New routes for Bristols new extension

[terrier21]

Has anybody on the inside working for currently serving airlines or maybe new airlines heard any roumours about new services from Brs next summer (or sooner)?

[GrahamK]

Britannia to Pula, Croatia

[terrier21]

I heard that Gozo in Malta and LA Gomera in the canaries as well but I wasnt sure if these were available as flights or just destinations ie; transfers by coach or boat!?

[GrahamK]

Well to Gozo, I understand you have to get a Mil-8 Helicopter from Luqa Airport to the Island, La Gomera I think you need to get a ferry from Los Cristianos on Tenerife, as the runway there is too short for large a.c

[Flying Fokker]

There is always the rumour that Flybe may consider LPL-BRS sometime next year but that is a rumour

[LGWAlan]

MLA-GZM no longer served by Mil-8 helicopters as of 31/10/04. - IIRC they did not meet latest saftey regs.

[MerchantVenturer]

terrier

It was announced in the local press recently that the work for the fifth BACx ERJ145 to be based from next March will be revealed by the end of the year.

The airport MD has been giving some obvious 'clues' in recent public statements that new routes are on the cards, without saying or even hinting what they may be.

Domestically, Norwich and Liverpool must be strong possibilities and in another thread (and indeed earlier in this one) it is being suggested that Flybe might be the carrier, at least for Liverpool. Who knows, they might do EXT-BRS-LPL in the same way that Southwest does PLH-BRS-MAN.

Internationally, from a personal point of view I would like to think that someone would take on the CPH route, soon to be dropped by easyJet. Milan has long been talked of as a possible BACx route and perhaps this is something the new based aircraft might take on.

There have also been rumours about increased frequencies on one or two of the existing routes out of BRS.

[TwinAisle]

Bristol to Liverpool and Norwich? Is this the first recorded case of either BA or easy playing catch up with Air Wales??

;)

[terrier21]

Freedom Flights Launch Flight Programme from Bristol International

Freedom Flights has unveiled its Summer 2005 flight only range from Bristol International.

Responding to demand for flight only products across the Mediterranean, Freedom Flights will introduce flights to 17 destinations and provide in excess of 80,000 seats for people in the South West and Wales.

Destinations include Dalaman in Turkey, Paphos and Larnaca in Cyprus and the Canary Islands with most services operated by in-house carrier; Excel Airways.

The majority of services commence in May 2005, and there will be additional flights to Tenerife and Lanzarote over the Easter period in March/April 2005.

For more details please visit freedomflights.co.uk or contact your local travel agent.

[aeulad]

These are seats on existing flights, no new movements.

Regards


Mike

[a bristolian]

Aeulad

Suggest you look at the Freedomflights website. You will be able to see all the new flights for BRS next summer.

The fllight numbers will show 2 based units , you will quickly be able to see 2 units - 1 from Excel and one other - so in fact lots of new movements

All the best from booming Bristol.!!

[hostiegirl]

are excel having one or two a/c in brs summer 2005???we've heard they are having all islandsflug routes back hope there not getting their awful a/c in the prossess!!!:ugh:

[MerchantVenturer]

The Freedom web timetable shows the flights being operated by Excel and Air Malta and, as a bristolian says, there appears to be enough of them to provide work for two aircraft for most, if not all, of each week next summer.

They all commence from BRS, albeit two or three do a 'W' rotation to EXT in between BRS outbound and inbound, a further clue that the a/c will be based at Lulsgate.

My only doubt about all this is the prices being charged for seats. On the routes that easyJet also fly, such as PMI, ALC and AGP, my test bookings for identical dates next summer showed easyJet to be much cheaper for the dates I tried.

The full list of routes is: ALC, ACE, CFU. DLM, HER, KGS, LCA, MAH, AGP, MLA, PMI, PFO, RHO, SKG, JSI, TFS and ZTH.

None of the destinations to be served are new to BRS and I am not sure whether tour operators will also purchase blocks of seats as well as individuals booking seat-only.

[Flightrider]

Looks like two aircraft - one Excel 737-800 and one Air Malta A320 based on current plans.

Excel 737-800
Mon BRS-DLM-BRS, BRS-MAH-BRS
Tue BRS-MLA-BRS
Wed BRS-RHO- ? -RHO-BRS (poss Exeter)
Thu BRS-ACE-BRS
Fri BRS-JSI-VOL-BRS, BRS-CFU-BRS
Sat BRS-VRN-DUB-VRN-BRS, BRS-ALC-BRS
Sun BRS-ZTH-BRS, BRS-EFL-BRS

Air Malta A320
Mon BRS-CFU- ? -CFU-BRS (poss EMA)
Tue BRS-HER- ? - HER-BRS (poss Exeter)
Wed BRS-SZG-BRS, BRS-LCA-BRS
Thu BRS-SKG- ? - SKG-BRS (poss EMA)
Fri BRS-TFS-BRS, BRS-HER-BRS
Sat BRS-PMI-BRS, BRS-AGP-BRS, BRS-KGS-BRS
Sun BRS-PFO-BRS

Hope this helps.

[hostiegirl]

looking good for excel in brs next year then just hope it's excel running the show with the 737(800) and their own pilots not the air atlanta side of the business or servisair will be coping with delay after delay next year!!:O

[ATCO1987]

Hello People,
I heard that BAL are due to operate a B763 to LEPA on a weekly basis, along with TCX operating a 757 there weekly.
Wilderoe are on about basing some Dash 8 Deltas at Bristol also, so I hear, how far tis true I dont know!
Dan.

[terrier21]

Wilderoe?! :confused:

[terrier21]

Charter Dest at the moment for Brs Summer 05

fao - thur,sat,sun
salzburg - wed,sat
bourgas - mon,sat
varna - thur
Bastia - sat
Alicante - sat
reus - mon,tue
malaga - fri,sat,sun
Pula - tue
split - sat
larnaca - wed,sun
paphos - wed,sun
fuerteventura - wed,sat
Las Palmas - sat
corfu - mon,fri
crete (chania) - tue
crete (her) - tue,fri,sun
halkidiki - mon,thur
kavala - wed
kefalonia - sun
kos - wed,thu,sat
volos - fri
rhodes - wed,sat
santorini - tue
skiathos - fri
zante - tue,thur,sun
ibiza - mon,fri,sun
brescia - tue
naples - fri
pisa - sat
verona - sat
arrecife - tue,sat
funchal - mon
palma - mon,tue,thu,fri,sat
malta - tue,thu
mahon - mon,fri,sat
bergen - sat
olbia - sat
monastir - wed,sat,sun
antalya - sun
bodrum - mon,thu
dalaman - mon,thu,fri

[BRS30]

Who is operating the Bergen charter?

[aeulad]

What about Tenerife???

Regards

Mike

[terrier21]

Sorry

TFS - tue and fri

Bergan is operated by Norwegian costal voyages and its only departures are 25/06/05 and 09/07/05.

T21

[WindSheer]

There is also the daily Bristol-Newark (Continental) starting in April.

I think its a bit ambitious though. They had just as well advertise it as a Bristol-Cardiff-Newark, or Bristol-Glasgow-Newark. A 3 figure QNH will probably guarantee a Tech stop.

:ok:

[a bristolian]

Windsheer

We've done this before.

Do you think the world 6th largest airline would start a transatlantic service without looking at performance payload issues.

Take it from me they have fully looked into this to ensure direct flights from Bristol - the new wingletted B757's will even allow for additional cargo even when pressure is low , the runway is wet , headwinds are strong and when additional vectoring is required to take it over your house if you want!

S

[terrier21]

Dink Dank Doo!!! Come on!!!

[MerchantVenturer]

Windsheer

I am in no way technical but, if 'a bristolian' is the user name of the person I think it is, he is well qualified when it comes to talking about routes and a/c capabilities at BRS.

I notice you have a Wales address which interests me because when it appeared that BRS and CWL were going head to head for the CO EWR route the talk in the Principality, both political and in the aviation community, seemed to be that CWL would win out because of its longer runway.

I remember reading a paper from a noted Welsh transport expert saying that it was certain that if either airport got the route it would be CWL because no airline would 'risk' BRS's so-called table-top runway. By risk he meant commercial operations, not safety, of course.

I wonder if the CWL management believed this and did not fight as hard for the route as their counterparts across the Severn because they believed they had it 'in the bag'.

a Bristolian

If I have mis-identified you please accept my apologies but I believe we have conversed elsewhere when you correctly guessed my PPRuNe 'handle'.

I note the November BRS pax figures with interest: charter traffic down for the month by 31% on the previous November but total traffic up 16%. The running year shows charter traffic down 1% but total traffic up 16%, again compared with the previous period last year.

Just got back from ACE and the flights each way seemed well filled on the Britannia charter.

[Standard Jet Dep]

A few interesting places mentioned in this thread.
I think the one you mentioned regarding Tommie Cook is most probaly a no go. A lot of rumour regarding TCX going back to BRS has been going around within the last couple of months. However I belive the weekly w service sched for the next summer will not be happening. However hope oneday they will go back there as it was such a good little base. Im sure that a few of us BRS exiles would love to go back there. Who knows 2006. Just a question for those on here as my BRS/STN contact has been away on holiday. What has the TCX A320 doing the ACE and TFS flights been doing as I saw it in the picture on the news the other day and wondered what it was still doing there in mid week.

[Standard Noise]

a bristolian, sort me out a bit extra in the old "rock of ages", give me windsheer's postcode and I guarantee my vectoring will have his roof tiles off!

[WindSheer]

Just a quick note for a bristolian and merchant venturer, I actually work at BRS so was not being welsh/english biast in any way and am also fairly 'in the know' myself.

You have got to admit, if there is low pressure the drivers are going to have to have a good look at their perf' to ensure they have the range.

Two questions:
When will 12 be CATIII, if you are coming into 27 with a slight tail you are struggling to stop. (Completely irrelevant, just asking)

Also haven't looked at the 757/winglet development, any idea what the performance enhancement is in figures. Apologies I did not realise Continental were operating these a/c.
:ok:

P.s. For all those that thought I was trying to start a civil war, I was just stating a valid point, and I am still confident there will be the odd tech stop.:8

[MerchantVenturer]

Windsheer

I am certainly not anti Wales or anti Cardiff, as a number of my posts have made clear in the past.

I am not in the industry but, as someone of (I think) at least moderate intelligence, I cannot understand why CWL is not better provided for in terms of flights.

I am a fairly regular leisure traveller these days, being retired and paying for myself, and I like all the airports in the south west quadrant of the UK to do well - I like all airlines and airports to succeed of course, but this is my particular interest because this is where I live.

At present BRS and EXT are having an excellent run (as are PLH and NQY in their more modest ways) and I cannot think that CWL will not pick up some of the gravy soon too.

Do you mean Cat III on 09? If so, I have read that the topography of the surrounding land makes this technically difficult if not impossible, but I am not a techie and if I am wrong I am sure someone will correct me.

[skyrabbit]

MV is absolutely correct about the terrain on the approach to 09 making a Cat 3 ILS unworkable.

I believe that there are plans to upgrade it to Cat 2 though which will be a bonus as BRS with its 600' (ish) elevation gets more than its fair share of fog!!

Rabbs :)

[BRS30]

Take it from me A Bristolian knows what he is taking about!

[WindSheer]

Apologies lads,
I meant 09 not 12 but you all new what I meant......

I know we are drifting away, but wasnt there talk of them altering the heading of the runway at BRS to take advantage of some more land available for expansion?? It was a while back I heard that though.

Merchant venturer, I think you are dead right about CWL picking up some gravy soon, prepare for the 'Emirates' announcement.
EXT is certainly doing well, although at the moment simply dont have the facilities to handle much more than what they have currently got (which isn't really a lot). I believe they have got the plans for their extension but lack the funding. Fingers crossed for them as there are some really friendly staff down there!!:ok:

Cheers all.:cool:

[Nakata77]

...what about BA's new routes from BRS???

[a bristolian]

Hi - a few points

Standard Jet Dep
TCX PMI will operate next year each Tuesday. Flight is now A320 off I think LGW . A number of seats are sold to Ocean Village for cruise off Palma,

This Winter TCX have based A320 operating in house ACE and TFS flights with other occasional ad-hocs incl a few lapland flights.
Hopefully plane will be back next Winter and yes BRS is as popular as ever with crews!!!

Nakata 77

BA new routes - well its Christmas isn't it!!!

Windsheer - again NO tech stop required.

[terrier21]

I think that BA's and Easyjets new routes for next summer will be released in the New year.

Rumours Ba to increase FRA to twice a day an extra EDI and MXP.

Easy possibly to Orly all rumours of course.

Windsheer- If you work at Brs how did you not know CO were operating the EWR with all the press releases and advertisement?

T21

[ATCO1987]

BRT to Milan? Interesting.

As far as COA out of Bristol is concerned, I was aware that, at its MTOW, the 757 will probably have to tech stop in Shannon if runway 09 is in use? As they will have to take off fuel to reduce weight, thus requiring a fuel stop in Shannon, or am I wrong since the performance is increased with the winglets?

Dan.

P.S. Runway 09 is CAT II now as far as I know, as others have said CAT III is not possible due to the terrain.

[Devonair]

I disagree regarding your points about EXT. I still believe there is capacity at EXT, especially in the mornings and the evenings. Flybe's new services to CDG (twice daily), increased frequencies to EDI and new daily flights to LBA and LPL will increase passenger numbers in 05/06 and bring EXT closer to 1 million. I also think we'll get a service to MAN and possibly ABZ and NWI. Passenger figures for this financial year look set to hit around 3/4m up from 400,000 last year. All we need now is AMS with KLM! Also as a Devonian I was pleased EXT attracted the flight to BES over BRS. Think this was partly due to the fact virtually every town, village and city in Cornwall & Devon is twinned with one in Brittany. The airport will be sold this year so hopefully the new £20m terminal will open by 2008. Things are looking up for all the airports in the South West!:ok:

[terrier21]

Atco1987

I believe we have had this discussion before about the tech stop in Shannon and I thought the general consencesus was that co would not have started a BRS/EWR service if it wasnt Direct, Possibly it might have been a BRS/SNN/EWR with a split load?

Devonair

What if EXT is Bought by BRS airport wouldnt that make things interesting?

Any more news on routes HAM/SNN/LIS/ATH?

T21

[Devonair]

Terrier21
Has BRS airport put a bid in for EXT? I heard the bidding process had attracted a lot of interest especially after Flybe's announcement of the CDG service. It would certainly be interesting as I feel the SW Region can sustain 2 International airports (I consider BOH more South of England than SW). PLH and NQY would continue to function for their own niche markets. NQY primarily as inbound low cost and PLH as business focused linking the city to larger UK hubs.

[terrier21]

I believe they have (see pms)

[ATCO1987]

Terrier- Maybe we have had this convo, but Ive been asleep since then <G>. I'll find a brain one day Im sure :).
Dan.

