RE : Jet2.com & Jet2 Holidays
 

No , they want the pax to go to them and they probably will. I have also heard the adverts for late summer flights by easyjet on the local station BRMB , advertising for a product at least 80 miles away :mad:

I'm going to a wedding in Italy next summer and I need to fly into Pisa and will be returning from Rome. This means I have to either travel to EMA or STN with Ryanair which I'm trying to avoid, travel down to BRS and fly EasyJet or travel up to MAN and fly Jet2. In an ideal world I'd fly from BHX but the flights just aren't there. It makes you wonder just how much potential business the airport looses from lack of services. In any case I think I'll opt for Jet2, I hear their service is quite good and they offer a better baggage allowance which I think I'll need for a fortnight away!

You can do it from BHX - and cheaper than Jet 2.

Taking random midweek dates in July 2012, a return flying BHX/MUC/PSA and returning FCO/BRU/BHX will cost £188.90. Flying from MAN on Jet 2, including online checkin and one checked piece of luggage will cost £197.24. You will also get free food and drink on the outbound (admittedly not on the SN flights on return).

Of course, you will also save the cost of getting to MAN.

Chinapatern,

There are many possibilities for the journey you plan to Pisa and Rome. KLM, AF, SN, LH to name a few. However my tip would be Swiss, I've flown many times BHX-FCO with Swiss and it's an excellent product. Free baggage, choose your own seats, pre-check-in, free bar and food service on board and ZRH is a delight to transfer through. I think you'll find the fare very competitive with the others, and especially so if you pay the loco add-ons. You will also have a choice of three departure times daily.

Swiss is one of the most pleasant ways to fly in economy and the short haul product is very good, and if anything goes wrong they look after you and take all the hassle out of the equation, they have good fares on their own site. Give it a go.

Hmm , not quite true , i just had a look at AF/KLM & DLH and they both offer flights to pisa and return from rome , albeit via their hubs of course. It's not particularly cheap but the legacy carriers are not very keen if you want open ended return flights.
No worries about that from a legacy carrier (another cost to be factored in compared to "low cost)
oh the joys of being a single spoke in a hub are endless :}

Thanks for all that - think I'll be having a good look around for the best deals. Although when I was talking about the lack of flights I was referring to direct flights rather than connections and to be fair, MAN isn't that much of a trek from Stafford and what's appealing about Jet2 is the chance to fly a 757 which is always a good thing.

Chinapattern

Cannot do more than endorse FQTLSteve's comments regarding Swiss and ZRH, having just done a BHX-ZRH-NUE and return. Service both from Helvetic (BHX-ZRH) and Swiss (ZRH-NUE) is professional, transferring at ZRH has to be the easiest hub i've ever used - so much better than FRA which is a nightmare if you've got a short connection time, and your inbound is slightly late.

If the price is right, then give LX a go. As well as their service being good, their fare was much less than their parent, Lufthansa could offer me.

Sorry to disappoint you but Jet2 fly the B733 to both Pisa and Rome from Manchester. However, this still may be a good bet for direct flights if you cannot be arsed with transfers.

Getting home
 

Hi folks, my better half is trying to get back to the UK from Malaga on Jan 1st. Nothing doing to BHX, BRS or EMA. Without it costing an arm and a leg, has anyone any ideas as to how to get to any of those three from either Malaga, Seville or Gibraltar, loco or legacy?
Any help would be appreciated.

Amritsar
 

Well BHX's new service lifted off tonight it seems without a problem.

ComtelAir BHX- Vienna - Amritsar left BHX on time and is estimating on time
in Vienna. The outbound Amritsar is on the Vienna website gate D63 check-in
53-58 so I assume picking up pax on the way?

At least 80 seen getting on apparently at BHX.

Flightradar24 has it descending now into Vienna for a 22.55 local departure
to Amritsar.

Aircraft was a Privilege Style Boeing 757 with a ComtelAir flight number.

No BHX press release showing as yet - I wonder why ;)

They have and quite rightly jumped on the APD bandwagon though

Birmingham Urges Government to rethink APD - Birmingham Airport

Pete

Monty, Monarch offer flights from Malaga to Luton/Gatwick/Manchester and Birmingham plus Gibraltar to Luton on 01Jan.

Strong rumour doing the rounds at BHX that Fedex are planning a feeder B757 operating 4 nights a week, with 2 ATR's then operating to Dub and other destinations ?

If so its a good catch for BHX with a well established major freight hub in EMA just down the road.

:ok::D

Getting home
 

TartinTon

Thanks for your help. booked it for the little lady...

Fedex/Elmdon Apron/ATPs .
 

The rumours i'm Hearing we are loosing the ATR. And a 757 will operate through BHX.

Don't quote me but probably DUB-BHX-CDG-BHX-DUB. So we will not see a Fedex ATR day stopping.

Line markings Elmdon/Western apron are all down.

One of the stands is marked up for a 744 and another for a Md11? Think the AOIs will be out this week so expect ATC Directing aircraft to stand 104 on the Elmdon apron:ok:.

Heard the ATPs might be in there last week at BHX. But they said that last week.

Sorry not BHX related but of interest: Jet2 to start MAN-IST using 757s, with TK 23% down at MAN (not sure if this is year on year) some on the MAN thread are reckoning this could hurt them very badly. Lets hope it does not draw pax away from their BHX service as well, thats all we need! Also CY dropping all their flights from MAN at the end of Oct, leaving only LHR as their UK point served.

Its such a pity that BHX does not have a committed based carrier to start new flights, the closest we have I guess is WW but their long term future is anyones guess. I know it won't happen now but I still think Jet2 would have been good for BHX, shame they chose EMA instead. Never mind.

Qatar
 

Set to announce four new routes before Christmas that will be launched next year - apparantly WAW is one of them, EDI also rumoured. Fingers crossed BHX is another one although if a UK route is announced my money would be on EDI to be honest.

BHX can just handle Emirates - I'm not too sure Qatar will jump there just yet - Scotland is the next gold mine for them.

QR in the UK
 

Remember that QR pulled out of LGW to go double-daily at MAN earlier this year. Priority may be to return to LGW, and surely they'll want to firmly establish the extra capacity at MAN before adding more capacity in an overlapping market (BHX).

Why would they want to go back to Gatwick?
3rd new route is Helsinki and it`s with a A319LR I hear

Ian

Emirates/Qatar
 

JSCL

Can you elaborate on that statement "BHX can just handle Emirates".

Do you a mean in respect of the number of pax or airport facilities?

There has been a dip in Emirates pax but hardly surprising by what has gone on up north. However load factors have remained around 80% even during Ramadan although I have no idea if there has been any pressure on yields.

As for Qatar I have to agree with Roverman if respect of establishing the second Manchester service first before BHX is considered.

BHX has one thing going for it re Qatar and that it is the only one of the "big three" offering connections to Amritsar. However I am reliably told Doha - Amritsar doesn't have a great need to be boosted by connections from BHX :(

On separate matter how about BHX-MAD?
IAG - International Airlines Group - News Release

I still think a Nostrum CRJ1000 is the ideal aircraft for the route but obviously Iberia don't share my belief ;)

Pete