Any body tell me when this airport pax numbers came into force. It effects every airport,and I cant remember airport pax capping many years back.

Not universal, but will depend on the planning conditions (if any) of each airport.

Imposed as part of the previous planning consents as mentioned by nonemmet in #403 above.

easyJet
 

The second daily Paris CDG rotation introduced this summer will now continue through the coming winter, except that Saturdays will be single daily.

One of the daily rotations will be operated by the A321neo as will some flights to Belfast International and Faro.

Courtesy Routesonline

TUI

In April next year the Cancun and Sanford, Florida routes will be operated by a B787-9 instead of the usual 8 series.

Courtesy Routesonline

Saturday morning rotations to Murcia International (RMU) will also be A321 in W19 from November.

The Airport's Facebook page is reporting the FIS is down again, back to manual boards and roaming assistants.

I wonder if it went down because they tried to fix the airline logos that have been missing since the last big outage? At least it seems to be running on Windows 10 now, not XP or Vista.

"The idea of a planning "cap" seems a rather Luddite approach to the increasing demand for air transport, imposed by backward-looking councils to emphasise their own importance."

Alternatively a democratic response to the concerns of their voters and taxpayers who have to suffer noise and congestion so you can avoid the "jungles of LHR & LGW"

That's the problem - no-one wants any development near them - I'm sure you'd be the same if they decided to build a new motorway 400 yards from your rose covered cottage N of Bristol................... :ok:

Ryanair
 

New ski season once weekly route to Turin announced yesterday. This will compete with easyJet and TUI. It's yet another route where Ryanair will go head to head with easyJet. Several additional Ryanair/easyJet routes have been announced in the past couple of years.

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of Dave Lees becoming CEO. He's had a few problems to oversea: the cyber attack; flybmi suddenly ceasing to operate resulting in the closure of the 5/6 aircraft BRS base; increasing vocal opposition to the latest expansion plans with climate change now firmly in the national psyche.

As I'm replying to Asturias's post I want to make it clear that I was not the one who made the Luddite comment. Asturias is correct in that many people would be 'nimbys' if developments they did not like were proposed near them. Whether the majority of people living in North Somerset are against airport expansion I have no idea. Straw polls conducted by the local news media in the wider West Country invariably come out around a ratio of 70:30 in favour of the airport expansion. Broadly the same ratio applied when similar straw polls were held at the time of the previous major expansion planning applications approved by the local authority a decade ago.

This ratio never seems to be reflected in formal comments to the local authority though. Last time and on this occasion objections greatly outnumber support. I've not read the objections closely this time but last time I remember reading one from an Australian environmental group that probably had previously never heard of Bristol let alone Bristol Airport.

Reprising my comment in an earlier post, it might be no bad thing if the local authority planning committee rejects the application. The airport could then consider whether to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate where a wide-ranging enquiry could be carried out by a professional planning inspector free of local pressures. That's not to say that an inspector would necessarily ultimately overturn a local authority rejection decision, but at least it would have been thoroughly investigated by a professional well versed in government policy on the subject.

MV - thank you for a considered response

I can imagine that polls over a large area by local media (who rarely adopt very scientific methods) show a lot of people want expansion - but they're all a long way away

the people who hate the idea are largely local and concentrated in seats held be local Councillors.

If we had a National transport Plan it might be easier but its not something the UK seems to want

I seem to recall the people of Bristol were much less in favour of airport expansion when the far more suitable site at Filton was proposed as an airport.

They aren't scientific polls by any judgement which is why I call them 'straw polls'. BRS had its own poll earlier this year conducted by (I think) YouGov which perhaps unsurprisingly found a significant majority in favour of the expansion. Critics said the sample was low and unrepresentative. There can be a valid argument for considering the views of those who live in the wider West Country as the airport is a major facility for the entire region. There are some who believe that one local authority in whose area the airport happens to sit should not be the sole arbiter as to its future. We are back again to the idea of a planning inspector-led enquiry being the best vehicle to determine the planning applications.

