Airport sold?
 

Well some of it!

Here is a snippet of the press release: -

"Sale of Aer Rianta and Macquarie Shares in BIA

Birmingham International Airport (BIA) today welcomed the announcement of a preferred bidder for the 48.25% of shares in the company offered for sale by Aer Rianta International and Macquarie Airports Group.
The preferred bidder - the Airport Group Investments Limited, a limited company owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Victorian Funds Management Corporation – made an unconditional offer of £420m for the 48.25% joint holding. Aer Rianta and Macquarie have accepted the offer. Airport Group Investments Limited will now open discussions with the seven West Midlands Districts who retain pre-emption rights."

end of quote.

Pete

Good news that the sale is going to go forward. The councils will rubber stamp it. We can get on with things now. Just wondering how many jobs it will cost.
A note on Thompson and CVT. Thompson bought it because they thought it could be run really cheaply. They found out that owning it does not mean being able to run at the price the airline want. Thats why they sold it.
BHX are in constant talks with all airlines including Thompson. They may come back to BHX yet at some time. Airlines have no loyalty.
It's OK saying BHX should lower it's prices but there has to be a limit. The costs are over half what they were two years ago. LOCO ops are turning the industry into a slum business. It's not just about profit. Safety and Security cost money.
Some airlines would not get my business under any circumstances because short cuts are being forced through by handling agents trying to cut costs even further.

I agree, the sale must surely be good news and I hope the new investors have some ideas and energy, and are willing to back this up with funds. Do the new investors own/ have shares in any other airports?!
Another reason they bought it is that the owners at the time, Air Atlantique, were making such an absolute hash of getting the airport ready for TOM. It came to the point that TOM had little choice but to buy it, so they could gain control and ensure the airport was ready for when the 737s and pax started arriving.
Not sure if they ever saw themselves as airport operators, or whether it was ever part of the plan. Just that a) the oppurtunity arose, and b)they had little choice if they wanted CVT ready...

I don't see any reason why the two airports can't co-exist. Thomsonfly, all due respect, is not the market BHX should be chasing. They have baby and monarch which pretty much cover that. BHX needs some decent scheduled medium to long haul routes.

Agree that airlines have little loyalty to the airports they operate from, therefore its equally likely that an operator could transfer from BHX to CVT if the price is right as thomsonfly could go in the opposite direction.

Agree with you both.. CVT traffic is not the future for BHX. I think they have more than enough LOCO ops. We should hurry up with that extension. With the Chinese and US teams being based in Birmingham for the 2012 Olympics its the perfect opportunity to kick start new long haul routes....

PIA
 

Who or what is operating the ISB route to BHX after the mishap with SAGA the other day?

PIA
 

Per acarsd - TC-SGC the very same aircraft reported as the one involved
in the aborted take-off :eek:.

It arrived in BHX at about one in the morning of the 18th. The next flight due is this afternoon.

Pete

PIA
 

Now told it was TC-SGB :confused:.

Pete

I see KTHY have began services to Birmingham today, is this a charter or scheduled service?

FC

KTHY
 

I believe it's a weekly scheduled service to Ercan via Dalaman although the BHX timetable only shows Dalaman at the mo - lets hope this is a new service that actually stays the course!!:)

Globespan?!
 

From the flyglobespan thread, talking about their winter plans:

Haven't heard anything??

Globespan at BHX
 

Globespan have submitted W07/08 slots for all of these routes, one aircraft doing daily Malaga and Alicante, the other aircraft doing the rest.

Ian

The futures Orange, Green & Red ?

FlyGlobespan
 

Whilst certainly not bemoaning the (rumoured) arrival of a relatively ambitious lo-co at BHX, but honestly do we really need more AGP, FAO, ALC etc??????? Memories of Flybe and their short lived Med from BHX venture come to mind. Nothing wrong at all with a bit of fun in the sun but there are other places out there for a cheapie weekend away (many of which you can actually fly to from either EMA and/or BRS :)). Shouldn't be moaning I suppose, after all any interest in BHX is welcome at the mo!!

Pia 777
 

Any news on when the 777 will start operating the isb route?

Sterling @ EMA
 

Great news for EMA, I wonder how that will affect SAS at BHX and Norwegians rumoured OSL service. Aren't some flights with SAS down to a DH4? Also I wonder if they approached BHX and like so many others were scared off by sky high charges.........it's a real pity as ARN and OSL used to be available from BHX

Sterling & SAS
 

GayFriendly

SAS is a MD87 Mo-Fr Morning (M81 today though) and a DH4 SAT & Sun.

The evening flight has been a DH4 since last September.

Load factors run at about 80% most of the year just slight less in Dec & Jan.

I heard rumours that BHX had tried to get Sterling.

I can't see the Copenhagen being affected too much and I don't think it will put Norwegian off if they really want to start Oslo. As for Stockholm
the airport are supposed to be pushing (don't know who) for this route.

One for EI perhaps three to four a week if they choose BHX?

Pete

Sterling
 

Thanks for the info OltonPete, load factors better than I thought. I also guess that with SK being in the Star Alliance, frequent flyer points, connections etc are much better than with Sterling who I assume are a traditional point to point loco - this will I guess keep SK safe at BHX. Shame their ARN flight didn't last, mind you I never saw it advertised!!

As for EI anybody got any further news on their plans for a UK base - do their plans involve BHX?? And what about routes lost after the demise of BACON - I haven't seen or heard anything positive about MAD, LYS or TXL coming back. At this rate BHX will have very few serious Euro connections to offer!!!

Read on another forum that Globespan are looking at significant expansion at BHX - personally am still not sure about the validity of this rumour, I can't see why they would bother going against WW and ZB who are both so well established on the routes Globespan are supposedly going for. Now if they were looking to base a 757 and offer Orlando and Boston, now that certainly would be worth it (and pigs might fly.........)

PS Are EK operating the 777-300 this summer if so when from?? Sorry for all the questions!!

Routes
 

There is a lot of rumours and little fact at the moment!

Lyon has been rumoured as Air France (Brit Air) from October.

MAD & TXL again rumour - Easy with "away" based aircraft

Stuttgart - rumour HLX

Oslo - Rumour Norwegian

Aer Lingus - nothing from the airport as you would expect but
there is still the rumour that if there is a UK base it is between
BHX, BFS or MAN.

Also Baby aircraft number 8 starts tomorrow with Rome, Jersey
and a 2nd Malaga followed by Lisbon & Marseille on Friday

Tomorrow also sees the first Monarch Ibiza, which goes to four a
week quite quickly and the 2nd Malaga is re-introduced Thu-Sun
and Mondays from July.

I also expect Baby will announce at least one if not two more routes
from September when aircraft number 9 arrives (technically EDI based
but operates through BHX in the day).

Not all doom and gloom but it looks like a "flat" summer at best.

Pete

Monarch Heavy landing
 

Monarch flight zb955 suffered a heavy landing this evening blocking the runway for 30 mins. A/C suffered a brakes on landing which resulted in a burst tyre and bold patches on all other landing gear boggies. A/c towed to 84 where it currently resides.

bazzab

Does anyone know what the Jet 2 737 has been doing have seen it several times at BHX over the last couple of weeks?