A friend of mine has been stuck on the aircoach in banbridge for 6 hours in banbridge so I dont imagine the diverted passengers in dublin getting home any time soon...

bhd operations back to normal today. bmi 0645 delayed yesterday 4 hours 15 mins as a/c had diverted to bfs thurs evening. had to position into bhd fri morning. only one cxld bmi flight at 1310. not bad.

Haven't used the BHD - LCY route for ages but will be using it next week. How's the route doing, the numbers seem so low but it was not that expensive to book, under £140.

Interesting item on the BBC news last night comparing prices to London one week ahead. bmi £200 more expensive than Aer Lingus for a day return and most surprisingly easy were cheaper than Ryanair. flybe less surprisingly were the second most expensive at around £150. The bmi defense of the fares, that they were the only full service airline and offer greater flexibility was laughable. Interesting time ahead, again.

A slightly strange time to be making comparisons. Aer Lingus were always going to be cheaper than BMI next week..they have published loss leaders to start the route, they also have an inferior timetable to BMI (at the minute). As for Easy being cheaper than Ryanair, why is that such a surprise? it's pretty common...don't get carried away with the 'fly cheaper' myth.

This is something I also found. I am going to London at the end of Jan, and booked flights last night. Intended to arrive into Heathrow (as I might be going to Oxford) and leave from Luton (more convenient for my relatives in Bucks). But the price difference between Aer Lingus and easyJet was very slim, easyjet being more expensive for some returns. However, easyjet seem to have reduced their LTN-BFS schedules, with only 4 flights a day, not offering a mid-afternoon departure to Belfast. I am therefore returning from Heathrow with EI. Will be a welcome change from Luton and easy! EI have some really good fares, but my main gripe was the £12(!) charge to check in one piece of hold luggage - a bit steep in my opinion.

The problem is...you paid it.

And EI can guarantee other people will pay the £12 as well! Nobody has a choice!:ugh:

Then what is ultimately required is for the baggage charge to be built into the fare, which then gets discounted if you do not need to check-in luggage. Consumer affairs bods take note..can't see ailines being too happy about it though.

LCY route
 

With the airfrance/klm takeover of vlm and then combining it with cityjet could we see a fokker 50 in belfast any time soon? One of the managers i was speaking to said they wanted to get a bigger aircraft on the route to lower prices and attract more passengers however the rj85 is to big. Has the f50 got better operating costs per size the the dornier?

many thanks

bhd-lonFLYer

2nd A320
 

Does anybody know if the second A320 is at BFS yet or is it coming later?

I mean the last London Heathrow/Shannon service is enroute and will arrive at 2120. I wonder is that aircraft positioning Shannon Belfast later.

The single A320 that will be utilised on the LHR route will only do 6 flights a day!!! Thats quite poor utilisation.

That aircraft (EI-DVH) is positioning up to BFS later. Leaving SNN at 2200.

2nd Aircraft
 

Just found out that the 2nd Airbus is positioning in from Shannon due to arrive at 11pm.

I think EI were/still hoping the route will be a success. If so, it will be the most profitable aircraft at the base. As I say, if it becomes a success, the rewards could be HUGE for both EI and BA.

MUFC post
 

I agree the LHR route will be a great success. The x4 daily service that bmi ran in winter 2001 when they had just moved to City was doing great, the only problem that they will have is that the frequency is poor enough. I could see it that the route being increased. In any case all they would need to do is to decrease Dublin by 1 rotation, ensure all other services were by A321 and then the seats would be at a similar level !

And the airline has usually 1 extra slot daily at LHR in the summer.So who knows!

Best of luck to them, as far as I am concerned Aer Lingus are very welcome at Belfast.

Aer Lingus has 2 extra slots in the summer. Traditionally Cork and Shannon both got an extra slot. Cork goes from 4 daily in the winter to 5 daily in the summer, and Shannon went from 3 daily in the winter to 4 daily in the Summer. Presumably Belfast will do like Shannon and operate 3 daily in the winter and 4 daily in the summer.

en2r
 

Thanks for the update. I thought that the they had 1 extra daily slot pair in the summer. thanks for the update!

Why does EI have a different number of slot pairs - is it because slots are allocated by season or because EI lease out slots in the winter?

oh dear oh dear a fr737 parked up this morning at the so called lough neagh international airport, some red faces me thinks after yesterdays announcment on the ryans website. :):):)

oh dear oh dear a fr737 parked up this morning


For what reason (LDY or BHD)

LDY

Tech fault with fire appliance in attendance.

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