BOH airport
 

Bournemouth is the best airport in the world...

comments please...

MAN-BOH as been rumoured before. It used to be served by Dan Air via BHX or CWL I seem to remember. Would a once, or even twice daily LS service struggle against BA and BE's multiple daily departures from MAN to SOU?

@shamrock - I think that your example of Jet2 is instructive. As someone who lives down in this neck of the woods, the Jet2 promotional campaign for the BFS route was nonexistent. Compare this to the much more effective advertising by Thomsonfly and Ryanair. And Air Berlin and Easyjet have launched successfully (so far) in the same timescale. I don't see how the failure of the BFS route can be blamed on the aiport marketing department when other airlines/routes have worked. Jet2 failed because it was a poor destination (from both ends), basically used to employ an idle aircraft based at BFS I suspect, and totally unsupported by Jet2 marketing (oh , sorry, I forgot they hung a banner on the Channel Express building :rolleyes: )

Airport marketing departments don't support routes, airline marketing departments do.

@jongeman - SOU has the local domestic market sewn up with frequency, destinations and (since the growth of Flybe there) pretty good fares too.

Re BOH-MAN.

Whilst the overcapacity on the SOU-MAN route will have a detrimental impact upon trying to set up any such service between BOH-MAN, there is a better alternative available - BOH-LPL. Whilst there is a service from SOU to LPL it is badly underserved and therefore a LPL link would be more sustainable (and profitable).

old post!
 

Thanks Coasthugger, I wrote that post AGES ago - and I must admit, circumstances have certainly changed. I am very impressed that the airlines newly attracted to BOH have been incredibly successful. I don't know why this post has been put up - it was so long ago.

I kind of support that LPL theory, Ryanair would be a perfect carrier. However the business links between BOH and MAN are fairly strong.

Yeah I'm sure even a daily frequency with FR between BOH-MAN or BOH-LPL could be sustained.

Gibsonflyer

How about Air Southwest ? they could make a BOH-MAN-NCL work i'm sure. Both BOH and NCL not served from MAN. If timings are right then NCL passengers could transfer at MAN onto CWL flights aswell. A 50 seat aircraft twice daily may be more suited to the route than a 737.

Before anyone says MAN and NCL are too close to be linked by air the driving time is greater than MAN-BRS which supports a 3*day service.

I agree that Bournemouth has always lost out on the domestic front i can remember the Link City services that Dan Air used to operate during the week always popular but unfortunatly not sustainable
What Bournemouth needs is a an airline like Southwest with a 50 seat capacity to operate a newtwork of domestic flights on a regular basis and reasonable timings to go with it
The other area of growth would be good to see now is company s like Globespan and Air Transat prehaps testing out a summer Toronto service even if its via another UK airport as Exeter has proven there is demand ! especially down in Exeter as there looks to be 2 flights next summer
Hopefully the Banjul flights this winter will be a sucess and continue again next winter , shame that Palmair gave up so quickly on the Luxor and Paphos flights this winter as they sold out last year and they initially had increased capacity using Excel for this winter , to late obviously for anyone else to take over these winter routes
Does anyone know if there are any terminal developments happening this winter ready for the increased passengers next summer ?

Markey- the trouble with that business model is any operator is caught between 2 of Flybe's major bases, in Exeter and Southampton. If I was Flybe I'd work hard to kill off any BOH operation of that type.

Initial

I know you are getting carried away with Bournemouth, but CWL is already served directly from NCL with Eastern. So there goes some of your demand on the 50 seater via Manchester.

probably been posted before but AEU are going to Banjul on a weekly flight from BOH on a wed. Flight goes from Leeds - Bournemouth - Banjul with Gambia experience

Hi all Airsouthwest are Rumoured to be looking at:

Newcastle
Manchester
Paris CDG
Leeds Bradford

and a few others!! from BOH hope that helps

JAmes

How firm is the Airsouthwest rumor? Good if it's a possibility.

Any news on Easy or Air Berlin Expansion?

There was a lot of hope that EZY would establish a base at BOH next spring. Does that still seem likely given all the Ryanair expansion of late?

Do long haul routes seem a possibility? I know there was the Continental rumor ages ago, but then they have had a drop in interest at BRS.

