Heres the latest on Buzz at BOH - over 4,000 seats sold in 7 days

buzz LAUNCH AT BOURNEMOUTH AIRPORT IS A HIGH FLYING SUCCESS

buzz, the UK’s third largest low cost airline, has had a phenomenal reaction to the launch of its second base in Bournemouth. As well as five European routes, buzz will be flying to two domestic destinations, seeing the South Coast benefit for the first time from low cost fares to Scotland and Northern Ireland at a fraction of the price of British Airways.

Since they went on sale a week ago, over four thousand seats have already been sold on routes from the airport to Amsterdam, Belfast, Bergerac, Glasgow-Prestwick, Malaga, Murcia and Paris. Murcia, Malaga and Bergerac are currently the most popular destinations.

Says buzz Chief Commercial Officer, Tony Camacho, ‘The reaction and support we have had from people living in Bournemouth and surrounding areas has been fantastic. People on the South Coast are obviously making the most of buzz’s competitive fares which give them easy access to Scotland, Northern Ireland and a network of European destinations. This is just the start of our plans for Bournemouth. In the next year we will continue to expand and develop our destination portfolio which will position Bournemouth as one of the UK’s leading low cost bases.’

Thanks to Groundloop for keeping me up to date

I still feel that Palmair pulled out of the new route purely because they are scared of the competition on the route. I can't think of pulling out for any other reason? Since Bath Travel have a good customer base in the Dorset area then that is going to give them the upper hand in attracting BOH based pax. That is providing that the fares for buzz and Palmair would of been very similar if not the same. I would think that many local people would of preferred to support a local company and one that they may of used before than using buzz. Many carriers actively seek routes on where they can compete and win some of the market share - not avoid competition when a rival beats them to it! That sort of logic would make the shareholders of many airlines a tad angry at the wasted opportunity. I did find the news feature on BBC1 quite amusing when it was aired on TV last week. It seemed strange and illogical that Palmair were throwing in the towel so early!

If EGNR's post is true then that would of given Palmair the upperhand in the low cost battle. The A320 is now being regarded as the better machine to use on low cost ops. Despite used 737s as a whole, being cheaper to set up in the early days of operation, the A320 is the winner in the long term. Look at Jetblue in the US who operate an all Airbus fleet and Good Jet in Sweden who do the same. Both airlines wanted to operate new aircraft from the start, hence the A320 came into the frame straight away and not the 737.

I wish buzz all the best on their new expansion from BOH. I fear that Peter Bath will be crying into his pint in the months and years to come if buzz's latest sales figures are anything to go by. If he does intend to operate an A320 then that will just rub salt into the wound since that could of given him the upperhand. Palmair should stand their ground and take some of the low cost market share from BOH, before buzz absorb it all and it would then be too late! Buzz are obviously serious about expanding at BOH and that would leave Palmair to focus purely on IT ops where it could of had a slice of both pies if it fought head to head with buzz.

I think you are missing the point Oscar Dude. I have a good knowledge of the south and know Peter Bath even personally.

The point is how much do travel agents cost: X (even if you only take a fraction of that cost)
How much a CRS based booking system: Y
How much does ticketing cost Z

How much a web based booking engine: A

As long as the yield of the pax is such that you can absorbe X+Y+Z and still be lower than A you have a change.

But than they lease in aircraft, European needs to make a return on the flying and takes a profit. The travel agent needs a profit and the sales organisation as well. Buzz on the other hand is three in one and thus has a lower profit requirement..

Last but not least they had the strange idea of no frills with frills...

I am not knocking Bath Travel but the time for travel agents for straight fwd Friends and Family tickets as well as Business tickets is going. Their power will be in holiday packages alone..

Well you’ve got to hand it to Bath Travel/Palmair . All this week Buzz has had a full-page advert in the local paper, but tonight two pages before the Buzz advert Bath Travel have a full page advertising Buzz flights with full timetable. It’s Buzz prices plus £10 booking fee. Bath knows their local cliental well, a lot of who are elderly and not Internet literate and probably prefer to book local. They obviously won’t take the majority of the booking for Buzz flights out of Bournemouth, but enough to make it worth their while. Making the most out of a bad situation.
History in the making Sunday when Bath Travel make the first Commercial Jumbo flight out of Bournemouth for New York.

Joe Curry ..

Where was it mentioned ?

What a ridiculous website Bath Travel is running!
Does anyone have any e-mail or fax number for this company?

Palmair - 'larger aircraft'
 

Hello, I was just wondering if anybody knows what the Bournemouth Airport website means when it says, about Palmair, that "Menorca, Alicante and Faro all benefit from increased frequency and larger aircraft"? It has said that on the website for months.

What are the 'larger aircraft'? Have European bought some 737-300s? Is it no longer happening after the recent events at European?

Today on a visit to the airport I noticed that G-CEAC's doors were taped up. What is happening with that 737?

