BRISTOL - 4

[Stone Cold II]

Standard Noise quick question, why isn't delivery a ground frequency? It would make more sense as the rest of the day tower can get too busy between taxi aircraft, aircraft calling for clearance and take off and landing. I'm sure there must be a reason and I've missed it. Just curious.

[Standard Noise]

why isn't delivery a ground frequency?

We trialed GMC back in 2003/4 and again in 2009ish using different configurations but the physical layout of the airfield didn't lend itself to having GMC as a stand alone frequency. After consultation with the based airlines and BA, it was decided that the better option was Delivery. We can give clearances up to 30 mins before the filed departure time and when Delivery is open during busier periods, that position also deals with CTOTs, ready messages, and in the case of yesterday, constantly updating FPLs. This relieves the burden on the other ATCO who can then concentrate wholly on moving traffic.

And to answer the unasked question, we only planned to open it when it's needed thus why it's normally only open first thing each day.

[Stone Cold II]

Understood thanks.

[MerchantVenturer]

In a variation of the 'What have the Romans done for us?' theme Dave has set out in a local paper what his government has done for the South West.

I don't know whether he's been taking tips from his opposite number in Wales but he appears to think he and his government (and not its private sector owners) are expanding Bristol Airport:

We're rolling out superfast broadband to even more areas, expanding Bristol Airport and re-developing Bristol Temple Meads Station. We're electrifying the Great Western Main Line, building new roads, improving old ones, and spending millions on flood defences.

Prime Minister David Cameron: The South West won't be left behind in economic recovery | Western Daily Press (http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Cameron-s-vision-West/story-21206722-detail/story.html)

Perhaps he believes that it would be a good idea to nationalise the place.

[bravoromeosierra]

Aberdeen appears to be going x3 daily on Wednesday and Thursday commencing September.

[Bristol_Traveller]

Today's MUC-BRS was full to bursting, with 45 pax on board. The c/i agent at MUC was surprised to find I was quite happy to hear I could only have a window seat because the flight was so full.

Of course, yield's still important, but it feels like the LH codeshares are really beginning to drive volume.

Next step... how to get BM back into *A so I can clock up some status miles!

[MerchantVenturer]

CAA stats show that in June the airport saw 653,151 passengers through its terminal. This is a rise of 3.4% on June 2013 and is the best ever June beating June 2013.

In fact, last summer and this summer are turning out to be record breakers: in 2013 the months from May through to October were all the best ever for those months and this year April, May and June have seen the best ever totals for those months.

The significant thing about June's figures is that they take the rolling 12-month total to 6,234,596 (a rise of 4.1% on a year ago) which is above the airport's best ever calendar year of 2008 when 6,228,656 terminal passengers were handled.

Recent winters have been down on a few years ago but last winter did suggest some movement north.

The other important point is that in recent years annual passenger growth has been achieved against falling air transport movements each year. In June the 3.4% growth came despite a fall in atms of 2.7%.

So to have achieved the growth overall occupancy rate must have improved (yet again) but there will come a time when the only way to sustain growth will be an increase in seats meaning larger aircraft or more flights or both.

BRS has been extremely consistent in its annual growth rate. In the past 40 years only 1985, 1990, 1996 and 2009 saw drops in passenger numbers against the previous year.

bmi regional

The LH code share does seem to have had a positive effect on loads in June.

FRA was up 46% and MUC was up 49% on June 2013. Even HAM with no LH code share saw a rise of 16%. Frequencies were broadly the same in 2013 and 2014.

[crewmeal]

Time to stir things up again. Is there such a 'battle' going on? Perhaps Etihad Regional will come to BRS rescue.

Sion Barry on the battle between Cardiff and Bristol airports to land a lucrative Middle Eastern airline - Sion Barry - Wales Online (http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/sion-barry-battle-between-cardiff-7494547)

[bravoromeosierra]

But Cardiff has a big edge in that it is owned by the Welsh Government. As a result it is not so driven by profit, but ensuring the airport plays a key role in boosting the competitiveness of the economy.

Not quite sure I understand that sweeping statement but there we go.



Both are talking to the likes of Emirates and Etihad.

More likely at least to be TK given the runway limitations at BRS.

[caaardiff]

QR and the 787 possibly? Better sized aircraft and is able to use BRS.

[MerchantVenturer]

The article from Sion Barry who is the business editor of a major news group in Wales should be read in the context of its timing.

Recently Lord Rowe-Beddoe, the chairman of the arm's length company that operates the airport for the Wales Government, gave an interview to the local press and one of the things he mentioned was a desire to bring a Middle East route to CWL. The chairman went on to say that the airport management had been and was in contact with airlines to further this end but that it was far from a done deal (not his exact words) and he realised that BRS was also in the same market - Robert Sinclair, the BRS CEO, has mentioned more than once his airport's efforts to secure a Middle East route but again he doesn't suggest anything is imminent.

As a senior business journalist in Wales Mr Barry would be expected to be well acquainted with the movers and shakers in the country and on occasions his articles about CWL have fairly closely mirrored the thinking of the Wales Government particularly that of the First Minister, Carwyn Jones.

Like you, bravoromeosierra, I found his comment about the airport 'not so driven by profit' rather odd. The Wales Government has always said CWL would be run strictly as a commercial enterprise. Mr Barry also suggested that airlines, whilst driven by profit, would find playing a key role in the economic development of a country rather than a region like South West England an attractive proposition. An airline might if it brought a bigger profit, but otherwise? Hmm!

I didn't really treat this article with great seriousness and I'm not sure that the author expected anyone to. He comes across as a cheerleader for CWL, talking about it eclipsing its 'noisy neighbour' (what's that all about?) and winding up with an exhortation urging CWL not only to win back Welsh passengers from BRS in the next year but also take West Country passengers beginning with a Middle East route.

As the work of such an experienced and able business journalist the article is lightweight and unbalanced, little more than puffery.

It adds nothing of consequence to the debate (if there really is one at the moment) and no-one at BRS at CWL that I'm aware of is as bullish about a Middle East route coming to Severnside in the timescale that Mr Barry seems to envisage.

It's probably more likely that none of the MEB3 would be interested in the forseeable future and that Turkish Airlines to Istanbul might well have the more appropriately sized aircraft to service Severnside, whether from the English or the Welsh side.

I'd be delighted to be wrong in this because an MEB3 route would be of considerable value to me whether from BRS (preferably as it's closer) or from CWL, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Pandy]

Wild outlandish thought - maybe its GF with an A320, they fly A320 (ER) into LHR ??

Only part of the UK the MEB3 don't frequent

Might assist the likes of me but not a lot of glamorous onward connections

[MerchantVenturer]

A report today suggests that the Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund that owns 50% of Bristol Airport is looking to sell its holding which is likely to be valued at between £200 million and £250 million.

The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan that owns 49% of the airport is thought to be interested in acquiring full control.

Australians seek buyer for 50% stake in Bristol airport | The Sunday Times (http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/Finance/article1439220.ece)

[bristolflyer]

Not this again!! Is it summer silly season for journalists? That article reads like a plane spotters wish list! Don't worry that Cardiff can't support basic routes to Europe, but we can attract one blue ribband route to DXB!! Cardiff doesn't have the catchment and Bristol doesn't have the runway...Turkish is the only option and thus far they haven't shown any interest.

[CabinCrewe]

and TK wont for the forseeable, a few more in the UK up the list before the southwest I would imagine... GLA, BFS and maybe even NCL

[MerchantVenturer]

Interesting. You believe that NCL could support Emirates and Turkish before Turkish looked southwestwards?

Is there any one major reason why you think this might be so?

[bravoromeosierra]

Flew into BRS this morning on the seasonal SAS service from Stockholm. A rough head count would probably put the load at 80-90% capacity onboard the 120 seat B737. Better than I was expecting given the slightly antisocial departure time (0700 ex ARN) with a decent mix of accents onboard too.

The new pier is now also open, it was a surprise to arrive into it this morning.

[MerchantVenturer]

The short season opened on Monday 30 June and so far only the loads for that rotation are in the public domain via CAA stats and show that 151 passengers were carried, an average of 75.5 per flight which would give a load factor in the low 60s%.

The Monday to Friday service is geared towards leisure customers at both ends of the route and before the service commenced there was a marketing campaign in Sweden funded by Bristol Airport, Destination Bristol, Bath Tourism Plus and Visit England.

The Monday morning and Friday afternoon timings are aimed at weekenders, those who might want a few days in midweek or any other combination of durations based on Mondays and Fridays, so clearly there aren't likely to be many business passengers.

Although the original announcement said the service would be operated by B 738 aircraft, and Mayfly continues to show that, it seems that the equipment is actually the B 736. That was mainly the type used when SAS last operated similar short summer seasons to Stockholm in 2007 and 2008. They also operated a longer seasonal Oslo service in 2008 from May at 3 x weekly with B 737-700s according to old Mayflys.

The BRS-ARN seemed to have load factors between 70% and 80% in 2008.

The recession and the major downsizing of SAS including the axing of many routes led to both BRS routes being discontinued after summer 2008.

The new central pier seems to have been operational for a week or two but strangely for an airport that is usually so on the ball with its press releases nothing has appeared on its website news section, although I did see it mentioned in the local press the other day in an article dealing with June's record passenger numbers.

[MerchantVenturer]

Further to #2513, it seems that the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is looking to buy Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund's 50% stake giving it full control of the airport.

Ontario Teachers says plans to increase stake in UK's Bristol Airport | Reuters (http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/28/uk-britain-airport-ontario-idUKKBN0FX13N20140728)

[caaardiff]

TOM Summer 2015 schedule from BRS. I believe this will see the total number of based units increased by 1 to 3A/C ? 49 departures per week. No SFB or CUN from BRS or CWL.

