There is a bit of a froth on a skiing forum re limited number of skis carried on a charter flight from EDI-CMF. Is that because space is limited in the hold or a weight issue on the return leg from CMF (especially with a tailwind take off) or a combination of the two?

I'd say it's probably a weight/performance issue, given CMF short runway. that being said it may even be down to space depending who the charter is with (BE's -8's or E175/195 OR LS's B733, all of which aren't particularly large planes?)

BA has confirmed the summer regional routes in a media release:

British Airways - EVEN MORE REGIONAL FLIGHTS TO HOLIDAY HOTSPOTS NEXT SUMMER

I would have loved to have seen BACF expand even more into the regions and offer some of these flights from SOU for summer 2018.

There may be more announcements to come. Last year BHX and BRS were announced separately after MAN and STN.

There are more announcements to come. MAN-FLR needs to be announced as does a flight on Sunday morning, and I imagine STN will get one or two more routes at the very least too.

There are 2 more E190s due by next summer, and while I suspect the BHX/BRS flights now fill those extra frames, could be more to come.

Be great to have them at CWL, plenty of unserved destinations on offer here and would then truly make the airline “British” as Wales is the only part of the UK without a BA schedule.

I'm sure most UK regions would like a chuffing great big BA maintenance base. :ok:

Unless a few weekend sun flights contributes more to the local economy? :yuk:

As has already been mentioned STN really does need something new (JMK & JTR would be a welcome addition). Maybe we’ll hear something over the next couple of weeks?

BRS FLTS
 

BRS did a full season of flights in 2017 with 4 destinations. Some of the destinations will be increased in S18 with mutterings of extra destinations served.
The FLR rotation in S17 was a E170 but the rest were E190.I think the FLR rotation to be upgraded to a E190 in S18

Could do with more capacity to the likes of PMI ALC and AGP from IAG rather than new routes.

What's that got to do with BA not offering scheduled flights from Wales with it's own metal?

So doing a very bucket and spade flights on the odd summer weekend from CWL would make BA "British", but a significant investment generating local jobs doesn't?

I'm always surprised by the excitement generated by BACF finding things to do with their a/c when LCY is shut.

I think we need to get past this mentality.

Yes, it is a circumstance that has been created by LCY being shut, but LCY has always been shut on Saturdays, so, why run these types of flights now?

Also, these flights still have to prove their worth, it’s not some sort of charity case. DUB and BHX to IBZ have been cut for S18, so, shows that some thought is going into the routes chosen and those that are not performing will be cut.

Also, it’s just Saturday and early Sunday that LCY is closed, so begs the question that if it’s just spare aircraft from that closure, then why doe MAN get an aircraft from Thursday night, taking away an aircraft from the busy LCY Friday schedule?

And I think that’s the crux of the excitement. Yes, they are just aircraft that can’t use LCY on sat, but, I’m sure there are no shortages of airports that would happily get the flights too, but the fact UK regionals see the aircraft is a great move away from the London Airways mentality....

Because people judge airlines by the routes they fly not where there maintenance bases are.

Because it's a chance for many to see the BA brand flying from their local airport in many cases and many hope it will lead to more in the future maybe even permanent bases at some airport's.

Ok - you guys see it as a strategic move, the start of BA's return to the regions, and I'll see it as a tactical move, a 'nice little earner', and we can agree to differ... :ok:

Don’t strategy and tactics mean the same sort of thing?

But anyway, I see it the same as you. It’s a nice earner for BA, but out of all the airports they could have operated from, they primarily chose the U.K. regions, and said regions seem to be paying off otherwise they wouldn’t have returned next summer, never made expanded.

And of course it is the start of a return to the U.K. regions. Even as little as 2 years ago, if you has said the likes of Manchester would see 30 odd flights a week that didn’t touch London, there would have been doubt, but here we are. It doesn’t matter if people look down their nose and see this as nothing more than ‘using an otherwise idle aircraft’, the fact that this seems to be bringing in revenue for both the airports and BA, I don’t think those guys will be loosing sleep that they are seen as having a lowly weekend operation using aircraft that can’t use their usual airport of choice.....

