The routes will be Bratislava 3 x weekly, Budapest 4 x w, Derry daily, Dinard 3 x w, Katowice 3 x w, Knock 4 x w, Bergamo daily, Porto 3 x w, Poznan 3 x w, Riga 3 x w, Rzeszow 2 x w, Salzburg 2 x w, Wroclaw 4 x w.

Perhaps the surprises are that Derry and Bergamo are daily, but FR seem to know the game intimately and the daily BRS-SNN route appears highly successful in terms of pax carried (8,972 in April for example).

The Polish routes are no surprise. Krakow operates at over 90% load factor month in and month out and the easyJet fares are never low on this route which must show a huge demand. Indeed it will soon go daily. Bristol and its hinterland does have a huge Polish community and the wider South West is also home to many of Polish extraction.

I have a couple of reservations -I hope I don't sound too curmudgeonly.

First, I'm not sure that easyJet will be overjoyed (to put it mildly) and there is evidence that when FR or another significant low cost operator has set up alongside easy at regional airports the Orange machine does rein itself in regarding further major expansion. Of course, this might be simply be that all feasible routes from those airports have been filled either by easy or its competitor. I suppose competition is good for the business soul though.

Second, where are all the new pax going to be accommodated? MOL talks of another million in 2008 and 2 million in 2009. The BRS MD stated in the recently published airport magazine that the airport will see 6 million pax this year, so with the FR expansion and no other growth we are looking at around 8 million by 2009.

Regular airport users will know the departure lounge can be very crowded at certain times already. Chapter 7, para 7.11 of the master plan acknowledges this and says the current terminal will suffice until 2009 when in excess of 6.5 annual pax are expected - it's out of date already!

As the planning application for an expanded terminal is yet to be submitted, and will meet ferocious opposition from the anti group, it is arguable whether the bigger terminal will be ready by 2009. Whether it is or not something will have to be done in the interim to accommodate the extra pax generated by FR.

BRS is in the local news a lot today. The Bristol Evening Post carried a story about the B 787, suggesting it will be BRS's salvation re long haul routes. They are certain CO will use it on the EWR route and that FCA will expand their l/h destinations too.

Incidentally, CO had its best ever month in April on the BRS-EWR in terms of pax carried; furthermore 40% of pax now originate from the USA which was the Achilles Heel of the route in the first year or so.

Apparently BRS have issued a map (I haven't seen it) showing all the destinations reachable (presumably non-stop) from BRS using the B 787.

The route development director says they have launched Project East to secure a Dubai route, basing it on the successful Project USA venture. They have spoken to a number of Middle East airlines and are confident of a positive outcome.

Rogue thread
 

Why not stick to the rules and discuss this on the Ryanair or Bristol threads?

Are you for real? I see these new FR routes at Bristol and think how wonderful it is that FR and U2 will be hardly competing at all at Bristol. Their routes even complement each other! :ok:

FR at BRS (...)
 

With Ryanair's dubious naming conventions, are we really sure this is Bristol (Lulsgate) and not Bristol (Clyst Honiton) or Bristol (Rhoose)? :)

Umm.. this is the Bristol thread.

Anyway, i think its great that Ryanair will be operating more and more destinations from Bristol. It gives Bristol and the South West that greater class, and more importance in the UK. I think Bristol is seen as an iconic airport nowadays. We just need a german airline in to recover some of the lost destinations, as has been said around here often.

And let's hope that we can resolve the scrum at security in the mornings, so that the business passengers that WOW, KL, SN and our potential LH/BD etc. German routes depend on, don't decide that Heathrow is still a better idea.

(Apologies, but I just can't deal with a herd of women with pink t-shirts and stetsons on their way to Spain for a hen weekend when I'm trying to get out and back to Munich in a day).

I knew I was missing out by not wandering to the terminal during a break!

Anyhoo, more FR is a good thing from our point of view, they don't hang about and they are very easy to deal with from our end. Even if they do push back at the wrong moment.........sometimes!:uhoh:

It's Bristol (Filton) but MoL hasn't told Bristol (Lulsgate) yet. You saw it here first.

And if that doesn't work well, it's Bristol (Staverton) but only after special crew training for carrier landings and STOL departures. At the crew's expense, of course.

Danielhobbs, I am afraid Ryanair does not bring "class" to any airport it operates from!:}

Behave yourself Paddy, you naughty little snake charmer!

I mean it brings a bit of class to the amount of destinations and variety that we operate at Bristol.

Opening up to different cultures and holiday destinations.

I noticed on the local bbc/itv news reports that MOL in his rather amusing t-shirt(i got one that says 'GERT LUSH' by the way) said that BRS may well be in his USA plans, he commented that the airport could be serving 5-6 US destinations in a few years, but not under the Ryanair name..... Am i right in thinking he's ment to of placed an order for B787's?
As MV says the 787 is BRS's only hope of proper long haul, FCA plans to bring 1 in the next couple of years, thats the whole idea behind haveing the 767 there at the moment 'building the market'.
Would love to see the 787 destination map that MV was talking about aswell, there must be a link to it somewhere.
The CWL thread seems to of gone very sour grapes BRS and FR bashing style....surprise surprise how predictable :rolleyes:

I am surprised that all you Bristol Lovers are are all jumping up and down about Ryanair.:yuk:

When MOL and Ryanair are advertising it as London West or the Welsh Gateway:ok:

787 routes
 

hi watabench not got the paper bout 787 routes. but they showed west coast of america also carribean and south america that way. middle east india and far east the other way. hope this helps you. sorry not got a link 2 the paper. cheers yv

hi guys are you sure that its a 'map' you're talking about? theres a table in the masterlplan which details the destination which can be reached using the existing runway length and type of a/c. If this is what is meant then it's on the website.

bycrewlgw

MOL said something similar (he used the word 'will' rather than 'may well' in his Bristol interview) this week in Liverpool.

