Britannia Express

[egnxema]

Talking to a guy at BritanniaDirect this afternoon and he said the word on the shop floor there is that Britannia Express will be launching at Luton Airport. The big rumours have mentioned CVT previously - anyone heard any recent BY Express news?

egnxema

[bmibaby.com]

As far as I am aware, Britannia Express is not actually going to become its own airline in the sense of HLX or even in the sense of MYTLite.

Apparently, the Britannia Express is simply a brand to be used for Britannia's seat only operation. TUI want Britannia to function both as the UK airline arm for independent and package flights, so BY will simply take on a few ideas from the low-cos while staying a charter carrier with a short, midi and long haul fleet.

BY Express will simply be a marketing and website brand for independent travellers looking for cheap flights on a restructured BY network.

[KAT TOO]

bmibaby

I think you are right. I see many more operators going down that path in the 2004 Summer market. Lets face it if you want a cheap seat to Alicante, you don't give a toss who takes you there,so long as its from your local airport and the price is right. This trend is going to be a big problem for the late start ups in the low cost market. All the more so where they have other charter operators already offering flights on the same routes.

There can be no loyalty at the bottom end of the low cost market, its all driven by price, price & price.If your only paying say £60.00 does it matter if you fly at 10.00 am or 10.00pm or even 03.00am?

You need either a strong brand image (Easy/baby/ryan) or a local market that you swamp (Jet2/Flybe SOU)

The Mytravel-lites of this world have got use this as a bolt on to their current routes rather than try and grow a stand alone low cost airline. To date only baby seem to have got the brand thing sorted from the main group, after some trial and not a few errors, see they've got Embraers going back into EMA from the end of the month.

Easy seem more and more like a proper airline these days, dead keen on the business mix, think they'll do well, long term

[TightSlot]

Word at BY is that this is more than a rebranding for seat only. However, that is the only word, since a raft of non-disclosure agreements have been signed by those who might "need to know".

Anyone who tells you that they "know" probably doesn't.

[Flabbawhar]

It's a separate carrier under Britannia UK's AOC and not using the B757/767.

Pilots will be sourced from Britannia UK and externally and be employed under different (lesser) terms and conditions. An opportunity for quicker commands for mid-seniority F/Os but with a sacrificing of scale 2 pay, base relocation pay and final salary pension. It sounds as though this will be the future of BAL in the long to mid term and is a warning of things to come; an expansion, yes, but likely to be at the expense of the present Britannia terms and conditions.

The aircraft type has not been announced but since the maintenance will not be provided by Britannia UK, it is pointing towards Airbus.

The base is said to be "in the heart of England" and could be Coventry if it had a terminal or if sufficient portacabins can be welded together before Easter 2004.

[EMACargo]

If its the heart of England it could really only be 1 of 3 airports. BHX, EMA or CVT. I doubt it will be EMA even tho that would be good. BHX i doubt too so leaving CVT, as long as they get the terminal sorted out and everything then good luck

[TightSlot]

I repeat,

Anyone who tells you that they "know" probably doesn't.

Maintenance, Home Base, Pilots, Fleet and Terms & Conditions (amongst other items) are all under negotiation and have not been released to the public or staff. Therefore, anything you read for the time being will be speculative.

[G fiend]

Where's The Third Man...he/she bust this topic open...has he got summat to say?

[LIGHT TANNING]

HI
I DONT KNOW WOTS GOING ON BUT THEY HAVE STARTED TO DIG SOME HOLES AT CVT, BIG ONES AT THAT!!

BRGDS
L.T.:ooh:

[Buster the Bear]

Britannia Express and Coventry.

How to fail at the first attempt.

Folk need secure car parks, feeding centres, psudo duty free, magazine racks and fast food (And seating areas when the flight is delayed).

Must be digging some huge holes at Baginton then?

[Ian Farquharson]

Big Holes !

Watch this space !

[Buster the Bear]

Coventry, easy and Ryanair must be splitting thier sides with laughter.

Lo-Co pax need a bus station, not a bus stop!

HaHaHaHaHaHa.

And they say that "Football is a funny game"!

So CVT/EGBE as a base for Brit Lite/Express therefore must be true!

Buster has eaten a few hats, but this must be the largest so far! MUNCH MUNCH)!!!!!!!!!!!!

[unwiseowl]

Ad in this weeks Flight for direct entry, 737 rated pilots. Mentions that this new operation is in "The Heart of England". Sounds a lot like Coventry to me. Perhaps Brum or even EMA? Where else could they mean?