[MerchantVenturer]

terrier

As BRS is jointly owned by the Australian Macquarie Airports Group and the Spanish Ferrovial Aeropuertos company (part of Grupo Ferrovial), do you know which of these companies has bid for EXT, or is it a joint bid?

When Macquarie Bank and Cintra (another subsidiary of Grupo Ferrovial) tendered for BRS they did so through a joint company called Tidefast Limited. Presumably it is possible they might make a similar bid to acquire EXT.

Macquarie also part owns airports at Birmingham, Brussels, Rome and Sydney, and AFAIK only at Sydney is Ferrovial involved, albeit with a minority part of the ownership.

Do the local authorities intend to retain part ownership of EXT?

Devonair,

EXT is certainly doing well with Flybe but I doubt that it has the catchment area to truly rival BRS in term of pax numbers and routes. EXT has a lot of catching up with BRS heading towards 5 million pax this coming year.

I shall watch the Flybe Paris route from EXT with great interest because BACx charges fairly expensively on its route from BRS to CDG, at least compared to low cost airlines. We keep hearing rumours that easyJet will start to serve Paris Orly from BRS but I'm not sure about the slot situation at the French end.

[Devonair]

MerchantVenturer - I Believe Devon County Council will maintain a 20% stake in the airport. The remaining 80% going private.

Terrier21 - I would never suggest EXT would surpass BRS in terms of being the main airport for the SW region. I do feel however that EXT's catchment has been underestimated by a number of airlines. Devon and Cornwall's population totals 1.5 million. In recent years the city has also attracted a large number of companies from the South East; the Met Office and French energy giant EDF (amongst others). The business community were hugely supportive of FlyBE's CDG announcement. I would also say certain routes, such as CDG (as you said) and BES will attract people from Somerset and Dorset. I feel what has happened the past year has been a catch up situation, and I feel that the airport's pax figures are more in line with what it should be. Looking forward to more announcements in 2005 and hopefully a new scheduled airline arriving on the scene. I know VLM were looking a while back (AMS).

What are your views on the SWRDA setting up route development funds to attract airlines (as there are in NI and Scotland). I think it is something that needs to happen.

[MerchantVenturer]

Devonair,

Thanks for info re local authority and EXT.

Now that Scotland and Northern Ireland have led the way (and I believe the Welsh Assembly is starting the ball rolling there) it must surely be inequitable if English regions don’t follow suit. Incidentally, I believe the Eastern ABZ-BRS route operates with a RDF subsidy from Scotland.

From a personal point of view, I am not sure that I agree with public money being used in this way, although I understand the economic arguments. I think that private companies, which airlines and airports are after all, should operate on a commercial basis with minimal public financial assistance. However, now the floodgates have been opened in parts of the UK, we must all try to join in or risk falling behind.

There will always be allegations of favouritism of parts of a region over others. There is already the perception in the Bristol area that the SWRDA favours the far southwest generally over the remainder of the region. Basing itself in Exeter (which I am told styles itself ‘regional capital’ – is that true?) doesn’t help to allay these suspicions.

Were it based in Bristol I am sure there would be similar allegations from Devon and Cornwall.

There was talk that Flybe approached the SWRDA for support on the Exeter-Paris route. I don’t know if this is true and, if it is, whether any support was forthcoming, however marginal. But you can imagine the reaction of BACx and BRS if Flybe and EXT did get support for their CDG route for example and the former airline and airport didn’t on their route to the French capital.

I do agree that EXT was under served and it is now starting to build a decent route structure. I am sure there is more to come. I know people from Bristol who use EXT, whether because of more competitive fares, better flight timings, route not flown from BRS (such as YYZ) or simply that they just prefer it as an airport. I expect the reverse sometimes happens with people who live around Exeter. BRS and CWL are similarly used by people from both those areas.

All this is good news for the air traveller from/to the southwest of Britain because there is more choice, and it is growing.

[Devonair]

Exeter does style itself as "regional" capital but only in the SW Peninsular term for region (Devon & Cornwall and Exmoor). There is much talk down here that the SW region is too Swindon/Bristol orientated. You can see why the Cornish aren't excatly thrilled by the idea of being run by people in Bristol when Bristol is closer to Manchester than it is to Penzance (I digress!). I assume many SWRDA initiatives are geared more towards Devon and Cornwall as they are the most economically disadvantaged. I assume with route developments certain routes from say Newquay would be given priority over the same route from Bristol because of obvious economic reasons. Like you said we have to compete with the other areas of the UK. I believe the North of England RDA's are about to instigate route development funds for airports such as Blackpool and Carlisle.

[Standard Jet Dep]

A Bristolian yep can confirm your rumour regarding BRS TCX to PMI next year a flight with cruise pax I believe. Pretty sure the crews enjoy it. The flight deck were all BRS based so they should do ;)
MV and Devonair. Thanks for the info about EXT as it is my next port of call so its great to hear about lots of things going on down there. The staff that I have met seem to be very very friendly. Devonair, what times is EXT at its busiest and when is it so quiet. Im just trying to work out shift systems in my head.

Anyway good thread keep it going folks.

SJD

[ATCO1987]

Sorry to bring this up yet again...but is there any update as to when the TBPB/BGI flight is operating out of EGGD this year? I heard it was due to be in February sometime, but Ive heard no more, and the Bristol Airport website is about as helpful as a chocolate fireguard. If someone could give me a date or some kind of info Id be grateful.
Dan.

[MerchantVenturer]

Devonair

You are right about the southwest government region. It is a bit of a dog's dinner. I heard John Prescott on telly at the time of the northeast referendum talking about how a regional government might work in the southwest. He accepted there would be major difficulties because (as he put it), "Devon dislikes Cornwall, Cornwall dislikes Devon and they both hate Bristol."

I think a Cornish MP once described Bristol as a suburb of Birmingham. In truth, with the high tech industries etc stretching along the M4, it is more like an outer suburb of London.

I suppose Exeter gets things like the SWRDA and Southwest Tourism HQs based there because the city is reckoned to be geographically central to the government region, although Taunton probably has a better claim in this regard. If the same criteria dictated the Welsh capital it would be at Newtown or Welshpool.

Back to air matters, the important thing is for the region as a whole to be able to be reached easily from the rest of the country and from Europe, and if RDFs have to play a part, so be it, because although I'm not keen on them we cannot be disadvantaged down here if the rest of the country follows that route.

I note your opinion re BOH being more south of England than southwest, and anyone other than the government would agree with this. However, and I'm sure you are aware, Bournemouth and Poole are actually in the government's southwest region (and thus the responsibility of SWRDA), although Southampton is not. Therefore BOH would presumably have to be considered for any SWRDA route funding.

BTW, EXT arrivals have now joined BRS and CWL arrivals on page 452 of Ceefax. Can't be a bad thing because it will show a wider audience the flights available from there.

[Devonair]

SJD: In response to your question re:

Devonair, what times is EXT at its busiest and when is it so quiet. Im just trying to work out shift systems in my head.

The first scheduled flight out and back in the morning and evening is to Jersey/Guernsey. The Majority of FlyBE other services occur between 10 and 4. Exeter Airport's website (and Ceefax 452) now shows live arrivals and departures so if you log on tomorrow morning you should get a good idea of when its busiest. If you do look at it tomorrow or Saturday you'll see quite a few to Manchester (FA Cup 3rd Round Man Utd V Exeter City!)From the end of March this will change as Paris comes on stream and Edinburgh becomes twice daily. The first Paris flight leaves at 06:30 I believe and the second EDI flight will land at 22:20.

[Confirmed Must Ride]

ATCO...having a play in my system the 757 can get off Rwy 09 with all pax and bags as long as temp stays relatively low. Tried at 10c and it is fine then tried it at 25c and things go a little awry - probably have to offload about 20-30 pax

[Turn It Off]

25C in Bristol??? U must be kidding, thats like an all time high!!!

When i first heard about Bristol winning this contract I was somewhat surprised. I like others thought the main issue would be the length of the runway. However, with the success at Bristol, I can fully understand why Continental would prefer to base their operation at Bristol as against Cardiff.

I fully agree that COA would have looked into the statistics and whether they could make it out with a full load; however, maybe they are cleverer than we all give credit for.

Is it possible they could be covering themselves and wondering about the need to open a split route if pax figures don't quite make it profitable? They could use needing fuel as a basis for a tech stop and eventually it creeps in as a split load. Maybe not Bristol - Cardiff split, they may be too close together for that - It has been done in the past But not transat (stand to be corrected!!) Maybe split with Glasgow?


TIO

[terrier21]

ATCO1987
I believe it is on the 3 february. The website is currently being redeveloped so that is the reason it hasnt been updated for a while should be unveile in the next couple of weeks.

MV
Not sure who has put in the bid or if anyone definatly has just a rumour.

TIO
I think shannon would be the ideal destination if it did ever become a split load (hope it doesn't) with no service there yet you could sell BRS/SNN seats as well I guess.

T21

[Confirmed Must Ride]

TIO - GLA is too successful to consider GLA/BRS spilt load. The other new flight though BFS could be a thought for the winter

[MerchantVenturer]

I started a thread a few days ago asking if anyone had any news or rumours on how bookings were going on the CO BRS-EWR. No-one came forward with any positive news or rumours one way or the other.

We now have people in this thread talking about the possibility of split loads. I hope this is mere conjecture with no basis.

It will be a major disappointment and I think a big surprise, or perhaps shock is a better word, to the BRS management if this route is not successful, without the commercial need to split it.

A/c capabilities are something else of course but if 'a bristolian' is the person I think he is I am quite certain he knows what he is talking about, and I accept his assertion that the equipment to be used will cope with BRS's limited take-off conditions.

[Confirmed Must Ride]

very much conjecture on my part. I believe route to be very successfull

[Turn It Off]

It is conjecture on my part,

However, choose some dates in the summer and look on the continentl website. I did and the chepeast seat I could get was over £600. I think i'll go and pay the car parking at heathrow and fly from there for less than £250.00.

How can it get close with this kind of price gap.

TIO

P.s. - The £250.00 figure was a BA flight.

[terrier21]

Turn it off

You are of course quite correct there is a major deifference in pricing at the momen. What we have to remember is that this is a new route and if I were CO I would whack my prices up high to start with to see if there are any takers. The prices are dropping and, I'm sure, will continue to drop.

T21

[MerchantVenturer]

When the CO BRS-EWR route was first announced there were some complaints in the local Bristol press and local radio message boards about the high prices. I checked the Continental booking site then with random dates and the prices did seem high - anything from the equivalent of £500-900.

However for each set of random dates I chose then I also checked the established CO route from BHX to EWR and I found then that the prices from BHX were identical to those from BRS on the same dates.

I have just repeated the exercise with almost the same result. I put in random dates and periods in each of June, July and August.Prices from BRS ranged from1162.85 USD to 1763.85 USD. BHX fares were the same for one of these periods, eleven dollars cheaper for another and 86 dollars dearer for the third.

I then tried a couple of random dates from BHX for January and February (the BRS route does not start until May) and found return flights for 440.85 USD and 469.85 USD. I also remember finding BHX fares of around 500 USD for last September when I checked a couple of weeks beforehand.

Given that winter fares are often cheaper the moral still seems to be - wait as late as you can before booking.

[Dash-7 lover]

Press release around the end of this month concerning BA and BRS and the routes for the 5th 145 to be based there. BRS is turning out to be a good little money earner and easy are no competition. Would be surprised if we do anything domestic with it though?

[terrier21]

Any info from your end Dash7 rumours floating around here are milan, a second frankfurt and an extra edi.

[stalling attitude]

not sure how dash 7 lover meant the line " and easy are no competition " but the fact that BACX are rumoured to be putting an extra EDI service on means that both EASY and BACX are obviously doing well out of BRS.
It also proves the findings that the LOCOs generate new business because far from killing BACX off , their pax numbers must be up to pre GO levels meaning that the hundreds of pax that travel Easy each day between EDI and BRS are new business.
I also suspect that Easyjets presence at Brs helps BACX and vice versa because it increases awareness locally of the routes available from BRS.

just my opinion

[MerchantVenturer]

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0300business/0100news/tm_objectid=15037980&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=battle-of-the-airports-name_page.html
In the report within this link is a quote from BRS MD, Andrew Skipp, that he expects the airport to attract 5.3 million pax in 2005, up from 4.5 million in 2004.

I suspect the next announcement will be that setting out the work for the fifth BACx ERJ 145.

I am not sure if the already announced CO service to EWR and the Excel Airways/Freedom Flights programme that involves two based aircraft this summer will account for much of this increase in pax numbers, or whether there are more significant announcements to come.

[WindSheer]

I am still confident there will be the odd tech stop on this Continental route!

As the yanks would say PERIOD !:ok:
As I would say, BENCH. There is only one person on this website that will get that joke!:D

[Dash-7 lover]

Terrier/Stalling and Merchant

Not heard of the plans for the 5th 145 at BRS, no doubt people will be told the day before!. Nothing will start until the end of March when the summer 2005 stuff kicks so something will have to be announced in time to get the rosters/manning levels sorted.........but wouldn't surprise me if it was MXP....

[WATABENCH]

Theres rumours flying round that SAS will be coming to EGGD very soon to pick up EZY's CPH, but thats as old as the hills also a lot of talk about Lufthansa and some new german routes, anyone got any info on this?
Windsheer me ol mucka as much as it hurts me to say this, i reckon you could be right bout the old fuel stops with CO, i'm sure there wont be very many but its bound to happen sometime, especially if it cant get off Rwy 27 and has to go for 09.

:rolleyes:

[flyerboy]

LADS LADS LADS !!!

Why is it that whatever the subject is someone always has to bring the subject of the CO 757 having to tech stop, its been discussed, and I think that we should trust in the airlines judgement and that of certain people posting on this forum. Can we please now just drop the subject.

FB

[WindSheer]

Drop the subject? NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.

Really.....Yeah alright then! :ok:
Now that we have all agreed there will be tech stops!;)


:p

[terrier21]

Tech stop or not Tech stop that is the question, does it matter?! We will have to wait and see.

Anyway back to the forum BIA have finally release a press release regarding xl.com :-EXCEL AIRWAYS LAUNCHES 50,000 EXTRA SEATS AT BRISTOL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT


Bristol International Airport is set to expand its summer 2005 programme, with the introduction of new services by the world’s leading charter airline, Excel Airways.

Excel Airways will fly to 17 destinations, including Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Spain and the Canaries. The airline will base a 737 800 aircraft at Bristol from May 2005, adding an further 50,000 seats to the airport’s summer 2005 programme. Excel Airways will provide people in the South West a unique service, providing the widest range of low priced ‘flight only’ destinations, compared to any other scheduled and charter airline.

