BHX 'Childish' Never!:rolleyes: Maybe the sound of a sinking ship would be more appropriate....:E

Sinking ship? More like a dayglo coloured li-lo with a big hole in it :hmm:

Seriously though it would seem BHX is still very much struggling to cope with the much increased competition for pax now in particular posed by EMA, CVT and BRS. The traditional catchment area that BHX could rely on has been very much eroded away and pax living in the Midlands have (rightly) a lot more choices to make about where they can fly from and to - gone are the days when BHX was the only choice for many. Although BHX has what I would regard as three strong based lo-co players (Baby, Flybe and Monarch), it would seem that none now want to expand away from their comfort zones. Monarch are playing safe with traditional bucket and spade (effectively they are only doing what MyTravelLite were doing albeit with far better levels of service IMHO), Flybe to be fair have a lot more to deal with than thinking about new routes at the mo (but why no Limoges, Avignon, Rennes, Newquay etc as offered from other bases this summer?) it is only Baby who have stuck their neck out a bit with LIS and MRS.

In the past year or two, BHX has lost a lot of European routes - MAD, LYS, TXL, ARN, VIE, GVA, ATH, TRN and it still has no BUD, VCE, PSA etc. With the right size of a/c and a sensible level of frequency tailored to both the demands of the business and leisure passenger, I believe that all of these could be made to work if properly supported by the airport and marketed to the public. It still amazes me how many people I speak to in the West Mids who have no idea you can fly to New York from BHX!!

BHX needs the route development team to be working positively and meaningfully with the airline tenants it has and actively approaching new ones to develop the airport into the gateway it rightfully should be. I'm sure they are doing all they can but is it enough to stop the rot that seems to have set in?

As a side note, have been looking into flying away for a few days at the end of May, from EMA there are an awful lot of seriously low fares on many FR routes - is there a promotion going on or are loads not that good?

FR Clearance
 

FR have a 'clearance sale' on at the moment, every flight booked in advance is £10 which includes taxes etc.

WOW What a wake up call
 

Headline News

Ahead of April pax figures BHX mangement(not) have woken up to the realisation that airports need aeroplanes and as a real bonus for our region they think that destinations and passenger carrying aeroplanes MIGHT be important.

Is Flywhoooosh a Birmingham based airline?

Also, how are NAX doing? I understand that from today, they go 4 weekly. An Oslo service would still be good.

Any further news on Regional (or anybody else) taking on the Lyon route?

WNX

Whoosh are part of White Eagle Aviation. A privately owned Polish operator. Dundee based... Dundee/Birmingham..Dundee/Belfast.
so Dundee based in the Uk.

Norwegian
 

WNX

Heard about a few loads, which were lowish for a 733 but it is early days.

I think the first inbound was 112ish (several non-revs), outbound 60 odd, another flight had over 100 and a couple of 50 and 60's I believe.

The CAA Provisional stats for April should be out in less than 10 days and that should give us a fair idea. Prices were extremely reasonable on first release but as I have intention of using the service I have not checked since. I am sure Oslo (3-5 a week) will be considered and I hope Warsaw does do well, I will waiting for those CAA stats!

Pete

Not the most exciting destinations but from Summer 2008 Thomsonfly will be offering Punta Cana and Jamaica as extra long haul destinations to add to Sanford, Puerto Plata and Cancun.

April Pax
 

Another fantastic month :{

Quote

"Birmingham International Airport (BIA) handled 670,270 passengers during April, including 550,547 scheduled passengers and 119,723 charter passengers spread across the two passenger terminals; a decrease of 3.9% over the previous year".

I was not to sure if to mention the excuses given, the one is accurate (flybe/BACON) and the second insulting - lovely April weather in the UK.

Granted a few last minute holiday makers might have switched to the UK
but not exactly five or six thousand (it was down nearly 26000).

I really need to see the individual routes but EDI had over 10000 less seats available, add Lyon, Berlin, Madrid (about 9000 pax) plus the reduction of seats on DUS & CDG (RJ's to 145's) and it soon adds up.

However there were significant increase in seats to Murcia and Palma, which is fine but hardly what BHX needs.

Pete

Opinions FOR the Proposed Runway Expansion to Birmingham International Airport, UK
 

In favour!

Apologies to the residents of Solihull, but I guess it's purely for selfish reasons. I'm doing my CPL/ME/IR over the summer so to me a runway extension will hopefully = more employment opportunities (slightly tenuous I know!)

Plus, I want to see more destinations available direct from BHX, saving the agro of having to trek to Stanstead/E.Midlands/Gatwick etc... I think a rwy extension will do that!? (eventually)

It's also good to see some regional development that's not in the South East of England!

Philflies
Birmingham

Still Shrinking....
 

Welcome to BHX now surely the fastest shrinking airport in the UK - can anyone remember the last time that BHX actually had an increase in monthly pax figures?! I know it's taken a few knocks recently with a general consolidation of lo-co ops and the loss of BA but even so, -3.9% is a serious downturn - and I fully agree Olton Pete, to blame it on the weather beggars belief. Do BHX employ a full time 'excuse maker' in their Press Office now?? What will it be next month - too much rain, a 50% off sale at H&M or just the fact that pax can't resist the lure of FR and EZY. Now, I wonder what the pax increase at EMA will be for April????

MAN haven't been able to lure EZY or FR into their airport as of yet, but they don't have falling pax numbers! Can't blame it on EMA and the Locos!

