BIRMINGHAM - 3

[Daza]

Good news, BMIBaby could make some money here. They have decisive plans in complete contrast to Flybe/Bacon. I wish that some of the other full service players would take on previously profitable routes from BHX too how about LH take HAM, HAJ,STR and TXL, AF to LYS and NCE and IB or Click take on MAD/BCN?
This whole takeover has been based upon the fact that business travelers who are used to high frequency short haul service to business centre cities will choose a low fares airline. I think most would choose the likes of LH,AF,SK.LX ahead of a Low Fares airline. Like the issue of crew/flight deck and other BACON staff i think that there has been a lot of presumption that staff/customer would just transfer over no questions asked!
I hope BHX manages to retain at least some of its routes we don't all want to fly to obscure airports in Scandinavia dozens of miles fro your destination, unpronounceable Polish cities or Alicante/Malaga/Faro, the success of an airport surely should be in variety.
Rant over
Im lying down with a cold flannel now:} :} :}
Daza

[Ringwayman]

I note that Flybe have today announced their EDI and GLA services will be operating 9 daily from March 25th.

[OltonPete]

The timetable is out and it is reasonable but Tenerife has taken a bash.

This was daily in November 2006 and it drops to 4 a week before going
back to daily in March 2008.

There are other minor improvements such as Palma for the first time
in the winter but it is suspended from 3/11/07 until 7/2/08.

Arrecife doubles from one to two a week :)

Another major aspect is Wednesday's - virtually no flying throughout
the winter of 2007/8 except Christmas/New Year and March.

What I don't know is if the 320 is back, if would probably be a fair
increase if every flight was a 321.

OP

[OltonPete]

Record January pax recorded at 576544 which is 2.1% up, which would have continued into February and March except for weather and mainly
BACON cancellations.

However both months might still be up but will have to wait and see.

The individual route analysis is out for January and Emirates recorded
31462, which is 254 per flight or 81% load factor. I wonder if Qatar are
monitoring these figures since they went cool on BHX?

Generally load factors were not that bad for January with Sky Europe
managing 107 per flight on their conservative 2 a week schedule.

Cologne looks a bit weak but hopefully it will be given time.

Other good news is that two loyal BHX operators Turkmen and Uzbek
have both increased their pax in January. Air India's was a bit low but
as this is driven (sometimes) by transits it is difficult to tell how it is
doing.

Flew from BHX last weekend and a good experience & :ok: to all working
last weekend. The only downside was an off-colour Baby crew on the return from Amsterdam who were snapping peoples heads off on a far
too frequent basis (first time I have experienced this on baby).

OP

[we_never_change]

Does anybody know if Air Class are to return for Summer 2007 & are to base the B733 at the airport over several days?

There is also talk about Mahan looking at its schedules again & possibly adding another rotation a week. Are the flights operated by A320's or A310's (or presumably a mix?). I think Mahan are also sorting out paperwork issues with the relevant authorities so they can use their EK- (Armenia?) reg'd aircraft (A310's, A320's & B744's) to improve reliabilty.

WNC

[Ian Brooks]

I think the loads are creeping up now as Jan loads are 90 per flight ex BHX and 109 ex Manchester so they look quite good
I would like to see the Armenian aircraft and perhaps a more regular flight with an A320 from BHX and MAN

Ian

[jetsgo]

You say you went to the aviance desk to re-book a lufthansa flight? i may be wrong but lufthansa's ticket desk is two desks down from the aviance desk. I can't comment on aviance's performance that day but you may get a freindlier and more helpful responce at the lufthansa desk. Sure aviance handle the baggage and exec lounge but lufthansa have their own desk for reservations.

[General Dread]

2 777 questions:

1) Will Pakistan upgrade any of their services to 777s now they are taking delivery of more? If so, which services and when will that start?

2) Will Emirates upgrade any flights to scheduled 77Ws?

Thanks all.

[OltonPete]

gricesj

EK 77W starts on 1/7/07 & does the EK39/40.

I am not sure if this is short-term or long-term as it did not last long in 2006 but load factors are up to 81% so hopefully it will remain. EK37/8 remains a 330 I believe.

PK has been rumoured for ages and I have checked several dates in the future on their website and it still shows a 310.