XL.com, which was launched on Tuesday (11 January), will enable people to book their flights online. The site now offers excellent ‘flight-only’ deals and later this month will also offer hotels, villas and car hire. It will be the first time that people in the South West can create tailor-made charter holidays to a fantastic range of summer-sun destinations. Unlike other low cost airlines, Excel Airways will offer additional customer services such as hot in-flight meals, children’s meals, and in-flight entertainment – all the things you would expect when you book a package holiday.

‘Flight-only’ prices start from £79 return to Malaga, Alicante and Faro in May. Using the additional services available on the website, including hotels and car hire, a seven night package to Benidorm on full board basis starts from £245 per person in June. Car hire costs from £135 per week with Avis.

The arrival of Excel Airways will see 50 jobs created at the airport - a boost for the local and regional economy, and the airport.

Tony Hallwood, Bristol International Airport’s Aviation Development Director, said:

“Excel Airways will bring a unique charter service to Bristol International, giving people in the Westcounty more ‘flight only’ choices than ever before at very competitive prices. The award winning airline will not only create new jobs at the airport but will also create an extra 50,000 seats to major holiday destinations, expanding the airport’s summer 2005 flying programme. This is great news for Bristol International and reaffirms our position as the South West’s premier airport.”

Martin Lock, Director of Marketing at Excel Airways, commented:

“We are delighted to be introducing additional services at Bristol International Airport. XL.com will enable people across the region to build their own holidays at their convenience, and will offer them very competitive prices.

“The major expansion of services from Bristol International coincides with the launch of XL.com, with the aim of making it even easier and more convenient to book your summer 2005 break. We plan to continually add ‘flight-only’ products to XL.com, which is a brand new travel portal offering customers the complete travel solution.”

BA have also spent a bit of money on promoting their new fares unfortunatly you need to book by the 25th of Jan to qualify. BRS to CDG and MUC for £89 return. Is this to promote their cdg route before EZY announce Orly?

T21

[a bristolian]

Sorry - but no tech stops - LAST LAST TIME - The wingletted B757's will save fuel to allow more payload and the airline has FAA approval for a good tail wind component using 27.

Dont worry Windsheer even if you dont see it at your local apt - you will see every day rolling off 27 direct to New York.

The end.

[MerchantVenturer]

BRS to CDG and MUC for £89 return. Is this to promote their cdg route before EZY announce Orly?
terrier

Possibly more to do with the Flybe initiative to CDG from EXT with their even lower fares, which of course might turn out to be introductory fares to this new route and not sustained over a longer period.

All this talk of CO to EWR and the argument over tech stops led me to look for details of the runway at BRS, especially the TODA on 09 compared to 27. I could find nothing on the BRS official website and a Google search did not help either.

Can anyone provide these details or suggest a website that might help me. Also is it the rising ground to the east of the field that restrict's 09's TODA or are there other reasons?

Thanks for any help.

[Voldermort]

M.V. on google type in "TORA at bristol airport "you should get UKGA.com which says TORA for 09 1978m(1938) + r/w 27 is 1938(1876) landing distances in brackets:ok:

[terrier21]

Someone has mentioned rumours of FR possibly starting flights to the munich area and possibly shannon, split load? Ive always been suprised how FR have never come in to BRS as a bit of competition to U2. Personnally I believe there would be a strong market for some of their 'Not city center' Destinations. Any views from FR insiders reading??? (*hopes*).

Also would there be a possibillity of BRS stealing the emirates off of CWL now that seems to have taken a back seat?

Just had a quick comparason between flybe and ba EXT/CDG and BRS/CDG for the same dates; 28mar-04apr, 25apr-02may and 23may-30may flybe came out on top but not by a massive difference. 28/03 BE £107.78 BA £121.80, 25/04 BE £57.78 BA £78.80, 23/05 BE £67.78 BA £109.80.

Most of the extra cost goes down to Taxes and charges with BA's T&C's almost double that of BE.

T21

[WATABENCH]

Ok ok, no more mention of CO BRS-EWR, Should be ok, I mean Astreus manage to get a 737 to BJL twice a week from BRS to BJL without refuelling as far as i know anyway, which surely must be a struggle?
Ahh Bristol International the possibilities are endless, what next Fokker 50's to SFB maybe?
Damn I love this place.:ok:

[Tom the Tenor]

...And where is that easy 737 to Cork! Sorry, couldn't help it! :D

[MerchantVenturer]

Ok, leaving CO and EWR but staying within the extremely wide scope of this thread, I note from the weekly Ceefax and also the weekly online Mayfly that a Balkan Holidays A 320 flies in and out every Saturday morning from/to Sofia. This is in addition to a similar aircraft from/to Plovdiv later each Saturday morning.

Sofia does not appear on the BRS website list of ski flight destinations. Does anyone know if this flight will operate throughout the ski season? It appears to have been flying each Saturday since the start of the season and the Mayfly indicates a continuance up until at least Saturday 29 January (the latest Mayfly available online).

As far as I can tell from Mayfly there are fourteen weekly ski flights from BRS (same number as last year?), and they are all at weekends (after the usual varying days at the start of the season around Christmas/New Year).

The official BRS website is not helpful. Apart from not showing Sofia on this winter's list of ski flights (assuming it is one) they are still showing a weekly flight to Grenoble which appears not to have been operated.

Furthermore. there is no list of summer 2005's charter flights whereas the summer 2004 list is still there.

Tom,

Where indeed? :eek:

[Vasto1M]

MV - The Sofia flights have not operated to date and doubt they will at all.

[WATABENCH]

I was pretty sure when i was in the big ol bristolian green house the other day that S-air were checking in a Balkan SOF flight, it was defo on deptartures board, I'll do some more investigating lads and get back to y'all, also the GNB was with FCA and is now not being operated, and yes i agree the BRS website is a sad state of affairs!!:ok:

[redfield]

BHAir Sofia hasn't operated so far. Astraeus get to Banjul in one go and haven't had to refuel as yet, although the weight has been an issue on occasion. Everyone's talking about new flights and a 5th Embraer: where will all these planes park? Isn't it going to be tight even with the western apron extension?

[Dash-7 lover]

Peeps......ref my last post concerning a 5th 145 at BRS...... . Not sure where it will come from. All 29 145\'s in BACX are tied up with flying with 2 on maint at any one time. The last spare 145 that commercial promised from the cancellation of the 3x daily MAN-CPH route turned into another spare 146! Watch this space or should I say watch the RJ100 fleet ? ? ? rumour rumour rumour

[MerchantVenturer]

It's Milan, Zurich and a second daily Frankfurt rotation.

Following press release is on BRS website.


A significant investment by British Airways will see new routes from Bristol International Airport to Milan and Zurich, and extra flights to Frankfurt from April this year.

To celebrate, British Airways will be making 75,000 seats available at an introductory offer of just £79 return, and fully inclusive, on all a three routes.

Some additional jobs will be created, mainly in customer service areas.

The new routes and additional frequency are results of British Airways’ decision to base a sixth Embraer 145 regional jet at Bristol from the start of the summer 2005 schedule.

Flights to Zurich, Switzerland depart daily, Sunday to Friday, at 8.40am. Flights to Malpensa in the Italian city of Milan will depart daily, Sunday to Friday, at 1.40pm with a Saturday departure at 8.40am. The new routes launch on April 4, and bring the total number of destinations served by British Airways at Bristol, to eight.

British Airways has operated daily flights between Bristol and Frankfurt for 10 years, and from April 3, will increase frequency to twice a day, Monday through to Friday with single services on Saturday and Sunday, adding an extra 660 seats a week to the route. The additional flight will depart at 7.30pm.

Steve Cassidy, general manager commercial, from the airline’s subsidiary, British Airways CitiExpress, said: “British Airways is committed to delivering a value for money product to people who value the way they fly. The first 75,000 customers to book return seats on our Milan, Zurich or Frankfurt services before March 20, will travel for just £79 return, fully inclusive. We have worked closely with our colleagues at Bristol International Airport to identify opportunities and are delighted to announce these two new routes to Milan and Zurich, and to offer additional flights for our regular travellers to Frankfurt.

“Milan and Zurich offer fantastic opportunities for both business and leisure. Milan has many cultural highlights as well as excellent shopping and restaurants. Its road and rail infrastructure make it a perfect gateway to the Lakes and Mountains regions of northern Italy. Milan hosts most of Italy’s manufacturing, and many advertising, publishing and high-tech companies are based there. The city also has a sizeable financial services sector.

“Zurich is the economic hub of Switzerland, home to the country’s stock exchange and major banks and insurance companies. The city has superb nightlife, and its lakeside setting and proximity to the Alps makes it an attractive leisure destination.”

Tony Hallwood, aviation development director at Bristol International Airport, said: "Bristol International Airport is pleased to be working in partnership with British Airways CitiExpress to deliver important new business links to Europe. Both Zurich and Milan have featured in our top ten list of most requested destinations and we are now delighted that British Airways has introduced these services. The key new routes, alongside the additional frequency to Frankfurt, will help us further support businesses across Bristol and the whole South West region."

I presume the reference to a sixth ERJ 145 being based at BRS is a mistake because I thought the additional a/c would be the fifth.

[Dash-7 lover]

Yep.......5th......the 6th is an EDI based a/c the ops EDI-BRS-CDG-BRS-EDI 2x daily...........duh

[MerchantVenturer]

The local BBC and ITV News both did lengthy items on the BACx new routes, inevitably finding some locals to bemoan their ill luck at living near an airport that, to listen to them, you would think was bordering on Heathrow size (doubtless they moved in knowing the airport was just up the road anyway).

Both reports suggested that even more routes would be announced in the near future - don't know if this was conjecture or whether the reporters have some good informants.

After all the talk in this thread re new routes there appears to be surprisingly little reaction now they have been announced.

My question is this. How soon before a lack of aircraft parking space becomes a bar to further expansion?

I believe the main (Eastern) apron can accommodate sixteen airliners (lovely old fashioned term) and the newly available Western apron (former GA parking area) some more, but I don't know how many more.

There will be seven easyJet 737s, five BACx ERJ145s, a SN Brussels RJ 85, a KLM Cityhopper F 70, plus several based charter a/c potentially looking to overnight come the summer.

It may be that some of the charter a/c will be away on night charters and the timetable suggests one of the ERJs might overnight at FRA. However, the place will still be very busy.

[Turn It Off]

Good luck to Bristol and I hope the expansion continues.

Nothing more annoying than these idiots who move near an airport and then complain about the news. If they were there before the airport then fair enough, but otherwise, wind your neck in and let the place expand.

TIO

[Confirmed Must Ride]

I really hpe BRS does well, as in a few months I hope to be moving to BRS and looking after CO....

[terrier21]

Bacx will have 6 based aircraft at brs from the 4 apr. At the moment they have 5 with 3 night stopping there 1 night stopping in edi and 1 as a spare which is normally in use. The new aircraft will night stop in FRA.

The new website should be up and running in the next couple of weeks.

[WATABENCH]

This summer is gona be so much fun, bring it on ha, limited stands which probably means the operators with the bigger a/c are gona be pushed up on to Western apron so to leave the front stands for the EZY'S, poor old BY/FCA/CO, Oh well at least they're have each other ha ha, seroiusly though its going to be hectic in BRS, i hope that the new stands on W apron will be self moneuvering because even on stands 1,2,3 you are sometimes waiting 20 mins after doors closed for a tug. I know the S-air lads and lasses do their best, but i'm sure it would lighten the load if the planes could self push from there, does anybody know?
Also there is going to be mass problems with gates as BRS only has 8 of them!! and were denied planning permission to build some holding lounges, seems strange, so with 16 new check-in desks, an extention to baggage reclaim, a big apron overhaul, another BA based and possibility of more EZY's, the new Excel and Air Malta programmes, the CO, and 3 very busy programmes from FCA/BY/MYT, plus the other schedules and visiting charters, and they expect us to deal with it all with 8 gates??
If anyone reading has ever been to BRS on a Sat morning in the summer, they'll understand what i'm getting at, summer 04 BRS had about 7 PMI flights in the space of 4 hours to start with and when you add on all the others that depart in that 4 hrs it's a complete mare - Apparently the ground staff have all chipped in to buy stocks of Valium ha ha! so can i just say to all flight deck, please take it easy on the minions this summer and blame the council for not allowing the lounge/gate extention, ha ha.
Good Luck and God Bless to us all:bored:

[Dash-7 lover]

terrier 21.

Trust me.....It'll be the 5th 145 to be based there...not the 6th......current weekday rotations...

BRS-CDG-BRS-CDG-BRS-FRA-BRS-GLA
GLA-BRS-GLA-BRS-GLA-BRS-CDG-BRS
BRS-EDI-BRS-JER-BRS-EDI-BRS-EDI-BRS
BRS-GLA-BRS-MUC-BRS-GLA-BRS

EDI based a/c

EDI-BRS-CDG-BRS-EDI-BRS-CDG-BRS-EDI


any other 145's will be on maintenance from other bases.

and being ex- BRYMON I really hope BRS to well.....they're making money.....

[WATABENCH]

Has anyone else heard a rumour about some sort of BRS - London route, someone mentioned to me a poss of LCY, the nearest we have at the mo would be LGW via PLY with WOW, I know a BRS-LHR would be fairly pointless as it can be driven quickly, but surely theres gota be a business market for an LCY or STN route?:confused:

[WHBM]

surely theres gota be a business market for an LCY ... route?
Unfortunately not, if the experiences of Cardiff, Swansea, Sheffield, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Belfast City, and currently Leeds are anything to go by.

[MerchantVenturer]

Bristol must have one of the most frequent rail services to the capital of any city in the country.

There is a half-hourly service throughout the day in both directions between Temple Meads and Paddington (via Bath) and an almost as frequent service from Parkway in the north of the city using South Wales trains to/from Paddington (via Badminton).There is even a direct four trains a day service from Temple Meads to/from Waterloo (via Salisbury).

Add in the numerous express coaches travelling up and down the M 4 daily and I would have thought that surface public transport more than adequately caters for those who do not wish to use their own car.

Train journey times are typically 90-100 minutes. Could an air service beat this having regard to travelling to the airport, checking in, taxiing at either end as well as the flight itself?

[Standard Jet Dep]

Confirmed Must Ride. I wanted to ask whats happening with CO at Brs ref staffing. Checked the website a few weeks ago but no advert. Are S-air looking after them or will they have there own conceirge like in BHX. It would be interesting to know whats happening. It will be interesting to see how they cope with the ramp on busy occasions. Unless things have improved in the last 3 years it was quite often not unusual to wait 10 mins for a tug. So when its packed god knows.

Brgds

SJD

[GrahamK]

What about EUjet to Manston?

[Confirmed Must Ride]

We are still waiting to see what the final contracts say. I know that most decision makers are having to split their time between BRS and the other 4 announced routes. I do expect most things to be sorted by end Feb - at least for BRS.