There are fewer business meetings on Fridays. Hence the they can reduce the number of LCY flights, at least on the morning. From EDI one a/c does a PMI rotation early on a Friday, although it returns to LCY duties for the Friday afternoon weekend traffic. (Actually it's the only BACF flight on the public timetable - the other holiday rotations are all charters) IAG are simply making best use of their assets.

Never mind.......

No, they’re two differing attributes, a good strategic planner can command way more in market. A tactical delivery specialist often comes in when the KPI needs to be met and the strategy doesn’t quite pan out!
I can’t get excited about this, I remind myself of BA’s ongoing ineptness at anything outside of London, think wistfully of what happened to Manx and Brymon not to mention BA Regional and couple that with “If LCY had extended hours, would Didsbury (are they still based there?) even be interested in Manchester?”

Yes Cityflyer are still based in Didsbury.

If LHR had more slots would BA still have the Gatwick hub.
If Easyjet had gotten into Manchester earlier would they have still served Liverpool?
If LaGuardia didn’t have the perimeter rule, would they see more long range flights?

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. No point dwelling on what ifs. This is the situation we have, and it seems to be working well.

If the rest of you want to look down your noses, or stubbornly refuse to believe anything than this purely being a ‘spare aircraft’ situation, go for it, knock yourself out.

However, Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester can continue to enjoy their moment that BA has seen some potential outside of London or purely linking London to the regions in those airports, and whether it’s down to a fluke circumstance or not, it brings in revenue, passengers and more options for those airports, so as said, I don’t think they will be loosing sleep that some enthusiasts see the flights as some almost ‘pitty’ offering.....

This is the BACF schedule from BRS in summer 18.

Saturday
BA7340 AGP 0105 BRS 0245
BA7023 BRS 0615 PMI 0940
BA7022 PMI 1025 BRS 1155
BA7016 FLR 1105 BRS 1225
BA7021 BRS 1245 AGP 1625
BA7017 BRS 1310 FLR 1625
BA7020 AGP 1715 BRS 1900
BA7019 BRS 1945 IBZ 2310
BA7018 IBZ 2355 BRS 0120 (Sun)

Sunday
BA7021 BRS 0625 AGP 1005

Apart from timings where in summer 17 each flight came in to BRS and then out again whereas in summer 18 an E190 will be 'based' at the airport on Saturdays, the only other difference is an additional Malaga rotation each week that gets the aircraft into BRS early on Saturday mornings and out again early on Sunday mornings.

Although the BRS press release says all flights will be on the E190 the web booking page shows the Florence as an E170 as was the case in summer 17. This is the only route not operated by the 'based' E190.

BA have a p2p base at LGW with some limited long haul feed. The LGW hub was dismantled as they couldn’t make it work.
EZY serve both GLA and EDI so yes, I suspect LPL would still be served. They even serve STN/LTN/SEN as well as LGW, so different model IMHO.
No one’s getting knocked out, but by the same token, some people get a little carried away and misty eyed at the sight of that Union Flag fin. They’ve pretty much managed to sew up LCY, growth potential is now limited, especially given the markets they’ve tried and given up on. So any major growth targets will be elsewhere, so foot in the water and all and good luck to them.

Maybe they’ll get those A321NEO IAG is buying and make a return to MAN/BHX/GLA-JFK? There’s a growth target! (I am joking but who knows?)

How is posting a timetable and commenting on the fact it’s growth ‘getting carried away’.

Seems you agree slightly in that this could lead to more in the future, so all is well in the world then.

Interesting that there are no Spring non LON non ski weekend flights planned.

The MAN flights go to mid April, which is about normal for ski flights. A lot of the other ski flights end around that I’ve too, including the Austrian to Innsbruck from various U.K. airports, and MAN/BHX-SZG to name a few.

AGP-XXX-AGP flights at the weekend could start at the end of March.

Getting frisked at the airport takes a whole new meaning at this base...

Sorry, just re-read your post, lots of ‘no’ and ‘non’ for a short sentence lol. To answer your question, maybe one for the future? Possibly ALC/FAO/AGP at best?