Palma: 5x weekly (1 is AEA)
Ibiza: 3x weekly
Mahon: 2x weekly
Reus: 1x weekly
Alicante: 1x weekly
Malaga: 1x weekly
Tenerife South: 2x weekly (Down to x1 weekly)
Gran Canaria: 1x weekly
Lanzarote: 2x weekly (1 is TCX flight)
Fuerteventura: 1x weekly
Malta: 1x weekly (Air Malta)
Enfidha: 2x weekly (Wed flight operates BRS-NBE-EMA-NBE-BRS)
Corfu: 2x weekly (1X TCX)
Neaopolitan Riviera: 2x weekly
Dubrovnik: 1x weekly
Pula: 1x weekly
Bourgas: 2x weekly (1X TCX)
Heraklion: 2x weekly
Rhodes: 1x weekly
Kos: 1x weekly
Kefalonia: 1x weekly
Zante: 2x weekly
Paphos: 1x weekly
Larnaca: 2x weekly (1X TCX)
Dalaman: 3x weekly (1X TCX)
Bodrum: 1x weekly (TCX)
Antalya: 2x weekly (1X TCX)
Sharm el Sheikh: 2x weekly
Marrakech: 1x weekly (NOT ON SALE)

Slight changes to the above in bold. 39 of the flights available above are operated by Thomson.
RAK no longer on sale.
Their timetable section looks like it's being amended as a number of routes not showing that are on sale as holidays.
It seems the 3rd aircraft will be operating some W patterns to fully utilise it on certain days:
Monday - Not used all day
Tuesday BRS-ALC-CWL-ALC-BRS
Wednesday BRS-NBE-EMA-NBE-BRS
Thursday - Not used PM

[MerchantVenturer]

Re the previous post, Thessaloniki (Halkidiki) seems to have replaced Marrakech with a flight on Mondays leaving BRS at 0610 and arriving back at 1400. TOM was going to operate Marrakech this summer but easyJet came on to the route last winter and the TOM flight was axed. easyJet continues with Marrakech through this summer and through next winter with its 2 x weekly operation.

Is it certain that there will be three based TOM units at BRS in summer 2015?

This summer TOM/Tui flights are operated to Ibiza on Thursdays with an LBA-based B 738, to Naples on Fridays with an EMA-based B 738 and to Enfidha on Sundays with a LTN-based B 757. In addition the Saturday Verona is operated by a Mistral B 734 (sometimes subbed by a Go2Sky B 734).

I suppose this sort of operation could be extended next summer if a third based unit was deemed unnecessary.

[jaycee10]

It has been reported this week in the local media that work on the extension to the eastern end of the terminal will start in September this year for completion by summer 2015. Costing £8m it will include more shops, seating and a second executive lounge. Other features include improved baggage handling and an outdoor terrace!

[Jamie2k9]

Is 15 minutes after landing (07.45) to airport flyer stop doable. No checked baggage either.

[yeo valley]

Is 15 minutes after landing (07.45) to airport flyer stop doable. No checked baggage either.
it is doable, if you miss first one no probs as they run every 10 minutes.

[MerchantVenturer]

As posted by jaycee10 above, the work to extend the eastern end of the terminal will begin next month.

Bristol Airport announces next phase of development ? Bristol Airport (http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/media-centre/news-releases/2014/08/east-terminal-extension.aspx)

The airport had previously indicated that an extension to the west would be the next major work with a locally based engineering consultancy appointed two and a half years ago to work on the west terminal extension.

I'm not sure how the eastern extension will relate to the single storey section already in place - mainly used for Ryanair and charter flight check-ins. The new extension will presumably be a two-storey structure but whether it will incorporate or be built behind the current single-storey section isn't made clear in the press release on the airport website.

On a related topic, there appears to be no further news of the long awaited and much delayed on-site airport hotel. In April this year a Construction Management Plan was submitted to the local authority that suggested that building work would commence in July.

Aer Lingus

There is more positive news concerning Aer Lingus Regional. After a record June on BRS-DUB the airline's BRS services in July were up 55% on last year, although that does include a new Shannon route, and 'there was a 35% increase in connecting traffic from the UK regions to the United States and Canada with Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bristol and Birmingham routes all reported strong year-on-year increases' – see below link.

Record month for Aer Lingus Regional (http://aviationtribune.com/airlines/europe/item/1372-record-month-for-aer-lingus-regional)

July passenger figures

CAA stats out today show that 696,249 passengers passed through the terminal in July, an increase of 2.7% on July 2013 although atms were down 3.7%. The rolling 12-month figure was 6,252,621, up 4% on a year ago.

This is the best ever July and continues the trend of the past 15 months or so of successive record months built on fewer atms. This summer Thomas Cook has been using two A 321s instead of the two A 320s of last summer and the easyjet fleet of eleven now includes five A 320s against three in summer 2013, so in effect available seats from the airport were actually only slightly down on July last year.

[MerchantVenturer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEJGbjDxBPM&list=UUdvjgfaXnr0fWNTKj_bPlqA

This a BRS 'fly through' video of the eastern extension to the terminal that will begin construction next month for completion next summer.

It will be built behind the existing single-story check-in hall, itself built after the main terminal was opened in 2000. The plans for the major expansion of the terminal still on the airport website show a two-storey structure where the single-storey addition currently sits, so maybe the eastern side of the terminal will be be extended again in the future.

The video depicts a lot more public seating - one of the common complaints of the existing terminal is the lack of public seating where retail units have gradually displaced seating in many areas - so it's to be hoped that the new seating is not slowly whittled away in time as yet more retails appear.

The extension also boasts an outside terrace replete with numerous tables and chairs. Perhaps a controversial aspect of this will be the notice on the door that suggests it's a smoking area. The airport currently has a smoking area airside but it's not in a potentially popular area that a first-floor outside terrace is likely to prove, especially as views of the apron from elsewhere in the entire terminal are minimal.

[LTNman]

Looks like a great upgrade.

[kfsimpson]

Does anyone know what the load factors on KEF during the winter and the summer have been, and if it is likely to become an 'established' year-round service? I see it is currently bookable to March, which will take it beyond a year and seems to indicate that it has been profitable for Easyjet. I can't really see it becoming established in the way that the sunshine routes are. People will go back to Costa del Sol, Canaries, Algarve year after year. Will they go to Iceland more than twice - once for the northern lights and once in the summer for activities/midnight sun? (Yes, I know it's not real midnight sun in Iceland, but it doesn't get properly dark for a couple of months)

[bravoromeosierra]

The 'extension' doesn't look very aesthetically pleasing from the outside!

Presumably this is a retail expansion/passenger rather than any additional new gates?

[MerchantVenturer]

Terminal expansion to the east

I believe you have hit the nail on the head - the intention is additional public seating (a welcome addition in many people's eyes) and the extra retail outlets shown are the inevitable result of the way smaller regional airports have to make their money these days; that and other things such a scar parking.

There have been comments on other aviation message boards about the look of the extension but so long as it's functional I suppose the outside appearance is not that much of a consideration, especially if the cost of construction is reduced. It's always a subjective opinion but I think that most of the recent additions will not win prizes in architectural contests for beauty. In many ways the airport looks like a Lego construction especially the western walkway but so long as the new structures do their job I'm not that much fussed what they look like.

easyJet Keflavik

The service began on 12 December last year with the A319 (156 seats) shown as the aircraft type in the original press releases. In the event both rotations through last winter (Thursdays and Sundays) were operated by A 320 aircraft (180 seats).

The average loads through last winter were:

December 139
January 160
February 163
March 151

From April the service continued as 2 x weekly on Thursdays and Sundays with the Sunday rotation a 319 (the Thursday remained a 320).

The average loads through this summer so far are:

April 141
May 131
June 135
July 145

All stats courtesy of the CAA

From November the service becomes 3 x weekly through the winter with a Tuesday rotation added. The easyJet booking engine suggests all flights will be on the 320.

No easyJet flights (to anywhere from BRS) are bookable beyond March at this time.

Of course, we have no idea of the most important information - the yield.

[kfsimpson]

Thanks MV, those stats sound good - at that load factor it has to be profitable, surely. Just interesting having somewhere other than the sunshine routes, and we can only hope it will encourage them to try other destinations.

[MerchantVenturer]

easyJet actually does operate quite a number of routes from BRS that aren't primarily sun routes. In total there are 41 BRS routes this summer. Rather than clutter this thread with too many figures I'll PM you with some details of recent average loads on all these easyJet routes so you can put the Keflavik route in some sort of context.

[nivsy]

Any idea why BRS appears to have handled various governmental aircraft for the NATO summit rather than Cardiff?

[MerchantVenturer]

I suspect that CWL was 'maxed out' with its own NATO arrivals. Furthermore, many delegates are staying in hotels in Bristol and the surrounding areas because all South Wales hotels were fully booked.

The President of Ukraine and his wife arrived at BRS this morning on a Ukraine Airlines aircraft and there were other aircraft from Poland (a Lot E 175 and Euro Lot Q 400) and others on the eastern apron that I couldn't identify as I went past. There also seemed to be a lot of 'biz jets' on the southern apron. The local tv news spoke of arrivals from Hungary and Bulgaria.

The local news showed Senhor Barroso, President of the European Commission, arriving on the scheduled Brussels Airlines (bmi regional) E145.

[FRatSTN]

Ryanair seems to be back up to 4 based aircraft for 2015. I thought they had a deal where off-peak slots were cheaper hence why they dropped to 2 aircraft in 2013 and operated a big wave of flights around 8pm with a/c based overseas. Was that not the case or has that incentive now ended?

[EI-A330-300]

I expect the poor flight time result in lower yield.

[MerchantVenturer]

Ryanair increased to three based aircraft for this summer with fewer mid evening 'en masse' arriving non-based aircraft than was the case in summer 13 when they had dropped from five to two based aircraft.

Maybe BRS is having to come to terms with the implied threat of FR and CWL and has softened its approach to Ryanair in terms of landing and other charges.

Without having had time to look in any detail at summer 15 it does look from local news reports that the programme is broadly similar to this summer re the overall number of weekly rotations.

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Anyone 'threatening' to go to CWL is going to get laughed at by BRS management.

Its been the grave of countless airlines.

BRS management have it right - they charge a reasonable rate (unlike say BHX) and they invest a reasonable amount and in the end it all just works. Their business case is compelling so the standard RYR tactics for airport negotiation are of little concern to BRS management. At the end of the day they have something the RYR want and CWL doesn't unless there is public subsidy on the table.

Investment money is currently pouring into BRS airport.


WWW

[MerchantVenturer]

Reported in the local press today that Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund has now sold its 50% holding in the airport for a reported £250 million to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan that already owned 49%.

CAA stats published this week show that August was the airport's best ever month for passenger numbers with 730,345 passing through the terminal. The rolling 12-month total was 6,274,791 with this calendar year expected to beat the previous record year of 2008 when 6.229 million passengers were handled.

[bravoromeosierra]

Those are some impressive numbers, before we even reach year end.

Would it be beyond possibility (am I reading the stats right?!) that we could see over 7,000,000 passengers pass through BRS this year?

[BHX5DME]

If they are at 6.274m rolling 12m as at 31.08.14, they will not get to 7m this year or probably 2015 as they would need 11.5% increase in annual pax

[MerchantVenturer]

I agree. There is not even a remote chance of 7 mppa being realised this year or even next unless something completely unexpected occurs next year. The management has certainly not suggested 7 mppa next year although it is a target/aspiration for the next 2-3 years according to the airport CEO a few months ago.