All advertising for staff for BRS has been for Airport Manager/Supervisor/Lead Agent - nothing else has been asked for as yet.

[WATABENCH]

I heard the same info as the above, but i also heard they've only signed for a year contract at the mo, so peeps who are going to apply for said positions should be wary, if it doesn't work out or something happens to CO as lets face it, they're not the most stable US carrier - you could be after a new job, and certainly with my company, once you've left, you loose all your continued service benefits and in the travel industry there's nothing concrete to say they can take you back imediatley, but thats the risk i spose:confused:

[WATABENCH]

Sorry to harp on about CO again but just been told this morning by quite a reliable source on the ramp 'not tomato i might add' that part of the BIA/CO deal is that they are guarenteed a front stand either 2 or 3 - amazing what you can find out when you work at stupid o clock in the morning! bang goes my earlier theory of it going up on the western apron with the FCA's and BY's leaving the front stands for the EZY's then, make way make way yanks coming through!!!! - well i spose it is the jewell in BRS's crown.
Talking of pretigious routes, anyone heard anymore about the CWL-DXB that there was supposedly ment to be an iminent announcement about, haven't seen nor heard anymore on this for about 2 months now, take it the Sheikh has decided against it now, sod it bring it into BRS on a W with DUB is what i say, well could be intresting watching it trying to stop before it hits the pier in Weston-Super-Mud.
:E

[WindSheer]

WATABENCH

I have to agree - what about the 'regulars'. They have supplied BRS with passengers for years long before the likes of EZY and the Ryanairs etc. Its the usual thing - pull the ladder up and sod the rest!

I hear that both Qantas and Indian have been eyeing up the land where sheep get nervous for a daily Sydney and New Delhi respectively!
Also heard a rumour the other day down the coal mine that Air Wales have been eyeing up the new A380 - for a possible order of 20 a/c with options on another 450. They are going to offer self catering packages on single class high density aircraft, to exotic locations such as Reus and Corfu! God bless us all - better stock up on shell suits now before the rush!

;)

[ATCO1987]

I was told by someone who works for Servisair that the COA B752 will have to be parked on the Western apron as it cannot go on 1 2 or 3; wingtip clearance issues (guessing thats down to the addition of winglets). Though that could be incorrect info...

[WindSheer]

It cant go on stand 1 with or without winglets.
I wouldnt have thought they would affect stands 2 & 3.

[GrahamK]

Air Malta 1 x weekly scheduled service to Malta

KM239/238 Thursdays
BRS-MLA 1830 2245
MLA-BRS 1520 1745

Flights start 5th May

Also KM Scheduled flights from CWL, EMA and NCL

[Standard Noise]

Why can't it go on stand 1 then?

[hostiegirl]

grahamk are km having a bristol base or will it be w patterns??i know they had a brs base in 2003 when it was air azzura :ok:

[GrahamK]

Dunno, just know about the new scheduled flight

[ATCO1987]

I have a BIA Apron layout map and that says A321 on stand 1, B752 on 2 and 3.....
Noisy- Have to say, I thought they could go on 1 but if I think back, I cant rememebr the last time I saw one on stand 1...You can always keep watch from the birds nest and let us know ;).
Dan.

[flyerboy]

ATCO1987

It was 2 weeks ago on a SAT the 3 BY's were on stands 1,2 and 3.

FB

[redfield]

757's do fit on and have been parked on stand 1 but there's an isue with the ILS transitional slope especially in bad weather conditions. The tail-plane of the a/c interferes with the ILS in poor weather - this is why 757's don't go on stand one all that often. As far as I know no airline will be given priority for any particular stand: if the a/c is on the ground for three or four hours or goes tech or the like, it'll probably be banished to the W apron! (unless you're HH, in which case you'll be banished to stand 12!). Have the airport arranged some special financial deal to allow this HH a/c to park here for most of the winter? Does anyone know?

[ATCO1987]

I knew of B752s being parked on 1, just not for a while is what I meant....so I was slightly confused <G>.
I had been told about the transitional surface issue whilst on work experience recently, but my brain isnt working all that well....maybe being brought up in Bristol isnt all that good after all <G>.

[Standard Noise]

Obviously not!:}

If Servisair want a 75 on stand 1 they have to contact us to ask permission. We only let them do it if there is absolutely no risk of CATIII conditions, which explains why we don't give them the nod very often.

[WATABENCH]

What i can't figure out in my head is the fact that the CO looking at the flight times is going to be hogging a front stand for nearly 2.5 hours each day, I've known S-air to have a go at us and push us off a front stand and have us sit somewhere else because we missed a slot and they wanted stand 1 for an FR 737, when there were plenty of other stands available, can't see them doing this to CO and as Windsheer raised, i hope they treat the old regulars that have stuck with BRS for years well, FCA/BY/BA/KL.
I'm sure they will but its an interesting subject hearing all the different views on it.;)

[redfield]

W: ref. the slot argument: the front stands are nearest to the terminal and don't need coaching, so I guess it's reasonable to assume that S/Air would rather not have an a/c parked on a front stand for hours on end and have to turn round x other flights on remote??? Have your poxy slot delay somewhere else! (Only joking honest!)


:ok:

[terrier21]

Update on the extension works.

The Passenger pick up car parks new entrance and exit barriers have been opened up and are now in use making it alot easier to use. The checkin and arrivals extensions are now well under way and are being connected to the airports main frame as I write.

The Food village is now open 24hrs providing hot food around the clock.

Still no news from easy staff re new routes. Heard rumours of a couple of extra flybe destinations and the Aer Lingus SNN. Why not try to bring in the DXB service that CWL failed in. Also any ideas why there isnt a weekley BGI flight, we know it can operate direct surely there must be plenty of takers out there!

Also does anyone know why the BY SSH service only operates in the winter.

Cheers T21

PS. Airlines can request that their aircraft are put on front stands.

[GrahamK]

terrier21, SSH is more of a winter sun destination, although a few UK airports will have flights to it in the summer such as TCX from NCL, and other flights from MAN,LGW,GLA and BHX.

As for EK to DXB, pretty sure you wont get an A332 operating nonstop with a decent load out of BRS anyway

[MerchantVenturer]

Cannot check SSH loads from BRS because in the CAA stats Egypt section BRS, along with other smaller provincial UK airports, is merely grouped under 'other routes'.

Some months ago Britannia announced a SSH weekly flight from CWL next winter. The publicity blurb from the Tui people (not unnaturally supported by the CWL management) said something along the lines of what a great opportunity this was at last for Welsh and West of England people to enjoy the delights of Egypt from a local airport.

Tui seemed to forget they already have a route to SSH this winter from BRS unless of course they intend switching it to CWL next winter.

As for Dubai, what is the sudden attraction of this place? Is it merely a leisure destination because I can't imagine there are many potential business pax from this neck of the woods.

And was the rumoured CWL-DXB going to be a daily one?

As for SNN from BRS, it would be nice to get a decent ORK service beyond the Aer Arann three weekly rotations.

I was told a couple of months ago by a reliable source that Flybe were going to increase routes and/or frequencies from BRS, although nothing specific was stated because the person concerned rightly could not break confidences.

On another thread it is being suggested that easyJet's supposed plan to base another three 737s at BRS (making ten) is being delayed because the airport cannot accommodate them. Don't know the truth of the plan or the sticking point.

[GrahamK]

MV, I think it's not just Dubai, but EK have built up a good hub at DXB in which passengers from Europe can connect through to Asia, Africa and Australasia from, and v.v
Saying that though, there will be a number of people flying only to Dubai

[terrier21]

What is the difference in distance between DXB and EWR?

There Is room at Brs for more based Aircraft and the extension to the W apron will increase this more.

At the end of the day you dont necessarily need based aircraft to operate more routes, SXF for example.

T21

[WATABENCH]

Terrier21

Am i right in thinking that BY-BGI operated without fuel stop but with only 2/3 load? i imagine their 767s are quite heavy as well as they're gettin on a bit i think.
But talking of caribbean/florida routes, there has been rumours of FCA bringing in one of their new 767s(dont know if it would be based)which are more lightweight than the 2 763s currently being operated by them, and with the new seating plans on board with more legroom which means they're cutting down from approx 330 pax to 250 pax, could this be the key to long haul from BRS? maybe they might link it with DUB for example BRS-DUB-SFB, any views on this? I think it could be a very good move for FCA if it could work, they're 321 loads on short haul are always busy and they are BRS's busiest charter and also have a great influence in the South west thru the First Choice retail shops(ex Bakers Dolphin) theres certainly a market for it in the South West.
Maybe EK might look at a similar thing via DUB or something, i dont think theres enough demand for a daily DXB from BRS, but certainly 2-3 times a week.
The futures bright, the futures Bristol - yeah rite!!;)

[GrahamK]

What is the difference in distance between DXB and EWR?

Not a lot I don't think, but between the Take off performace of a 757 and an A332, I think you'll agree there is quite a difference :cool:

[MerchantVenturer]

there has been rumours of FCA bringing in one of their new 767s(dont know if it would be based)which are more lightweight than the 2 763s currently being operated by them, and with the new seating plans on board with more legroom which means they're cutting down from approx 330 pax to 250 pax, could this be the key to long haul from BRS? maybe they might link it with DUB for example BRS-DUB-SFB, any views on this?
WATABENCH

If an airline is to run such a route from BRS via another UK or Irish airport does it matter much what equipment is used because it would only be a short hop from BRS to that other airport where a full load of fuel could be taken on board?

If on the other hand an airline brings in a/c capable of flying to Florida non-stop from BRS why the need to call at an intermediate airport? I have no doubt whatever that the BRS catchment would support such a flight (or flights) on its own, although I have to say that Mr and Mrs MV would not be interested.

Graham

Thanks for info re Dubai. AMS and to a lesser extent CDG are very good hubs for intercontinental travel from BRS - I know from personal experience of the former many times.

Whether there is a need for another, even if an a/c could operate from BRS to DXB, must be a moot point, and certainly not on a daily basis.

[nclairportfan]

There were rumours sometime ago of EK at NCL. I doubt NCL could fill a daily flight but maybe a NCL-BRS-DXB rotation.

[GrahamK]

You'd be surprisedn but i think EK could fill an A332 at least 4 or 5 times weekly from NCL.
Whether they could do that from BRS I dunno

[Morrihell]

I've been having a dig around the Easyjet website looking for flights from BRS in August tonight.

Flights to/from the current destinations aren't too different though times and flight numbers have changed.

Of note though, NCE and PMI are both daily without any reductions to other flights, this would (?) suggest another based aircraft. I can't see that there's enough slack in the winter timetable to do the additional flights daily.

Andy

[terrier21]

I think that an FCA BGI/SFB from BRS would work maybe twice a week with a based aircraft. Maybe another long haul destination thrown into the pot as well.

Back to DXB surely if the Flight times and cost is good you could easily fill a daily flight, there must be hundreds of buisness men/women who travel frequently to the emirates from the south west who use LON.

T21

[MerchantVenturer]

I read in Friday's Bristol Evening Post that Euromanx are to start Friday evening and Sunday evening flights from BRS to IOM from 22 May this year. Fares will cost £69 return.

The report says it will be a jet service but gives no details of aircraft. It says the plan was announced last Thursday.

It is the brainchild of Australian entrepreneur, Warren Seymour, a former Quantas pilot who also owns a prestigious club frequented by celebrities.

He is focussing on leisure breaks on the Isle of Man and the BRS service was announced along with routes from IOM to MAN and SOU.

I have read bits on other threads about Euromanx flying to LCY, SOU and MAN but this is the first time I have been aware of a BRS involvement.

[redfield]

Euromanx are flying the Saturday Olbia charters this year that OLT flew last summer from BRS: the a/c arrives from IOM, goes to OLB and then back to IOM, although I thought the IOM flights were positioning sectors.

[dwlpl]

The EuroManx flight arrives Bristol 2130 on Fridays and goes back to the IOM Sunday at 1430.

What the aircraft does in between (apart from Olbia?) is a mystery.

[WATABENCH]

There was a Euromanx in the FLYBE hanger in EXT and that was 146, Maybe they're tarting it up for Euromanx ready for chartering in the summer who knows, cant imagine FLYBE needing another they still have 6-7 dotted around the airport, ex-azzura a/c?

Back to FCA, does anybody know if the new 767s would make it with 250 pax off BRS runway, i'm not to hot on performance and things, if they did put it in, i think they would look at POP/SFB and poss CUN, same destinations they're starting at EMA this summer ,in theory they could put a SFB/CUN on together if theyre worried about filling it from the area and maybe POP/MBJ or something, theres probably a lot of customs/immigration issues but they do STT/ANU on the same flight from LGW so why not?
Seems odd that they put 767s into NCL and EMA when NCL isn't a base for them and EMA although 321 is based its not a very busy programme looking at the brochures, whereas BRS has 2 321s in summer that were choc full last summer!
:confused:

WEEKLY SSH IN SUMMER - XLA!
Announced Mon 07 Feb

Just been onto BRS website and FreedomFlights/Libra Holidays/XL.com have announced a weekly Sharm El Sheikh starting in May
Well done XLA, great to see another Charter doing well and looking at new markets from BRS instead of more flights to the areas saturated by EZY, Lets hope more follow suit.
:ok:

[brabazon]

Are you sure the Euromanx in flybe's hangar wasn't an Avro RJ? Also the Azzurra Air RJs are stored at Exeter they are not flybe's - as far as I know.

[WATABENCH]

Quick update on the new check-in hall, i've been told by someone at FCA that they are going in there with 6 dedicated desks and putting a new tix desk in there and are also hopeing to put up a bit of livery(sort of same as EZYs check-ins i think), apparently CO have asked for the current FCA desks as they're next to the oversize baggage/security area, not sure if FCA are moving because they want to or if BIA are pushing them a little so CO can have what they want, also apparently Thomsons and XLA have said that they wish to follow in FCA's steps and go in there as well, so chances are BIA are going to put all based charters in the new hall.

:ok:

[terrier21]

Would prefer to see easyjet in there personally. I dont think the airport want to decerate the desks the way they have with Easy and BA. Easy new routes set to be released in the next few days.

[WATABENCH]

Trust me Terrier me ol mucka, EZY aint goin in there! Hopefully FCA would be a bit more subtle with their decorations than EZY/BA, they're a pretty trendy outfit nowadays, well i think so anyway. Serese pink aint to everyones taste though, ha ha.
I hope EZY get an LEI going, its the only Costa not covered by them from BRS, the demands been there for years.:ok:

[GrahamK]

Seems odd that they put 767s into NCL and EMA when NCL isn't a base for them
For the NCL flights, I believe the crew are GLA based, would think the EMA flights use MAN or LGW based flight crew

[MerchantVenturer]

WATABENCH

Of the four new easyJet routes started from BRS in November Valencia seems to have made the slowest start.