Didn't Palmair used to operate using Flightlines 146's...??? The comment of "larger aircraft" may be refering to that if it's been on the website a while...

I went to ACI out of BOH the other day, all the aircraft parked up behind the hangar is a very sad sight - hope they can resurrect something soon...

Yes, they used Flightline's only -300, G-BPNT. Surely that can't be what they're talking about, the changeover to European happened years ago!

Talking about 'Alpha Charlie', why would they tape up the doors like that? Could it be having a re-spray?

Palmair did operate the BAe 146 300 from BOH for many years on a lease from Flightline based in SEN , hence the name Palmair Flightline
From the begining of winter 1999 Palmair began using a 737 200 on lease from European Aviation in a 124 seat con fig , and Palmair European appeared on the side of the a/c
The reason being they wanted a longer range a/c to new destinations that the 146 was restricted on ie TFS , FNC , CFU etc and greater seat capacity
From the begining of summer 2003 Palmair leased another 737 from European G- CEAC and G- CEAF now operated a growing increase in services from BOH on behalf of Bath Travel
The plan this summer was to operate a 737 300 and 737 200 which European was planning to purchase , possibly from Easy Jet , however as we all know the problems with European have put a stop to this
At present CEAF and CEAC are planned to operate this summer as Palmair have an expanded flying programme from BOH
Have however heard rumours that Palmair are looking at both Excel Airways and Astraeus to run there summer programme from mid April possibly as problems getting credit , fuel etc from European
Channel Express based at BOH were approached by Palmair to help but have a fully commited operation this summer , but thats not to say they could go into partnership from the winter 2004

EAL/Palmair future without -200s
 

I'm sure that this has been covered many times by the people on this board, but following a recent topic that in March 2005 all Boeing 737-200s will be withdrawn in European airspace, can anyone please tell me if EAL or their charter airline partner Palmair have expressed any plans for a substitute aircraft?

Also, when buzz announced their plans to launch no-frills services from BOH, Palmair pulled out of their plans to do so. Why is this still the case now buzz are no longer in existence? What has stopped them from launching services?

I heard they would be replacing with -300s, kind of becoming like the -200s now as the "mainstream" re-eqip with NGs and 320s!

There was another thread which suggested that the 200s would NOT have to be withdrawn because of EU legislation,but individual airports COULD ban them!

If I find it again,I'll refer you to it!

In fact,it\'s the very next on the page!

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...hreadid=136700

Palmair (Bath Travel) have a few problems themselves at present and with the recent turmoil and redundancies at European their first concern has been to safeguard their summer (and next years) programme. All else has taken a back seat.
Before their recent troubles European had planned to introduce 737-300s this year but the financial troubles finished those plans for now. Alan Bath certainly had talks with Channex earlier this year and with the Channex fleet expanding (order for 2 more aircraft announced today) maybe he will switch to them for next year. Or alternatively maybe European will pull a rabbit out of the hat and find some backing for new aircraft. Either way Palmair will be flying newer aircraft before long.

JUST WONDERED HOW BATH TRAVEL / PALMAIR ARE DOING AS NOTICED THAT THEY HAVE CANCELLED THE REMAINING SERIES OF FLIGHTS TO ALICANTE ON A TUESDAY AND ALSO CANCELLED THE PROGRAMME TO LAS PALMAS

THE WINTER PROGRAMME FROM BOURNEMOUTH ASLO LOOKS DOWN FROM LAST YEAR , HOPE ALL IS WELL ON BOOKINGS ETC ?

GOOD TO SEE THAT THOMSON HOLIDAYS ARE GIVING BOH A GO AGAIN FROM NEXT SUMMER

Markeyd
SHHH!!!!!!!!
Take your "caps lock" off
watp,iktch

Do both companies have an up to date website, because I can find no contact details or any "latest news" features for either airline?

Surely not keeping an up to date website, which is such an important marketing tool, is not good for attracting new business?

Despite lots of the 742 work going to Air Atlanta Europe/Icelandic, I can't see where most of the 732 work would go to.

Lots of the ChannEx aircraft are not available for medium term leases, because they're all tied down to existing clients or Jet2, and I don't see Air Atlanta going into this market, or Hola Airlines actively expanding.

Channex would jump at the chance to take on the Palmair flying. Fits in so well with their BOH base and would employ two aircraft full time. Regarding aircraft availability 737s are easy to find, cheap to purchase and Channex's credit is good (unlike European who had to cancel their latest plans to purchase 737-300s). Could happen.
European website (not often updated) is www.eaac.co.uk and Palmair can be found off the Bath Travel site at www.bathtravel.com/palmair/

Palmair going to Astraeus?
 

Anyone got any info on the rumour of the Palmair operation down at BOH switching from European Air Charter B-737-200 to B-737-300 operated by Astraeus. I understand that it will be a similar set up with A/C, flight crews, engineering & operations supplied by AEU & A/C painted up in Palmair colours with their cabin crew onboard.

It makes sense if EAF's 737-200's are off to OZJET....