More good news for BFS

[NWSRG]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3695516.stm

Seems Continental will start flights from Aldergrove to Newark in the new year.

Good news all round.

[with alacrity]

Yes excellent news indeed.
I think that the Winter rotations may well have to be trimmed but during the Summer the route will be very popular.
In previous years Aer Lingus, World and American Trans Air all achieved good load factors to North America and it will save having to drive to Dublin as well.
Hope it all goes through:)

[eastern wiseguy]

I wonder how this will affect the partnership of FlyBe and Continental via the harbour and Gatwick/Birmingham/Glasgow.....all of which were feeders ......Allmcc where are you?:E :E

[CaptJ]

Heh, heh, my wife will be happy anyway.

No more slogging to Gatwick on the unreliable flybe to catch a Continental flight to Houston.

Continental are a good airline and in better shape than most.
She is a fan of that nice Mr Bethune too. (He's good coz he was a pilot!)

Welcome to Belfast!

[Kestrel_909]

Wohoo :)

Start planning the holidays for NY then :)

[EGAC_Ramper]

Good news indeed,pity 'll still have to slog transfer bags for a while yet!!:p

[kopbhoy2]

I caught part of a BBC NI news reoprt earlier - what a/c are they planning on using for BFS-EWR? All I heard them say was it was a 'small' aircraft. How small? Continental started EWR-DUB using a 757 but now use 767's.

[Kestrel_909]

I'd guess on a 757.
Dublin and Glasgow get 757s in winter to EWR, and 764s in summer as far as I know. I'm not sure about EDI, think it's 757 all year round at the minute?

[NWSRG]

According to the local press tonight, a 757 with 170 seats! That's a very big 170 seater...space should be generous if this report is correct.

[CaptJ]

It might be more an indication of the size on the Business class section!

[GustyOrange]

Kestrel,

GLA gets 762 in winter, 764 in summer.

Gusty

[MerchantVenturer]

According to the local press tonight, a 757 with 170 seats! That's a very big 170 seater...space should be generous if this report is correct.
Continental will use a 172-seat B 757 when they commence their BRS-EWR service next May.

There will be 16 seats in Business/First and 156 in Economy.

Doubtless the BFS aircraft will be configured similarly.

[Cyrano]

At a press conference this morning it was confirmed that Continental are starting BFS-EWR from next May. Good news! :ok:

This from the BBC (full story here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3722824.stm) ):

New Belfast-NY flight

An American airline has confirmed it is to begin a regular direct service from Belfast to New York.

The US based airline Continental has announced that it is to begin direct flights between Belfast International Airport and Newark airport near New York.

The service will operate daily during the summer and four times a week during the winter.

On Thursday, the airline said the new service would provide easier and faster travel options for travellers between Northern Ireland and the US.

The managing director of Belfast International, Albert Harrison, said the service was great news for both business and tourism in Northern Ireland.

The service begins on 27 May 2005.

In September, BBC Northern Ireland's business editor, James Kerr, said it was a "badly kept secret" that management at Belfast International and Continental had been in talks for months.

The service will receive start-up grant aid from the government's air route development fund.

It has also played a part in some of the other international routes that have come on stream in recent months.

(First BRS... now BFS... is this the secret pattern behind CO's route planning? :) ) What's next? BES (Brest)? BBS (Blackbushe)? :D )

[maehara]

"I wonder how this will affect the partnership of FlyBe and Continental via the harbour and Gatwick/Birmingham/Glasgow.....all of which were feeders"

Was searching on continental.com for BHD-EWR and got this message:
"Belfast City, Northern Ireland (BHD) is not currently served by Continental or its partners. Service ends Sun., 27 Mar., 2005."
...so it seems the flyBe codeshare is ending.

Still nothing on their website about the BFS route, though. Curious to see what the fares will be like. The inaugural flight's on my birthday, so I could be tempted to treat myself if the price is right...

[BELHold]

This could be the saving grace for Servisair during winter if they win the handling contract.

Anyone else heard the rumour about Menzies coming to BFS for a spot of Babysitting.

[JIPPO]

The new Continental Airlines service from Belfast International to New York Newark Airport commences 27 May, inbound the previous evening from Newark.

DAILY CO 95 BFSEWR 0900 1125

DAILY CO 94 EWRBFS 1955 0730+1

The service operates non stop using a Boeijng 757

Nice to see a Belfast New York non stop flight. Service should do well for them, both as a new non stop destination, but also with their many connections available through Newark.

[MarkD]

wonder what effect this will have on DUB and SNN (downgrade to 762 or 752-3 instead of 764?) or will it "grow the market"? If the latter, it's great news all around.

[Confirmed Must Ride]

Also being one of he first into EWR is going to mean quieter immigration....

[jabird]

Why does this go down to 4 / week, when all the others are daily (IIRC)?

Is it down to the lack of ability to distribute pax around different airports if load factors fluctuate(eg GLA-EWR; EWR-BHX-GLA), with interline options going through BHD instead.

Or is there simply less proven demand for such flights from Northern Ireland - after all BRS, GLA, EDI etc all have regular feeders to other European hubs, whereas BFS only has the no-frills.

[CaptJ]

I suspect they are just hedging their bets on the winter rotations. Its a lot easier to increase than decrease. I'd be most surprised if this route was anything other than a big success.

Maybe there is an expectation that the traffic will be more biased towards leisure travel. 4 days a week in the winter is a slight disincentive to business travelers.

I've remarked that American airlines operating out of Dublin tend to operate a larger % of seats Business class, than do IE.

These flights can draw on traffic that would otherwise connect via Heathrow/Gatwick, drive to Dublin, or use florida/Canada charters. When you consider that connecting via Heathrow or Gatwick incurs almost £40 in taxes/charges alone, there is a large incentive to fly direct. I suppose that means few bargain fares :{

It's only a 172 seat 757, there will be many months with excess demand.

[tallseabird]

Menzies at BFS sounds a bit speculative, aren't Aviance part of the same group as BMI/BMi Maybe???

Any rumours as to who will handle CO???

[Tower Ranger]

Great news, gonna save a few hours hanging around at LHR. Have the fares been announced yet, the cheapest quote I could get through Continental was $867.

[CaptJ]

Should be close to the BRS fares. That launches mayy too and is already loaded.

Considering the support they are getting the fares should be less. (its shorter too :O )

[tallseabird]

I see that the fares are now available online and I just checked on the startup date a business class return to Orlando is $3600 while a BRS business class return to Orlando is just under $2600 and as someone said BFS is shorter?????

[CaptJ]

Actually the BFS/BRS fares are pretty much equivalent on a trip for trip basis. More interesting to compare the Gatwick fares?

BRS/BFS - EWR is $860 economy, $3500 Business.
LGW-EWR is $767 economy, $3417 Business

BUT connecting on to Houston, but the IAH Business fare is $240 more from BRS/BFS than from Gatwick. The economy fare is $150 more

AND the Continental codeshare on FlyBe BHD-LGW is terminated from 27 May!

Those are probably just the basic rates though. Capacity management is unlikely to cut in on those dates for some months yet.

Continental also expect that the BFS service will be more biased to leisure travel than most of its other routes, at least in the first few seasons.

[MerchantVenturer]

A few weeks ago I put in few random dates and periods for BRS-EWR next year. I then compared the same dates/periods with BHX-EWR.

In every one of my tests the BRS-EWR fare was the same as the BHX-EWR fare.