CAA stats for November show 4757 pax used the route compared to Rome 6484 , Madrid 6542 and Budapest
5979, the other debutants.

For December the figures are Valencia 5351, Rome 6288, Madrid 6717 and Budapest 6502.

I believe you are/were a travel trade person (from one of your other posts) so I accept your point about demand for Almeria, although a daily LEI would give BRS seven daily easyJet flights to Spain's Mediterranean coast (AGP 2, ALC 2, BCN 1, VLC 1 being the others).

[aeulad]

I would also add a route to Jerez in Spain.

Regards

Mike

[terrier21]

Im not saying that easy will go in there all im saying is that I would want them to go in there. Reasons being it will take the passengers longer to get up to security from checkin and should cut down ques. Still stand by the fact that The ariport doesnt want to decerate more desks with the airlines livery. All desks are now being equipt with new LCD screens possibly going to be two on each desk they can play videos, powerepoint etc so that shoul suffice for advetisement.

Why do we need Another south spain Destinantion at the moment. Routes into eastern europe are expanding rappidly at the moment and ATH would be a sure winner. Alot of people still want more northern french routes...

...Flybe are you listening?!!!

T21

[MerchantVenturer]

...Flybe are you listening?!!!
Hello terrier.

Flybe's latest west country route to France (Brest) is to operate from EXT.

I presumed, although I will gladly accede to the opinion of those in the business, that the Bergerac, Toulouse and Bordeaux services were flown from BRS because the airline did not think EXT could support them.

Perhaps it has now chaged its mind and any further French routes from the west country will be from EXT instead of BRS, particularly as FLybe have a/c based at EXT but not at BRS.

Any views on this?

[WATABENCH]

Mr Merchant,
I think you may be correct regarding the french routes, and at the end of the day the airports are only an hour apart, so it would make sense for Flybe to maybe shy away from the overwhelming orangeness of BRS and make a proper little hub in EXT.
With regards to LEI, maybe you and terrier have a point in that a daily may be saturating the market, i can't understand why FCA or BY didnt pick it up a couple of years ago, as MYT had the route in Airtours brochure and First Choice were sharers, but then MYT went a bit boobies up shall we say and pulled their 2nd Skyservice a/c before the summer.
Could be a nice little seat filler for FCA or BY i reckon!

Also the regarding the new EZY routes, I just saw on another thread that EZY are going to be opening 7 routes from UK to WAW, gota be a BRS-WAW then to start with, surely?:ok:

[WindSheer]

WATABENCH me old Mucka!!!

Going back to your 767 at BRS thing I do believe it can be done - with a reduced capacity (i.e 250pax), also depending on the destinations.
I believe it will do North East America with ease due to a relatively low load. However, with Viking cargo making waddles of cash out of the bellies of FCA's 767's, will they be able to carry cargo from BRS due to weight restrictions??
I think the company will spend a long time looking at the figures, combining this with the need for tech stops on the longer routes and work out whether it would be financially viable.

The market is definately there - BRING ON THE LONG HAUL!!:ok:
They could also utilize the aircraft on some short haul destinations in the way BY occasionally do.

WATABENCH, its nice to be back on UK soil BELIEVE ME!!!:uhoh:

[WATABENCH]

Windsheer - How the Devil are you old boy?
Take it 10hrs on a 757 wasn't to your likeing then?
Funny you should say about utilising it on short haul, apparently the first flight for the new config 767 was to Austria on an adhoc:p

[terrier21]

Apparently FCA are looking at basing a reduced capacity 767 next year with 250 all premium seats operating 5 longhaul - orlando x2 weekly Cancoon x1 a carribean and another service! All rumours of course!!!

See transun are putting on 40 day trips throughout this year mostly santa flights but also the Dracula flight on the 5th nov.

T21

[CWL_Chris]

I'm sorry but if FCA are going to launch long-haul flights in this area of the world they will be using CWL, simply due to the Runway length.

Charter Airliners want to cram in as many passengers in as possible, CWL allows this, BRS does not.

DO NOT EXPECT 767 SERVICES WITH FCA ACCROSS THE ATLANTIC @ BRS.. EVER!

Regards,

Chris

[MerchantVenturer]

Now that is a familiar theme, one we heard when both BRS and CWL were apparently in contention for the Continental EWR service, admittedly to be operated by 757s.

There is some evidence to believe the CWL management thought this service would fall into their laps because of the BRS 'runway problem'.

The man in charge of transport at the Welsh Assembly certainly thought so and said so publicly. I also remember reading a paper by a noted Welsh transport academic early last year saying the chance of BRS getting a New York service was almost nil. Any such service from this part of the world would go to CWL. That runway again.

Well, I have said before that my technical knowledge does not allow me to make a judgement. I do know though that the market is certainly there on this side of the Severn should such flights by FCA (or anyone else for that matter) be possible.

[a bristolian]

Chris

I shall remember your post , there's a saying you know-never say NEVER!!.

FC are taking seats out of their B767-300ER's which will reduce pax cpax from 312 to 258. First aircraft to be delivered with new 'Star' class cabin is any day now - first BRS flight .just have to wait and see!!!

[Confirmed Must Ride]

With the addition of winglets on the 757 the runway should no longer an issue. Off 27 (i think the longer, forgive me if other way) the 757 has no problems even fully laden. It is just 09 that it gets tight and that is when the temp gets up.

[GrahamK]

a bristolian, remember a 767 is no 757 although there does seem to be demand for a SFB service from BRS I would have thought

[CWL_Chris]

I am not saying that there is no demand, what I am saying is that I believe a 767 service could be operated more profitably from CWL, as well as 757 service to EWR.

I would very much like to see BRS grow, however there is limited room to expand at BRS and also due to the shorter runway, some services will not be possible. Unlike with CWL.

I know that some people have said that there is plenty of demand for a service in the Southwest and Wales to EWR, BRS has managed to get this route with CO.

Even with this service, you would be surprised by the amount of people in Wales that would rather fly from LHR or LGW rather than BRS if there was no service from CWL... sad, but true.

This is why I believe that a 757/767 service to EWR/JFK from CWL would work.

As for the SFB and other North American markets, these are covered by MYT & Travel City for Orlando and Florida and for YYZ - Zoom Airlines.

Finally, there was an article on CWL's website stating that they were approaching some airlines on services to the Eastern Seaboard (this was after the CO announcement BTW), Mexico, other Canadian destinations as well as Cuba.

Regards,

Chris

[terrier21]

Sorry Chris Ill tell the person who gave me this information (who works at CWL,BRS,EXT up into the midlands and sometimes down at LGW and who is a fairly big player) that they dont know what they are talking about!!! Lets just wait and see shall we?

''you would be surprised by the amount of people in Wales that would rather fly from LHR or LGW rather than BRS if there was no service from CWL... ''

Funny saying that you would be suprised that about half of BRS's pax are from the south Wales.

Oh and Chris you'll be suprised at the amount of people in the west who would rather drive to MAN than fly CWL!

touche!!!

T21

[WATABENCH]

Firstly, I previously worked for Bakers Dolphin Travel in the west country which are all now First Choice shops and there is more than enough demand for these routes from the SW/S-Wales.
Secondly FCA and BIA were in London last week discussing the possibility of starting a SFB from BRS, and its looking quite possible with a tech stop in SNN for fuel.
Thirdly BIA are begging FCA to do other long haul routes but FCA are holding back a bit and seeing what BIA can offer them, as BIA have said things along the lines of guarenteed front stands for their 321's doing the short hauls, also i've been told they have extended the loading area out the back so it allows for the turning freely of LD8s.
And fourth on the agenda, FCA won't be putting baseing a 767 in CWL as they only operate the summer season from there and would not be able to get enough crew from the S-Wales area.

So Chris, I think you may be haunted by your NEVER comments, if the rest of us are wrong then we'll all get down on our knees beg for your forgiveness - only joking but i can't agree with you i'm afraid.:ok:

[CWL_Chris]

I just cannot understand why FCA would base an aircraft in BRS that would need a fuel stop in SNN, when they could operate from CWL.

As for "half of the passengers at BRS being from Wales".. that is rubbish. The actual figure is around 21% of total passengers are from Wales at BRS. However, at CWL there are also a lot of passengers from the Southwest travelling to CWL, at 17% of total passengers.

Regards,

Chris

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Without wanting to get into a willy waving competition about whose got the bestest airport the stark facts remains that BRS hosts 7 (soon 8) easyJets 5 BA Embraers a native Britannia and a native First Choice.

Thats a lot of jets on the apron of a morning compared to Cardiffs clutch of slightly ageing jets.

Clearly one airport either has a better catchment area than the other OR has some incredibly good management. Or possibly both. Which is probably why one is getting a transatlantic service and the other isn't.

Personally I'd shut both as being unsatisfactory, bulldoze down those awful housing estates and open up Filton as the new major airport of the Southwest/SouthWales.

WWW

[WATABENCH]

WWW,
That sounds like a sterling plan, unfortunatly the lovable or should that be laughable local councils in the BRS and CWL didn't wish to do this 10 years ago, I think we've already done this one on this thread!
Now were stuck with a Fog bound to big for its boots airport on the edge of the Mendips,
And a mass expanse of space in Barry that would be more use as a Pontins Holiday Village, ceratinly attract more business.
But hey we love them really and its great to see BRS doing so well, and I think now CWL has been brought it'll soon pick up.
I can't help thinking that as I said before it would make more sense and also boost Irish First Choice business to do half loads from BRS, pick up other pax and fuel in DUB and then onward to SFB etc, you can kill 3 birds with one stone thus providing Long Haul to both the SW and Wales as well as Southern Ireland.
Yes CWL does have the obvious longer runway but I would imagine if FCA were to do the route from a new area then they want to be the first and not have to compete with others like they would have to with Travelcity in CWL, thats probably why they are favouring BRS, also its a busy base for them and was 3rd busiest for FCA flights last Summer, coming behind the obvious LGW/MAN, it dealt with more flights than BHX and GLA.

Also they\'re probably being offered an amzing deal by the Majic makers of BRS\'s marketing dept!:ok:

Sorry bout the spelling cock up above, well i am from the west country after all!:rolleyes:

[MerchantVenturer]

I hope this is not going to become a BRS v CWL argument.

Both airports are excellent facilities for locals and for people from further away, and both have their plus points and their minus points. They are both relatively inaccessible. BRS has the larger catchment and CWL the longer runway. CWL has a better weather record although the Cat III on BRS’s westerly runway has addressed the problem significantly.

The Bristol region is an exceptionally prosperous one, both from a business point of view and for people wanting, and financially able, to travel for leisure. Cardiff is the Welsh capital and the Assembly is understandably anxious for the country to have an airport that reflects well on the Principality, thus it is to provide a route development fund to try to secure services and will also do its best to promote the airport in the wider field.

As a passenger I regard the airports as complementary rather than as rivals. There will always be people who will not fly from one for various reasons. For example, on a local radio ‘phone-in last year a man with a clear Bristolian accent vowed he will never use BRS again because the parking attendant was rude to him and the airport did nothing when he complained.

The latest figures I have seen (provided by the respective airports) show around 15% of BRS’s pax (about 700,000) emanate from South Wales, and around 10% of CWL’s pax (about 200,000) emanate from Bristol and the west country.

I’m not quite sure if Chris is saying that a 757 CO service to EWR would do better from CWL than from BRS. The aircraft to be used are 172-seaters with winglets and I read (my technical knowledge does not enable me to form a judgement) that the BRS runway will be no impediment. If Chris thinks there is a bigger potential market in South Wales I would be surprised. I guess that CO made its decision on commercial grounds.

As for the BRS runway, there is land available at the eastern end for an extension but this would need the winning of the hearts and minds of some locals and of the environmental lobby, as well as the necessary legal permissions and the bridging of the A 38.

Last year’s government paper on aviation envisaged 12 million pax through BRS by 2030 and this would need a second terminal and possibly an extended runway. The way things are going (5 million pax in 2005) 12 million could be reached far sooner. And anyway, who is to know what technical developments might occur in the forthcoming years. Aircraft might be able to fly to California direct from the current BRS runway by then.

And then there is a place called Filton but that’s another story…………………………

[WindSheer]

Hello all,

It always comes down to an England v Wales thing - it always will JUST REMEMBER WHO WON THE RUGBY THIS YEAR:ok: .

Jokes aside, I think with the FCA thing we are looking too much into the airline side of things. Its entirely governed by the FC commercial guys, who lets face it with such a presence around South West England want to keep it that way and will be very keen to start long haul from BRS, short runway or not.

CWL is an entirely different thing. FC are quite happy to sit an A320 at CWL, give it a full programme and watch it pull a few quid in - not too bothered about expansion due to such a massive Lunn Poly, Going places presence in Wales.

If you want my real opinion on long haul, I think you will see both BRS AND CWL see some FCA long haul in the next 3 - 4 years. Not a lot (certainly at CWL), but some. When the 6 787's are delivered in 2009?, well then its a whole new ball game. BRS could well see one based there from the word go, now that would be interesting................................................. ......:cool:

[WATABENCH]

Well I'm sure we'll all be waiting with baited breath for FCA's decision, but lets look at reality, we heard the same sort of stuff regarding FCA this time last year and they put the 767s into EMA/NCL instead, something must be wrong at BHX as they still haven't got any long haul with FCA, after it was pulled a couple of years back, yet they're happy to go out of EMA! spose it's something to do with untapped market at EMA, lets hope they think the same of BRS.
Anybody herd anything about the new EZY routes yet?
Apparently EZY-8 is coming in June i've been told this morning.

Also Terrier,
You say a caribbean route and another destination, i think MLE could work well from BRS and its a seat filler for FCA all the time from LGW/MAN:ok:

[terrier21]

www.bristolairport.co.uk has now been redeveloped. Its a shame the new routes arent on there and it has Prague down as being in Hungary.

[WATABENCH]

Um well, the new website?!!?
Just had a look, whats the point? c'mon BRS you can do better than this!:confused:

[GrahamK]

Agadir from next year also, Panorama Holidays.

[MerchantVenturer]

Bristol Airport has issued a Statement of Intent as part of the preparation of its proposed Master Plan in response to the government’s White Paper of 2003, ‘The Future of Air Transport’. The airport is sending out 25,000 copies of its proposals to households/businesses affected and a copy is also on its website.

A few points from the plan that I found of interest are.

Of the 4.6 million pax in 2004, 15% used full service carriers, 28 % charter/IT flights and 57 % low cost airlines (no surprise there then).

In 2003 (latest figures for this) 45% of pax came from the former county of Avon with over half this number (about one million) from Bristol itself (equivalent of each city resident taking two flights each year). Other significant markets were Devon (13%) and Somerset and South Wales (each with 10%).

