Wider economic considerations also play a significant part - BRS and NCL were EZY bases and at one stage had very similar numbers of based a/c and route networks. Easy now have no base at NCL whereas at BRS they expanded massively. Think that is more to do with disposal income and propensity to travel than the attitude of airport management

I agree with you.

Every town and city has its afluent and not so afluent parts, but certainly in the West Midlands, and I imagine the NCL catchment the percentage of people with real disposable income is rather less than Bristol and environs.

It is what it is and airports have to work within the economic world. I actually think that BHX is doing OK, and actually starting to make some real headway. It would be doing a lot better if EMA wasn't 50 minutes up the road, but it is.

Interesting. However, whilst EMA has lost it's passenger income to cargo, BHX gave EMA the opportunity to revive until a certain point. BHX is passenger oriented, EMA is now freight. oriented

BHX can accommodate the occasional freight operation without issues. The times of comparing BHX with EMA were lost when British Midland were allowed to collapse!

Badly phrased by me. What I meant was that if there was no EMA then BHX would be a larger airport, much larger in passenger number terms than, say BRS. That said of course there had long been an East Midlands airport in Burnaston but it wasn't suitable for the larger aircraft such as the Argonaut and later the Viscount that were the catalyst for the evolution of Derby Aviation into BMA. I wonder what might have happened had EMA not been opened in the mid 1960s. Would British Midland have relocated to BHX, or perhaps not even have developed into the carrier it became. That is more for a historical thread!

As you say, any direct competition for passenger routes between the two airports has diminished. EMA is now principally a first class cargo orientated airport primarily, though 4m plus PAX p/a is hardly a pittance.

It’s always intriguing when BMA is mentioned in relation to Birmingham in all its existence if I recall the only regular international service was to Brussels with a Heathrow service oft shared with a round robin to Donnington oh and BE/BA operating the first and last of the day with a Viscount ! Seasonal flights to Newquay and Jersey.

Did BMI do much with Embraer from Birmingham to Scotland can’t remember .

That said charters and inclusive tour operations certainly took place with prop Douglas,1-11s and for jetsave with the 707 to Canada.

Midland had one of their 707s ('LD or 'LE') based at BHX for two summers in the early 1980s for Med. ITs and operated BRU and FRA initially with Viscounts, subsequently with a based DC9 - N40875 IIRC - as well as LHR plus the Channel Islands. Can't recall the 707s doing many transatlantic charters, but I recall a couple of adhoc Jamaica charters, possibly using their original pair of non-fan 707-320s 'YBJ and 'YVE.

So far as I recall BMIR operated some schedules from BHX but not mainline.

British Midland must be worth a thread in the History section!

It's perhaps my custom that is being tussled over by BHX and BRS. I live in an affluent part of the Cotswolds between Cirencester and Cheltenham. This is how it looks from here:
BRS 1 hour 13 minutes, 52 miles
BHX 1h 13m, 65m
LHR 1h 22m, 82m
CWL 1h 42m, 89m
EMA 1h 46m, 95m
LTN 1h 54m, 96m
EXT 1h 55m, 118m
LGW 2h 2m, 123m
MAN 2h 18m, 136m
LPL 2h 33m 151m

I wouldn't dream of using public transport (half a mile walk to bus stop, two buses to Cheltenham station, lugging suitcases!)

Of the above, I have used BRS, BHX and LTN most often, plus EMA, LGW, LHR and LPL on occasions.
It's about flight destination, timings, airport accessibility and airport parking, balanced against cost.

Worcestershire Parkway no use? Large car park ,Hourly train to B'ham Intl,, and isn't there a people mover from the station to the airport?

There certainly is, free of charge.

There seems to be an obsession on these threads with public transport, while the general public continue to vote with their feet :ok:

Errr, aren't airlines Public Transport?

OK - There seems to be an obsession on these threads with ground based public transport access to airports, while the general public continue to vote with their feet https://www.pprune.org/images/smilies/thumbs.gif

Public transport is an important part of airport operations, it isn't all about 'the planes'.

Just shy of 20% of passengers used public tranport to get to or from BHX in 2022, slighly less than 50% by private car, and the balance by taxi. The taxi figure, I would think, is very much biased towards inbound as opposed to BHX originating passengers.

Public transport usage could be much greater if only the UK rail operators partnered with airlines to discount rail travel as part of the ticket price, but this is the UK where profit is the prime driver for public transport.

Another day, another new Ryanair route - Tirana this time x2 weekly from 31st March. That’s seven new routes starting next summer plus Seville, Valencia and Budapest rolled over from this winter. A record surely?

Indeed eight aircraft will be based from Aug (up from 6 I think?)

Great news about Tirana, particularly as Wizz (briefly) had this route on sale before realising they'd have to use a Whizz UK aircraft to operate it

I'm assuming FR will have to use a RUK aircraft to fly this plus AGA and RAK so I guess we will see a RUK based at BHX from April? Which could mean a new domestic and/or non EU route if there are gaps in the schedule?

So far that's now 49 destinations available with FR from BHX plus potentially 8 based, definitely a record! BHX and FR clearly have a good relationship going!

Are there a lot of Albanian gangs in the West Midlands?

No shortage of car washes!!

But seriously, open your eyes, Albania is reported as being a really interesting country to visit with fantastic ciuntryside and cities, as well as, I understand, coastal ares.

FR to Albania
 

AT Notts

You're absolutely right. I spent 10 days in Albania in September and loved every minute. Beautiful scenery both coastal and inland,, beaches far better than those in Spain or the Canaries, lots to see and do, great food but most of all the I remember it for the kind, friendly people who are not (yet) so used to tourists that they rip you off at every opportunity.....Tirana itself is a quirky, buzzy little capital city although like any city the world over, it has it's "characters" and there are parts of the city you definitely don't want to be visiting as a tourist.

I flew via Corfu and the ferry to Sarande, however these new flights open up flying in to Tirana, out of Corfu (or vice versa) meaning you can see the main sights without a lot of overland backtracking.

I'm already planning my next trip, looking at combining FR via Tirana and Jet2 via Tivat and going overland between Albania &Montenegro (or vice versa).

I think the FR Tirana flight will do very well from BHX 👍

interesting but those times make no allowance for delays - which are much more likely on the M4 towards LHR or the M42 towards Birmingham etc etc