BHXBJV showing as 2 x weekly on the Monarch website. Looks like they've converted the Charter flight and added a 2nd frequency, or was it already twice a week?

Monarch
 

TartinTon
.
Originally the Monday night flight was Corfu for Olympic, which was
changed to a once weekly IT to Bodrum from 25/7/11 I believe.

Therefore the May start is an upgrade and the Friday replaces the
Olympic Heraklion, so this is extra for the destination but not as a
movement.

Still no 5th aircraft as rumoured just 4 extremely busy ones!

I now make it that the down time on the four based and where
other flights could be squashed in amount to Tuesday evening
after the IT Heraklion (used to be PMI) and Wednesday after
the Papfos.

I suppose you can't blame them building in some slack in case
of tech issues. Quite a schedule really.

The only downside is that Palma still only operates on four days
and Alicante is still only six days with the Monday given over to
a second weekly Almeria.

If they had the aircraft I am sure consideration to a 5th based
would have been given. Larnaca for instance will still be three a
week despite the disappearance of Cyprus Airways and Papfos
although new as a schedule service operated last year as IT.

Baby and Ryanair's May - October schedule is similar to 2010.

Pete

Re Evening Mail
 

Re the runway and ATC Tower, if you read it carefully it in itself is little more than rehashed spin.

It starts strongly saying this year will be the year the runway extension is built.

However those are the words of the Evening Mail and NOT Mr Keehoe.He continues to sit on the fence and says "IF it happens it COULD be built by 2014"

The article goes onto say it is still unclear where £12 million for the road diversion work will come from.

In relation to the new ATC tower this now has nothing to do with the runway extension.Although submitted in the original application with the runway,it was then split.BHX now say the tower is being built now simply because the old one is falling to bits.

Not saying that the ex:ugh::ugh:tension work won't start this year, but its not what the article detail is saying..title grabs the attention though !

To me everything that comes out of BHX's management's mouth is unclear. If things were going to happen then BHX should tell the world. The runway could be an important turning point in the airport's future.

By the way was BHX absent from the recent travel trade show at the NEC?

As far as I can remember the Tower has to be completed before the extension is built. Something to do with coverage of the extra length which will be out of sight.....Unless this has changed...
As far as the extension etc is concerned I think Kehoe just puts anything out there to keep everything alive without committing to anything. It may be that lack of commitment that's putting airlines off..

The sad thing is, if Mr Kehoe hadn't spent £13 million turning 2 terminals into one, (what a great marketing ploy that is) apparently claiming it would increase efficiency and save costs, and then spent yet more money 'rebranding' there would now be enough money to get cracking on the runway extension.
To me, the mystery is, at the time the airport shares were sold, the Canadian and New Zealand Teachers pension funds buying in were supposed to have legally committed to provide funds for the runway extension as part of the deal.
Where's that money gone? Was there a time clause which allowed them to wriggle out of the committment if the work didn't begin by a certain date?
It certainly wasn't lack of money as far as the Canadians were concerned, while BHX dithered they went off and bought Bristol Airport!
I'm afraid that despite his brave words, Mr Kehoe still shows reluctance to get a grip on the runway extension scheme, it seems his heart just isn't in it.
Mr Kehoe is on a salary of £200,000 plus bonuses.
According to the Birminham Mail, for year 2009/2010 his bonus amounted to £186,000 giving a total of £386,000.
For this sort of money, we really should be seeing some positive results by now.

All this at a time when he was making people redundant because it was necessary to cut costs and cutting wages to such an extent in some quarters that people are in danger of losing their homes.....:ugh:

Two terminals
 

Going through the old terminal 2 on a regular basis, I find it curious how the two terminals into one has panned out. It seems a lot of hot air, unless I'm missing something. There are two distinct check-in areas and two baggage reclaim areas. The only thing shared is the security search area. Once through that, I suppose one can walk between the two terminals, but, personally, I find that has little impact on me.

As a passenger, my question is whether the major building works were really worth it? There seems little discernible benefit.

Scott

Scott737

Two reasons for the 'One Terminal'.Firstly whatever gate you depart from, ie 1-20 would be in the old T2 and the rest in the old T1 you will have to pass throught the new Duty Free shop thats soon opening.

Also it's to cut down on the numbers of security required to proccess pax

Both those reasons are my own opinion but may be close to the truth!