BRS’s projected pax figures for the years ahead are slightly greater than the government’s for the airport. BRS’s are 6.7 million by 2010, 8.1 million by 2015 and 12.5 million by 2030.

The management believes the existing runway’s capacity can cope with up to 9 million annual pax, albeit 30 a/c stands will be needed for this, necessitating an enlarged apron and also a taxiway adjustment at the eastern end to permit better access to the stands.

The current terminal could cope with up to 9 million pax but only if it is increased in size by around 60%, a move that would probably require planning permission and an alteration to the area’s Local Plan. The airport hopes to commence work on a terminal extension in 2007, with the first phase being completed around 2009, and on an on-site hotel sometime next year.

Airports only have to make detailed master plans for the period up to 2015. Beyond that BRS acknowledges that there is ‘considerable uncertainty’ as to what proposals might be necessary to take the airport forward in line with the projections.

Elsewhere it talks about a second terminal and an extended runway, both of which might be needed to take pax numbers beyond the 2015 projected figure. However, I get the impression the airport is lukewarm towards the idea of a longer runway

I wonder how accurate these forecasts will be. I have copies of the airport's ten year plan issued in 1993 when it predicted two million pax by 2003. No-one then could have foreseen the rise of low cost airlines and the predicted two million turned out to be 3.8 million.

[Irish Steve]

Pure speculation, nothing other than gut feel to base this on, but here goes.

At present, CO operate 757 to DUB-SNN from EWR in the winter, but in the summer, they manage to find enough people to make it worth while operating 767-400's to both airports

The Shannon stop's days are limited, for all sorts of reasons. As and when it does finish, I for one would not be at all surprised to see something like an EWR-BRS-SNN-EWR flight that might even be a 767. That way, there's capacity for freight out of BRS, as it's only a short hop to SNN, and the limited SNN winter market is covered, and they can operate an EWR-DUB-EWR all year round with a 767-400 in summer, and maybe a 200 in the winter, which means they can carry freight all year round, the 757 is almost always 80% full of bags in the winter, so very limited cargo capacity.

As I said, only pure speculation without any real truth to back it up with, other than long term observation of patterns and routes.

I used to live in the west country, so know BRS well (be advised there is cloud below the airfield level), and I now live near DUB.

[WATABENCH]

I think Irish Steve is trying to bring up the tech stop question again, only in a very sly way ha ha,
Seriously though I can see where you're coming from, there have been rumours of CO operating a 767 on the BRS route, but I would think they'll be checking the market very carefully to see if the demand would still be there for a 767 with a stop, the Bristolians are very fickle people and would probably prefer to drive to LHR than make a 30 min stop in SNN, why? I don't know.
I think this is why FCA are takeing their time about the SFB flight as well, it's probably quite a dodgy call from a marketing point of view:confused:

[WATABENCH]

Speaking to an EZY crew member earlier who said the new routes she'd heard mentioned for no 8 were IBZ/ATH/WAW, Good summer route IBZ not to sure if they could sustain it during winter though:confused:

[terrier21]

Some rumours atlast.

The above routes would make perfect sense with the IBZ being replaced in the winter by the NCE and PMI which could then operate daily.

I heard number 9 is set for a june arrival.

[WindSheer]

I think CO will struggle to fill a 757 every day from BRS!
How long will it go before they simply merge it with SNN on a split 767 as mentioned above.

At the end of the day, they have to make money, if the passengers aren't there, they will pull or alter the route.

Before any Bristolians jump down my throat and say the demand is there, of course it is, but it will have to be a consistent load factor for it to work!!

[WATABENCH]

Terrier, Think no 8 is coming June isn't it? or is there already 8, i dunno all i see is a sea of Orange at BRS, so are they planning to bring in 2 a/c in june? , i thought no 9 was gona be about Oct time.

Also intresting stuff came out in this master plan, friend of mine went to meeting about it all, No new terminal is planned but a 60-100% increase in current terminal, no runway extention planned, and old terminal coming down in nxt 4 years for more stands, a new office block/hotel/garage all being looked at, as well as more parking
:ok:

[terrier21]

Sorry my mistake I ment number 8 (cold, numb digits in the morning!!)

Intresting news about the old (now admin) terminal, Where will all the management Go?!

Heard eventual possibillities of a multistory car park to be built this will obviousley save space. What about building car parks by the Weston Junction and running frequent bus services up to the airport. All of this area is going to be turned into housing eventually why not buy some of it and use it for something productive?

When I first heard the figures 8.1 million by 2015 I laughed as I thought this would be reached well before 2015 things must be slowing down!!!

[WindSheer]

***When I first heard the figures 8.1 million by 2015 I laughed as I thought this would be reached well before 2015 things must be slowing down!!!***

Things will slow down.
Bristol has seen a hectic expansion of flights in the last 3 years. It will start to slow now - it will obviously keep growing but not in the way it has. Airlines such as EZY will start to refine their programme with the odd additional route/ac.

[MerchantVenturer]

Windsheer

Please don’t take this as my trying to be clever as this is a genuine question posed in the spirit of trying to learn. How is it likely that if Bristol cannot fill a daily CO 757 to EWR a combined Shannon and Bristol flight could fill a larger 767? I thought that the Shannon area was a fairly rural part of south west Ireland, or is it your view that the SNN end would be mainly travelled by people emanating from the USA, given their historical links with Ireland?

Or is it being suggested there are enough people in Shannon to ‘go halves’ on a daily 767 service with an area of Britain that is the most populous south of Birmingham and west of London, also an area with the second highest GDP in the country outside the capital?

Furthermore, is it envisaged the route would be EWR-BRS-SNN-EWR? Not an enticing prospect for overnight Ireland-bound passengers to have to fly to England first, wait on the ground for an hour or two before hopping over to Shannon to be offloaded. If a stop were to be made at SNN in both directions this would merely make things unappetising for Bristol pax and would it make economic sense for the airline anyway?

I don’t know how the Bristol public would take to a SNN stop, even if it was only on the outbound. The business community would not be keen and some might then go back to LHR for greater choice, as has been suggested. I suppose the success of the route depends largely on business pax anyway. If they can fill the sixteen business/first seats on the 757 each time, then a slightly lower loading at the back presumably would be tolerated.

I have not seen any public statement as to how bookings are going. Is there some suggestion they are not as good as was hoped?

terrier

I don't know if you have read the BRS Statement of Intent. It can be downloaded from their website in PDF form. I commented on some of the points raised in the Statement in my post above.

BRS has had an annual passenger growth rate of 13.3% over the past ten years, more than twice the UK average. It forecasts an annual average passenger growth of 6.3% from now until 2015, thereafter dropping to 2.9% until 2030. This is how 8.1 million pax at 2015 and 12.5 million at 2030 are arrived at.

In fact, it is only in percentage terms that the figures drop spectacularly, and 13.3% would be unsustainable over the next ten years surely.

In actual passenger number terms there wouldn't be that much difference between the last ten years and the next ten: a growth of just over 3.5 million compared to a growth of just over 3 million.

Finally, Ibiza was one of Go's routes when they started at BRS in 2001. With Rome it was the only route out of BRS that Go dropped. Well, we know easy have brought back Rome so perhaps they will do the same with IBZ but, as you and WATABENCH suggest, probably only as a summer route.

[WATABENCH]

One sunny winters eve, WATABENCH was driving through Trowbridge town centre, when something caught his eye, my my my he said, surely it cannot be, as the object got closer his heart started to pound faster with beads of sweat running down his neck, and then there it was, WATABENCH stopped and open jawed admired the site before him, for there in all its glory and not before time was a Continental Airlines billboard poster advertising the BRS-EWR route, Wow WATABENCH said, I've never seen one before, it was a sight to behold.
Seriously though 6 months its taken them to advertise this prestigious route outside of the airport, has anyone else seen any posters before this one?:ok:

[terrier21]

Really makes a change Bristol advertising flights from Bristol it's normally advertising BHX services like the BA ones last year!!!

On Airport news the new Echo bar Airside has opened. It will be serving Hot table service food.

[ALLMCC]

Slightly away from topic but these billboards are appearing all over Belfast as well advertising the forthcoming BFS - EWR service from the end of May.

[MerchantVenturer]

WATABENCH

I was going to mention your very point in my last post but I had already expended too much verbal diarrhoea as it was.

I have not seen any local advertising for the BRS-EWR route other than those at the airport and on airport publications such as timetables.

I remember last year that every Bristol bus seemed to carry adverts either for easyJet or Flybe out of BRS - paid for by those airlines no doubt.

[WATABENCH]

Daft if you ask me though MV, i drove through Bristol the other day and nothing, yet they manage to put one up in Trowbridge of all places, oh well at least its a start, not long know and we might here bout this FCA BRS-SFB with any luck, fingers crossed lads!

[Irish Steve]

Furthermore, is it envisaged the route would be EWR-BRS-SNN-EWR? Not an enticing prospect for overnight Ireland-bound passengers to have to fly to England first, wait on the ground for an hour or two before hopping over to Shannon to be offloaded.

In the winter, the existing flight to Ireland goes EWR-DUB-SNN-EWR, and it's on the ground for an hour or so in DUB, then it goes on to SNN, so SNN pax are well used to an indirect flight.

During the summer, both DUB & SNN are being served by 767-400's so the volumes are there, but in the winter, they have been dropping back to the 757, serving both.

That has downsides, the main one being that they can't carry palletised freight in the winter, the 757 is bulk loaded, and by the time the pax bags are in, if they can get 2 tonne in hold 5, they are doing well.

If, and I admit this is pure speculation, but speculation based on using both BRS & DUB for many years, they put a 767-200 on to BRS-SNN, that would allow palletised freight to both BRS & SNN, which would mean they could then develop the freight business from both DUB & SNN, as there would be year round wide body availability. If the loads are there, even a 767-400 could be run to BRS, as with a short hop to SNN on the outbound, there would not be the problems of runway length that might otherwise arise.

Another possible BIG plus is that if they did it right, the BRS pax could be pre cleared by immigration at SNN, and believe me, having done it quite a few times, to clear immigration at SNN or DUB is a real time saver compared to queuing for ever at EWR or MCO or whereever the flight lands first.

Either way, CO to EWR will be a good flight for BRS, as long as it's properly marketed, it should do well, CO are one of the better operators on the North Atlantic run, and there is a lot to be said for not having to travel to London to get the flight.

[WindSheer]

Merchant - sorry for the delay in the reply!


SNN compared to BRS - two entirely different entities.
Firstly, have you seen the prices on the CO BRS prices, STEEP, Fffing vertical!!
Such is the British mentality, that most westerner's would rather have the cheap flight from LHR or LGW, pay the fuel and the parking, and fly from London ( and end up paying the same!).
Secondly, good faithfull Irish folk have SNN, or DUB to do their longhaul from so there is plenty of demand!
No-one said a 'split flight' had to be 50/50, could be whatever CO fancy!!

Cheers all:=

[WATABENCH]

I think were all getting a bit ahead of ourselves with this CO deal, Going on previous sales experiance, carriers to the US like to test the market to see what people will pay when they open up new routes, CO will be doing this at the moment, prices will eventually come down to the same as you would pay to go out of somewhere like BHX, and lets not forget this flight is a two way thing, it going to attract people from all over the US/South America/Caribbean and Canada, and will probably do ok from Far east pax, who would find NY quite a nice little stop over i would think, The Bristol/Bath area is one of the most prosperous in the UK so who can blame CO for putting on high prices to start with. Also Bristol has a massive Business and Financial centre which houses some large companies who operate worldwide Orange and IBM, to name two, also we have 2 of the biggest tourist attractions in the UK within a 2 hour drive of BRS Roman Baths in Bath and Stonehenge, If you need an idea of just how many tourists visist the area just go into Bath on a Summers day, guarenteed you'll either have a Yank asking you for directions to the 'Rooooyal Puuuuump Roooooms' or a japanese person asking you where he can buy more Fuji Films as he's used his last 24 pics on pictures of you scratching your arse!!(no offense intended to the good people of Japan or the US)
We have some of the most historic cities and towns in the country on our doorsteps Bristol/Bath/Cardiff/Salisbury and Wells to name a few, we have some of the best countryside in the whole of the UK, and probably the best Coastal areas and beaches in the country from Cornwall to Pembrokeshire, I think deep down this route is going to do great both I/B and O/B, As Irish Steve said CO are one of the best at covering the North Atlantic crossings and know their stuff, yeah its easy to mock them for not advertising(hands up) and yes it possibly would be a good idea to stick a 767 on the route, and yes it may possibly have to tech stop(just for you Windsheer) but, i think CO will know exactly what they're doing and we should support them with it all, this is a route we've all been crying out for and now its nearly here we keep haveing a go and putting CO down, we should be praising them for being adventurous and putting their faith in BRS instead of the other place over the bridge.
This has been a party political broadcast by the WATABENCH party, who is probably too tired to talk sense but had a go any way, much like the Labour party really ha ha:ok:

[terrier21]

You get my vote WATABENCH in the upcoming general elections!!!

Of course you are right we have some of the best tourist areas in Britain on our door step but because we see them every day we take them for granted, I live in weston and havent been on the beach there for 2 and a half years!!!

Talking about weston-super-mare did you know that the beach race is the third highest viewed event in the British sporting calender (Gran prix is number 1 I believe but I can't remember the 2nd). Who knows with the CO flight arriving if its publicised in the right way there may be more people there than at the Grand Prix!!!

T21

[MerchantVenturer]

Many thanks to Irish Steve and Windsheer for their comments and explanations regarding CO and Shannon.

As for ticket prices on BRS-EWR, when the route was first announced they caused some unfavourable comment in the Bristol media so, at that time, I did some random price sampling on CO’s own website booking engine. I also checked the price from BHX for the same random dates that I chose. The fares for both BRS and BHX routes were identical.

I repeated the test a couple of months ago with broadly similar results: there were minor differences but sometimes BRS was a bit cheaper, sometimes BHX.

I spent twenty minutes playing with the CO booking site again today (I know I ought to get a life but that's one of the virtues of being a retired old git!) and came up with some interesting results.

Again I put in random dates for non-stop CO flights to EWR from BRS, BHX and this time LGW as well,
taking the cheapest options for each period (BHX and LGW have more than one rotation per day). The following were the return economy fare prices, all taxes and charges included, and in USD funds, rounded to whole dollar.

4-10 June: BRS 932 BHX 923 LGW 858

21-25 July: BRS 1172 BHX 1211 LGW 1147

8-18 August BRS 1172 BHX 1308 LGW 1147

It appears on this evidence that the BRS fares are no more expensive than those from BHX and LGW. Whether BHX and LGW are cheaper via a booking agency or independent booking engine I don't know.

I tried business/first from BRS on a couple of the dates and it ‘only’ came out at 2225 USD for the return journey.

