SAS to start BHX-Stockholm ARL
 

Commencing 28th October 2012, SAS to start another direct service from BHX; to Stockholm ARL 6 days a week.
Days 1-5 Departure from ARL 11.15 and day 7 11.25
Return from BHX is 13.30 days 1 -5 and day 7 is 13.40.
Flight is expected to operate on a Boeing 737 NG.
Take a look at this link (In Norwegian)
Boarding.no : SAS med direktflyg till Birmingham och Stavanger

:D

BHX-ARN
 

Great news about Stockholm. It would appear that full service airlines have renewed faith in Birmingham.! :D

Stockholm
 

I have been checking GDS and the SAS website for a while for this one amongst others as a potential route half expecting it to appear in one or the other before the official announcement.

It is not bookable as yet but hopefully not long but a fantastic route and I wish them well.

flybe - The 6th 175 was registered yesterday and should be for BHX but not due in service until 1/6/12 originally.

Pete

Stockholm
 

Great news for BHX showing faith in it by a major carrier and a much better schedule than the last time they tried it on a DH8 I think? And it means another gap filled in in the BHX route map - be nice to get WAW, MAD and VIE back as well....MAD surely has to be a possibility on either IB/Air Nostrum CR9 or with Iberia Express?

The new route development guy (sorry, I forget his name) really has made an impact hasn't he? The amount of new routes and expansion on existing services in the past twelve months really has been phenomenal. I agree it would be nice to see MAD added, perhaps it's a route Monarch might consider at some point?

Why no back-up power facility?
 

Normally happens on summer Saturday mornings but doesn't usually affect all the belts, just delays a lot of flights as everything ends up on the oversize belt and queues go outside the terminal doors:ok:

Saturday mornings....
 

Groundhogbhx, clearly the moral to this little tale is never fly out of Bhx on a summer Saturday morning if you want yo ensure your cases go out with you....

The second E175 for Flybe is in operation now - today operating 2x BHD, a HAM and STR whilst the other goes to and from DUS.

It does the same tomorrow and is showing as the two 175s being -JB and -JF

An International Airport?
 

[/QUOTE]Do all the long haul airlines waiting in the wings for the runway extension to open know about this??! That will surely convince them that BHX is the place to fly into over LHR ;)

Agreed there does seem to be a more positive mood at BHX for route development, encouragingly by both full service and lower cost carriers in both destinations and frequencies but this has to be tempered by the fact that BHX has recently lost LYS and GOT and from Sept it looks like PRG and LIS will also go. Add those to a few gaps in major cities/hubs (MAD, WAW, HEL - great for Far East connections) and seasonal leisure destinations (suggestions could be PSA, NAP, ATH, OPO, BOD, MRS?) still unserved, as well as stagnation in long haul route development there is still a way to go but IMO at least BHX does seem to have (at last) got the right man in the job of getting airlines to buy into the airports potential

Would be good to see TAP on the LIS route. If bmbibaby did OK with just O&D then I should imagine TP should do fine with the connections they offer plus any back up from *Alliance. How is their MAN route performing? Is it a daily service now?

Tap on the Lis route
 

Chinapattern: Agree. There is plenty of emphasis on onward flights through European hubs with legacy carriers, but little to the west. I sought a little help recently in travel into Brazil, the upshot being that it was financially more advantageous to start with National Express to Heathrow to link up with Tap for Lisbon and then Rio. Direct Bhx - Lis with Tap would make life a lot easier for those on business in Brazil. I believe it would work.

Remember, the Brazilian economy is now bigger than the UK....

LIS/MAD
 

One would hope that both IB and TP are very high (if not at the top) of Mr New Route Development guys list for BHX. My cousin flew BHX-LIS almost weekly when WW started it and said that flights were nearly always full (although we have no idea what fares people were paying and it was dropped pretty sharpish in their city route cull in 2010). As chinapattern says, with some connecting traffic thrown in, it could work for TP.

I wonder how IB are doing from GLA, I see that it is only twice weekly (Tu/Th) so must be relying on a lot of connecting traffic as can't see a lot of bsuiness travellers being attracted by that schedule? Surely BHX could manage a four/five times a week rotation?

IB and TP are daily at MAN (for the summer only in IB case), I recently flew IB MAN-MAD, both flights were full on a CRK. I agree that there is definately potential for both carriers and any deal sealed on these would be a huge boost for BHX and its already healthy list of legacy carriers as well as opening up South America, which for now requires slight back tracking via AMS, CDG, ZRH or FRA.

People on other forums have cited Iberia's inclusion in oneworld as the main reason they don't serve BHX, but there aren't many airlines in that alliance who would realistically fly here anyway; only Iberia, Finnair and perhaps AA.

Since BA doesn't operate a feeder from BHX to LHR, and therefore loses a chunk of what could be their LHR business to the likes of LH, AF, KL, LX etc I would have thought this would be a reson why IB should serve MAD from BHX, thus bringing revenue into IAG that is currently going elsewhere - or have I lost the plot on this one?

Not at all, I agree entirely with you.

The alternative argument is "we have a captive market - they'll all go to LHR anyway, so no need to cannibalise our own market." And there are at least two fallacies in that last sentence... ;)

This all comes back to BHX being too close to LHR as they are trying to protect
the south midlands for LHR not BHX and that is why I think the HS2 will
actually suck people south rather than north.

Ian

Quote: "Since BA doesn't operate a feeder from BHX to LHR, and therefore loses a chunk of what could be their LHR business to the likes of LH, AF, KL, LX etc I would have thought this would be a reson why IB should serve MAD from BHX, thus bringing revenue into IAG that is currently going elsewhere - or have I lost the plot on this one?"

IIRC LHR-BHX was a BD route which ended sometime in the late 1980s/1990s. Is this correct?

BHX is just one of a number of airports that needs a link to LHR for exactly the reasons you mention, ATNotts.

Unfortunately, with the lack of available slots at LHR and the price of them, combined with high landing charges and APD, it ain't going to happen.

What is needed are more direct flights out of BHX, GLA, MAN and the rest, but only EK appears to be able to make money doing this.

I don't agree that BHX need a domestic flight to LHR. If you want to get to london, you use the train. If you want to go further afield you fly to via a European hub. Most of them are immeasurably a better passenger experience (even Frankfurt!) than LHR.

If BA were interested in Midlander's business then they would consider operating from the Midlands directly to European, and a handful of worldwide destinations - but given their decision to hand the BHX network to FlyBe they clearly ain't! Same can be said for Manchester!

If BA/IAG think this then they are living in la-la land. Star Alliance and Skyteam shifting so many thousands of passengers via continental hubs lays that bare to the nonsense it is.

Splitting hairs I suppose it could be argued that BA do still operate 'virtually' from BHX as a codeshare on BE flights to DUS, HAM, STR and MXP. All of these are bookable on the BA website, which are then ticketed by BA and issued with a BA flight number - although I wonder how many people actually do book on ba.com for a flight from BHX to HAM that is operated by BE?

So why not also add a BA flight number to an IB BHX-MAD? IB flights from MAN and GLA have BA codeshares on them - you would think BA would rather route MAD bound pax from these airports via their flights to LHR but they are obviously happy to allow IB to take a share of these pax. With the amount of South and Central American connections at MAD and a relatively healthy potential for O&D traffic (as well as BA's thoughts to make MAD a secondary hub for it in Europe) you would have though BA would like a slice of the pie at BHX on this a route. ATNotts is therefore absolutely right.