Where is XXX? CWL? NCL? LBA? INV? BHX? MAN? SOU? BRS? BHD?

MAN-FLR, EDI-FLR and a weekly MAN-DUB service have been officially announced:

British Airways - MORE FLYING, AIRCRAFT AND JOBS FOR REGIONAL OPERATION

Looks like EDI-FLR will be operated by E170 aircraft doing LCY-EDI-FLR-EDI.

MAN-FLR will also be an E170 (as will BRS-FLR be), using an E170 from the FLR end of the route.

BHX-FLR will be an E190 using the aircraft from the BHX end of the route.

BACF announced back on the 07DEC17 the following frequency changes to there W17 and S18 schedule.

W17 changes from 22JAN18 to 24MAR18

DUB - Frequency will Increase from up to 32 to up to 36 x Weekly.
FRA - Frequency will Increase from up to 20 to up to 24 x Weekly.
LIN - Frequency will Increase from up to 11 to up to 23 x Weekly.
EDI - Frequency will Reduce from up to 57 to up to 53 x Weekly.

BACF will lease a E70 from T3 during from 22JAN to 24MAR. The aircraft will be used operate the following flights:

Mon-Fri

BA7301/BA7302 - LCY-LIN-LCY
BA4455/BA4456 - LCY-RTM-LCY
BA7305/BA7306 - LCY-LIN-LCY

Sat - BA7301/BA7302 - LCY-LIN-LCY
Sun - BA7305/BA7306 - LCY-LIN-LCY

S18 changes from 25MAR18

DUB - Frequency will Increase from up to 28 to up to 32 x Weekly.
FRA - Frequency will Increase from up to 22 to up to 26 x Weekly.
LIN - Frequency will Increase from up to 11 to up to 22 x Weekly.
EDI - Frequency will Reduce from up to 56 to up to 52 x Weekly.

Further changes are likely in the coming weeks

Just noticed that RTM is showing as currently operating up to 37 x Weekly. Is this the same frequency as last winter. Frequency appears to continue through the first couple of months of S18 schedule

BACF & LGW
 

Is it me or am I missing something?
Cityflyer for years now, have been nibbling away at Big BA’s routes.
Are BA are missing what the management are up to?
Now Cityflyer are doing LGW routes and BA’s BALPA are fine with this. Are they really so dumb.
Cityflyers are cheaper so managers are happy to keep edging they into BA routes.
Are BA BALPA blind. They should have CF guys on BA seniority list.
Dumb or what?

According to the BA BALPA head shed it's not a permanent arrangement. Yes, BACF and other operator(s) are picking up the work temporarily on behalf of BA, but supposedly that protects LGW slots for BA use, with promise of more Mainline commands at LGW inside the year and possibly some of the slots being protected by the temporary arrangement Mainline Longhaul use.....

It's probably either that or another Qatari bout of short haul ops into/out of London.

Uh oh.....just like the last merging of lists, which some still haven't recovered from, that's another "merge" that wouldn't be controversial at all...:bored:

( Wonders off thinking about "zippers" ...........no, not that sort...)

Don't BA need to pay CitiFlyer for operating out of LGW on behalf of mainline? They're covering mainline just like Qatar or Jettime have done in recent times. The SCOPE clause would only kick in if CFE were ever to operate "normally" for BA out of LGW, then they're undercutting mainline and you have an industrial relations issue/

It isn't uncontrolled nibbling, all very co-ordinated and BA makes the senior management appointments to CFE. A good example is the recent cessation of LHR-ORY and the start up of LCY-ORY on the same day. LHR slots redeployed for something more efficient.

Have read on a couple of forums and on the BA thread on this site that BACF are to op mainline services during S18

However the only details I can find online regarding BACF operating for mainline is in regard to the weekend LGW to AMS and EDI from mid Feb to end of the current winter schedule.

Does anyone have any info on whether or not BACF will be op ex LGW beyond the 24MAR18?

Summer schedules have not been released yet. Cityflyer are to do AMS and EDI from 10th Feb to 24th Mar from LGW. There's also a scheduled flight to TRN and GLA on the 24 Mar.