Much of the opposition seems to emanate from residents in local villages although objectors are not confined to those areas by any means. I don't live in the North Somerset local authority area but I do live closer to the airport and to the flight path than many people who actually live in that unitary authority. On mornings when the easterly runway (09) is active the 30 airline departures between 0600 and 0800 nearly all overfly the vicinity of our house or the nearby area as they turn to the left or to the right. When I'm wake I hear them but they don't usually wake me up and I'm a light and generally poor sleeper. Inbounds to 27 I can see through my windows but rarely hear. Yet some residents of Bath which is ten miles or more further than my house from the airport complain bitterly about aircraft noise. I think it's down to individual perception. To some people any aircraft noise is intolerable; to others it's part of the background hubbub of everyday life.

There is an organisation that calls itself StopBristolAirportExpansion (SBAE) and they cite the usual objections: noise; road traffic congestion; anti-social parking; greenhouse gas emissions. Yet even they send out mixed messages at times. They believe that Cardiff Airport should expand rather than Bristol. Extra flights whether from Bristol or Cardiff would still cause the additional emissions to which they object. In reality some of this group don't want more flights in their back garden but aren't bothered about other airports. That's fair enough but I wish they would be honest about it rather than wave the climate change flag when they are only really concerned about emissions at BRS and not elsewhere.

No national transport plan, but in 2003 the then Labour government produced a White Paper The Future of Air Transport which took a relatively in-depth look at the the existing scene as it was then with projections and support (or lack of) re all the UK airports then in existence for the decades ahead. The DfT supported BRS expansion up to 12 mppa (the figure to which the airport is currently seeking to be allowed to reach) with a runway extension and a second terminal. The airport has since eschewed both and believes it can reach 12 mppa with the existing runway and one terminal which would nevertheless have to be expanded yet again.

I wouldn't say that Bristol residents in general were against the idea of Filton becoming an airport. Most of Bristol is unaffected by airport noise whether from Filton when it was operational or from BRS. Many of those living in the built up-areas next to Filton certainly weren't enthusiastic about BAE's mid-1990s application to turn Filton into a city airport, and when in 2006/2007 the BRS runway was closed each night during winter for resurfacing (a story in itself!) the two nightly Royal Mail aircraft that were left at BRS were switched to Filton for that winter. Judged by the complaints from Filton area residents in the local press one might have been forgiven for believing Filton had suddenly become a major night-time airport.

When BRS is in the news in the local press people still post comments saying that the city's airport should have been at Filton. BAE's mid-1990s proposal would have taken much of the short-haul business traffic from BRS or, at least, that's what the BRS management must have felt because the airport was one of the objectors to BAE's application. A planning inspector was appointed to hold an enquiry which resulted in the BAE application being refused.

On the face of it Filton would have been a much better prospect for Bristol's airport (and not just a city airport) than Lulsgate: a larger site; longer runway; better weather; near a major motorway intersection (M4/M5); a main line railway nearby and a branch line running through the airfield site. There might have been problems accomodating a growing airport within a busy works airfield, and the area around Filton is far more built up than the villages around Lulsgate and would no doubt have led to even more objections than those that always surface when BRS is in expansion mode.

I heard a guy in the Energy business once describe their situation:-

"Everyone wants the maximum amount of energy, available instantly at the flick of a switch 24/7 in any amount and at the lowest possible price. And they want it generated and transported from as far away as possible from where they live"

Sound familiar? :ugh:

It seems that Easyjet will stop the Bristol - Stockholm Arlanda route. Does anyone know if it will return next summer?

easyJet BRS-ARN
 

BRS-ARN began in November 2017 as a year-round route, 2 x weekly. It remained year-round until this coming winter's timetable was published.

We will no doubt have to wait until easyJet announces its summer 2020 programme to see if it returns then. In terms of loads summer has been generally very good with sell-outs a not uncommon occurrence (three sectors this week and early next for instance). In deep mid-winter one or two months saw relatively poor average loads.

Obviously we don't know the yield from the route.