[bobsyerunlce]

Has anyone heard about any additional capacity on the CDG route or competition from another airline? I can't believe Brussels gets 3 flights per day but Paris only gets one, often full and often expensive flight.

Also, does anyone think Ryanair will ever expand at BRS? They have stayed fairly steady for quite a while now. Have they found their level or might they continue to grow. I guess the same goes for EZY but they seem to add a new destination each year.

[bravoromeosierra]

Thanks RE the stats. I must have been interpreting them wrong!

[MerchantVenturer]

Taking up bobsyeruncle's point about easyJet and Ryanair at BRS, and indeed the means to march towards 7 mppa and beyond, the context can often be usefully set by looking back.

easyJet is now responsible for about half the BRS passenger numbers and Ryanair about a fifth. In any business it's not normally a good thing to rely on a tiny number of major customers; only this week we've seen what this approach has done to a mobile phone company. However, in the regional airport business, especially the medium size and smaller ones, it's so often the only way if sufficient footfall is to be achieved to make the airport viable.

In 2001 Go recognised the potential of an under served region that possessed both a vibrant and substantial business market as well as a large pool of comfortably off people, often older and retired, who had the means and desire to fly frequently for leisure. easyJet continued to expand the Go network when it purchased the former BA low-cost airline and built up a based fleet of 12 A319s by 2008. The recession then intervened and without downsizing much easyJet marked time at BRS in terms of overall rotations, although winters began to see more parked up aircraft for parts of most days and still do. The same applies to Ryanair. From 2010 airport passenger numbers have risen slowly but consistently every year and easyJet now bases five A 320s and six A319s which is broadly the same number of available seats as in 2008.

The point was made about Cdg. easyJet does regularly sell out on this route early; already four inbound and three outbound rotations are 'sold' out' in the next six days - a common occurrence this summer on BRS-CDG-BRS. Furthermore, easyJet operates mainly 319s to Cdg although two days each week now seem to be A320-operated as against one day each week earlier in the summer. The fares in GBP that are available for next week are mostly into three figures per sector, well into three figures in many cases. It must be presumed that the airline is very satisfied with this yield and has no wish to dilute it by adding extra flights, although it did operate 2 x daily on some days a few years back, then in competition with AF ATRS that ran up to 3 x daily. The only acknowledgement that easyJet is currently making to the pull-out of AF last spring is to operate daily next January instead of 4 x weekly as has been the case in recent Januarys.

Ryanair set up shop at BRS at the beginning of winter 2007/2008 although it had flown three routes (Dublin, Girona and Shannon) for several years beforehand with aircraft from other bases. The base fairly soon became five aircraft but last year it was reduced to two, reportedly because of a failure to agree various charges with the airport. Ryanair maintained its schedule last summer using aircraft from other bases. This summer there are three based aircraft with other rotations operated by aircraft not based at BRS. Ryanair has reduced the number of summer and winter rotations at BRS from the high point of three or four years ago and more than easyJet will axe routes and begin new ones at the airport. On many of its routes it commands extremely high load factors, eg this summer the months of May, June, July and August have seen load factors of 94% and above each month on all the Polish, Lithuanian and Hungarian routes, frequently between 96% and 99% per month. This of course doesn't necessarily guarantee airline approval in terms of yield and there are recent examples of FR routes being withdrawn at BRS despite very high load factors.

At present then it's hard to suggest that easyJet and/or Ryanair will step up to the plate more substantially at BRS. If they don't who will drive the passenger figures forward as has inexorably been the case for the past 50 years?

Coupled with the apparent stagnation of easyjet and Ryanair is the fact that BRS's annual increasing passenger figures since the recession have been achieved against gradually diminishing flight numbers through a combination of larger aircraft and higher load factors but there will come a time – soon I suspect – when rotations will have to increase markedly for the growth to continue.

History suggests that BRS will somehow find a way of keeping the momentum going. Since 1961 CAA stats tell us that there have been only eight years where passenger numbers have fallen against the previous year, invariably at a time of recession or other significant negative event such as the collapse of Court Line - 1967, 1968, 1969, 1974, 1985, 1990, 1996 and 2009. Even in the days of the 70s and 80s when BRS was city council-owned and a drain on the rate payers' pockets the passenger numbers generally increased year on year although they were then counted by abacus as 300,000 per annum was not reached until 1983.

It will be extremely interesting for BRS aficionados to look back in ten years' time to see if the growth was maintained and how it was done. One thing seems certain: it won't be a walk in the park.

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Your potted history shows easyjet to be the steady girlfriend of BRS whilst Others are the flirty strumpet.

BRS cannot experience that same growth again. What it needs now is a regular, reliant, customer base which finds the experience tolerable to good.

The futures Bristol, the futures ......


WWW

[bobsyerunlce]

Thanks MV for a very comprehensive answer to my not very specific question.

In the attempt to smash the 7mppa barrier, It is going to be very tricky based on current rotations. With the expansion of the airport will hopefully come an increase in flights given that there will be more spaces for passengers to wait rather than just in the cramped terminal like at present.

I still think there is plenty of scope for Easyjet and Ryanair to increase their route network from Bristol but they may be wishing for flight times when the airport can't currently accommodate them. Maybe it is BRS that is currently holding back some expansion for the comfort of travellers?

The answer may be new carriers such as SAS, the often mentioned Turkish, a new transatlantic carrier or even another LoCo such as Wizz, Norwegian or AirBerlin (all of which I have found to be very good on the times I have used them). What does anyone think of the chances of this?

It's just a shame that the next 2 flights I have to take will both be from LHR as MUC and CDG were ridiculously expensive from Bristol.

[MerchantVenturer]

WORLD ROUTES: Bristol Airport Bullish on Prospects for Breakout Year :: Routesonline (http://www.routesonline.com/news/29/breaking-news/244409/world-routes-bristol-airport-bullish-on-prospects-for-breakout-year/)

Interesting report from the World Routes Conference currently taking place in Chicago that features an interview with Shaun Browne, the BRS Aviation Director.

Not only is 2014 expected to be a record year with around 6.3 million passengers but Browne is describing 2015 as a 'breakout' year with passenger volumes pushing towards 6.6 million and beyond.

The report states that details of an enhanced easyJet programme are expected soon which together with a bigger TUI offering next summer and other yet to be announced ventures will push up passenger numbers next year.

The report is well worth a read to anyone interested in the fortunes of BRS. Inevitably there is some spin but looking beyond that it does seem that the airport management is confident of a very good 2015, which may well be the reason why the eastern terminal extension is following on almost immediately after the completion of the central walkway with its new gates and pre-boarding areas.

[andrew1968]

BRISTOL - ZURICH (FLIGHTS SUSPENDED WINTER 2014)


I contacted Helvetic Airways with a flight enquiry for flights over Winter 2014, they have apologised that there will be no flights to Bristol over the winter but flights will return for Spring 2015.


No mention of reasons why or what schedule they will come back with in the spring. An unfortunate loss, wonder if another airline may consider stepping into the void. I think it has been mentioned before on this/other forums that bmiregional would be a good fit, with E145 a double daily schedule would probably work giving a day return option.

[MerchantVenturer]

Last winter they took a break in November and then flew just 2 x weekly for the remainder of the winter. This summer has seen noticeably improved load factors, albeit it's 3 x weekly as against 4 x weekly in summer 2013. The monthly average loads (vide CAA stats) have been around the 60 mark with 65 the best in July.

Perhaps the main problem is that BRS is so well served by easyJet to Geneva. In 2013 BRS was again the busiest UK non-London route to/from GVA in terms of passengers with over 181,000, mainly easyJet but with some ski charters.

GVA, like ZRH, with an airport rail station serving most of the country is an extremely convenient way in to Switzerland. easyJet's multi frequencies and generally lower fares than Helvetic, not to mention its much stronger brand awareness in the BRS catchment, are always going to make it a formidable competitor.

Furthermore, I notice that easyJet has increased its GVA schedule this winter compared with last. It now offers up to 21 weekly rotations in the ski season, including five on Saturdays and four on Sundays, which is an increase of two per week.

It is a shame about Helvetic taking a complete break this winter but entirely understandable. It seems to recognise that its BRS market to/from ZRH is purely a summer one.

Would anyone else take a punt? It seems unlikely especially as Helvetic says it's coming back next spring and easyJet would still be putting that big orange shadow over the West Country to Switzerland. The only airline that might be interested would probably be bmi regional but I would suspect that's a long shot.

[cobopete]

Pax can always fly Bristol to Zurich with Blue Islands via Jersey.

Pete

[VickersVicount]

...im guessing prices, props and a double drop will preclude large numbers taking up that option :confused:

[Bristol_Traveller]

BD working BRS-ZRH would have the benefit of a potential codeshare with LX (through the LH group), and more of that feeder traffic that seems to be helping FRA and MUC so much. It's also fairly comfy for an E-145 (shorter than MXP, about the same as MUC)

LX's short haul network through Europe compliments LH's well (and can be a bit cheaper), and their long-haul service beats LH's hands down.

BRS-FRA is going 3x from S15, and both MUC and FRA get Saturday morning departures, so I hope that's boding well for that current strategy. Maybe the HAM frame could work BRS-ZRH in the midday slot?

[flyerboy]

Seems like a good news day with few routes being announced.
SK just released that they will be returning for S15 and EZY just announced they will be starting GIB

[bobsyerunlce]

As well as Easyjet going 11 times weekly to Amsterdam...

So many flights to Amsterdam, just one per day to CDG :ugh:

[MerchantVenturer]

It was reported last week that the easyJet AMS base will fly to BRS 2 x weekly next year so that would make 13 x weekly plus the 4 x daily KLM E190s.

Mayfly is showing CDG next week on the 320 every day except Saturday when it will be a 319 so at least that's a slight increase in seats if it runs like that through the winter.

Last week on another website a poster there who is well versed in BRS matters and worth listening to hinted strongly of more easyJet routes so Gibraltar may not be the only one, good news though it is.

It also seems from Mayfly that the winter base complement will be 4 320s and 6 319s. Last winter it was 3 and 7, not that all the aircraft are used all the time every day through the winter.

[MKY661]

EasyJet starting BRS-GIB from 19th April

[yeo valley]

easyjet starting porto/bristol 3 weekly.

[bobsyerunlce]

Very little fanfare coming out of BRS for this new Porto route, and I haven't seen anything anywhere about SK returning next year. Is it for the same time frame or has it been extended?