Since Mr Kehoe has been in charge what has he acheived ?

1) New International routes - none whatsoever apart from an odd Ryan Air, or from third class carriers who seem to survive for a few weeks only.

2) The long ongoing saga of the Runway Extension - if the funds are in place as per Mr. Kehoe, when is the constuction starting, he seems to be struggling to announce a start date.

3) BHX has been going downhill since the Economic downturn which is understandable,but the things are improving at other Airports with new routes & capacity increases on existing ones, no sign of that happening at BHX.

I wonder if the Shareholders are getting their returns from the investment made on Mr Kehoe!!

:ugh:

If the Terminal merger was intended to save 50 jobs then I reckon that at say, £30,000 per person per year, it will take at least eight years before there are any savings whatsoever whether the scheme works or not.
On a different point, the Airport still says that January's passenger numbers increased by 0.2% yet the CAA stats say the increase was actually 0.7% and that seems to be the correct total. :confused:

Unbelievably:= others who attended stated they did NOT see a BHX stand there,if that is so its an absolute disgrace,on their own doorstep, and speaks volumes !!

Nigel

NEC show
 

You are right guys! In fact I don't think BHX has been at that show since 2008! Just emphasises the current total lack of any understanding of marketing!

On the subject of PK.....will the shareholders ever wake up?!

Hassaan13
 

To those of you who are missing all the Petition Posts from Hassaan13 he can now be found on many of the forums at Flyertalk.........
Thanks!

Prospects
 

My guess is that with current management structure in place the same " will it, maybe, possibly" will still be on here in 12 months time and there will be no further developments on any runway extension and no new significant new routes or increaed frequencies ( and I am not talking about once a week summer flights or a loco stopping a flight and starting another, more like what has happended up the M6) Fat chance.

As usual BHX will attract a carrier and jobs just when the next recession starts and it will last 6 months. Always 2 years behind the pace. My view is that it is time for a change so that more of an impact can be made than dropping the Internation from the name and a termnal merger that was not really needed.

Here is a thought, in the winter close the eurohub and only use ex terminal 1, the declining traffic wont need it in the winter and the new structure makes it easy to do. I knew that there was a method in the madness.


Centre cities


Centre cities

2010 annual figures & PK
 

The CAA have published their annual stats. Dublin is BHX's
number one route still for volume.

Good news for BHX and EK with the best % increase in the UK
although passenger % increases are pretty meaningless unless
you have the yields and the exact number of seat increases
compared to the previous year.

Dubai: -

Heathrow 1787561 +2%
Gatwick 629810 +10%
Manchester 565575 +8%
Birmingham 497362 +14%****
Glasgow 268541 +10%
Newcastle 163064 +13%

Other BHX mid & long-haul

Newark 100355 up 101 pax or 0% as the CAA put it
Islamabad 106089 up 7%
Tehran 50435 +132%
Ashkhabad 65135 +20%

BHX - Istanbul was up 5% but I don't think they will
be going double daily!!!!!

Curious Lady1

I don't suppose the shareholders will both too much unless the £££'s
figures go into the red. Pity his bonus is not linked to net new routes
in the financial year rather than based on penny-pinching.

Pete

Hi

I've been working at BHX for almost 20 years now, and in that 20 years what has changed with regards to development etc.......not a great lot I can tell you, This airport is still in the dark ages compared to others, and will be going nowhere unless something is done !!!

I'm sick of seeing 737's, Dash 8's etc all day everyday, we want and need the big boys here, Just glad the EK 777 is here.

The runway extension is holding us back, Airlines won't even bother considering us if they have to make fuel stops en-route, have weight restrictions etc..

Wake up BHX airport Management !!!!

Birmingham is the 2nd city and has a sh*te airport, Manchester Airport left us behind years ago !!!!

my 2 cents :O

Dave

If BHX are interested in growth then why didn't they divert the money from merging 2 terminals into the runway extension? Correct me if I'm wrong but from what I've read on here and elsewhere, BHX seem to be scraping around for £12m to divert the Covt Rd. The merger of 2 terminals cost £13m for what reason? to make more staff redundant and introduce a duty frre shop at the point of exit? Even at LHR hardly anyone bothers stopping off in the terminal 3 shop. Once you have passed customs then duty and VAT are added and the goods become more expensive than Asda!!