A random period in April from BHX gave 646 USD (BRS doesn’t start until 20 May).

I’m not sure how accurate or meaningful CO’s web seat selector is as regards tickets sold, but some random dates later in the summer that I tried in the seat selector showed on average 20-30 economy seats and 4-6 business/first seats not available (presumably sold).

I don't know whether I am reading this last bit incorrectly and that some seats might routinely be held back and not yet actually sold.

terrier,

The Bristol Balloon Fiesta attracts half a million spectators to Ashton Court each August, and I think the Badminton Horse Trials might be number one or two in UK sporting crowds.

[terrier21]

Sorry if that info was incorrect I picked it up out of a newspaper, cant remember which one.

When you go onto Continentals website you can change the country you are from therefore giving the booking dates in the correct order (!!!!) and the price in GBP, but does anyone know if it works out cheeper if your assumed as an American Citizen ie booking from the US page or Uk on the UK page or do the prices differ if your travelling say 20 June BRS-EWR 27 June EWR-BRS or vice versa?

EDIT: Just remebered The figures for attendances was for a single day such as the final day of the Bike Race which I think over 150k people turned up to try and see or compete last year. (How do they count them?)

[WindSheer]

Some interesting points coming forth - glad to see the BRS prices compete with the LGW's.

If we are talking about landmarks in the west, we are forgetting the most significant - WALES!! Give us our stone henge back you thiefs!
:p

[WATABENCH]

Stonehenge back? thats proposteurous(is that how you spell it) anyway i'd of though CWL airport is as monolithic as you could get ha ha ha.
Did anyone else see the post regarding EMA/BRS becoming 319 bases by end of year? not much about BRS on that posting more EMA, i know Terrier read it, and just for him, the 319s don't have any extra capacity, still 150 as far as i'm aware mate, i shall have to investigate more with my contact at EZY.:ok:

[GrahamK]

easyJet A319s have 156 seats, an extra 7/8 compared to their 733/73Gs

[WATABENCH]

Cheers Graham, I stand corrected.

[WindSheer]

And did you know that EZY are the only airline to operate the '19 with twin overwing exits?? The standard '19 only has one - it was one of the extra's put in by airbus to try and sway the order.

Anyway, back to more important things, who have England got this weekend - would be nice to see them win at least one match :D

[WATABENCH]

Smug git!! :mad:

[WindSheer]

Just heard from my good mate, EZY will be opreating the 'bus' at BRS by Nov.

Cheers all!

[MerchantVenturer]

I travelled on the Berlin-based 319 to SXF and back from BRS last year. Lovely a/c but I have always wondered about the economics of having 156 seats because it requires an extra cabin staff member, just for half a dozen extra seats (or is it seven?).

Can anyone explain how this makes economic sense if all the flights are not full which effectively means the fourth flight attendant is being carried for no reason? I understand it is the number of seats and not the number of pax filling those seats that is the criterion.

WATABENCH

I saw a big poster advertising the CO service to EWR on an advertising hoarding at the junction of Cumberland Road and Prince Street on Sunday - near the Harbourside. Perhaps they think they can attract some sailors. :D

Windsheer

England doing very nicely thankyou. No game this weekend but Northern Ireland coming up, and the return against Wales later on. Not quite sure when but Sven's men will have qualified by then.

Oh sorry, just realised you are talking about egg chasing. :=

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Indeed BRS will start turning into an Airbus base as of November following East Midlands. As for 4 cabin crew. easyJet makes 50p on every seat sold and 150p on 'other' sales. It is therefore better business practice to sell more tea and coffee to each passenger than to actually sell more seats. Guess who does the tea and coffee selling..

Cheers

WWW

[WATABENCH]

Yep, crew at EZY have definatly been told the BUS's are on the way, copying Firstgroup if you ask me , wait for one and eight come along!!

MV - CO posters - sailors and p*ssheads if they've put them down by the waterfront, just about somes up the city of Bristol (only joking, I der lurve Brizzle my baber, up the GAS):ok:

[terrier21]

Seen plenty of CO signs going up in weston

Also WOW are increasing their Jersey service to 6 times weekly

[terrier21]

Just recieved some interesting news from Easyjet. New routes to be Ibiza, Athens and Dortmund.

The interseting part I have heard is that Easyjet will be expanding their fleet to not 9 aircraft next summer but 12! This comes from a very good source.

T21

[a bristolian]

Sorry but all wrong - your source is talking tosh!!

[ATCO1987]

How do you know its tosh? Someone else I know also heard that these routes are to be started....sounds feasible to me!

[MerchantVenturer]

Hello again terrier,

Nice to hear that Westonians are being reminded about the new service to the US. When I was at school there (Weston that is, not the USA) the most exciting flights locally were flips around the bay for 7/6 from Weston Airfield.

WOW did a Mondays to Fridays daily JER rotation (via PLH) last summer. It seems they have added an extra day this summer. All good news although I wondered whether four airlines on the BRS-JER route last year was a bit of an overkill.

Your twelve easyJet a/c info does seem rather extravagant. Where would they all fly to? It would be marvellous if it were true because it would mean easyJet thought the extra routes would be sustainable.

Finally, did you see the ITV West series on BRS that finished recently? I thought it was pretty good, from an outsider's perspective anyway. I believe that at least two PPRuNers had speaking parts at various times in the series.

ATCO

I rather think that a bristolian does know what he is talking about. He is a man of comparatively few words most of the time on this forum, of necessity at times I suspect.

He has usually been right in the past on this forum - have a look at his profile.

[terrier21]

Did think it was a bit far fetched but we can live in hope!!!

[MerchantVenturer]

Apropos the daily CO BRS-EWR service that is to commence on 20 May this year, the Bristol Airport official website is carrying a news item to the effect that return fares are on offer from £325 return, all taxes included. They have to be booked by 15 April and the flights taken before 22 June.

Having never worked in this industry can anyone who has/is suggest whether this is a normal marketing ploy for a new route or an indication that bookings need a bit of a shove?

[terrier21]

I think that CO was just testing the water with the new route to see how much people will pay. This reduction in price has been timedtimed with the recent marketing surge which has been commented on already on this site. It was also advertised in the recent travel weekley mag with front and back covers advertising the new BRS/BFS services.

[redfield]

Merchant Venturer: The last time I watched the TV series about Bristol airport it was all about whatsisname from the ASU chasing rabbits and showing viewers how to marshal an aircraft. I thought that Servisair did the marshalling? Another thing that made me laugh was seeing a BA dispatcher congratulating him/herself on turning a WOW around in nine minutes. It only had about three people on it. Don't some of the Easyjets turn round from 100+ pax to 100+ pax in 20 minutes? Personally I thought that the TV series gave Joe Bloggs the wrong idea about who does what and how its done at Bristol.

[terrier21]

Leading European Tour Operator Launch New flights From Bristol International

Detur UK is the latest addition to the International DETUR chain of tour operators which includes operations in Sweden , Norway and Finland.

Bristol International Airport is delighted to announce that DETUR UK which launch Bristol as a departure point to Turkey during Summer 2005.

Detur UK will operate flights from Bristol to Dalaman in Turkey on August 10th, 17th and 24 August which will serve a variety of resorts including Marmaris , Hisaronu and Icemeler. Detur UK will be offering return flights from £239 return and a variety of self catering and hotel based accomadation.

[GrahamK]

I believe they are also offering flights from NCL using an MD83 from some airline

[WATABENCH]

Morning peeps
Schedule airlines often put out special fares that have to be booked by a certain date, on previous experiance from working for a travel agents for 5 years a lot of these are usually put out through bucket shops or links with travel agents not usually direct from the airline, so it is normal practise to have these lower fares with book by dates, but it is a coincidence they drop the fares when the advertising starts going up, as i said on this thread earlier CO would be testing the water then bring there fares more in line with their BHX/LGW/GLA departures, looks like they're doing it.
Also I agree with Redfield, the TV prog wasn't the best, neither was the first series last year, who the hell produced a show about a busy regional airport and puts in the following - ASU picking mushrooms/ASU - setting Hare traps/ASU - plane spotting in MAN!!!!!, should of re-named it the ASU Show, but they also included a fire fighter on his bike!? and a whole show dedicated to some bit of bint shipping her 2 dogs to PFO with BY.
I would imagine viewers would be more interested in following a S-air dispatcher on a bigger jet like FCA/MYT and seeing the whole process from where the bags go, to dealing with p-port issues and late pax, and all the running round that gets done behind the scenes, sorry going off on another tangent, but you know what i mean!:mad:

[MerchantVenturer]

WATABENCH

Looks like the big wheel is starting re the CO EWR route.

Bristol Evening Post today reports a meeting of nearly 500 travel agents from all over the Southwest, hosted by the airport and CO, to push the route.

Re the tv programme, the new series on LHR was dire: the usual problem passengers and the adventures of a trapped squirrel, and hardly an aircraft in sight. In that context BRS's hares and mushroom were acceptable. :D

Speaking as a non-industry person I enjoyed much of the BRS series although such things as cycling firemen and guitar-playing despatchers did not interest me. However, there was quite a lot of apron and runway action, whether strictly accurate in terms of who does what is probably something that did not concern the majority of viewers who would not be air aficionados.

Apparently this series was again very popular with viewers, as was the first.

[WATABENCH]

MV - Hey don't diss the talent of our loaders mate(not dispatch) cuh get it right:E , BRS's very own rock and roll idol is the 'KING' of the ramp ha ha, I take on board what your saying as an outsider, but being someone who plies his trade up here on the hill its a tad frustrating as there are so many areas and intresting bits and bobs that weren't covered in the prog, ask anyone who works up here and they'll prob say they same my friend, well apart from ASU, i herd they're getting their own chat show soon, Jim's hosting and Badger producing!! - just pulling your leg lads!:ok:

[MerchantVenturer]

I was surfing the net and came across this report, dated two days ago (see link below), regarding the extension of India's bilateral agreements with other countries.

I found this bit in the report relating to BRS.

UK carriers have also been granted access to Bangalore, Hyderabad and Cochin besides the four metro destinations and Indian carriers to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bristol in addition to London, Manchester and Birmingham.

Does this mean that services from BRS to the Sub Continent might occur at some stage? Why else would India want bilateral agreements to UK airports they had no intention of using? Was it a case of balancing the number of UK airports with Indian airports to which UK carriers had been granted access? If so, why was BRS chosen?


http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=86263

[WATABENCH]

MV - Areas such as Goa are ever on the increase with tourist numbers, maybe they're thinking a long way into future when new aircraft such as 787 can get off BRS's runway to those sorts of destinations, or maybe the indian government didn't check runway lengths before asking for links with BRS? Who knows, but quite intresting, Choosing BRS means they would have the whole of UK covered and was probably more intising to them looking at expected growth from BRS an CWL, hopefully someone might have a better explanation, i'm just clutching at straws really.:confused:

[Pandy]

A relation on a totally unrelated business call to BRS MD mentioned, in passing, the introduction of the New York service.

To which he replied (words to the effect) that 'from next year you'll be able to go to the Middle East as well'!

I know its been rumoured on PPrune for some time but assume it has to be EK? via CWL?

Any thoughts anyone

Cheers

[kala87]

Estimado Senores

Can we have Bristol - Murcia ASAP por favor?

Lots of punters in this part of the world would rather not have to fly to Alicante, followed by a long drive to their Spanish properties. Even Southampton has a link to MJV, so a link from BRS is long overdue. How about it, Ryanair??

[terrier21]

Interesting, Murcia has been wondered about for quite a while along with Almeria.

We have all wondered whether there would be a middle east flight from BRS especially with the CWL services not starting! Shall wait and see

[MerchantVenturer]

On 15 August 2003 Flybe announced the expansion of their programme from Bristol to include Toulouse (commenced autumn 2003), Bordeaux and Bergerac (both commenced 2004). In the same statement they announced a route from BRS to Murcia to commence also in 2004.

The Murcia route never materialised. I remember asking on PPRuNe last year if anyone knew the reason and received various answers, from poor load projections to slot difficulties. I believe that they may have planned to fly from EXT as well but that never happened either.

Incidentally, at the time of Flybe's BRS expansion announcement in August 2003, the Bristol Evening Post carried a story saying that by 2005 Flybe would have about fifteen routes from BRS.

Hmm. Either journalistic guesswork or a marked change of plan by the airline, unless of course they surprise us later this year.

[JT8]

kala87 - Murcia coming fairly soon....:cool:

[terrier21]

JT8 will this be another flybe route or some one else?

[WATABENCH]

Heard today that CWL are expecting EK next year, source heard this in a business partners meeting over there, they were very confident, but if BRS are saying same sort of thing, are we going to have another CO style battle between the airports? tech stop or no tech stop then boys?
:ok:

[rubik101]

When easyJet had 3 aircraft in BRS many would have said Tosh to the idea of 6, a 100% increase. Now they have 8, very soon to be 9 then the idea of 12 by the summer 2006 doesn't look so silly. If you had asked all the same questions about expansion not being feasable/sustainable when they had 3 you would get the same answers and arguments now. The market expands to fill the capacity, just like road improvements!

[WindSheer]

Watabench me old mucka - no tech stop neccessary from CWL, only BRS as CWL's runway is long enough.


Although I was having a discussion with some cabin crew the other day on the theories of length - us fella's have got it all wrong! Its all about the width!! All they need to do is widen the BRS r/way, and it will easily satisfy a long haul sector
:D

On a serious note - it would be nice to see EK operating out of the valley's, filling Dubai with huge blokes wearing grand slam t-shirts singing land of my fathers over and over again.

Bring on the A380's!!! :E

[terrier21]

This Rugby thing is getting daft now it was a one off, well done, but it won't be repeated for years to come.

EK. BRS or CWL???

.... one things for sure CWL won't be able to 'fly-half' the amount of passenegers BRS could attract! Our only problem would be the 'line-out' of Security!!!:E :E :cool:

T21

[terrier21]

CO seem to be knocking even more off their fares than recently advertised....

http://www.continental.com/UK/springsale.asp (http://)

[WATABENCH]

Theres sure to be a 'scrum' to get the route between both marketing 'teams' but i feel that the welsh may just sneak it !!! due to runways, although Bristol is the bigger 'pack' Cardiff can provide the longer kick!
God what has this become!!!
I also think that 12 EZYs is very possible at BRS, the ramp is being extended as we speak so why not, also the staff car park is being moved to silver zone in the near future, so how long has the old terminal got left before it goes to be used as stands along with current staff car park! my only fears are pax facilities, security comb and gates, this is where BRS lets itself down at the moment, and is going to be a major issue as the airport grows,:uhoh:

[terrier21]

Staff car park at the silverzone? That rumour has been round longer than the terminal itself!