GF

Bournemouth future - 2015
 

Air Berlin PAD BER MUC PMI
Wizzair KTW WAW
easyJet EDI BFS NCL CDG NCE GVA PRG ABZ LIS CGN FAO AGP PMI BUD GIB
Ryanair PIK DUB GRO PSA MAD SNN MRS MJV BGY CIA EGC PZN VCE INV SZG
Thomsonfly FAO AGP ALC PMI VLC IBZ MAH TFS LPA PFO
Air Southwest MAN NQY LBA ORK JER NWI
Blue Islands ACI JER GCI
Manx2 IOM
Flyglobespan JFK BGI SFB
Zoom YYZ
Transavia AMS
Vueling BCN
Flyniki VIE

loveJet

DID you just make that up is that meant to be happing?

JAmes

I think lovejet is just dreaming - the wet variety.

wow how did you guess???

it's a 'would love to have'

its a 'target'

its a 'business development plan'

its a 'wet dream'

Not really a false dream - more like how the airport sees itself in 2015. they are predicting 3m pax per year by then. And already the airport has Wizzair, Air Berlin, easyJet, Ryanair, Thomsonfly and Blue Islands. It won't take much more to expand to 3m pax per year.

In that period it'd be cool to see YVR, LCA and DXB action.

LCA is the more likely.

GF

It would appear that Dorset County Council are not happy with the expansion plans for BOH!
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sea...ort_future.php

The council is actually upset that the airport is avoiding building a whole new terminal on the northern part of the airport - with the associated improved infrastructure and direct road link. They are irritated that the airport will just add to the existing terminal, with no plans for improved infrastructure. For 4m passengers per year this is too little. Hopefully this will force the airport to re-consider the brand new terminal. The way its going at the moment, the airport will achieve the 4m sooner rather than later.

All of this comment from the council would be a little more credible if there were firm plans for delivery of the northern A338 link road... but at the moment it's 'at least' 2014-15 and could be later. With atrocious access to the north side until this road goes in, the airport would be crazy to develop the north side of the site.

Following that chain of logic, the airport needs to expand in the next 9-10 years, and the most effective way to do that is to grow the existing terminal. But even if the new road comes in later, it would be madness to mothball the existing terminal and spend £20-£30m on a new one!

The traffic point is highly spurious - the vast majority of traffic on Parley lane is travelling from Ferndown/Wimborne to Christchurch or vice versa. The council could solve the problem at a stroke, by blocking Parley Lane off west of the airport. All access to the airport would then be via A338, and other traffic would have to route around, using the A338.

Sounds like local councils behaving themselves as usual.

"The county response also calls for the master plan to contain more measures to offset the environmental impact of the predicted growth of the airport with increased air and road traffic adding extra greenhouse gas emissions and noise to threaten neighbouring residents and surrounding areas of protected heathland."

[From above article]

Really do wonder why LA's have been given remit to cover greenhouse gas emissions, and just exactly how great the noise and CO2 emissions will be on that heathland - pretty minimal I'd guess!

Sure, agenda 21 should cover road transport, and should perhaps ensure that buildings are as energy efficient as possible, which airports often are for PR reasons, but it is highly disingenous of one authority to deny an airport expansion on the grounds of CO2 emissions, as all this will mean is a longer road journey to another airport, usually in the London area, and therefore considerably more delays on the ground and in the air.

I'm not trying to detract from the importance of the CO2 debate, but just think it is usually trundled out as an excuse for lazy nimbyism and ill-informed regulation by local busybodies who cannot see beyond a few lost votes at the end of the runway.

In fairness a large part of the airport's boundary is onto SSSI and so the heathland is a protected area. I'm sure that the Environment Agency will have had an input to the council's opinion in this respect.

But I agree with your points about air vs road travel.

I dont think the council will be able to do much to stop Bournemouths apparent leap into the low-cost arena. They won't exactly be saying no if airlines want to open more routes. The ONLY short-term solution would be to expand the existing terminal. Reckon 2007 will see 1.1m passengers.

Janspeed,

Are you sure you have all the facts regarding BOH?

10 years ago BOH handled 157,000 passengers (source C.A.A.) and in the winter was lucky to have more than a single flight per day, namely the FR to Dublin.

This year BOH will handle almost 1 million passengers and this winter will have upto 15 flights per day. Most of these being loco flights. Just check out the BOH airport website and you'll see the extent of it's growth.

Regarding the charter market it's at least double that of 10 years ago!