MV, what is this other website you refer to? Can you me toon IT on here? It would be good to see Easyjet announce a raft of new routes. It makes more of a headline than drip-feeding them day by day. Ultimately though, who cares... They obviously have a great relationship with BRS and are doing very well there. Long may it continue

[bobsyerunlce]

New Air Lingus connection to Washington Dulles starting next year via Dublin

[MerchantVenturer]

BRS website now showing four new easyJet routes next summer: Gibraltar, Porto, Catania and Lanzarote. The last one will go head to head with Ryanair.

Good to see Porto back. It's one of Bristol's twin cities and Ryanair tried it a few years ago with fairly decent loads but presumably inadequate yields.

easyJet will also have an additional aircraft at BRS next summer making twelve.

The informant on that other website (I'll PM you the details bob as PPruNe may not like other sites being advertised) was on the ball again. He also said that there would be more from bmi regional next year.

[virginblue]

BD has filed slots at DUS for summer 15 with the destination "QLA" (= Lasham) - a placeholder for BRS?

[bobsyerunlce]

Could be that BMIr are replacing one German route with another, and they do like German routes after all...!
I think they will only ever go for routes from BRS that can be both business and pleasure so I don't think we will see any routes like Oslo or Gothenburg from them unfortunately. Düsseldorf is a strange one for me; average sized city albeit on the Rhine. Reasonably close to Dortmund but not much else (Cologne, Essen)

[tpm]

DUS is Germany's 3rd busiest airport after FRA and MUC and covers an 11m metro area with excellent transport links and lots of commerce and industry. If the state of North Rhine-Westphalia was a country, it would be in the global top 20 in terms of GDP. A BRS - DUS route would be an interesting proposition. It is fairly close to Frankfurt (less than 1.5 hours by direct high-speed train), but I think it could still work, there is enough 'mass' there (unlike, say, Hanover). Not sure how much bmir's routes are really driven by pleasure, I would imagine that for city breaks and VFR the pain threshold is much lower than for business travellers when it comes to fares. The question is would it work without the extra transfer passengers feeding into a hub (not sure what status DUS has for LH these days or if it's any good as an LH hub, ignoring Air Berlin for now).

[Bristol_Traveller]

DUS would be a reasonable choice for another German destination. LH have a 'mini-hub' there, with long-haul out to a few select locations.

However, as part of their re-organisation, the only LH short-haul routes from DUS are to FRA and MUC - everything else is transferring to Germanwings (4U), so it doesn't seem like an obvious alternate European hub destination.

On that basis, DUS would have to largely work on point-to-point traffic. Maybe the filing really is for QLA, and this is a private route they're looking to operate? (I see there's a Boeing maintenance company based at Lasham Airfield?).

[CabinCrewe]

How do we think GIB will do ? Might be concerned reasonable loads but dire yields

[MerchantVenturer]

BAConnect had started a DUS route a year before they pulled out of BRS in the spring of 2007 following Flybe's involvement with the demise of BACon. That resulted in a number of other BACon routes from BRS also disappearing including other German routes to FRA and MUC.

bmiregional now flies FRA and MUC and also flew MXP (another of the BACon routes) but as as been previously discussed that one seems to have been pulled permanently despite its loads being largely on a par with the other bmir routes form BRS, so presumably the yield was not up to scratch.

It might be thought that if MXP didn't succeed then DUS would be doubtful but there does seem to be further expansion afoot at BRS with this airline so who knows outside the company? bmir does or at least did (they may still) seem willing to try German routes from BRS with HAM and HAJ as well as FRA and MUC, although HAJ no longer operates and the HAM and BRS catchments have important business links with the likes of Airbus.

easyJet

Going hand in hand with the four new routes is the announcement of an additional based aircraft next summer or at least for part of it which will make 12.

Given that GIB and OPO are 3 x weekly and ACE and CTA 2 x weekly there does seem scope for further route enhancement if the aircraft is to be utilised fully.

[virginblue]

Germanwings is no longer the airline it used to be 10 years ago. It has a differentiated product and also code-shares with the likes of LX and OS. In fact, it also provides feed to UA to/from LHR. So it is possible that BD can work something out if it thinks connecting passengers are needed to make it feasible. Not sure that it is indeed needed, given that MAN and BHX have 7 weekdaily flights to DUS and apparently up to 600 seats a day to DUS are filled from those destinations.

As others have said, DUS has a really good network of UK destinations so there appears to be a market: GLA, MAN, BHX, LBA, NCL, LGW, LHR, STN, LCY plus seasonal flights to JER, GCI, NQY, INV, EXT. In the past, there were also flights to EDI and SOU, and destinations like NCL and GLA are, as far as non-LCCs are concerned, an exclusive for DUS and not served from MUC and FRA.

This could, of course, also mean that "QLA" is a filler for another UK destination and not for BRS. EMA would be a possibility, given that nearby CGN was served from there by various airlines in the past and BD has an aircraft based at EMA anyway. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

[MerchantVenturer]

How do we think GIB will do ? Might be concerned reasonable loads but dire yields

easyJet hasn't had too many failures at BRS during its 12 years at the airport so it's to be hoped that this one won't be one of the few. I wondered whether there is any particular reason why you would mention Gibraltar rather than, say, Porto.

BRS appears to be easyJet's only other GIB destination apart from LGW.

When it was announced I wondered about Keflavik which started last December but that one seems to be doing all right as a year-round route with the 2 x weekly of last winter increased to 3 x weekly this winter.

[CabinCrewe]

I would have thought that would have been obvious. GIB is well and truly in the low rent category with about 5 other airports within 100 miles of it ! Porto as you know, is not in that category and is individual and niche with novelty value and some relatively untapped business appeal.
Have you ever watched the punters on that Gibraltar Airport docusoap?.

[MerchantVenturer]

No I've not heard of the docusoap you mention. Thank you for your response.

Presumably the easyJet management is aware of the likely clientele as you describe it, so time will tell if they live to regret their decision.

[paully]

CabinCrewe

Firstly its not about the airport..The people on the programme, , you mention are ghastly, (although you seem to have no problem watching it) but they are ex pats, few of them local, picked because they are lowest common denominator..They are even more despised by the people of Gibraltar themselves. Quite what they have to do with the success of any route, apart from cheap comments, is not clear..

Nice place to visit, not low rent and I wish them the best of luck with the route:D

[Letsflycwl]

Well said !!

[anoraknophobia]

With the addition of another Easy jet aircraft for summer 2015, plus Ryanair back up to four and I believe Thomson basing an additional 737-800,how many any aircraft will be at Bristol for Summer 2015 and what apron capacity does the Airport have North side.

[MerchantVenturer]

I'm not sure how many stands there are at present - three new ones were built last year.

Currently next summer's based complement appears to be:

easyJet 12 x A319/320

Ryanair 4 x B 738

Thomson 2 x B 752 and 1 x B 738

Thomas Cook 2 x A 321

bmi regional 4/5? x E 135/145 including the one operating for Brussels Airlines (also one on the South Side for the Airbus corporate shuttle?)

Also a KLM E 190 nightstopping

[speedbird_481_papa]

Merchant Venture, there are currently capacity for 28 aircraft to be parked overnight at BRS. However, I can't help but feel that even during the peak summer period, that parking stands could be much better utilised throughout the day to increase potential destinations and pax figures. even if it is only the odd one or 2 extra aircraft, that would be hugely beneficial.

[MerchantVenturer]

Thank you for that, speedbird.

[WATABENCH]

Old rumour I know that airport talking closely to United Airlines about rekindling NYC, but do we think American starting BHX-JFK alongside United to EWR might affect things?

[marko1]

Are we likely to see any more new routes for next summer. Ryanair in particular seems quiet

[MerchantVenturer]

There have been 'strong' rumours about American Airlines but it seems that the BHX initiative has scotched any chance there might have been there. United has also been mentioned but it may have all started with the comment of the BRS CEO earlier this year when he spoke of something happening in 'the very near future'.

As for Ryanair they've been fairly static at BRS for several years although some routes have come and gone to be replaced by others.

It looks as though the future is increasingly orange with strong hints from quarters that should not be lightly dismissed that there is more to come as there is with bmi regional.

One negative piece of news is that Helvetic appears to have pulled out altogether according to an email sent to a poster on another forum.

[santito]

Why would either United or AA come to BRS?

BHX and LHR are both so close, and offer multiple transatlantic options... Not to mention that it all fell down last time as we couldn't get enough people to fly in the pointy end of the plane. What has changed?

[MerchantVenturer]

I suppose the one thing that has changed is the economic situation although currently there is some doom and gloom about Europe in particular.

The business/first cabin of the CO to EWR was not used in the numbers it should have been if the route demands of the local business community had proved to be soundly based - but it's probably ever thus when airports conduct surveys of their local actual and potential clientele.

With a certain amount of devil's advocacy, but not entirely, I wonder how valuable a single daily rotation even to somewhere as high profile as New York is to the West Country's economy. The Bristol city region continues to be one of the UK's most successful and vibrant economies: would a daily NYC flight really make that much difference?

The CO route was fine for the New York area but anywhere else in the USA entailed a change of aircraft and often a long wait at EWR in at least one direction. What's the difference in flying to AMS, DUB or BRU and changing aircraft there with a wait?

The chief obstacle though is and will remain LHR, even with all the current argument about its future development, with its myriad worldwide routes, airlines and frequencies. Major M4 accidents and signal problems on the Great Western main line notwithstanding, LHR is very convenient for the Bristol area and nothing reasonably forseeable locally will ever make the tiniest dent in that situation. With electrification of the GW main line now under way and talk of a LHR rail spur the UK's largest airport could become even easier to reach from the West Country

BRS is very good at what it already does. Given its physical disadvantages it punches above its weight and I wonder whether it isn't a better idea to concentrate on continuing to build on that rather than look for NYC and MEB3 routes.

[Sharklet_321]

Bristol does punch above its weight for sure.

If they were ever able to extend the runway (is it possible?) I think they could easily support a daily A330 Emirates to Dubai for access to Asia and the Pacific.

[MerchantVenturer]

It's physically possible to extend the runway at the eastern end but to be of any use it would mean dropping a main road under the runway extension and taking possession of a common.

The environmental disturbance and cost that this would engender was deemed by the airport not to be worth the likely result when it published its master plan several years ago.

Just to confirm, when I said it punches above its weight I was speaking of the physical limitations. The size and make-up of the catchment would support a busier airport (it's at 6.3 mppa at the moment) if it was more conveniently situated and on a larger site.

Realistically it has to make the most of what it's got with a current limit of 10 mppa placed on its planning consents.

[anothertyke]

'What's the difference in flying via AMS, BRU.....?'

To anywhere in US served non-stop from Europe, not a lot. Comes down to convenience of departure, arrival and connecting times in both directions.

To anywhere not served direct from Europe, it's the difference between a one stop on-line connection and a two-stop alliance connection. I used to like CO because their onward network was so good.

