Belfast City Airport-2
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KLM want a 6 am departure. Wrong airport. Jet2 8 new routes. EZY 3 New routes. BHD soon to be culled NCL and IOM. Let's face it, it's cancelled every other day.Oh no, they got Carlisle international.
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Startledgrapefruit
Good analysis. Yes BHD has seen a heavy turnaround in airlines over the years, but without doubt the vast majority of them were cancelled for reasons other than a lack of demand. Poor planning from airlines is the main reason why these flights failed.
Good analysis. Yes BHD has seen a heavy turnaround in airlines over the years, but without doubt the vast majority of them were cancelled for reasons other than a lack of demand. Poor planning from airlines is the main reason why these flights failed.
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Poor planning on the part of the airlines, maybe?
But remember these airlines have hundreds of markets to assess, so they have to depend upon some ‘local’ guidance.
Ryanair we’re convinced for some time they could get Harbour’s runway extended, KLM presumably went there coz they felt the operating hours weren’t an issue, especially early morning, and Icelandair were presumably told they could stick on a prop up the North Atlantic due to tax for North American connections not applying?
Maybe on that basis somebody is saying more than their prayers!
But remember these airlines have hundreds of markets to assess, so they have to depend upon some ‘local’ guidance.
Ryanair we’re convinced for some time they could get Harbour’s runway extended, KLM presumably went there coz they felt the operating hours weren’t an issue, especially early morning, and Icelandair were presumably told they could stick on a prop up the North Atlantic due to tax for North American connections not applying?
Maybe on that basis somebody is saying more than their prayers!
Join Date: Dec 2014
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There are lots of rumours flying around about KLM, they either go twice a day or pull and focus on Dublin. Would not be great for NI if this happens or for BHD. Easyjet piling the pressure on point to point with KLM yields being hammered. They really need that before 0600 departure to get into the morning outbound departure ex Schipol like most UK airports. Their tactics of trying to force the Easyjet BFS-AMS to Lelystad would not come to fruition until 2020 at the earliest. So this summer crucial.
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There must be a major reason why KLM chose not to return to BFS and to instead to fly to BHD, because from the outset KLM made it clear that if the route was successful they'd add a second daily flight.
BHD generally has 9-10 departures 06:30-07:15 using overnight-based aircraft, hence the slot restrictions. However, it would be possible to use gates currently used for 07:15 departures for both a 06:30 and 07:15 departure by a) bussing passengers from the gate to the aircraft parked on the apron to the west of the terminal (I've seen this before with a few Aer Lingus flights) or b) towing the aircraft from the apron to the gate after the first flight has departed.
BHD management need to do all they can to keep KLM at the airport, because the airport has essentially reverting back to its network of 5 years ago when it was just Flybe plus a link to Heathrow.
BHD generally has 9-10 departures 06:30-07:15 using overnight-based aircraft, hence the slot restrictions. However, it would be possible to use gates currently used for 07:15 departures for both a 06:30 and 07:15 departure by a) bussing passengers from the gate to the aircraft parked on the apron to the west of the terminal (I've seen this before with a few Aer Lingus flights) or b) towing the aircraft from the apron to the gate after the first flight has departed.
BHD management need to do all they can to keep KLM at the airport, because the airport has essentially reverting back to its network of 5 years ago when it was just Flybe plus a link to Heathrow.
Join Date: Nov 2011
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What makes anyone think KLM aren't doing well on the route? Take a look at the figures. It's grown consistently from the outset. There is really no logic in saying they will scrap the route, they have upped the aircraft size over time also. They knew full well EZY were competing with them when they arrived. And all this talk of BHD dying a death. Get real seriously. Pop down there any weekday and see the queues, business people who's firms have paid out decent money to fly flexibly on BA/EI/BE, passengers connecting via LHR, AMS. Yes the onslaught of FR hasn't helped in some ways, it brought the loss of LGW and a reduction in summer sun from EI. If you want to look at failures look at BFS - BA, KLM, BD, WW, UA, mytravellite etc etc etc...... ��. Tell you what, imagine you want flight to LHR, whoops can't get that at BFS, that one seems to only work for BHD. You want to go to BHX, there's 2/3 daily from BFS against 7 at BHD. You want a carrier with onwards connections, whoops can't do that from BFS but there's a choice of 4 from BHD. Now I'm a fan of both Belfast airports and this is not a dig at BFS, but please let's see it in proportion. Not long ago BFS had a blank departure screen in winter from about 10am till late afternoon and it was like that for many a year, meantime BHD was steady with arrivals and departures all day. I'm glad BFS is on the up, and give it time BHD will be bouncing.
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Think the main issue for KLM to seriously consider an increase in frequency from Belfast is that, due to the longer range to Schiphol than from the UK mainland, the morning connecting flight would really need to leave BHD BEFORE 6am. Why they hadn’t foreseen that as a problem at the outset is anyone’s guess.
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BHD is not spending money for no reason. And it’s not to impress its current airline clients. They clearly have serious talks with other airlines in the pipeline and now that Fr is off the LGW route and EZY has the monopoly I really can see BA introducing a LGW maybe 3 times a day to connect passengers in an ever growing route network
Have heard there is another airline in the pipeline to open a base at BHD
Have heard there is another airline in the pipeline to open a base at BHD
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BHD is not spending money for no reason. And it’s not to impress its current airline clients. They clearly have serious talks with other airlines in the pipeline and now that Fr is off the LGW route and EZY has the monopoly I really can see BA introducing a LGW maybe 3 times a day to connect passengers in an ever growing route network
Have heard there is another airline in the pipeline to open a base at BHD
Have heard there is another airline in the pipeline to open a base at BHD
Regarding Gatwick, BA will not introduce BHD-LGW. Over the past few years they've slashed their Gatwick domestic operations, and have move to a point-to-point leisure network. If LGW is to be back on the departure boards at BHD, Aer Lingus will be the most likely contender.
Have you any idea what airline is planning on opening a BHD base, and what is the current timeline? Will Aer Lingus Regional take on Flybe in the UK domestic market, or is it going to be a curveball like bmi Regional or Loganair?
If that's true I doubt that the route will last through the summer.
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KLM can't do pre 0630 am departure, nothing to do with parking stands, only the opening hour restrictions, not about 'slots'. I think the suggestion of KLM axing the route is crazy and purely speculation, nothing more.
I cannot comment on there point to point v connecting pax, but ex Dublin they vast majority of pax are onward bound, they don't do a huge amount in point to point.
Didn't they get mega ££££ incentive to launch the route?
I cannot comment on there point to point v connecting pax, but ex Dublin they vast majority of pax are onward bound, they don't do a huge amount in point to point.
Didn't they get mega ££££ incentive to launch the route?
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Believe it was more marketing support than anything but it's available to anyone and from any NI airport, pot of money set aside for route development. Both BRU and KEF had similar support and AMS has out lasted both of them, if that's any indication.