This is part of what was reported,

He also said that he will include Liverpool in plans to fly transatlantic routes to New York, Boston, Florida, Dallas, Denver and San Francisco. He went onto say that FR would not be the airline to operate the network although he would be interested in setting up that project.

I suspect the Evening Post article may have been prompted by the expansion planning applications which will soon be submitted.

As bycrewlgw points out, there seems nothing new regarding the B 787 beyond what is already in the master plan, except its range capabilities are now depicted in pictorial form.

In the master plan the airport says there will be limited demand for regular long haul scheduled services from Bristol, although the charter market is a different matter.

Specifically addressing the need or otherwise for a runway extension, the airport says that after detailed discussion with Boeing, CO and FCA they have been told the 787 could reach Cape Town and the west coast of the USA from BRS off the current runway, thus making the need for an extension of tarmac for take-off unnecessary. However, so far as scheduled services are concerned the airport's favoured way forward is to serve the Far East and Australasia via a hub such as Dubai or Abu Dhabi, and the USA and Canada via an east coast American hub.

BRS’s 0.4% decrease in pax numbers this April compared to April 2006 has been highlighted elsewhere in PPRuNe with a suggestion that the FR announcement has come at an auspicious time for the airport.

As atms were down a massive 17.8% in April this year (almost entirely due to the departure of BACon) this tiny reduction in pax figures might well be regarded as a creditable performance. The MD had already written publicly that pax figures would reach 6 million in 2007 (up from 5.7 million in 2006).

In fact, leaving aside the January 2007 figures when hundreds of flights were cancelled or diverted because of the runway situation, as far as I can determine April 2007 is the first month this century to show a reduction in pax numbers compared to the same month the previous year.

Some domestic routes were down noticeably in pax numbers. EDI, for example, was down 21%, perhaps not a surprise given that BACon used to operate five rotations a day to the Scottish capital. Perhaps more relevant is that this seems to confirm there is a significant market for a certain type of non-low cost player on some routes alongside the likes of easy and Ryan, because presumably many of the lost pax such as those on the EDI route have departed to other airports, mainly LHR probably, where they can still get their loyalty benefits.

No doubt this is AF’s thinking in setting up alongside easy on the CDG route.

There is another suggestion that Ryanair will bring nothing to the BRS party because it will have invited itself entirely on its own terms.

From what I read about Macquarie (BRS owner) it is also a switched-on, hard-headed and highly successful organisation so it would appear unlikely that its local management at BRS hasn’t seen something in the FR venture for its Oz masters.

It seems that some ‘supporters’ of airports that have a significant FR presence are often enthusiastic about the airline, whereas those that haven’t find reasons to be sceptical.

I always take the view that I welcome new airlines and routes that enable me to travel more conveniently, until personal experience leads me to think otherwise.

http://www.epost.co.uk/displayNode.j...pNodeId=144922

The above is a link to the report of an interview given to the Bristol evening newspaper by the new MD of BRS, Paul Kehoe, who will take up his post on Monday.

Some of the points touched on are as follows:

Mr Kehoe moved to Luton in 2001 and says he turned around a £10 million annual loss to a £20 million annual profit by getting rid of several hundred members of staff and renegotiating contracts. However, he maintains this will not happen at BRS which he says is a "tightly run ship".

In an allusion to easyJet he says, "If someone has more than 50% of the routes at a airport then I start to worry". When at Luton he increased easyJet's charges to that airport.

He is anticipating a fight with anti-expansionists but says he has experience of this sort of thing when at Luton.

He intends "sorting out" the security queues and is also keen to attract more business pax.

He is critical of the decision to close the runway in January.

The report also mentions Mr Kehoe's relationship with Maxjet.

A new broom will inevitably try to make a quick impression so time will tell whether any of this is mere hype.

It seems the airport's relationship with easyJet might change a bit if the new MD is serious about what he says. It's always going to be a delicate task to attract and keep an airline that is prepared to offer so many routes without finding yourself dominated by it.

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/displ...entPK=17441414

is what appeared in print.

As someone not employed in the industry, it reads to me that he's taking a sideswipe at the courage of pilots and is claiming everything was actually hunky-dory back in January.

I suspect he's a beancounter and doesn't actually have the faintest idea about running an airport but he has the Press's ear.........

If you work for BIA look over your shoulder (or ex Skipp yes men). It looks like he culls with clubs!
He likes havin’ a pop - EZY & Skippy.

I have a voice in my head when reading his quotes that he sounds like a Monty Python Northern sounding Monster. “Ah bloody :mad: southern pilots, afraid of a hilly runway, and a drop of bloody water! Now they should go up North….” etc

Oh well, it looks like he will be entertaining. See what happens?