The future for BOH airport is looking really good and they expect to handle 2 million passengers within the next 2 years.:ok:

if anything the airport has never been so busy. i think that the commercial side like airline services will take over. Employers like NATS, BASCO Chan Ex and some flying schools may have gone/are going, but that makes room for further commercial growth opportunites. There are plans to change the NATS building into a deluxe hotel for crew and passengers for example.

Where abouts do you mean for a new terminal on the northern part of the airport:confused: where the 747's are normal parked?

james

The proposed A338 link would come in pretty much at the closest point between the A338 and the airport - i.e. along the line of the existing (single-lane!) access road at 'Rivergate' onto the NE business park.

That would effectively open up the whole north side of the airport to business use (as the road would include a link around the N end of the big taxiway across to the NW business park). However, in addition to the large tenants BASCO and FR on the NE sector there are a lot of smaller sites, e.g. flying club plus some light aircraft businesses. I assume that this is the area that the council are talking about as a site for a potential new terminal.

The more you think about it the crazier it is. To move out of the existing site would create a 'white elephant' that would be unlikely to be used for any other purpose. Once the link road is in the Southern Sector becomes the hardest part of the airport to get to!

Coasthugger

Yeah it is a Crazy idea dont know why they dont use the old terminal car park to make the terminal bigger :uhoh:

James

That is the plan to extend the terminal both sides and to use the old short term car parks , Jet 2 offices ( which they have been given notice on to leave by May 2007 ) and the old ground handling offices will all make way for a much larger and improved terminal building

If you look on the Bournemouth airport web site under Master Plan you can see the proposed new development in great detail for 2015 and 2030

Re: Flying Schools
 

Where's your evidence to suggest that flying schools have recently left?

European

BOH are predicted 2m pax per year by 2009 calendar year. This is sourced from the Bournemouth Airport book just published by Mike Phipp. If this is true, then it looks like some major development will be taking place soon - probably a confirmation of a Ryanair/easyJet base.

Lovejet,

It's also in the airport Master Plan, so as you say there has to a big announcement within the next few months. My money is on Easyjet as they still have to release their summer 07 schedule. But, with their poor showing this summer in regards to flight cancellations, I would prefer Ryanair.

I would have to agree with you there FlyBOH as Ryanair will be able to achieve much better volumes/margins than easyJet too. They are so much more reliable and better able to stimulate the market. Not that I would be unhappy if easyJet announced anything - but relations would be rather more consistant with Ryanair. (and damaging to Flybe at SOU)

More Ryanair represents a lot of eggs in one basket to me. And if they were really serious at BOH it would have been a base 2-3 years ago. Have you noticed that most of the recent announcements are only 3x weekly services? Clearly Ryanair think that there are fatter routes out there for them to focus on.

Easyjet would be a real coup - the 3 largest LCCs in Europe (Ryanair, Easy and Air Berlin :} ) all at BOH!

...coasthugger... if only!
 

coasthugger, we have been demanding a base operation at bournemouth for some considerable time now. it's not us that are the problem, its MAG. They take a long time to agree to how much we can expand and where. but hopefully within the near term we should be able to overcome that obstacle and set up a proper hub. it will be a 3 aircraft base.

Really? Didnt seem to be a problem at NEMA, and it was Ryanair that pulled out of HUY not the other way around... Obviously MAN is seen as the 'crown jewels', and being regulated is never likely to offer an attractive price to FR, but I'm amazed if BOH has ever seriously restricted FR growing. Look at all the work they did recently to facilitate Thomsonfly starting up.

Coasthugger. I am afraid you live in a very naive world if you believe that airports treat us (by us I mean Ryanair) equally to those other 'virtual' low cost carriers.

Tfly (in my opinion) probably pay four times the amount we pay to airports in terms of passenger fees. What airports dont understand is that Ryanair is the one that will be around in 25 years, Ryanair is the one that will deliver on its promises of volume, Ryanair is the one that offers year-round reliable, lowest fare seats to passengers on the most modern aircraft available.

You'd be surprised how greedy airports get with a taste of success. And the gulible airlines that are willing to pay more - instead of concentrating on driving costs down-ward.

Oh I see, when you said 'demanding a base' you meant you didn't want to pay any landing fees.

To be honest, ryanair1, I want the airport to be there in 25 years, so I'd rather it made enough money for luxuries like building new terminal facilities and repairing the runway - so if the only way to get FR in is on those terms, I'm all the more in favour of EasyJet! :ok: