ends up going from Heathrow at the expense of LH group on Oneworld carrier !
Last edited by Rutan16; 16th Mar 2019 at 20:49.
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Brussels
Brussels have been operating a Saturday Geneva -Dublin rotation for Swiss for much of the winter already.
LH Group are becoming masters of cross fleeting these days with Air Dolimiti flying for parent from Munich, whilst Austrian flying for Swiss near daily and indeed operating a few long haulers from Munich l
I have little simpathy with Zulu on his problems choosing to go via Brussels to The Canaries . There are a host of UK options available, and it’s icronic he ends up going from Heathrow at the expense of LH group on Oneworld carrier !
A bit harsh on Zulu although I know what you mean but at BHX especially if restricted to the weekend then there is not a lot of choice, Jet2 today was sold out a while ago, TUI is basically an IT (today also) and that is it and nothing tomorrow. if you can fly weekdays then not too bad as FR and LS are usually reasonable and Thomas Cook have restated as well. In winter Personally I would try and avoid some hubs in winter with SN struggling, CDG blighted by random strikes and multi-runway AMS having cancellations due cross-winds, which I believe is due to imposed restrictions.
Terminal and airfield works
Contract awarded and includes he Elmdon site and airfield reconfiguration. MAEL hangar formally up for sale as well
BHX Press release
Pete
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Thanks Pete. Yes as stated earlier we had to get to a wedding by 5pm. No other flight from BHX would have got us there on time on Saturday. Why would we fly from another airport Rutan when you expect your plane to arrive on time? Brussels switched us to BA as well after initially trying to route us via Frankfurt and Madrid
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So long waiting for a new route and then two come along together !
Wizz - Krakow 3pw making this route 8pw in total on three airlines
Laudamotion - Vienna 3pw making this route daily on two airlines
Good news
Wizz - Krakow 3pw making this route 8pw in total on three airlines
Laudamotion - Vienna 3pw making this route daily on two airlines
Good news
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In light of the complete lack of route news in the last 12 months yes a good news day for BHX.
Slightly worrying that we will have 3 airlines on a leisure/VFR focused price sensitive route and 2 on another with very variable loads. Hopefully they have all done their homework!
Maybe Jet2 can leave KRK to FR and Wizz and reroute the aircraft to LIS instead....here's hoping!
But yes good news and nice to see a new airline grace BHX in 2019!
Slightly worrying that we will have 3 airlines on a leisure/VFR focused price sensitive route and 2 on another with very variable loads. Hopefully they have all done their homework!
Maybe Jet2 can leave KRK to FR and Wizz and reroute the aircraft to LIS instead....here's hoping!
But yes good news and nice to see a new airline grace BHX in 2019!
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Vienna & Krakow
In light of the complete lack of route news in the last 12 months yes a good news day for BHX.
Slightly worrying that we will have 3 airlines on a leisure/VFR focused price sensitive route and 2 on another with very variable loads. Hopefully they have all done their homework!
Maybe Jet2 can leave KRK to FR and Wizz and reroute the aircraft to LIS instead....here's hoping!
But yes good news and nice to see a new airline grace BHX in 2019!
Slightly worrying that we will have 3 airlines on a leisure/VFR focused price sensitive route and 2 on another with very variable loads. Hopefully they have all done their homework!
Maybe Jet2 can leave KRK to FR and Wizz and reroute the aircraft to LIS instead....here's hoping!
But yes good news and nice to see a new airline grace BHX in 2019!
The Vienna at least is bookable on FR and again it only makes it a total of daily. Eurowings have been superb in letting the route have time to bed in but passenger figures have been low and it has suffered many cancellations or days where it normally operates but was non-ops.
If Eurowings decide to call it a day few could complain as they gave it a good go but maybe it could stimulate demand giving the option on flying one-way on each airline.
Pete
The Vienna at least is bookable on FR and again it only makes it a total of daily. Eurowings have been superb in letting the route have time to bed in but passenger figures have been low and it has suffered many cancellations or days where it normally operates but was non-ops.
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Will be interesting to see how Lauda Motion do as it will only really suit P2P traffic unless they also offer through ticketed connections? They do operate to a fair few destinations from VIE. We all know LF's need to be high year round for a true LCC carrier to stay on a route and that's without thinking about yield. We can only assume Lauda Motion have done their homework.
Flight times suggest they are not going for the traditional weekend break market as flights are Tues/Thurs/Sat. VIE is a big land and air transport hub and it's easy to get to a lot of cities by train (both in Austria and other countries), of course a huge amount of Danube cruises depart from VIE as well so there's a lot more to the city than just being a weekend break!
Last edited by GayFriendly; 21st Mar 2019 at 10:05.
I was being a tad cynical regarding the strudel - but it is overpriced, but you can hardly blame the Viennese for milking the tourists!
As you say, there's a lot more to Vienna than weekend breaks, but the clientele for river cruises are likely to look for somewhat higher quality travel options than Ryanair Group to get to their cruise ships. River cruising is very expensive. I'd say, especially with the (unpleasant) prospect of a fall in sterling were things to go badly wrong next Friday, there'd be a good inbound market, for shopping, if nothing else.
As you say, there's a lot more to Vienna than weekend breaks, but the clientele for river cruises are likely to look for somewhat higher quality travel options than Ryanair Group to get to their cruise ships. River cruising is very expensive. I'd say, especially with the (unpleasant) prospect of a fall in sterling were things to go badly wrong next Friday, there'd be a good inbound market, for shopping, if nothing else.