Youll be causing trouble in the ranks talking like that!!!

ps. Its a long walk if there is no staff bus!:mad: :mad: :mad:

[WindSheer]

terrier21.......*This Rugby thing is getting daft now it was a one off****

WHAT!!!! England won the world cup and we had two months of england rugby, england rugby, and SIR clive. That was a joke!!!!:mad:

Anyway, back to the post. EK CWL or BRS, it will be CWL not BRS!
CWL will attract just as many passengers for this route as BRS - purely because the only alternative is BHX or even MAN or LGW.
I am not sure what A/C EK would put on this route, but if it was the 330 I dont hink BRS could facilitate it - the wing is huge and causes all sorts of operational prob's. Where would it park? And could it taxi safely past the old terminal with the current clearance - me thinks not! More importantly, is the r/way long enough - does anyone know if the 330 or 777 would have the range out of BRS!!

Cheers all:ok:

[GrahamK]

You are all wrong. Emirates will start flights to Newquay :} :E

Oh, and the Detur UK flights to Dalaman will be using Pegasus 737s

[Pandy]

Why not DXB/BRS/CWL/DXB they used to (& still do I think) on the Rome / Nice route, or was it Milan.

[WATABENCH]

Pandy, theres not much point in doing BRS-CWL-DXB, as the 2 airports are so close it would waste far to much fuel, even FCA dropped their EXT-AGP-CWL-BRS-AGP because it was a waste of time and money and it was a lot of mucking about logisticly, so they decided to cut out CWL.
If your going to do a flight like this from either CWL or BRS the only sensible option would be W with DUB or NCL or something similar, plus i really don't think they would fill a daily 330 from the area, hell people are wandering if CO can fill a daily NYC with a 757 which only seats 175 pax!

[WindSheer]

Dont matter if they fill the 757 or not, they should advertise it BRS-SNN-NYC - that runway is definately getting shorter!!

:}

[WATABENCH]

Jealousey will get you nowhere Windypops!

[a bristolian]

Windsheer

What is you problem with our Runway? The days when it limited the growth here are gone - aircraft performance is improving all the time - were adding longer routes all the time - some more very soon. All the airlines check the Rwy is OK before commiting to operating everyone is happy except .........?

And if the long routes from here upset you now then wait until the 787 arrives then I would emigrate if I were you to somewhere like the Indian Ocean ( or further )and who knows you might be able to do it DIRECT from here.!

[CWL_Chris]

Look, let’s stop arguing about CWL & BRS and which one is "better". BRS has a wider range of routes to offer than CWL, however CWL is attracting a lot of interest from ThomsonFly and also Jet2. Do not be surprised to see some possible announcement of services from CWL from one of these carriers. BRS has a beautiful terminal, something at the moment Cardiff does not have. However, there are also plans to build a rather large terminal at CWL.

Both airports will grow alongside each other and both airports create good competition on routes. My hypothesis is that BRS will continue to grow with EZY and also FCA. CWL will still grow, but their growth will be at a slower rate than BRS. CWL will achieve more long haul routes and also more niche routes. BMIbaby will not expand a great deal at CWL, but will remain here. Competition from another LCC such as FR, Jet2 or Thomson Fly could possibly happen in the near future..

As for EK..I believe they will choose CWL!

Don't forget CWL is getting a train service and a dual carriage way from the M4 to the airport, instead of the two lane 50mph road that is currently in place.

Regards,
Chris

[WindSheer]

Come on guys - couldn't you sense I was trying to get you to "take the bait" - which you did! :D

As far as the 787 is concerned, I think you will definately see it at BRS - possibly from the word go (FCA of course). I will probably end up benefiting form that as I work at BRS (thats shocked you), plus I might go and work for FCA - haven't decided yet................................!


Ha ha, Who am I :confused:

[a bristolian]

Windsheer

I hope you have had your fun!!

A lot of new jobs are being created following CO's decsion to fly BRSEWR. Your continued comments about runway performance from BRS do absolutely nothing to help with this new service.

I do wish you all the best with your future career at Bristol.

[WATABENCH]

I know who he is, and he's ugly as well as welsh!!!!

:ok:

[WindSheer]

Ok, jokes aside - I am normally quite a serious person.

My comments on the CO runway thing are purely through my own beliefs, and are not an attempted wind up.
I hope it 'takes off' I really do - I wouldn't mind flying over there myself in the near future!!
As far as my Welsh - English thing goes, come on there has got to be some fun on here.

Come on, lighten up lads.

WATABENCH..........................GOOD NAME!! !! !! !! !!:ok:
What does it mean:D

[WATABENCH]

Aha only you and I know that my lil April Fool!:E

[terrier21]

Interesting news about Easyjet and Basle. Possible Brs route using a based Basle aircraft. That will still leave a possible 3 new routes if we ever get this new aircraft.

Brochure 2006 release in 2 weeks time wonder what it will show?

I was Just reading this article and I am trying to work out if I am more angry or amused so I thought I would see what every one else thinks. I know that this will happen when every airport around the world opens or changes slightly but I excpect that at least 95% pf the people who write these things have used the airport and will continue to do so. Not only that but who long has the airport been here? Roads Rail and Air have had increasing volumes for longer than I can imagine and I can't see any of them stopping. The bit that makes me laugh is the bit about BRS being the new LGW/LHR lets see 2030 9 million Pax or 65 million slight difference there then. Green Belt land is important to our country but, Im sorry to say in 100 years time there will be very little left. There is not much we can do about it as the population will continue to rise and therefore houses will need to be built as will roads and rail. Jobs will need to be created as will tourism to bring in some sort of Finance to help with all of this.

I ask you NIMBYS how else are your childrens children going to be able to live.

Sorry about that just needed to vent off a bit of steam here is the article:-


CONSULTATION OVER AIRPORT'S FUTURE IS A FARCE


11:00 - 30 March 2005

What a farce this consultation exercise being run by Bristol International Airport is. It's a bit like having a 30-storey block of flats built in your garden against your will and being told by the kind, caring contractor that you will be allowed to choose whether the doors will be painted pink or orange.

Unfortunately, when this environmental disaster becomes a reality in 2020 or sooner, the company, on behalf of its hungry shareholders, will be able to pass off its responsibility by saying: "Well, we did consult the local people and stakeholders back in 2005."

I would like to ask a few questions which were omitted from the original document for the perusal of the residents of the area.

Will residents mind being woken up every 30 minutes at night by the thunder of aircraft engines?

Would they like to be able to cross the road before an hour has elapsed after a plane has landed?

Will they feel a little apprehensive when the shadow of a giant new Airbus blots out the sun?

Do they prefer the smell of fresh air to stale kerosene and old petrol fumes?

Are they aware that aircraft are some of the worst polluters and greatest contributors of greenhouse gases?

Would it worry them if a motorway was driven through the Chew Valley?

If 99 per cent of those consulted answered yes, would it make the slightest difference to the perpetrators of this degradation of our environment, who intend to turn North Somerset into a new Gatwick or, by 2030, Heathrow?

It really is ironic that the airport's high moral stance on persecuting local farms for running illegal parking in the green belt will count for little when they are forced to Tarmac over those very fields to build new runways.

The growth of the airport has been insidious since it was sold off. Perhaps they thought if it were done stealthily enough, people wouldn't notice.

Well, people have noticed the effect this is having on the environment of the Chew Valley and the fact that this is being done with government approval.

Of course the countryside everywhere is under attack from housing, motorways and industry, but to have this monster digesting our local green and pleasant land is frightening.

I realise, of course, that any opposition will be lampooned as "nimbyism", but if the locals don't stand up and be counted, who will?

You can be sure those nine million passengers will not care a damn about it if it means a shorter drive and cheap flights.

However, all is not yet lost if we make our voices heard and demand an end to further expansion and an embargo on night flights - that is, of course, unless you already have your house on the market.

Brian Vowles, Compton Dando

[WATABENCH]

Some good points raised, but (and don't take this as me sticking up for one or the other, as i like to look at it from both angles) i would imagine the airport was operational before a lot of local residents moved into their houses, they would of been aware of it, but obviously they wouldn't of known how business would grow at BRS so its a no win situation for both parties really.
:confused:

[WindSheer]

Its the same all over the country my mucka. People buy a house with the address:

76 Landing Gear View,
Heathrow Road,
Heathrow,
London,
747 FLY


Then they complain of the noise.:ok:

[terrier21]

Guess your both right.

I suppose it just wouldnt bother me living under the flight path cause it is where I work.

Heard something yesterday which links in with what 'a bristolian' saidAnd if the long routes from here upset you now then wait until the 787 arrives .

I was told by some who works at the airport who has ties with Boeing that the airport (BRS) has been promised that the new dreamliner 787 will be able to operate fully in all conditions and 'WITH NO TECH STOP EVER'!!!

Interesting!

Also new Checkin area is due to be opened 18th April. Arrivals due end of May

T21

[MerchantVenturer]

terrier

I take it this article was in the form of a letter to the local press. I think the clue to the writer’s real worry is in his final sentence – the price of his house. All the fine talk about environmentalism is pure waffle.

I can tell you that the roads around the airport are no more polluted now than when Broadfield Down was the haunt of glider pilots after the war. As a child in the 1940s and 1950s I lived first at Wrington then at Redhill, on the A 38 two miles south of what is now Bristol Airport.

In those days there was no M 5 and the A 38 was the only artery from the North, Midlands and Bristol to the Southwest. If you think how busy this road is now at rush hour times, with the thousands of commuters rushing to their Bristol offices and home again in the evening to their fine country homes, then you will have an idea of what it was like for most of the time in the 1950s. Outside the rush hour the A 38 is still like a country lane compared to those post war days. If it weren’t I would not cycle along it at my age, and I do.

As for the villages in the Chew Valley, I am out there a lot, both on my bike and in my car. The main congestion is caused by thoughtless locals who park their cars in such places as the narrow Chew Magna High Street, and by the four-wheel-drive brigade on the school runs.

Compared to many airports very few people are affected by Lulsgate’s flights because few live in the vicinity. But those that do are often well-off, well educated, well-connected and well able to make a fuss.

The airport hasn’t stopped house buyers falling over themselves to buy the new executive homes on the former Winford Hospital site which is no more than a mile and a half from the threshold of 27. You can almost touch the ‘planes as they approach overhead. I expect many of these house buyers will be at the front of the queue demanding no further expansion of the airport, despite having bought their houses knowing them to be almost at the end of the runway. I also expect that many of them, like many of the other NIMBYs, use the airport from time to time.

The airport is there, it will continue to grow but clearly must not be allowed to do so in a way that is out of control. That is what this consultation is all about. However, the likes of Mr Vowles are scare mongering beyond belief when they suggest a motorway will be driven through the Chew Valley and a Gatwick or Heathrow will be perched above Lulsgate Bottom in 2030.

As for the Boeing 787, a brief internet search reveals there are three variants. The 787-3 will carry up to 296 pax in a two class configuration with a range of 6,500 km and certification/entry to service is 2010. The 787-8 will carry up to 223 pax in a three class configuration with a range of 15,700km and certification/entry to service is 2008. The 787-9 is a bigger version of the 8 but won’t enter service until at least 2012 and that will depend on market conditions.

So are we saying that both the 3 and the 8 could use BRS without let or hindrance as to the runway?

[terrier21]

...Well I was told that the aircraft that was going to be operating will have less seats than the 757 but a better range so I am guessing/hoping the 787-8. Guess we will have to wait and see unless some one can help?!!!

(you know you want to!)

[terrier21]

Ba's 5 Based RJ145 has arrived at Bristol from Manchester this evening ready to operate a full Zurich flight in the morning.

The poor thing looks a bit lonely up on 21 next to the Brit 757, with the KLM take stand 16 stopping it from joining its colleagues!
Of course tonight is the only night it will be staying here as tommorow it is off to stay in FRA.

To sum up 5 based aircraft 3 at BRS 1 in GLA and 1 in FRA. Just think if easy did this it would be like ghost town in the mornings!!!

T21

[MerchantVenturer]

Evening terrier

I've just looked at the Eastern Apron website plan and the Zurich is shown parked on Stand 1 (G-EMBC). I thought when I looked that this was a signal honour. Have they got it wrong on the plan?

Do I read you correct when you say this is a full load? If so, does it contain a fair proportion of freebie travellers publicising the new route?

Let's hope this route is a success this time. Crossair didn't seem to be able to make it work about ten years ago but the aviation market is different now.

The easy route to Geneva seems to be doing very well with CAA stats showing figures that indicate an average load approaching 91% in February. I know that is mainly a ski route in winter but at least it shows that well over 8½ thousand people were prepared to fly a scheduled route to/from Switzerland in one month (the abridged month of February at that), with another 3½ thousand on charter flights to the same destination.

Promising signs for Zurich then.

[terrier21]

The outbound figures are good so far!!!

not so for the inbounds!:(

[GrahamK]

Air Scandic flying to Rhodes on Saturdays using an MD83

[WATABENCH]

Travel Weekly 25-MAR-2005

Peltours holidays starting BRS-TABA(Egypt) weekly in Sept, didn't say which airline is operating though

[WATABENCH]

Had a sneaky peak in the new check-in area the other day, with the obscured windows gives it quite a cosy feel in there, quite nice really, , First Choice, Mytravel and Excel Airways/Aeroconnect confirmed going in there, Thomsons not been offered a good enough deal apparently?!?

[GrahamK]

ExcelA irways 2 x weekly BRS-SSH next winter

[Vasto1M]

I hear that Astraeus are to operate the Taba flights.

[hostiegirl]

anyone know which a/c excel will use to fly to ssh??? the 737 400 and 800 are both out of the question??

[WATABENCH]

I was told that the a/c Excel are going to be using for most routes is the Islandsflug that was here last year but has been tarted up into Excel colours inside and out, lets hope they gave it a damn good service, be suprised if they can use that on a 5.5 hr flight to SSH, I would imagine they'll have a 737-800 come in to do it, The Air Malta that's being used on behalf of Excel/Freedom flights is an A320 incase anyone was wandering, FCA engineers looking after it.

[WindSheer]

It will be interesting to see if excel can do SSH direct, I know that FCA have problems reaching PFO or LCA if the pressure drops at BRS.

I think Astreaus have done a good job of reaching BJL all winter though :confused:

[MerchantVenturer]

http://www.easyjet.com/EN/News/20050406_01.html


The 8th easyJet a/c to be based from July and three new routes - Pisa, Inverness and Murcia.

Bristol will be easy's largest UK base outside London.

[aeulad]

Is it really possible to fill 148 seats from Bristol to Inverness?

Regards

Mike

[Richard Taylor]

Only one way to find out...:)

[ALLMCC]

It might be if the flight was once weekly instead of daily - same would apply to BFS - Inverness starting in July except once fortnightly would suffice here!

[brabazon]

I think there are many who were suprised at how many new routes supported 737/A319 operations, so the proof will be in the figures....