[EK77WNCL]

77L could do BRS-DXB comfortably... I assume ground handling at BRS is satisfactory for a 200LR? Even the 77W could do it with minimal payload restrictions but (and I may be wrong) BRS seems a bit tight for anything that size.

If not EK, QR could certainly do DOH with the 788 or EY to AUH with the 789. Although I think EK has the better odds.

[bobsyerunlce]

Interesting story in the Bristol Post today about easyjet at BRS

Easyjet working on 'wish list' of new destinations from Bristol Airport. Where would you like to fly to? | Bristol Post (http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Easyjet-working-wish-list-new-destinations/story-24557730-detail/story.html#)

[MerchantVenturer]

Having previously announced that next summer both FRA and ABZ would operate 3 x daily on weekdays and daily on Saturdays to FRA (new) and continuing last year's daily on Sundays to both, the airline has now increased frequency on the MUC service.

MUC had already been given a new Saturday service next summer making it daily throughout the entire week. The route will now operate 2 x daily on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Furthermore, because of demand the enhanced FRA and MUC services will now begin on 2 and 3 February respectively next year instead of at the end of March.

It would appear from this that the LH code share on the FRA and MUC routes is beginning to show positive results.

The remaining bmir route from BRS - to HAM - remains at 2 x daily Monday to Friday and daily on Sundays.

bmi regional adds 7,000 seats from Bristol to Germany ahead of schedule ? Bristol Airport (http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/media-centre/news-releases/2014/11/bmi-regional.aspx)

[Welshtraveller]

According to the Stockholm airport website, SAS is returning to Bristol next summer with flights to Stockholm. I would like to travel in May or Sept, is this possible? Nothing on the SAS website at the moment. Thanks.

[andrew1968]

SAS Bristol to Stockholm is only operating end of June to mid August I believe.

[andrew1968]

The Caterer carries a report about the development of an on-site hotel at Bristol Airport.


Link to report below:-


https://www.thecaterer.com/articles/354271/modular-hotel-scoops-bristol-airport-deal

[bravoromeosierra]

Although there are already a few Hampton Inn's in the UK, it is a relatively unknown brand unless you've seen them or stayed in them in the States.

Having done so on numerous occasions they seem like a good all-round option for BRS.

[WATABENCH]

Re: EZY wish list, think SSH & HRG would compliment the operation, Air Malta used to operate a while back on 320 if I remember correctly (on behalf of XL) only TOM doing SSH at the mo.

[globetrotter79]

I'd have thought VCE should be an obvious contender for easyJet ex-BRS?

[bobsyerunlce]

EZY wish list would be Venice, increased CDG (although why would they with the prices they can charge), SSH, Moscow and Dubrovnik (although the last two are my requests and not necessarily ones that would be good business at BRS)

[marko1]

As well as the above id like to see some more Greek destinations - Zante , kefalonia, Kos Rhodes and Athens . Antalya in Turkey too plus maybe higher freqs to the likes of Paris, Rome , Barcelona Madrid Lisbon Berlin Amsterdam nd Geneva

[WATABENCH]

Agree with you on Dubrovnik Bob, great for a short sunny break, prob summer only and 2-3 weekly, think TOM doing weekly next summer.

[bobsyerunlce]

Agree with increased frequencies to Berlin and Madrid. But could BRS support even more flights to Amsterdam?!

[MerchantVenturer]

Wish lists and passenger surveys have to be taken with a huge pinch of salt. For example, if the CO EWR service had been supported by the business community in the way they suggested it would be before a NYC route was ever announced we'd be having one or even two daily flights still.

easyJet have been far more consistent with their routes at BRS than Ryanair with easyJet axing eleven* routes since 2002 whilst Ryanair have axed more than double that number even though they've only had a BRS base since 2007.

the easyJet routes that have been discontinued are:

Venice Marco Polo 2003-2009 Ryanair now operates to Treviso
Bilbao 2003-2004
Copenhagen 2003-2004, but restored in 2012
Valencia 2004-2009 now operated by Ryanair
Hamburg 2005-2006 now operated by bmi regional
Rijeka 2006-2007
Gdansk 2007-2008 now operated by Ryanair
Milan Malpensa 2007-2010 operated by bmi regional until October this year; Ryanair operates to Bergamo in summer
Warsaw Chopin 2008 now operated by Ryanair to Warsaw Modlin
Biarritz 2008-2009
Bastia 2009-2010 now a summer charter flight

* so far as I can ascertain

Of the above Venice stands out. I remember when it was axed there was an article in the local paper with a large number of protests from regular users. easyJet conceded that it was carrying very high loads but the cost of operating into Marco Polo forced the route closure at that time. Whether this situation has changed in the meantime obviously remains to be seen.

CDG is certainly carrying very high loads with 'sold out' shown on sectors several times each week. It does seem to be operating the 320 on the route most days this winter which, perhaps surprisingly, wasn't the case in the summer when at times half the following week's sectors would be shown as 'sold out' by the previous weekend.

That easyJet is losing passengers by having so many flights sold out was demonstrated to me last week. I flew from BRS to Barcelona and on the way out I heard a man behind speaking to a cabin crew member saying he wanted to return to Bristol later in the week but the BCN-BRS flights for the four following days were sold out and he was having to return via BHX with Ryanair.

GVA is hugely popular - for the past four years CAA stats show that the BRS route was busier than any UK airport route outside London to GVA - although airports such as MAN and BHX have substantial routes to other Swiss cities which BRS doesn't.

AMS is currently 11 x weekly although reports suggest the new AMS base will add two more weekly rotations next summer, with KLM at 4 x daily with the E190.

I wouldn't really like to offer any suggestions because I'm not privy to the likely economics of any route. I admit to being pleasantly surprised at the apparent success of the Keflavik route which has been increased to 3 x weekly this winter. That was one I wouldn't have thought was high in the pecking order of new routes so who knows what might happen in the near future?

What does seem likely is that easyJet have done their sums and believe that a significant expansion at BRS is feasible.

[kfsimpson]

Totally agree with MV about being delighted at the apparent success of KEF, and also disapppointment at loss of VCE, which was a route I used several times. In terms of what would be interesting and possibly successful, what about these (possibly bizarre) suggestions :
1. Greek routes
2. Further Scandinavian routes beyond CPH
3. Any German routes - MUC, HAM, DUS, FRA, LEJ ..... No competiton with RYR on these and surely they could blow BMI out of the water on fares with these. Whether it's desirable to lose BMI at Bristol is another matter, but I bet EZY could beat their fares.
4. Other Spanish routes, especially northern cities. Would these clash with OPO? I think not.
5. Middle East - IST, TLV, AMM, although I know that they have pulled out of AMM from LGW. Shame, route I have used, and Jordan is absolutely fantastic for visitors. CAI is off the agenda for the moment due to Egyptian govt being so difficult about them flying as a LCC - shame.

However, any Easyjet expansion at BRS is good news, and I will support any interesting new destinations and trust that other BRS passengers will do the same.

[MerchantVenturer]

If easyJet took on any of the bmi regional German routes they would almost certainly only be daily at best, although fares would probably be cheaper in general than BM.

bmi regional is increasing its frequencies to multi daily and, vitally, offers LH code share connectivity via FRA and MUC which easyJet would not be able to do being a point to point airline.

Jersey was rumoured as a possible easyJet route a few months ago. Again it would probably be daily at best and less than that, if anything at all, in winter. Blue Islands provides a 2 x daily JER service right through the year.

Whilst easyJet brings a tremendous amount to BRS, and I have used them many times and find them entirely satisfactory as a passenger, I do think that BRS needs a mix of airlines and I'd hate to see the likes of bmi regional and Blue islands disappear from the departure and arrival screens

[Flitefone]

NATS just tweeted this pic of Emirates departing NCL... Not much concrete left, yet NCL has rather more than BRS. Take a look!


https://twitter.com/natspressoffice/status/537582880890032128


Maybe Turkish is a better option to link the Mid and Far east for BRS!

[Sharklet_321]

That is a very good idea. Turkish 321/320 daily.

Any mileage in talking with West Jet too in light of their recent expansion to Dublin and Glasgow? They mentioned more expansion into secondary europe.

[MerchantVenturer]

I don't think anyone has seriously suggested that a B 777 could operate out of BRS to the Middle East. With a runway of just 2011 metres at an elevation over 600 feet aircraft choice is limited.

The largest aircraft that BRS has seen for many years is the former First Choice B 767s of TUI. They had fewer seats than TOM's 767s and until summer 2014 operated weekly to Sanford and Cancun with the latter route requiring a fuel stop at MAN outbound. The occasional A330 has also appeared on rugby charters to Ireland.

Turkish to Istanbul has been mentioned quite a lot in the past year with anno aero and even the ubiquitous Simon Calder discussing the possibility. To plagiarise the Dickensian Micawber it's a case of waiting for something to turn up.

[EK77WNCL]

That angle of that NCL picture is somewhat misleading, the 77W typically leaves at least 2,000ft of runway to spare, normally more. The 77L is even more impressive having personally experienced a 3500ft run flying NCL-DXB, A6-EWF (156 pax) but IIRC we were full of cargo.

Hence my comment that the 77L would more than likely be absolutely fine flying out of BRS.

EDIT: I think this illustrates it quite well, this was the 75th anniversary and the aircraft had 419 passengers (AFAIK still a record on a scheduled flight from NCL). I was also lucky enough to be on this flight by pure coincidence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8ikwII3qfI

[CheekyVisual]

Even if you could get it out again with a viable payload (rough back of fag packet calculation about 40t penalty to max tow for Isa for tora 2011 at 600ft) I'm not entirely sure where you'd park it ! 767 can only go on stand 26 and just looking at it (haven't bothered getting the tape measure out) I doubt 26 could accommodate anything larger without impacting other stands. Until BHX rebuilt the long haul pier the arrival of the 777 would wipe out three stands.

[EK77WNCL]

Yeah I mentioned that as I wasn't aware of the layout of BRS but it certainly seems... Compact... But I'm sure if they wanted to make space for it they could. And I wasn't aware the 777 took up so much space at BHX, makes me feel proud that it only takes up one extra (seldom/never used) stand at NCL :p ;)

[yeo valley]

the stobart air for eir on tonights ei3287 was a danish air transport atr 72 reg no oy rug
dont know if stobarts are short of planes.

[WATABENCH]

Comes in a fair bit that one, we call it the lego plane!

[yeo valley]

Comes in a fair bit that one, we call it the lego plane!
ah right thanks for that. first time i seen it.

