Nice one! That R- word is indeed a dirty word. Used by enemies and enemies from within alike in near equal measure.

Christ has this turned into a Lord of the Rings style thread, with the dark word beginning with R that comes deep from within the evil clutches of Long Haul where the evil Lord Branson rules without threat and the Hobbit villages of Thomasandium cookenium and Thomsenium live in fear, but they have one hope, one beam of light that echoes around the dark mistiness of Runway 27, as the Pink Whizard 'Firstastas Choiceniud' who with his trusty star fish logo may try an attempt to free the dictated elf's of the south west of this lonely land or will their bid to free the land fail and the hobbits of Bristol and South Wales will live in fear of the dreaded dark road to Gatwick for the rest of eternity!!!!
Damn I ought to be a millionaire by now :ok:

Apologies if this has already been reported, but there will be a new flight from Bristol to Hurghada next winter season, and Sharm el Sheikh will go 3 times a week on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Regards

Mike

Looks like Brs will be operating a lot of short-long haul flights for the near future.

On another note wonder if WOW will be expanding in the near future they have made BRS its 'mini hub' and they are obviousley doing well, wonder what else is coming up in the pipe line.

Any news on the EXT take over.

Hello again terrier,

Was there a brief problem with the weather at BRS mid morning today?

The official airport website arrivals board showed two BACx ERJs diverted to BHX, the Eastern from IOM went into Filton, and one of the WOWS was also diverted (to an unnamed airport) which I suspect was EXT because their Ceefax page showed a WOW arrival in late morning.

Around that time one of the BACx inbound CDG flights was cancelled as was the Scilly Skybus.

If it was the weather it must have been the 'typical' Broadfield Down mist because at my place eight miles away visibility was never less than a couple of miles, even in the short burst of mizzle that we saw in mid morning.

At 0722 Fog warning down to - 200m was extended untill 1100 hours and at 0830 LVP's Low Vis Procedures were put into operation. I however was In bed snoring or so am told by Mrs T21 making more noise than an incoming FR!!! Im just finishing nights!

Bristol is a swine.

I have driven to work on many summers mornings at 3am, lovely clear roads only to be met by pea soup 'up on the hill'!


:ooh:

I remember it well!!!:) :)

Favourite phrase from ATC when passing the weather used to be, and probably still is "be advised there is cloud below the airfield level"

Several times, I've been on inbound aircraft, and we've come over the final approach fix, and before we got the the DH, the RVR had gone down the pan, which then meant an overshoot, and either a hold in the hope that it would improve, or a divert to Filton or Exeter.

Why did the Bristol city fathers not realise that they were sitting on top of a goldmine at Filton. Now, if they try to even move a light single out of the place, the NIMBY's are protesting in their thousands.

If they'd only thought ahead, Filton could have been Heathrow 2 without any much work on the infrastructure. The East West and North South Motorways are within a couple of miles, there's a railway line already running through the place, with again links in all directions, and the departure route is about as clear of obstructions as it could be, and is over water not long after takeoff, which reduces the risks all ways round.

If ever there was a missed opportunity, this has to be it.

Given it's location, there is no way that Lulsgate can ever be relied on weather wise, 09 can't be upgraded to cat 3 because of the land profile, and the shape of the runway at that end is only wicked. In that respect, one has to admire just how much traffic they've been able to generate there, but if things get tight, and there will come a time again when they do, that's when beancounters in the airlines will look at the cost of diversions and start asking serious questions, and maybe decide that other locations are less expensive.

I grew up in the villages surrounding Lulsgate in the late 1940s and 1950s when it was a glider field. I remember reading that when Bristol City Council moved its airport from Whitchurch to Lulsgate in the 1950s it was offered Filton at a nominal rent. I suppose the council was worried that their status as a tenant might mean civil operations took second place to the movements of the then BAC.

I am one who regularly comes up with the, “What if they had gone to Filton?” But in practice, how well would it have worked? Presumably Bae would still rule the roost there and the airport’s interests would be secondary to that.

Filton is now a non-starter. Bae applied to turn it into a city airport in the mid 1990s but was turned down following a public enquiry.

I have used BRS for well over twenty years and have flown in and out as a passenger several hundred times. I have been diverted once. And that was in the mid 80s when the inbound Britannia Boeing 732 that was to operate a flight to Palma could not land because of the murk. It diverted to CWL so we were taken there by bus.

My son has flown in and out of BRS, mainly on business but also for leisure, probably two hundred times in the past five years. He has yet to be diverted.

As a regular passenger and observer of BRS I often think the weather ‘thing’ is over-egged, like the so-called runway difficulties, perhaps on occasions by opponents of the airport.

There are times when BRS stands above the mucky weather and is open when other airports in the region are closed. A month or two ago for example CWL was out because of the weather one Friday evening and BRS took some of its flights.

I think BRS, despite its undoubted shortcomings, and every airport has its own, is a priceless facility for one of the most prosperous sub-regions in the country, that is also the main business/industry generator for the entire government Southwest region as well as being the only major conurbation in that region.