[Pirate]

I've just downloaded the application form for Direct Entry Captains. It's thirteen pages long. No mention of Terms & Conditions either, though they do want to know whether one is white or Irish (???) and how many marks one obtained in the CPL and ATPL exams. I'm sure I've got that last piece of information somewhere - after all it was only 23 years ago when I sat the exam.

Britannia people, if you are reading this, please consider. If you have a separate form for captains and first officers, it's plain silly just to cut and paste across the sort of questions that are relevant to aspiring young pilots but hardly impinge upon the abilities of experienced commanders. All that is achieved is twice as much information for assimilation than that which is needed.

You are, as they say in the right hand seat, having a laugh.

Confundemus

[Avman]

I guess there must be some tie up with another thread running in the ATC forum concerning Coventry recruiting more controllers and Britannia Express operating out of BAG. I think that BAG does have good potential as a regional LC airport although it would need some dosh to build up the infrastructure. I'm sure that the western end of the runway could be extended over the lane.

[BronzeAge]

Actually quite a nice bunch of ladies.......Have trouble with the tests Tailscrape?;)

[PPRuNeUser0215]

In this week's FI, you can read Britannia recruiting for its low cost based in the Heart Of England...
Then Coventry advertises for ATCOs to join their outfit which is located... In the Heart Of England.

Don't know if it ties up or not but if it doesn't then this could be question of Copyrights ;)

[bacardi walla]

So, will Ops still be out in Germany or will they start up again at LTN ?:confused:

[U/S President]

CVT is starting to look like the most likely base for Britannia Express, although I wouldn’t rule out BHX until the fat lady sings. Either way, it won’t be good news for MyTravelLite.

Whichever base it is, I reckon it will kick-off in May 2004 with four 128Y B737s. Certain destinations are AGP, ALC, BCN, AMS and either ORY or CDG. Probable destinations are IBZ, CIA, MAD, VCE and NAP. Plus maybe CGN to link-up with its Hapag Lloyd Express stablemate.

If the base is CVT, do you think there will be a full renaming of the airport:
• West Midlands International?
• Birmingham-Coventry?
• Birmingham Baginton?

bacardi walla: I can’t think of any reason why Britannia Express won’t just share the HAJ ops centre.

[TightSlot]

Nah - take a leaf from the Ryans and call it

London (Coventry) :O

[Frosty Hoar]

Expect to see 4 737-500s as initial fleet choice.

Expect new airline to be called "Thomson Express", operated by Britannia......:( :( :( :{

[tailscrape]

bronze age

No, I just couldn't think of enough stupid examples of bullsh1t in an interview.

You are welcome to your 12 year wait for command..;)

[Lite]

Whilst I do believe that there is definately a need for TUI to look long and hard at the way the low cost airline industry is effecting TUI Airline Management, I do believe that the airline should look at its existing philosophies first.

When I first heard of the proposal I thought it was Britannia Direct and Britannia Airways, begin repackaged and working closer together to create a new brand that would still work with Thomson and TUI, but would also be a more attractive brand for the individual traveller, with a schedule, costs and fares inline with the low cost airlines.

However, now that it seems it will be a bolt on to mainline like MyTravelLite, I think there are areas where this could be improved. I find that TUI could easily do a MyTravel. Put all of the charter airlines under a similar brand throughout the whole of Europe, but also look to have one brand for a low cost airline.

We have HLX in Germany, so why not simply have HLX and BYX as one airline. It looks like the airline will have the same route network anyway, (barring German domestic flights to UK domestic flights) and they will have the same fleet or thereabouts so why not simply become TUI Express. Jo Public are happy to book on MyTravel Airways and MyTravelLite, so why not use TUI Express or TUILite as opposed to more brands.

Things have to be simplified. Is that not why BY is being repackaged Thomson Airways by Britannia?

[Flightrider]

I thought it was going to be called TuiLite ("Twilight") with 4 x 737-500s from Hapag Lloyd.

I wonder what MyTravelLite will make of a Birmingham-based low-fare competitor. TUI basing their low-cost operation at Birmingham up against MYT is almost as aggressive as shadowing all of MyTravel's Summer 2004 flights with identical Britannia ones, isn't it.

[Groundloop]

U/S President

Atlantic Flight Training have been calling Coventry West Midlands International for at least six months. When asked they said it was now the official name for the airport.