Good marketing BHX well done. I bet Sir Bob is turning in his grave.

Continental/United
 

Spoke to somebody at Continental today who described the 767 rumour as 'rubbish'. There are no plans to upgrade the service (although things can change) and whoever was putting that information out at the trade show did so without the knowledge/approval of Continental.

Any plans for airlines to expand at BHX will be on hold while the oil price is over $100/barrel.

for example

United scraps expansion plans because of oil - Travel - News - msnbc.com

It is very likely that oil will never drop below $100/b again. If so most of the effort will be in keeping existing routes load factors up and triming timetables. I cannot see that the business case for expanding the runway could work at the current oil price. Just divide the cost by the like number of extra pax and you will get a large cost for each added pax. With BAA split up you have lots of London airports fighting for traffic.

If BAA are forced to sell STN then London will become more competitive, I think only MAN will be able to compete, BHX will suffer as the incentives will be much better in London to expand, if slots are available.

Re CO rumour about possible 767 upgrade..the United 767-300s have far to many business class seats and premium economy I think for BHX, double the amount and some more compared with the B757s.

So would be very surprised to see an upgrade..live in hope though ! :hmm:

Nigel

"Any plans for airlines to expand at BHX will be on hold while the oil price is over $100/barrel."

It hasn't stopped airlines cutting back on ambitions from Manchester, airlines queuing up to go in their ??

Nigel:confused:

United
 

befree

The article states that they intend to increase international flying not cut it! It is domestic that faces the chop, no doubt where they double on existing Continental services.

Only today Continental have announced Newark - Stuttgart on a 75W!!!!!
Sounds a bit of a way on a 757?

Having said that, these revised schedules start in September and there is no way I would have thought that BHX-EWR would increase at that time of year. I assume it would be 2012, if at all.

Pete

Yes it is a long route perhaps 75W stands for 75weeze lol!


Ian B

Did the Armavia flight turn up today?

I have had a look at the arrival logs for today, and it appears not.
(are we surprised though?)

Armavia
 

I have been monitoring their website, it was bookable at 5pm Tuesday but
not at 8pm.

Now bookable for next Thursday however Amritsar was not on sale
still on Tuesday but the flights were still in the timetable at twice weekly
linking with the BHX flight.

I assume that the clearance to fly to ATQ came a bit late to get things
organised.

Pete

with all these late clearances, it leaves very very little time to sell seats. Can this service last if they only open seats for booking a week in advance?

Seems very disorganised to me?

In all fairness to BHX, its not their fault when the its the airline themselves that are disorganised.

However, I cant help think BHX keeps attracting the wrong sort of carriers. If they spent half the energy they used on getting Hellenic, Whoosh, Air Syhlet as they did on getting someone like QR, they would be on easy street.

Realistically, they would get twice as many pax on a QR flight, even if it was an A319LR, than they would on this once weekly Armavia flight.

wanna be there,

Excuse me but, as an aviation professional of some 30+ years, I was very satisfied with the right sort of carriers that I regularly flew with out of BHX, these being such carriers as KLM, Lufthansa, Air France, Swiss, SAS and maybe other(s) that I have forgotten about.

The beauty of BHX is that it isn't a mega airport, one can still feel relaxed whilst clearing the formalities (except security :) efficiently and quickly, if the concrete blocks remain outside the terminal (put in place after the GLA incident) these are great for sitting on whilst smoking a cigarette, I lived an hour (ish) from BHX, all these posters that would like to see BHX as a mega airport, well this is as likely to drive travellers away to LHR, MAN etc. as it is likely to attract them.

What they don't realise is that BHX is a, good old fashioned, local convenience store offering international travel at supermarket prices, if one wants to go to a supermarket then one may as well go to LHR or MAN.

BHX, your product is beautiful ..... "If it ain't broke then why fix it?"

Whilst I dont doubt you have 30 years experience, lets not bring this into the mix shall we. In the last post, you are expressing your opinion, and, even if you have 100 years experience in avaiation, it doesnt make your opinion more valid than anyone elses, its just that, an opinion.

Also, I never questioned BHX's established carriers such as the ones you mentioned, I was more basing my thoughts on the carriers BHX has attracted lately, like the ones I mentioned.