[MerchantVenturer]

There is talk on another forum that Thomson will fly to Hurghada and Cape Verde (Sal) from BRS next winter. A few winters ago Boa Vista on Cape Verde was announced by TOM from BRS but it was pulled.

In the same forum a reliable poster on BRS matters says that more easyJet announcements are imminent.

[caaardiff]

Cape Verde is now on sale - Operating on a Friday departure 1000.

On sale schedule looks like:
Monday - SSH 1020/2230
HRG 1015/2225
Tuesday - TFS 1120/2045
Thursday - SSH 0945/2220
Friday - TFS 1100/2035
SAL(?) 1000/2240
Saturday - LPA 1255/2215
FUE 1505/0020
Sunday - ACE 0945/1850
NBE 1340/2100

Throw in a few Ski flights and looks like an extra based aircraft Fri-Mon.
SZG and GVA currently on W pattern on a Saturday. I'd expect one of them to operate Sat AM with CMF before the Canary flights

[AerRyan]

The Bristol to Shannon daily service with Stobart (Aer Lingus Regional) is ending on the 5th of January.

(And its Aer Lingus, not Air Lingus as some of you have said!)

[MerchantVenturer]

Re my post last night, the reliable poster on BRS matters on that other forum suggested that three new routes would be announced today.

Looking at the easyJet booking engine Bilbao, Isle of Man and Zakynthos now appear in the BRS drop-down list of destinations.

Bilbao was operated by easyJet in 2003 and 2004 before being axed. Zakynthos would be competition for the charter routes in summer. Isle of Man was last operated by Flybe with not very high passenger loads so this would be a major surprise to me.

I was expecting something like Venice Marco Polo and Milan to feature in the next batch of new routes.

Addendum

Isle of Man appears 4 x weekly, Bilbao 2 x weekly and Zakynthos weekly.

[Bristol_Traveller]

4x weekly to IOM with an A319?

Are they trying to move the entire population to BRS?

(I wonder how much this will hurt the GLO - IOM flights, scheduled to allow rich people to go and look and their money?)

[matspart3]

The Citywing/Manx2 GLO has seen off Eastern and Flybe of the IOM-BRS since 2007 and, while this will undoubtedly snaffle some leisure traffic and business users from the Bristol are and south, it's an altogether different product with free parking, three minutes from the motorway and no queues or security hassle. The regular pax value this even though it's a quirky turboprop.

[MerchantVenturer]

Isle of Man and Bilbao will be year-round routes with Zakynthos summer-only.

Of the last nine new easyJet routes at BRS seven are year-round: Keflavik, Marrakech (these two already in operation), Lanzarote, Porto, Gibraltar, Isle of Man and Bilbao with just Zakynthos and Catania summer-only.

Not only is this good news in itself but it will also help to begin to rebalance BRS's summer bias.

[flyerboy]

Just been announced WZZ to start flights to KTW.

[fanrailuk]

Is this take 2 for Wizzair @ BRS?

They're not a very well known brand around the SW region so it's very brave to take on FR with their abundance of routes to Poland...

[bobsyerunlce]

Great news. I really like Wizz and they've got a really interesting route network. Here's to many more routes from Bristol. It'll be nice to see a new carrier at the airport and I don't doubt they can take on FR

[MerchantVenturer]

Taking up fanrailuk's allusion, Wizz did announce a BRS-Warsaw Chopin route in 2010 but it was withdrawn from sale less than two months after it was announced and several months before the first flight was due to operate.

Ryanair dropped Katowice after summer 2013. It had operated since 2011 and was the airline's second attempt at the route having previously been seen between 2007 and 2009. The route's monthly load factors in summer 2013 were good (between 88% and 96%) but not as high as some of Ryanair's other Polish/Eastern European routes from BRS. We know that loads have no direct link to yields and Ryanair obviously knows what it's about.

It's certainly a good thing to have a new carrier at the airport and it may be that if this route turns out to be satisfactory others might follow in due course.

[davidjohnson6]

fanrail - I don't think Wizz are expecting many passengers on a Bristol-Katowice route who do not already have strong family or cultural ties to Poland. The only thing of significant tourist interest in or near Katowice is probably an infamous death camp from WW2.

Bristol-Katowice is all about the metaphorical Polish plumber living in the UK

[bobsyerunlce]

BMI restarting Milan twice a week (Minday and Friday) from 9 Jan

[Bristol_Traveller]

MXP looks a bit strange on the BM website at the moment.

Some JAN weeks there are o/bounds showing, but not i/bounds and vice versa on others, and the fares are about £330 each way. It seems to settle down from 20FEB onwards, with consistent flights and fares (sub-£200 for the round-trip).

It's not tremendously useful for business, but reasonably good for a weekend break away (or coming to work in Bristol for the whole week).

You might be able to use it tactically, combined with other BM services, but it's not LH codeshared, so you can't construct a BRS-MXP-FRA/MUC-BRS routing, and LH don't like selling sensibly-priced one-way intra-European fares.

It's good to have that route back on the map. I hope it's successful for BM, who look like they're increasing the number of aircraft based out of BRS.

Maybe they can get their A330 (G-WWBM) back from TCX and use it to start BRS-NYC?

Merry Christmas all.

[Capt. Tango]

Bristol Traveller
Interesting comment about BM and their Jan flights.
Im travelling out mid Jan to BRU on the BM/SN flight which says
its the usual ERJ-145 out, but the return it says is operated by Air Sicilia
a few days later which must be their ATR42?

[Morrihell]

BT...

bmir fly shuttles between Yeovilton and Malpensa as well.

Perhaps you're seeing the price for the flight on a Friday, bmir fly to Bristol as Yeovilton is shut for the weekend.

AndyD.

[MerchantVenturer]

There was often an additional flight to/from MXP on Mondays and Fridays as well as the regular scheduled rotation.

I understood the additional flight to be for AugustaWestland.

About a decade ago the OLT operation for Airbus from Filton to Bremen and Hamburg was switched from FZO to BRS in order to attract the general public onto the flights as a means of defraying the cost of the flights.

I wonder if similar thinking has resulted in the Monday and Friday-only rotations to MXP. At least it's better than no flight at all as seemed likely at one time.

bmi regional seems to have further increased its BRS offering from the end of March with MUC increased to double daily Mon to Fri together with the already announced new single daily daily Sat rotation and the single Sun rotation that's operated since the route began.

Currently next summer will see the following programme from the end of March (some from Feb):

ABZ 3 x daily - fewer at weekends
FRA 3 x daily - fewer at weekends
MUC 2 x daily - fewer at weekends
HAM 2 x daily - fewer at weekends
MXP Mon and Fri

[fa2fi]

How many based aircraft to BMIR have now? There were 8 today. Seven on eastern stands and one around stand 32. I thout it was five based there.

[MerchantVenturer]

The minimum requirement seems to be five at present: three for bmir's own needs, one for its contract re Brussels Airlines on the BRU route and one for the Airbus corporate shuttle to Toulouse and Hawarden although some of the latter operation also sees non-BRS based aircraft.

When I've visited the airport there have sometimes been more than five aircraft in evidence. The airline does undertake charter operations for football/rugby teams and the like but they are usually at weekends when the regular scheduled need is less but there may be occasions when more than five aircraft are needed.

[Bristol_Traveller]

According to this OAG 2014 Punctuality Report, BRS is the most punctual airport in the world.

ADS Advance - OAG see Bristol as most punctual airport worldwide (http://www.adsadvance.co.uk/oag-see-bristol-as-most-punctual-airport-worldwide.html)

Quite a remarkable distinction, and one I guess made possible by the very low number of transiting passengers at BRS, and a high proportion of LCC flights.

[MerchantVenturer]

Aurigny timetable showing 9 x weekly mid-July till mid-September with both Saturdays and Sundays double daily.

On the debit side there are some Saturdays in April and May (and at the end of September) when there is no Saturday flight shown at all.

[bravoromeosierra]

Whereas it's good to see a positive story about the airport's punctuality, I do rather wonder what the point is.. the competition is like comparing apples and oranges.

[MerchantVenturer]

Strong prospects for 2015 following record year at Bristol Airport ? Bristol Airport (http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/media-centre/news-releases/2015/01/record-year.aspx)

BRS confirms that 2014 was the best calendar year in the airport's history for passenger numbers with 6.3 million passing through the terminal, an increase of 3.45% on 2013.

The airport news release anticipates further growth in 2015.

[MerchantVenturer]

http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/media-centre/news-releases/2015/02/hampton-by-hilton.aspx

After many years of promises it looks as though the airport hotel will finally be built with a completion date anticipated to be spring 2016.

BRS is the busiest UK airport (by passenger volume) without an onsite hotel.

This will be the latest significant infrastructure development of recent years following the western walkway, the central pier/walkway and the eastern extension to the main terminal (currently under construction) with rumours that the western terminal extension will follow soon afterwards.

The airport owners and management have to be given credit for making the best of a small and unpromising site. That F word (ilton) still lingers in the memory with what might have been.

[Bristol_Traveller]

There are times when on the Flyer, wishing it was a train, that I also use the F word.

Hampton is a good choice. It's price appropriate for majority of BRS users, but unexpectedly good quality. I'd pitch it somewhere between Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, and wayyy above IBIS.

[MerchantVenturer]

I can't see BRS ever having a rail connection: not enough passenger volume to make the considerable expense in building a line worthwhile, especially with the heavy civil engineering works that would be needed to climb up to the airport. Can’t even get those last three miles into Portishead from Bristol completed with the track bed already in place.

Incidentally, the First Greyhound airport coach service to/from South Wales is being discontinued, but Weston-super-Mare now gets an hourly bus service with First from/to the airport calling at Weston and Worle railway stations from early until late.

I saw Shaun Browne the BRS routes director on the local tv news this evening. He said the airport anticipates a 6% to 8% rise in passenger numbers in 2015 which would take the annual total to around 6.7/6.8 million. He went on to say that he expects the 7 mppa barrier to be breached in 2016.

Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair chief marketing officer, was visiting BRS today and was also interviewed on the local tv news. He said all the things about the airport that the management would be pleased to hear and suggested that BRS would feature in the airline's expansion into Germany and Scandinavian in the next year or two. I hope any German routes don't hinder bmi regional's routes to that country with the valuable LH code share.

[Morrihell]

Re: Kenny Jacobs,

Was it Thursday he visited?

Ryanair's EI-DCX did a "round robin" of airports on Wednesday, Dublin - Liverpool - Bristol - Köln-Bonn, returning to Dublin Thursday afternoon.

Rail connection, no, unless it's a funicular!

MH

[MerchantVenturer]

You may well be right about the visit of Kenny Jacobs being on Wednesday. The interview was shown on Thursday's early evening local news on the Bristol TV channel and could have been recorded the day before.