BHX management should be looking at Long haul - they need that extension!

April Pax
 

Manchester dont have falling pax numbers !

Oh yes they do !

April 2007 (terminal pax)

1. Heathrow - 5,667,628 down 2.5%
2. Gatwick - 2,722,520 down 0.8%
3. Stansted - 1,975,379 down 3.4%
4. Manchester - 1,628,799 down 2.5%
5. Luton - 765,538 down 1.7%
6. Edinburgh - 725,496 up 3.6%
7. Birmingham - 664,334 down 3.8%
8. Glasgow - 647,973 down 1.1%

12 months ending 30.04.07

1. Heathrow - 67,157,729 down 0.7%
2. Gatwick - 34,354,335 up 3.7%
3. Stansted - 23,773,331 up 5.7%
4. Manchester - 22,093,841 down 0.4%
5. Luton - 9,356,488 up 1.2%
6. Birmingham - 9,012,397 down 4.2%
7. Glasgow - 8,847,936 up 0.2%
8. Edinburgh - 8,683,712 up 2.1%

Ian Farquharson
Owner, BHX News & Discussion Yahoo Group

In favour
 

The City of Birmingham needs the runway extension. As the only other city in UK (outside London) with more than a million people we have a relatively poor route network.
It is essential for the future prosperity of this region. If we want inward investment then direct air services are essential.
As for leasure travel then long haul flights seem to be the next growth area and Birmingham needs to have the infrastructure to enable airlines to operate routes effectively and profitably.
Daza

BHX whats going on?
 

Does anyone on the inside know what is going on at BHX?
Why are passengers turning their back on BHX? There seems to be a terminal decline in some routes and even with LOCO capacity increasing there seems no end to this. Why do BHX managers keep coming up with frankly rediculous excuses?
On the route front (with the exception of BMIBaby)there have been few major announcements since Emirates just a few come and go services that are doomed to fail-(I could name a few now that will inevitably go the same way.)
BA are now gone, replaced by Flymaybe who don't seem to be able to run any sort of even barely ontime operation at BHX. These routes will be culled next as the remaining business passengers look elsewhere.
Why no other US route? No other Indian route when this area has the largest Emmigrant Indian population outside the sub-continent?
What are BHX management doing about this?
Perhaps the central part of England needs a regional assembly? Birmingham as the UKs 2nd largest City gets overlooked by rival cities in the North of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Would this region then attract funding as many Scottish routes do?
Rant over!!:ugh: :ugh:
Daza

In Favour
 

As above, this runway extension is probably 5 years overdue, local councillors in this region have no vision whatsoever and seem to wait for everything to come to them, and then moan if they don't get it. The Brum Chamber of Commerce has been calling for this extension for numerous years citing the economic benefits it would bring to the region, in the global economy of today there's no way a city can be truly 'international' unless it has a decent route network from it's airport.

Too much talk lately about the 2nd runway has masked the real issue, build the extension NOW, rebuild the international pier NOW, and start the process for a T3.

I agree but look at the facts. BHX is reputedly the most expensive airport in the UK so that for a start puts off the big 2 LOCO's, and when most of the public book a flight it's those they choose. Example, I was in AMS over the weekend and when I got to my hotel the receptionist asked "How was your Easyjet flight?", when I said I was on BMIBaby she didn't have a clue, on the way back to the airport the taxi driver asked "Are you travelling Easyjet?" again he didn't have a clue who BMIBaby were. Just look at the figures for EMA, also we're now slipping into 8 million pax territory whereas Luton are now storming towards 10 million.

Long Haul has the same problem, we have a short runway which limits the profits of larger aircraft, we have very little in the way of top class business facilities, we have an international pier that's a joke and only 1 stand that allows seperate premium class boarding, very limited widebody parking that could restrict flight schedules and yet despite all this we charge an outrageously expensive price??? Hardly an atrractive prospect for an airline, especially the way the industry is these days. Is it any wonder they choose MAN, bigger and better infrastructure not for the same price, but for LESS. Just look at the long haul charter network, Britains 2nd most popular holiday destination is Florida, we have ONE flight per week, it's ridiculous.

If BHX build the extension and rebuild the pier i'm sure we'd get more long haul, and I think this is where they should be aiming. I'm amazed that the management have let it get this far but it's the same old story of this region, wait for everything to be delivered on a plate and then moan when they don't get it, pathetic excuse after pathetic excuse, and the occasional press realease stating the obvious 'we need a runway extension because...' all we need now is action but I'm not holding my breath.

Against

Aviation is the sector of the economy producing the fastest growth of greehouse gases. Personally, I'm not convinced that carbon dioxide is causing global warming. However, many vastly better qualified people do believe it and so, I have to concede that it is possible. This being the case, it would be utterly irresponsible of me to support something which makes the problem worse.

In Favour
 

For the region it is a must it is as simple as that.

Cost - As a Solihull Council Tax payer with a mortgage and being battered by Interest rates I must admit that helping to fund the extension is not appealing. The best way forward would be to sell the airport to a company who is interested in the business and with very deep pockets.

Location - I moved closer to the airport as it is located it a great position for transport (work leisure, family) but was not daft enough to buy a property under the flight-path! I do feel for the home owners who have lived near the airport since the late 60's early 70's but as for the rest :rolleyes:

Pete