BRS's passenger numbers will be substantially affected by the loss of Thomas Cook. TCX handled about half a million passengers annually at BRS, approximately 6% of the total annual passenger throughput. With flybmi ceasing to operate last February that is another potential 200,000 passengers down. However, that deficit has been mitigated significantly with Brussels Airlines taking back BRU, albeit with a third party carrier, easyJet doubling its own frequency to 2 x daily on CDG, Loganair taking on ABZ, easyJet and Ryanair commencing MXP, all routes that flybmi operated, but flybmi's other routes - FRA, MUC,DUS and HAM - have not been replaced.

BRS has seen strong passenger growth in recent years from 6.3 mppa in 2014 to 8.7 mppa in 2018. The current 12-monthly rolling total (to July) is just under 8.9 mppa. Had TCX continued to operate, and with other airline growth, it's likely that 10mppa would have been within touching distance over the next couple of years.

That might have presented a problem to the airport as its current planning consents restrict it to 10 mppa. BRS has applied to the local authority for the limit to be raised to 12 mppa and submitted planning applications for infrastructure expansion to enable it to handle that number. The applications have been with the local authority for most of this year with no sign yet of a determination date. With the political colour of the local authority (North Somerset unitary authority) markedly changed since May's local elections it is quite likely that the applications will be rejected. That could lead to a Planning Inspectorate appeal which might not be completed for up to another two years.

Laudamotion announced today that they would be commencing BRS-Vienna on 29 March next year at 2 x weekly on Sundays and Wednesdays. That will compete with easyJet's BRS-VIE also 2 x weekly but which is being increased to 3 x weekly for much of the coming winter and next summer until the end of June, after which it reverts to 2 x weekly.

It’s difficult to be absolutely sure about load factors because with the loss of the BRS Mayfly it’s not easy (no pun) to keep track of the aircraft types, but a considerable majority on the Vienna route appear to be 156-seat A319s. If that is the case the monthly load factors this summer (ie since April) would have been comfortably into the 90% zone.

easyJet began the route in 2015 and it has operated year-round at 2 x weekly since then although, as I said previously, it’s being increased to 3 x weekly for much of the coming winter and through the first part of next summer which with Lauda would give a 5 x weekly service next summer.

easyJet and Ryanair compete on 13 routes at BRS, some seasonal. Not all the competed routes are obvious sun routes.

For example easyJet and Ryanair go head to head year-round on Krakow (up to 9 x weekly between the two airlines), Seville (up to 5 x weekly), Venice Marco Polo (up to 12 x weekly) and Milan Malpensa (up to 6 x weekly) with Ryanair also offering Bergamo year-round at 3 x weekly.

Given that Ryanair will know the BRS market well, having had a base there for 12 years and flown in from other bases before that, one can only presume that they think Lauda will work on VIE alongside easyJet, at least in the summer.

September 2019 passengers
 

https://www.bristolairport.co.uk/abo...ts-and-figures

Up 2.69% which included 8 days of the Thomas Cook closure.

On the same matter, has there been any obvious replacement flights added by easyjet, TUI and Ryanair?

BHX and MAN has been well publicised with Jet2 adding flights regularly over the last two weeks has Bristol seen the same from any of the above?

Pete

Also no talk what so ever about extra cover flights. The only thing different is Easyjet with A321 aircraft,but they already have their work sorted.

It seems that so far Jet2 have no plans to come down to the SW.

BRS CWL EXT and their spiritual home of BOH....

Possibly, I agree, and it seems for Jet2 BRS would seem to be a good place to start to fill a large gap left by TCK/MT but I guess TUI EZY and FR could/can take that on.
Trouble with EXT CWL and to some extent BOH the market is really a summer only one, with peak winter troughs and some Ski market.

In all probability they'll just put a big base at Bristol eventually and just ignore the other airports like Easyjet do.

Thomas Cook had three A321s based at BRS in summer, athough one was replaced by a 320 for part of the season in a pre-planned move, and one A321 in winter. Thomas Cook handled about 500,000 passengers annually at BRS in recent years so that's a fair chunk out of a near 9 mppa throughput. With flybmi calling it a day in February it's not been the best of years for BRS although growth this year will still likely to be around 200,000+ which is still a far cry from the 2.4 million added in the previous four years.

