Oltonpete.

The focus for TCX next year is now Manchester, Manchester and MAG group airports, so we will do well to get another increase next summer with them.


Nigel

Yes TCX are going major expansion at MAN on long haul over next 2 years

Ian

AA & MAEL
 

AA have to have a maintenance contract to operate the flights, the aircraft needs an ETOPS check before any flight across the pond so there isn't a choice other than which company gets the contract.

Monarch/American/Ryanair
 

American Airlines

Just a few hours away from the first JFK departure of AA130 bringing with it BA and AY back to the BHX arrivals/departure boards.

Monarch

Gibraltar is bookable this winter Sunday, Monday and Friday until the new year when the Monday flight disappears.

Barcelona wars continue with Monarch seemingly joing the winter fray with a Thursday flight bookable in November and December then it is three a week in February and four a week during half term.

In fact Monarch have a staggering 21 extra flights scheduled in the February half-term in 2016 which includes Venice restarting early and Alicante 8 a week and Malaga daily. Whether all these will run we will have to wait and see.

Ryanair

A 6th weekly Malaga has appeared for winter on a Thursday with a based aircraft.



Pete

Are there really enough passengers to sustain four operators running a Barcelona service?

Well, it is a very popular destination. It's not unusual to see 3 or 4 operators serving BCN from a number of airports outside the UK too.

Great to see AA back and nice to see the Bull Ring escalators plastered in their adverts. Why is there a Finnair code share on the flight? Finnair don't fly bhx-hel so really cannot see why they code share bhx-jfk unless it's for the benefit of air mile collector masochists??

Flew Norwegian bhx-mad on Thurs about 110 on board, seat map for my return on Thurs looks busy too. Accordingto bhx twitter feed it's going to be year round but not yet bookable. Fingers crossed for more Norwegian routes from bhx I was very impressed with aircraft, crew and service.

Really good news bhx is keeping vueling and Norwegian for winter, to be honest I thought they would both bugger off after a season!

Monarch in Winter 15/16
 

Monarch has announced additional routes and frequencies to its winter schedule for 2015/16 from Birmingham Airport; which covers flights until the end of April 2016, including the popular Easter period.

The following routes are now on sale for winter 15/16: Barcelona, Gibraltar and Majorca.

Additional frequencies to routes already on sale for winter 15/16 from Birmingham Airport include Lanzarote, Malaga, Alicante, Faro, Rome, Madeira, Fuerteventura, Grenoble, Larnaca, Gran Canaria, Sharm el Sheikh, Salzburg, Tenerife, Turin and Venice.

Monarch

Marjan Schoeke, Head of Network Development for Monarch Airlines comments: “We are delighted to announce the release of additional flights and frequencies to our schedule for winter 15/16 from Birmingham Airport. These additional routes and frequencies provide our customers with an even greater choice of destinations whether that be winter sun, ski or city short breaks.”

Birmingham Airport chief executive Paul Kehoe, added: “Monarch’s decision to announce additional routes to Barcelona, Gibraltar and Majorca and increase frequencies on existing routes throughout winter 15/16 from Birmingham is great news for passengers who want to grab some winter sun or hit the slopes from their local airport.”

For more information or to book flights please visit: Winter 15/16 flights on sale - Monarch

LPA/TFS on Norwegian starting in November.

I think its safe to assume that *if* Norwegian opened a 2nd UK base, we know where it is likely to be.

Obviously too early to call so far as a base is concerned, but given that Norwegian has no presence (base wise) north of London, then BHX may be well placed to gain them a greater share of the north London / south Midlands market which they undoubtedly lose to Luton / Stansted at present - not to mention the under served bucket and spade market from the west side of the Midlands.

Of course in this scenario the biggest obstacle is actually convincing people living to the south that there is life (and airports) north of the M25!!! :D

DY have also released MAD/BCN and AGP for winter. MAD still see's a poor schedule though.

Great news for BHX
 

Norwegian continues UK expansion with three new routes
Published:12.05.2015 By:Astrid Gaustad Mannion

Norwegian today announced further expansion in the UK with three new routes set to launch from Edinburgh and Birmingham airports to the Canary Islands this winter. In total, Norwegian is adding almost 100,000 seats between the destinations.

The three new flights went on sale this morning and will operate year round using brand new, 186-seater Boeing 737-800 aircraft with free WiFi for all passengers.

Details of the new flights:

Edinburgh to Tenerife launches on 29 October and will operate twice per week on Thursdays and Saturdays with fares from £59.90, one way
Birmingham to Tenerife launch on 2 November and will operate on Mondays and Fridays, with fares from £49.90, one way
Birmingham to Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) launch on 6 November and will operate on Fridays, with fares from £49.90, one way

So, Norwegian from zero flights and destinations pw to 5 destinations and 9 flights pw in 6 months.....cautious scheduling but obviously not afraid of the competition and great to see some extra capacity on sunshine routes ex BHX.....my personal opinion is that DY aircraft and on board service is superior to both ZB and FR so it will be interesting to see how the Midlands market reacts to the new kid on the block. I will certainly book with DY again having now flown with them.

Gayfriendly
 

Judging by the reception they've enjoyed at LGW thus far, then i suspect they will replicate this at BHX

Free WiFi onboard is a novelty, but a unique selling point never the less.

The leg room with 186 seats rather than 189 means the leg room is far better than both FR &ZB, although there are still a few 'older' aircraft with 189 seats and no sky interior

Their OTP is by and large very good and way above ZB's historical performance, for now all the inbound aircraft are Spanish based, but a base is rumoured for next year.

Norwegian
 

Very good news.

Winter 2015/6

Monday - Malaga 09.45-10.25 & Tenerife 17.30-18.10
Tuesday - None
Wednesday - Madrid 10.20-11.00
Thursday - Barcelona 19.05-19.45
Friday - Malaga 09.45-10.25 & Tenerife 17.30-18.10 plus Las Palmas 17.30 - 18.10
Saturday -Madrid 10.20-11.00
Sunday - Barcelona 19.05-19.45

As Jamie2k9 has picked up upon the Madrid could have been better, I would have preferred to see Monday - Friday and even Malaga would probably fill on a Wednesday - Saturday schedule but I suppose all dictated by the aircraft slots (not airport) available.

Could Norwegian be the 7th based Thomson next summer which shows airline TBA?

Winter 2015/6 should see substantial increases from last winter by Monarch, Ryanair, easyjet, Emirates, Icelandair (Feb 16), Air India (for 6 weeks) plus new airlines for winter such as American, Vueling, Norwegian, VLM (hopefully)

I wonder what flybe have planned as they could be the spoilers.

Pete

Re Olton Pete's post
 

"Air India (for 6 weeks)" - Can you perhaps clarify this a little please - Is it just that their published schedule after six weeks into "Winter" is as yet unpublished ?

Thanks

[Edit: The Wifi on Norwegian (depending on terms of course) could actually be a very big incentive to travel with them.

CAT III

Air India
 

CATIII-NDB

Air India was 4 a week last winter to around the third week in December when it went daily so the increase over last winter is only for around 6 - 7 weeks.

I suppose also even if Waterford operates with VLM it will still be less seats than last winter with flybe operating 3 x a week on a Dash 8. This of course if VLM operate anything less than 5 a week which I presume they will at best.

Pete

Big loss on the EI regional side as well, the Shannon route is at 6pw compared to 14pw NOV-JAN last year.

Olton Pete
 

Thank you for the clarification.

CAT III

Come on CAT III-B Wi-fi a big incentive to fly with Norwegian - GET A LIFE!