[MerchantVenturer]

Ryanair wants to be biggest carrier flying out of Bristol as it targets more planes and routes from city | Bristol Post (http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Ryanair-wants-biggest-carrier-flying-Bristol/story-26005462-detail/story.html)

The local rag carries an article about BRS and Ryanair today, based on an interview with Kenny Jacobs, possibly given last week when he was at BRS.

The headline is that Ryanair wants to be the biggest carrier at the airport. It will have four based aircraft this summer, a long way behind easyJet with 12 and still growing. I suspect the local business correspondent may have used a bit of journalistic licence because the prospect of both easyJet and Ryanair carrying around four million passengers annually begs the obvious question as to where they will all come from.

Perhaps the more realistic message is that Ryanair has it in mind to expand at BRS in the years ahead after several years of stagnation at Lulsgate, but it would probably say this about many of its airports as its new aircraft become available.

Highway improvements

The airport is funding highway improvements to the tune of over one million pounds on the A38 outside the airport. Work will start this month to remove the pedestrian bridge, install traffic lights at the junction with Downside Road and improve access at the roundabout outside the airport main entrance.

[NewquayJacob]

Easyjet have a fairly extensive route base throughout Europe, so what potential routes could Ryanair serve?

Was looking at flights to LPA - it appears FR fly on Thursday, TOM on Sat and TCX on Monday - I thought FR used to fly at least twice weekly? Only 630 departing seats per week now.

ACE appears to offer 1,228 departing seats per week increasing to 1,588 when EZY start in April and TFS offers 1,989 departing seats per week - just comparing to EMA which offers 3,283 departing seats a week. Maybe there is scope for extra flights to the Canaries?

[MerchantVenturer]

Since they set up its BRS base in 2007 Ryanair has seen routes come and go with bewildering rapidity at times. This is a list of those the airline once tried (may not be a complete list) but doesn't any more, with routes now operated by other airlines marked with an asterisk:

Derry, Dinard, Gdansk*, Grenoble*, Katowice*, Salzburg*, Scezecin, Shannon, Cagliari, Eindhoven, Pau, Perpignan, Montpellier, Toulon, Trieste, Bydgoszcz, Bratislava, Rimini, Porto*, Belfast City, Marrakech*, Seville, Riga and Lodz.

Summer 2015 should see 28 routes according to Kenny Jacobs but Reus appears to be not available for booking which would leave 27.

As for Gran Canaria, Ryanair operates once per week in winter, twice a week in summer.

The point I was trying to make was that if Ryanair ever did assume easyJet's mantle of biggest airline at BRS it would not be a case of expanding a bit here and there but one of substantial route development.

That's why I'm sceptical although no timescale is given so it could be something that might occur gradually over the next decade or longer. Certainly the BRS management thinks that 10 mppa and more overall pax figures are achievable in the future - it's currently at 6.3 mppa with anticipated growth of 6-8% this year and expecting to go through 7 mppa in 2016 according to the airport's aviation director - and the passengers would have to come from somewhere and have services to use.

[santito]

According to the BMIr thread, BRS-DUS is a new 6 weekly service!

[MerchantVenturer]

I can't see anything on the BRS or bmir websites about this although I was told at the end of last week by someone who is fairly reliable on BRS matters that BRS-DUS was in the frame with bmir for this summer. There might also be a couple of other new bmir routes from BRS for the summer.

[virginblue]

As I mentioned in the BM-Thread, flights have gone live on the DUS-airport website.

[CabinCrewe]

yet still no LH codeshares.... like their orher attempts, wont be in the same format come 2017...

[globetrotter79]

Also twice weekly (tue/sat) BRS-NTE

[MerchantVenturer]

The BRS-DUS service is now shown on the bmi regional website booking engine, commencing 27 April.

There is also a new service from that date BRS-CDG at 2 x daily Monday-Friday and daily Sunday (no Saturday), and a July-Sept BRS-NTE (Nantes) service on Tuesday and Saturday. These are the other new routes I alluded to in my previous post.

easyJet operates BRS-CDG daily and has no competition since Air France pulled out a year ago. Despite regularly selling out sectors well in advance (currently four are sold out over the next week) easyJet has not increased frequency, probably in part because it is able to charge very high fares for late bookers - over the next week single sector fares are well over £100 in many cases with one at £244.

It now remains to see if easyJet will respond to bmir's initiative on the BRS-CDG route.

[cornishsimon]

Nice addition to the regional route at BRS.

Where are the aircraft coming from for this expansion ?

And is CDG operating with a codeshare with anyone ?


cs

[MerchantVenturer]

Looking at the timetable it looks as though six aircraft will be required at times to operate the timetable. There are also bmi regional aircraft at BRS that operate the Airbus corporate shuttle to Toulouse and Hawarden and an aircraft that operates BRS-BRU 3 x daily for Brussels Airlines.

It may be that the times when six aircraft are needed are when the Airbus corporate shuttle aircraft are not required, in which case there might only be a need for only five dedicated aircraft to operate the new public timetable.

There has been no information about code shares published so far as I know apart from the existing LH code share on the FRA and MUC routes.

In summary the rotations will be as follows:

ABZ 3 x daily M-F, no Sat, 1 x daily Sun
FRA 3 x daily M-F, 1 x daily Sat, 1 x daily Sun
MUC 2 x daily M-F, 1 x daily Sat, daily Sun
HAM 2 x daily M-F, no Sat, 1 x daily Sun
DUS 1 x daily M-F, no Sat, 1 x daily Sun
CDG 2 x daily M-F, no Sat, 1 x daily Sun
MXP 1 x daily M and F
NTE 1 x daily Tue and Sat (early July-early Sept)

[Flightrider]

The concept of restoring a decent business schedule on BRS-CDG with a day return facility is a sensible one, but that isn't what they've done! The afternoon departure ex BRS at 1350 and last departure ex CDG at 1640 (presumably so the aircraft can do the new evening DUS?) is going to be....well, interesting.

[MerchantVenturer]

You're right. It's still possible to get in a reasonable day in Paris by flying out with bmi regional and returning with easyJet (departs CDG 1900 each weekday evening through the summer) but that's not what bmi regional would want.

All the flights from BRS this summer seem to be on the E145 except both HAM rotations (as has been the case since the route started) and the middle ABZ rotation that are on the 135.

[MerchantVenturer]

As the timetable currently stands, this is the schedule from BRS from 27 April, departure and arrival times for each flight. Most of the time this can be worked by five aircraft.

On Friday evenings when a sixth appears necessary it might be possible to use an Airbus shuttle aircraft, and a poster on another aviation forum whose identity I know and who is extremely well informed on BRS matters posted last night that there will be new timings on Aberdeen and Munich.

I suppose his might mean that some of the ABZ and MUC flights will be operated by aircraft from those bases.

Monday

0640-1030 Frankfurt
0700-1020 Aberdeen
0700-1045 Hamburg
0720-1140 Paris Cdg
0815-1245 Milan Malpensa
1130-1625 Aberdeen
1150-1540 Frankfurt
1205-1710 Munich
1350-1655 Paris Cdg
1630-2045 Frankfurt
1650-2035 Hamburg
1710-2200 Munich
1725-2055 Dusseldorf
1740-2050 Aberdeen

Tuesday

0640-1030 Frankfurt
0700-1020 Aberdeen
0700-1045 Hamburg
0720-1140 Paris Cdg
1130-1625 Aberdeen
1150-1540 Frankfurt
1205-1710 Munich
1220-1510 Nantes from 4 July
1350-1655 Paris Cdg
1630-2045 Frankfurt
1650-2035 Hamburg
1710-2200 Munich
1725-2055 Dusseldorf
1740-2050 Aberdeen

Wednesday and Thursday

0640-1030 Frankfurt
0700-1020 Aberdeen
0700-1045 Hamburg
0720-1140 Paris Cdg
1130-1625 Aberdeen
1150-1540 Frankfurt
1205-1710 Munich
1350-1655 Paris Cdg
1630-2045 Frankfurt
1650-2035 Hamburg
1710-2200 Munich
1725-2055 Dusseldorf
1740-2050 Aberdeen

Friday

0640-1030 Frankfurt
0700-1020 Aberdeen
0700-1045 Hamburg
0720-1140 Paris Cdg
1130-1625 Aberdeen
1150-1540 Frankfurt
1205-1710 Munich
1350-1655 Paris Cdg
1600-2030 Milan Malpensa
1630-2045 Frankfurt
1650-2035 Hamburg
1710-2200 Munich
1725-2055 Dusseldorf
1740-2050 Aberdeen

Saturday

0640-1030 Frankfurt
0700-1130 Munich
1530-1820 Nantes from 4 July

Sunday

1205-1710 Munich
1325-2050 Aberdeen
1500-1830 Dusseldorf
1630-2045 Frankfurt
1740-2125 Hamburg
1910-2210 Paris Cdg

In addition to the Airbus corporate shuttle between BRS, Toulouse and Hawarden and the 3 x daily BRS-BRU for Brussels Airlines, bmi regional will also operate summer weekend charter flights for tour companies from BRS to Verona and Bastia.

[virginblue]

The two aircraft for the new flights from MUC to RTM, BRN and LGG are fully utilized. They cannot do additional BRS flights from the MUC end.

[tpm]

Bristol-business.net (http://www.bristol-business.net) has a story (http://www.bristol-business.net/bristol-airport-adds-three-more-european-city-flights-to-its-route-network/) that suggests Ryanair might be preparing to add direct flights to cities such as Cologne and Stuttgart as part of its expansion at Bristol Airport.

[bravoromeosierra]

Slot permitting of course, would they'd not been better off having the DUS flight when the CDG one is and VV?

[MerchantVenturer]

I wonder if this is speculation based on Kenny Jacobs' recent comment to the Bristol news media that BRS would be involved in Ryanair's expansion when its new aircraft became available with Germany and Scandinavia mentioned.

As tpm points out the news article mentions 'cities such as Cologne and Stuttgart'.

The report also says that bmi regional's route to Nantes that begins later this year is a new one for BRS. It's not - Aer Arann operated it in summer 2007 - and Dusseldorf is said to have been previously operated by Aer Lingus. The last carrier on BRS-DUS was BAConnect which ceased when Flybe took over BACon also in 2007 and axed most of the BRS routes.

bmi regional

Many thanks virginblue for information re Munich base commitments.

[MerchantVenturer]

Re post 2652, the timetable has now been amended re Munich and Aberdeen with the evening MUC rotation replaced by an early morning one - the lunchtime/afternoon rotation remains as it was.

Aberdeen sees a slight reduction with Monday and Tuesday now 2 x daily and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday still 3 x daily, and Sundays still single daily.