When it comes to airports, everyone wants different things out of it. Some do like the quiet, relaxed approach, some like it to be robust and secure (it gives them security knowing it is so tight), some like having hardly any flights checking in around them to prevent stress, whereas some like to get to where they are going without having to travel here there and everywhere. Some like having all the choice on their doorstep, some dont want a major international clogging up their roads/rails.

So, just because you like BHX being 'small and quiet', doesnt mean everyone shares the same opinion.

WBT,

Recently BHX has had a 13 year old kid posting here, there, and everywhere his nonsense whereas he wants circa 5 (direct) transatlantic routes daily from BHX etc. I was merely making the point that I am an aviation professional and not merely SLF or a 13 year old spotter.

You make a valid point or few in your post, what 13 year old kids and many SLF's don't appreciate is that one can already travel the world from BHX, I'd rather buy/fly from my local convenience store with an hour or two or three connection in AMS, CDG, DUS, FRA, MUC, ZRH etc. than have the stress of enduring a metropolis the size of LHR and all the inconvenience and expense of surface travel, car parking etc.

I suppose there is a point to be made with flying into Europe before flying longhaul and that's you would be paying less tax (ADT).

I thought flying say, BHX-DXB-BOM made no difference as opposed to flying BHX-AMS-BOM, as you are paying for BHX-BOM regardless, or has that changed now?

crewmeal
 

You would only pay reduced APD if you were on separate tickets though, e.g. BHX-FRA and then FRA-SFO.

I know many people who did this in December and missed some very nice long haul holidays as a result because they were not reprotected by being on the same ticket.

A BHX-FRA-SFO ticket will incur the same APD as a LHR-SFO direct flight.

crewmeal,

If one is flying outside of EU (ish) then unless one is occupying 24 hours in EU transit, or doing it as two seperate bookings, one still pays UK rip-off tax.

Here's a booking I travelled on over (busy thus expensive) Xmas 2009, £415.60 (less £5.00 cashback) was a bargain, particularly, to fly from my local convenience store:

Outbound flight: Birmingham - Hong Kong via Zurich
Mon. 14.12.2009 18:50 BHX - 21:40 ZRH LX 425
Mon. 14.12.2009 22:40 ZRH - 17:25 +1 HKG LX 138

Return flight: Hong Kong - Birmingham via Zurich
Wed. 30.12.2009 23:59 HKG - 06:10 +1 ZRH LX 139
Thu. 31.12.2009 07:15 ZRH - 08:05 BHX LX 420

Total amount to be paid: GBP 415.60

Phileas, you're correct of course, but that has been the case for many, many years now. The fact that most travellers in BIA's catchment area still choose to use LHR, MAN, (for heaven's sake I've heard some are starting to use BRS instead of BHX!) etc may be a reflection on their awareness, but the main issue is that BIA has failed and continues to fail to get the message across to its target customer base.

In addition, those of us 'in the know' may well be comfortable using connecting flights and thinking outside the box when booking - the vast majority of people aren't. Like it or not, BHX has a reputation for

a) having a limited route offering;
b) being expensive;
c) an attitude of exploiting pax through car parking and trolley charges amongst other things.

a) and b) have been there for years. a) is getting worse, and c) is a more recent addition but not doing much to help :ugh:

Giddy,

You make a lot of sense, take the 13 year old kiddie (that was around here) as an example ... To fly to USA he was expecting US airlines, to Pakistan then Pakistan Airlines, Philippines then Philippines Airlines etc.

All these discussions/complaints regarding BA strikes, for gawds sake people you do not need to fly with a British airline to escape these UK shores, if a UK airline can't get it's act together then book with an alternative.

The 13 year old kid was petitioning for Delta Airlines to serve BHX, Delta already sell tickets to/from BHX, check it out on Delta's website, and when I checked they were cheaper than the direct flights BHX/NYC/BHX!

But in fairness is it the airport's responsibility to advertise and foot the bill for doing so or the airline's responsibility?

But the biggest problem is the naivity of the British public, indeed the British mentality ..... why would 'we' even think about flying with a Dutch, German, French, Swiss etc. airline to get to our destination in The Americas or Asia etc?

Car Parking, in the BHX 'C' car park (just across the road from the terminals) was reasonably priced, there's a discount if booked online, but I subsequently chose to park (free) at Hampton-in-Arden rail station and occupy 4 minutes on the train in/out of BHX at £1.20 each way .... that's a better price for car parking. :)