Birmingham 2005

[Frogga]

The future is looking up at Birmingham next year.

BMI Baby basing up to 6 aircraft- 737s
Alitalia 2x Daily (starting November 2004)
Gulf Traveller 4x weekly then Daily 767-300
Emirates up to 2x A330-200 Daily

Are more in the pipeline?

Is next year the year for 10 million passengers?

Andrew

[we_never_change]

Theres a rumour that American are looking at resuming flights to Brum, presumably from Chicago again?

Sunair/British Airways have been mentioned as interested in starting a Billund-Birmingham route with their (yet to be delivered) Do328s.

WNC

[aeulad]

Is the Alitalia not just once daily?

Flybe. should be launching more summer routes from Birmingham, with destinations such as Bergerac and Bordeaux widely expected.

Regards

Mike

[DC10FAN]

2 x daily Emirates A330s is not so great in one respect; BHX will lose it's only regular scheduled B777 service..

[we_never_change]

Alitalia is twice daily, similar timings to the Manchester service.

BHX may lose its only daily scheduled triple 7 flight but will gain its only daily scheduled A330 flight ;)

Also, Continental will maintain a double daily frequency for the majority of the winter, both flights being operated by Boeing 757-200.

Theres also a possible increase in the frequency of the Mahan Air & Slovak Airlines schedules. (They might even get around to making the SLL B762 look a bit prettier :p )

WNC

[jabird]

What a/c would AA use if they did ORD? Is it a bit far for a 757? Didn't they have lots of probs previously with the 767 carrying heavy freight loads off BHX's runway? Didn't they have to bump pax because they were "worth" less? Would they go against CO to NYC, where they have a reasonable presence, even if not to the same level as CO at EWR? Or would they try to feed people through BOS, which seems to have done well from MAN?

[GrahamK]

Rumours are that it'd be a 757 to JFK

[we_never_change]

Big announcement later today, rumoured to involve Flybe and its ops from Brum

WNC

[Ian Farquharson]

7 new routes including Geneva, Alicante & Malaga

More details when released.

Ian

[phil_2405]

Flybe. announces 7 new routes, 430,000 extra seats at Birmingham International Airport

25th October 2004

Flybe., Europe’s third largest low cost airline today announces seven new European routes from Birmingham International Airport, adding 430,000 seats into the market, taking its total seat capacity at Birmingham to two million seats. This consolidates flybe’s position as Birmingham’s largest single scheduled carrier.

Simultaneously flybe. is announcing that it will deploy its first ever 150 seat jet capacity – Boeing 737-300’s – to fly these routes from Birmingham. This confirms Birmingham as a major centre of operation for flybe.

Flybe. will offer these new services from Birmingham to Alicante, Malaga, Murcia, Faro, Palma, Almeria and Geneva. With prices starting from £39 all inclusive, tickets are on sale today at www.flybe.com (except Geneva which will be on sale in late June 2005). Flights to Spain and Portugal begin in March 2005.

The new routes follow hot on the heels of flybe.’s recent announcement of new French routes, and the addition of Liverpool John Lennon airport to its network of UK bases. This follows flybe.’s most successful year to date with the recent announcement of provisional profit figures for the financial year 2003/2004 of £3.1m.

Flybe.’s move is part of its ongoing commitment to providing an unrivalled low cost airline service to all the major regional population centres of the UK. The Midlands is a buoyant regional economy which flybe. expansion should help to grow further. Flybe. thanks Birmingham International Airport and the wider Midlands business community for the work done to aid with its aggressive expansion plans in the region.

The launch of the new routes out of Birmingham are part of flybe.’s ambitious summer schedule for 2005/6 which will be announced later this year and forms part of the airline’s overall strategy of continued investment and expansion of both its domestic and international route network.

More…
2


Mike Rutter, Sales and Marketing Director, flybe., commented: ‘Opening up the gateway to Europe for flyers in the Midlands has always been a priority for us, and we are delighted to announce our plans today. It’s good news for the local economy, and also a great new way for people in the Midlands to access mainland Europe for business or leisure. Whilst many of our competitors are route cutting and retrenching back to London, flybe. is expanding in the regions and is committed to bringing flights to your door.

‘As a result of these announcements CBI figures suggest that 430 jobs will be created in the Midlands economy, of which 25 will be created directly at flybe.’

Flybe. has always been committed to Birmingham and the Midlands, which is witnessed by its recent announcement of the largest sports sponsorship deal in Midlands history as it extended its deal as major club sponsor with Birmingham City, by a further two years to 2007.

‘With Birmingham now fully integrated into flybe.’s European network we’re going to be looking at adding more routes and more capacity over time – increased competition in the marketplace can only be good news for travellers from the Midlands. Flybe. will seek to add up to a further three 737’s over the next 24 months.

‘Birmingham International Airport has made this partnership possible, and we would like to acknowledge the efforts made by the BIA business development team to make these routes possible.’

Peter Vella, BIA’s Business Development Director said, “Flybe. has been an important part of the Airport’s development and success over the past 10 years and we are therefore delighted that it has decided to expand its Birmingham base in this way. The news not only demonstrates confidence in BIA, but also in the region, helping to create new jobs, support inward tourism, and offer Midlands' business and leisure travellers even more choice from Birmingham.”

[Ian Farquharson]

2nd daily Emirates service now bookable at www.emirates.com

Ian

[eggc]

another new addition...

Germanwings are planning BHX from spring 05 to Cologne/Bonn, 2 x daily...

Rgds

sc

[we_never_change]

Aren't Germanwings looking at aquiring B717s?

WNC

[c.r.m what is it]

They sure are looking at B717's. and have in fact leased a couple from spanair-AeBal. and one of them operated on yesterdays -Cgn-Lgw-Cgn flight

[kala87]

I hope BHX gets as many new routes as possible!

It's got an excellent catchment area, close to the city, and with the prosperous Midlands commuter belt to the south. Great potential to supplement LHR for long-haul traffic, especially transatlantic and to South Asia/Far East.

For many people living in the Oxfordshire-Northants-MK-Bucks-Beds area, it's quicker to drive to BHX than to drive to LHR (no M25 to contend with!).

I'm aware that there could be payload limitations due to runway length for certain long-haul operations.

One thing: why has Air India not served BHX since the mid-80's, given the large Hindu/Sikh community in the West Midlands and Leicester areas. Since then, other airlines such as Emirates have scooped up this considerable source of traffic. If you want to fly from BHX to Delhi, Bombay, Amritsar, or other Indian cities, there's plenty of choice if you don't mind routing via Dubai, Tashkent or even Bratislava, but no direct flights by the Indian national carrier. Is it due to an aircraft shortage with AI??

[we_never_change]

If you want to fly from BHX to Delhi, Bombay, Amritsar, or other Indian cities, there's plenty of choice if you don't mind routing via Dubai, Tashkent or even Bratislava,

Slovak Airlines flies Birmingham - Amritsar direct (with a B762). Due to Slovakia now being part of the EU, there is no need for it go via Bratislava.

Also don't forget Mahan Air via Tehran.

WNC