Thanks :ok: is it the Same frequency as last year ?

188 seat E195? Flybe must have a special edition!!

TB

Belfast-newquay is once weekly on a Saturday


cs

Maybe chartering a Boeing or airbus?

I notice that BA have an 0640 BHD LHR flight tomorrow morning, my experience has been this winter season to date BA have a first flight at 0750.

AerLingus had the first flight of the day in November at 0720, and their recent advertising said as much 'first flight from Belfast to Heathrow each morning'.

BA must have saw numbers slide as passengers availed of EI's earlier flight hence prompting BA to lay on an 0640 departure?

I also notice that on many weekdays the BA rotations on BHD LHR are 5 daily. A bit different to the 7 a day that Willie Walsh so proudly told the media of.....

EI-BUD

I don't actually think there ever was so many and I seem to remember checking after the announcement and on some points in the winter season there was actually a reduction.

Where LGW is concerned EI and BE match each other at 6.45am but are beaten time wise at BFS by EZY at 6.35am. It will be interesting in a few months to look at the figures and see if there is much shift. LGW will certainly be an attractive route to customers price and frequency wise.

Travelled through the airport last week and must say the new arrivals is very impressive makes it a real airport now. Tho must say it must be very embarrassing on BFS management how a small regional airport has a bigger and more impressive arrivals hall compared to the country's international airport.

I used to really like BFS but it does feel tired now I agree.

airport66
 

Mart901 the Gatwick route from BFS is doing well EI doing it from BHD is done it hardly any damage as for BFS dont like just dont use it simple as that.

A bit like punctuation in your posts Victoria.

Surely the "your airport's cr@p compared to mine" debate would be better informed once statistics for a few months are available?

Anyway, as a passenger, the competition on the routes that are being offered is good for pricing, so long may it continue.

The whole debate about how each airport and respective airline is doing on Belfast to London routes at this moment is a futile detate. There will always be a proportion of travelling public who will not be precious about which airport at either end of the route that they use, couple that with the fact that overall capacity between bmi baby closing, BA down to 5 a day on LHR, EZY cutting frequency on STN and BE Cutting back, is similar to the same time last year.

So really the true measure will be with the price competition that exists how much has the market grown compared to last year... detail of this will be available on CAA stats in less than 2 weeks!

Senseless duplication of routes is fine for passengers in the short term but it never lasts because no airline in the current climate can sustain loss making schedules. It's a matter of who blinks first.

And until someone blinks, consumers benefit......especially in the current climate.

LGW and other routes
 

In real terms we will need to wait until the December figures are published in mid January. November may see a growth on LGW,at BHD but as from next week EZY start their 10.15am to LGW, and just started the allocated seating so best to wait.

Also have to agree that the consumer will win in the short term, but who bits the dirt first on the LGW route?, EI, BE or EZY.....I know who my money is on

Will BHX and MAN number hold firm at BHD?

Quite right in what you say cuthere, as I originally said it will be interesting in a few months to see how it pans out, whilst Nov and Dec figures will make interesting reading it will take longer than that for things to set into a pattern, I'm glad to hear EZY are not suffering, I'm also sure EI's decision to add a rotation next summer to LGW isn't based solely on blind faith, nor is their expressed wish to increase LHR. BE does seem the least fit for battle in my opinion.

EI had mentioned in their initial press release about transfer traffic; and building relationships with other carriers to allow for easy connections from LGW.

BE still have a BA codeshare on the LGW, and Virgin Holidays appear to still use BE as their preferred partner to fliter their traffic to LGW. Are these likely to change, and what airline relationships have EI built up on the BHD - LGW??

Are not flybe currently or soon to be at disadvantage due to the landing fees at LGW being structured in favour if larger aircraft? Not sure about EI and transfers through LGW but they have been going down that route quite a lot lately.

I have heard a few rumours from different sources that FlyBe are considering dropping Gatwick and starting a Stansted, any truth in that one?

A possibility, but seems strange. Going from a London airport where competition exists, to serve another London airport where competition still exists...

On the LGW route they have codeshare and interline agreements, allowing for point to point and connection traffic. At STN would the majority of traffic not be purely point to point, or connecting with seperate tickets?

Now I know I'll be blasted for this as it's pure hearsay, and potentially a complete one-off; but speaking to an employee at BHD, last week loads generally appeared healthy on BE to Gatwick, with some flights full, and near full. Whilst apparently some EI LGW flights were going out with single figures. Just mentioning this to see if anyone can confirm. Are the loads generally low on EI, or is this pure tosh??? I'm sure some flights are busy, others can be picked as examples of appalling loads, but on the whole??