I can’t think there will come a time when the occasional diversion will cause airlines to turn their backs on that market.

First Choice brochures for 2006 out, no changes for FCA just an extra AGP, but the Florida and Long haul brochures haven't been produced yet for next summer, so we still wait with baited breath, EXT only has 2 flights a week, so no base there either!
I think FCA are in danger of loosing out on business to Excel airways, if they're not careful they'll loose their crown as biggest charter at BRS, lets hope they'll pull thru with the long haul!:confused:

Irish Steve - Bristols weather factor for CAT3 equipped airliners is much better than that of any comparable international airport nearby.

I don't CARE if its 200m in fog down to the deck UNTIL its also got an 11kt tailwind on RW27. This happens only rarely.

In fact in 3 very busy years of operating into and out of BRS (call it 250 BRS approaches a year - 750 total) I've had to divert 4 times for weather.

I suspect that the average BRS airport user would therefore have to make 187 return journeys before they would face a diversion. If they used the airport 4 times a year every year it would be nearly 47 years before the weather caused them to end up in (probably) Cardiff. Which given that a quarter of them will come from over the Bridge and that its only 80mins from Lulsgate by coach is no massive deal.

Of course some British Airlines don't have CAT3 capability and therefore do end up being a sight less reliable to use.

Cheers

WWW

Things are a lot better now that they have CAT 3, when I first started travelling regularly ( and then operating myself in a light twin) from BRS, it was only CAT 1, so more problematic.

Even when it was upgraded to CAT II, it was then quite a while before the operators had got all their ducks lined up so they could use it, and a CAT II approach and landing in a turboprop wasn't something you did lightly.


I have more than a few memories of being on a coach and passing within 2 miles of home, and sitting there thinking that it was going to be at least 2 hours before I got home by the time I'd got to BRS, found the car and travelled back over the same route because I'd need the car to get back to BRS on the monday morning. There just were not the alternatives, and still are not, with public transport.

Strangely enough, EI used to use EXT, and then when Filton became available, they went there. Not sure what they are doing now, as this was in the turboprop days. Whichever it was, a diversion was a pain, as it always meant at least a couple of hours delay on the journey home.

So Firstcchoice release came and went with one extra flight, is this because they aircraft they are bringing in is operating Long Haul the rest of the time?! We shall wait with baited breath. Any news on when the other tour operators are releasing their 06 timetables and when FCA will be releasing their long haul?

I believe the FCA long haul is released on April 23?
Seems that Bristol are getting a few new flights to Egypt alos, with Hurghada and Taba being added to the current Sharm El Sheikh flights.
Nice to see a regional airport doing well

New check-in area opens tomorrow, I believe the FCA to FNC will be the first check-in in there, had a look at the finished article and its pretty smart, i liked it, good to see that BRS decided to spend some decent money as we nearly had a tarted up tent like they have in EMA, also something to make you all chuckle, the agents that applied and got the CO check-in were told they would have 2 weeks training in NYC, only to be told the other day that their training has been changed to LGW, cuh how gutted would you be with that!:}

Plenty of changes for monday morning;

Easyjet will now have desks 1-10 and will have a new checking in system, boarding cards and baggage systems.

Passengers will no longer have bag tags and will have to attend the Easyjet Tkt desk if they have any baggage queries. The boarding cards will be about the size of a credit card and are scanned and given back to the passengers whole.

If the system works well for easyjet the current codeco system will be taken out of desks 16-19 and these desk will become unserviceable until they are occupied by CO in May.

The first flight to be Checked in in the new checkin area will be the FCA FNC STD 1305. Apparently FCA are having 6 of the new checkin desks (could this be because of their future long haul schedule?!!)

I know nothing ever happens when I say it but Ill hopefully be proven wrong this time...

...Ryanair are looking at increasing their services from BRS. Whether this is just an increase in flights to DUB or new services completly I do not know.

All the Best

T21

FCA Have to have 6 desks as in summer they have 2 x 321's that often check-in at same time, they had 6 desks last year, but difference is that new desks are dedicated FCA, but and a BIG BUT, the baggage area out the back of extention has been designed large enough to accomodate the turning and loading of LD8s so they're obviously looking toward a future possibility of long haul if you ask me, C'mon FCA please dont disappoint us again! Also at the moment not all check-ins in new bit are allowed to be operated as there is a problem with a fire exit or something, should be fully rectified by May.
Also I heard FR were looking into a big expansion from CWL, could this possibly be another nice contract that CWL my los to BRS, who knows?

No Offence to CWL but I hope BRS gets the scalp of Ryanair alot of their routes would not clash with Easyjet but complement them. The apron extension is almost complete so there shouldnt be any problems basing 3,4 or 5 Ryanair's here at least it would be great to see them here.

T21

Couldn't agree more Terrier, just the noise from em is awful, bloody Irish Concorde's!! have to strap down everything and make sure you leave your car alarm off!

Disconnected mine first day I started here!