At least the Wednesday service is back now :)

OP

[Ian Farquharson]

Norwegian will launch a four weekly BHX-Warsaw in the next few months:-

DY2074 arr BHX at 0815 Mo/We/Fr/Su depts to WAW DY2075 at 0845

Ian

[GayFriendly]

Great news!! Looked on Norwegian website, some very cheap fares to Warsaw, think will book a trip over......Also KTHY will operate to Ercan, flights bookable on their website, every Mon via Dalaman. Have also seen that you can book flights on Alajinah website BHX-Tripoli aswell, starting March. Summer 07 is shaping up nicely - lets keep fingers crossed for long awaited Flybe full schedule and hope there are not too many cutbacks on existing BA routes. Oh yes, anyone know if Aerosvit are coming back to BHX or is their flight to Kiev permanently stopped?

[Centre cities]

Depends what you mean by a good schedule. It looks like Geneva, Lyon, Barcelona, Madrid and Berlin have bitten the dust.

Yes things are shaping up nicely or perhaps not. Is the glass half full or half empty


If the above is correct only Barcelona has been covered by Baby. Lets hope some others are picked up but I would think the chances of anything before Oct are remote.

They had better hurry up with the runway before any long hauls nip up the M42 ala First Choice and Airtours.

It is a real good job the last baby came.

Centre cities

[BHXvine]

Re: new Swissport manager BHX:
Well let's hope he gets something sorted here at BHX. Staff morale is at the lowest I've ever seen after nearly 10 years in the business, and 27 years of working life. Staffing is on the thinnest shoestring I've ever seen, the excuse from the Customer Services Manager being that this staffing level is always normal for this time of year (HELLO - never seen it like this). I could write an very large essay on some of the episodes I've seen over the last couple of months e.g. 1 despatcher and 1 ticket desk staff member departing AND unloading/loading a Swiss flight, which consequently took a 55 minute delay. Apparently there were no ramp/loading staff on shift. This is due to the fact that staff are not being paid overtime but given time off in lieu of extra hours worked because, we are told, of budgeting reasons. You couldn't make it up. I haven't. I'd have thought it was better to pay out a few hundred quid to cover staffing than maybe lose thousands due to an extremely cheesed off airline not renewing a contract as a result of this mularkey (although somebody will probably tell me different!)

[OltonPete]

BHXvine

What is the position with BA ground staff at BHX, are none on them being recruited to Swissport?

They are standing on the trap door with the noose round their neck at the moment, surely Swissport management will be poaching the better ones?

Even if the flybe/Bacon debacle does not happen, the BACON schedule is going to be much reduced and all the current staff won't be needed.

At least you will be handling less PIA for while by the look of it?

On that score have you heard any news what they intend to do, as PK792 is cancelled today and tomorrow and the website states schedule updating.

OP

[BHXvine]

Not quite sure what the score is with BACON to be perfectly honest, although the small minority i've spoken to have basically said Swissport can take a running jump. One guy actually said that some of the BA staff have been kindly asked to help with a smooth transition from BACON to Flybe on a voluntary basis...I won't print his reply, nor will I insult your intelligence by asking you to guess the said reply!

Ref; PK792, I've been stood next to the Pk manager at BHX literally minutes ago, he was saying that it looks like 777's will operate the flight on a Monday, Wednesday and one of the weekend days.

[call100]

To be honest until the budget airline bubble bursts there will always be problems with handling agents.
Aircraft handling has gone down the pan over the last few years. There is no best handling agent at BHX. If you have to deal with all of them then you come to realise that they are all on a par. Maybe the airlines will wise up (doubtful) The pilots complain enough, you would think that they would have some say.
I don't care where the station manager is from or how good he is supposed to be. Nothing will change at Swissport. When they say he's the best they usually mean best for company profits.
None of them give a damn about the staff. That being the case there is no chance in hell of a decent service on the ramp.

[Fried_Chicken]

Even if the flybe/Bacon debacle does not happen, the BACON schedule is going to be much reduced and all the current staff won't be needed.


A BAcon ERJ145 was planned to position Birmingham - Exeter yesterday (Friday) as BRT001P. I was in meetings the rest of the day so couldn't check the system to see if it got away but presumably heading down there so FlyBE can have a look at them?

Fried Chicken

[OltonPete]

FC

Just checked ACARSD for BHX on Friday and I could not see any 145's to Exeter - maybe it will be Monday?

No problem finding a crew for Exeter then, I suppose it is closer than Berlin, Geneva, Madrid etc :rolleyes:

OP


Continued on: http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?p=3158797#post3158797