Given the wealthy nature and propensity to travel of much of the immediate city region and West Country in general it might be surprising if some of the TCX void is not replaced by someone. Who that someone might be is far more difficult to determine. The only obvious gesture so far is Ryanair adding a fourth weekly Malta rotation next summer following Thomas Cook's absence on the route - Air Malta also seems to have gone.

Ryanair's Laudamotion announced a Vienna route for next summer but that will compete with easyJet's existing route which is year-round and that's the total of recent route announcements.

2020 is likely to be just the sixth calendar year since 1970 that BRS will have seen a drop in annual passenger numbers against the prevous year, although until the 1980s annual passenger throughput was in low six figures.

TUI S2020
 

The SN BRS-BRU flight is back to overnighting from Monday 28OCT (out at 06:05, back in at 21:20), and the following Sunday 03NOV back to double daily. I've had a quick look across the flights, and they're all looking fairly lightly booked at the moment. I have a feeling it's going to take a while for that route to recover, so I hope SN sticks with it.

It'd be nice to bring back the third mid-morning rotation too, as currently I can fly out to the USA and Asia from BRS, but I'm not spending 10 hours waiting at BRU to come back to BRS on the way home.

Passenger figures
 

CAA August stats for BRS finally published today. The airport handled 1,009,498 passengers in the month, up 4.66% on August 2018. This is the first time that BRS has handled more than a million passengers in a calendar month.

Rolling 12-month total was 8.918 million.

Lufthansa
 

http://travelweekly.co.uk/articles/3...ristol-airport

The Franfurt link is being restored from next March with a twice daily except Saturdays E190 service. The route ceased last February when flybmi with Lufthansa code share went out of business.

This is really good news. The morning flight time (08:20 from FRA, 09:35 from BRS) isn't ideal, but hopefully it can edge back to being a nightstop again.

As Brussels and Lufty are both LH Group airlines, it's possible to do BRS-BRU-USA in the morning with the 06:05 to BRU, and come back NYC-FRA-BRS in the morning with the 08:20 ex FRA. I don't know how/if that option will work out automatically on either the LH or SN online booking engines, but it's a good one.

I guess this is Lufthansa back as actual Lufthansa for the first time since 2008?

This is great news, Singapore via Frankfurt here I come!

Eurowings operated the flights with Bae146-300 aircraft - 3 x daily, 21 x weekly. They operated from the end of March 2008 until April 2009. In that time a touch under 100,000 passengers were carried but probably too many seats at that frequency. The recession was also beginning to bite hard.

2 x daily on a 100-seat aircraft might be a better fit although you mention the flight times. Eurowings departures from BRS in the summer were 0630, 1150 and 1735. Arrivals were 0955/1015 (varied according to day of the week), 1700 and 2215. The winter timings were slight variations on the above.

Only morning BRS departure that would make any sense would be the Monday and possibly the Tues at a push. Rest of the week are dogs.

They've obviously done their homework as these are the best flights. Slightly surprised that no day 6 option is there.

That's not what the Lufthansa press release says. It says it will be twice daily except saturdays when it will be once daily. Timings:

FRA 0820 - 0900 BRS 0935 - FRA
FRA 1630 - 1710 BRS 1750 - FRA

And just like the last time Lufty launched from Bristol, they've announced the route but not put the flights in GDS, so it's not yet bookable.

Well the flights are now loaded but sadly they want double the price to go to Singapore from BRS rather than LHR so it's off to LHR I shall be going.

Also exactly what happened when LH launched from BRS in 2008 🤣.

The bad news is, the fares are loaded. I'm seeing the same fares ex-BRS as ex-MAN. The problem appears to be lower availability of seats at the cheapest fares, presumably because fewer seats overall between BRS and FRA. On the dates where fare avails are the same ex-BRS as ex-MAN, the only difference is the difference in Airport Fees between BRS and MAN. (£8 cheaper to fly from MAN). £549 v £541.

Unfortunately, regional fares (regardless of KL/DL or LH/UA) are often not as good as fares ex-LHR, where there's a ton more competition. I don't mind a premium of 'about £100', but sometimes nutcase offers out of London are half the price of elsewhere. We need Norwegian to turn up at BRS, that always encouraged airlines to create competitive fares.