The morning ABZ rotation together with the middle rotation on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays will be worked by ABZ-based aircraft.

Finally, the Milan Malpensa timetable has been doubled from late May to 4 x weekly with flights on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

[santito]

Seems like BMIr are still ramping up the frequencies, which can only be a good thing....

Do we have any insights into what loads are like? Are all these routes performing?

[Centre cities]

Not aircraft related but important never the less.

It appears a major UK coach company is improving the links between South Wales and Bristol Airport with a new 24 hour a day dedicated Bristol Airport service from South Wales with airport liveried vehicles.

Does not sound much but this is surely an indication of the passenger numbers from South Wales using Bristol Airport as their local point of travel and an indication that the airports tentacles are beginning to spread further.

Centre cities.

[bravoromeosierra]

The airport uses some rather dramatic language on its Facebook page about FirstGroup's "high profile" (really?) exit from operating the Greyhound services to South Wales.

I assume patronage/and or yields were too poor to sustain the Greyhound services so what's different about the National Express effort?

[mustrum_ridcully]

If I look for a coach somewhere it's National Express or Megabus. Greyhound doesn't even figure, I suspect that will be true for a lot of people.

[MerchantVenturer]

I think that First Greyhound is well known in South Wales and the service 100 that operated between Swansea, Cardiff, Newport and Bristol Airport will continue to operate between Swansea and Cardiff.

The BRS service ran for two years and will cease next month. It operated hourly or two-hourly, depending on time of day, from the early hours until late evening each day. As with most airport buses to BRS loads varied. It was not uncommon to see over 40 getting off or boarding the coach at times in the summer; at other times it would be near empty.

The same applies to the BRS Flyer which is operated by First Bristol for the airport, although this operates up to every nine minutes for most of the day and evening and is a 24-hours service. The A4 Air Decker run by the Bath Bus Company is more like the South Wales service with a similar time spread except that it's every hour all the time. The double deckers are often very lightly loaded but can be quite full on occasions. The £20 return fare between Bath and BRS doesn't need too many passengers to make it pay.

I suspect that the airport is subsidising the new National Express service which apparently will operate 12 times daily. I'm not convinced of its need because with the Flyer virtually an on demand service most of the time to Temple Meads station which is 25 minutes away feeding into First Great Western trains to Cardiff (three an hour) the flexibility is greater. No doubt comparative fare price will be an important factor.

bmi regional

santito - back in the summer of last year monthly average summer load factors on the routes were in the band 55-75%, typically high 60s, low 70s. The LH code share to FRA and MUC had a positive effect on loads, unsurprisingly.

I haven't checked them in any detail this winter but looking at the monthly totals each month they appear to be a bit down on summer. The fares are quite high on most routes if a week in May that I just checked is typical.

Air Passenger Duty

Bristol Airport welcomes opportunity to make case against Air Passenger Duty being devolved to Wales - Wales Online (http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/bristol-airport-welcomes-opportunity-make-8737580#rlabs=11)

It's reported that new powers for Wales were outlined by the government today which will include a review of potential options to mitigate impacts of APD devolution on regional airports. There will be a discussion paper published in the summer examining the effects of the devolution and variation of APD rates within England, and the provision of aid for regional airports including Bristol Airport.

It all sounds a bit vague to me and, anyway, a change of government in May might well see a different approach.

[SWBKCB]

Interesting view from the Aviation minister - due to competition laws, you can't just vary APD by region within a single tax area.

But, speaking to the committee, Mr Goodwill, the Scarborough and Whitby MP, said: “We don’t have a regional federal structure, we don’t have tax-raising powers for the North-East. So there’s not something that would allow the North-East to reciprocate in terms of cutting their taxes.”

Newcastle Airport future under threat if Scottish taxes are slashed, transport minister admits (From The Northern Echo) (http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/11815610.Airlines_as_well_as_passengers_will_desert_Newcastl e_Airport_if_Scottish_taxes_slashed/)

Would seem to apply as much to BRS-Wales as NCL-Scotland

[MerchantVenturer]

Yet within Scotland the flights from the Highlands and Islands airports don't attract APD unlike the other Scottish airports so there is a variation in Scotland already. So why not in parts of England? Even that though would probably cause more problems than it solved.

For instance, suppose BRS was able to be given some form of aid to mitigate the effects of Welsh APD devolution. That might then impact negatively on Exeter and Birmingham airports so would they be given help to counter this? If they were then Newquay, Bournemouth, Southampton, Manchester and East Midlands airports might feel the draught and be given aid. The spread would in fact take in all of England.

All the main political parties have managed to get the UK into a huge mess with their ill thought out tax gathering and fiscal devolution proposals. So far as APD is concerned the fairest way for it to be a level playing field competition-wise is for the tax to be scrapped everywhere. Politicians (of all parties) though often have peculiar ideas of what amounts to fairness.

The proposals suggested today for mitigating the effects of devolved APD are not at all clear which is why I described them as vague.

[ssflyer]

Some of the late departures on FR9336 to GRO ,which would have arrived at 23.55 :E, have been changed to a 13.05 departure with an eta in GRO of 16.05.
Sigh of relief for those early bookers who were dreading arriving at their Catalonia hotel at 2am.
SS

[Letsflycwl]

If the powers are handed across to the Welsh Government then it is obvious APD may be dissolved on all flights ex CWL.

There is no way CWL would be able to catch up to BRS level on short haul flights, far too late for that now.

However long haul flights may prove to be the icing on CWL's cake, it has a long enough runway, handles wide body aircraft in a regular basis which can only attract the airlines with the offer of no APD.

All a waiting game I suppose and can only help CWL's opportunity of bagging a decent long haul airline.....we all know either CWL or BRS can gain a Middle East airline or a service to New York.....time will tell.

[MerchantVenturer]

The Silk Commission recommended that long haul APD be devolved to Wales in the first instance so it may be that is what will happen. The discussion paper to be published in the summer seems another way to delay a decision. Following a full scale review of APD devolution a couple of years ago the government put the whole thing in the too-hard-to-do basket. That changed with the possibility of Scotland voting for independence when all the main political parties made promises to devolve more power north of the border including APD in a late dash to avoid a break-up of the UK.

Now that Scotland will have the power naturally Wales wants the same. However, there is not the same urgency because Wales is not in the process of voting for independence, hence another delaying tactic to give the government breathing space to decide how things might be evened up in England (if there is a way).

If long haul APD was devolved to Wales it would also involve long haul via hubs such as AMS. Any hope that BRS had of getting a NYC or ME service would almost certainly disappear if CWL enjoyed a low or zero rated APD rate. CWL would then become the airport of choice if any airline decided to set up long haul direct scheduled flights from Severnside. Long haul transatlantic charters, say with TOM, might be more likely initially.

It's not clear if any other airport other than BRS would be affected with long haul APD devolved to Wales. It seems doubtful that long haul services from more distant English airports would migrate to CWL.

In the end it will be a political decision. Obviously the BRS ownership and management believe that markets should be left without government interference but the CWL ownership and management take the opposite view. Were the positions reversed so would be the respective beliefs. There is an additional ingredient with CWL in that its owner will also be setting its APD rates if the tax is devolved. Whether that will complicate matters in any way remains to be seen.

[MerchantVenturer]

The service has started - replacing the First Greyhound although according to the airport website that won't cease until 17 March.

There are 12 direct return journeys available each day roughly every two hours and they operate around the clock. There are also about an additional six return journeys that require a change at Bristol bus station between National Express and the BRS Flyer.

The direct services take between one hour 20 minutes and one hour 30 minutes between BRS and Cardiff bus station.

The new service will be number 216 in tribute to the last UK Concorde (G-BOAF) built at Filton, where she now lives, which is also the last Concorde to fly. The coaches will be in a Bristol Airport livery.

[NewquayJacob]

According to Routes Online, Ryanair are to launch Bristol-Castellon flights in September (twice-weekly).

[bravoromeosierra]

Where's that when it's at home?

[FRatSTN]

BRS - CDT, 2x weekly, from SEP2015

[NewquayJacob]

I posted the new route above already!

Castellon is near to Valencia and Reus.

[GrahamK]

2 or 3 years ago Top Gear filmed an episode which included said airport, deserted

[fivejuliet]

Not quite GrahamK, Top Gear filmed at Cuidad Real Airport, south of Madrid.

[bobsyerunlce]

Is it instead of Reus then?
No wonder it was deserted. It's basically in the middle of nowhere, close to nowhere. Valencia is an hour away but Barcelona is 2.5 hours away. Strange choice of route.

[ssflyer]

"Strange choice of route"
Not if they pull out of Valencia.
SSF

[insuindi]

Looks like BRS-HAM will be reduced to 5/7 for the summer schedule.

[GrahamK]

fivejuliet

My mistake! :ok:

[BAladdy]

Looks like BRS-HAM will be reduced to 5/7 for the summer schedule.

BM have made some further changes to there S15 ops from BRS

BRS-ABZ - Frequency reduced from 14 x weekly to 11 x weekly. Flights will now operate 2 x daily M-F and 1 x daily on Sun. Flights were originally planned to operate 2 x daily Mon & Tue, 3 x Daily Wed-Fri and 1 x daily on Sun

BM1801 BRS 07:00 ABZ 08:25 1
BM1801 BRS 08:25 ABZ 09:50 x167
BM1807 BRS 17:40 ABZ 19:05 x6

BM1802 ABZ 06:40 BRS 08:00 x167
BM1802 ABZ 08:55 BRS 10:15 1
BM1808 ABZ 19:30 BRS 20:50 x6

BRS-HAM - Frequency reduced from 11 to 6 x weekly. BM1831/BM1832 rotation dropped.

[bristolflyer]

The history of Ciudad Real Airport is just nuts. It is a great representation of how the world just binged on debt in the mid 2000's. It's a shame they didn't punt £1.1billion BRS's way!

Ciudad Real Central Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudad_Real_Central_Airport)

[Cloud1]

Interesting article here:

Spain's 'ghost' airport finally gets ready to welcome its first flights as Ryanair confirms routes between Castellon and the UK - Europe - World - The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/spains-ghost-airport-finally-gets-ready-to-welcome-its-first-flights-as-ryanair-confirms-routes-between-castellon-and-the-uk-10101602.html)

[GrahamK]

Bristol Bath Airport or Bath Bristol Airport anyone?

The idea has been shot down by BRS...

BBC News - Bristol Airport rejects calls to add Bath to its name (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-31846527)

[crackling jet]

Have been advised from a reliable source within an operational unit ( not ground handling ) at the airport that the L/H operation (TOM 787 ) will be returning next summer, Anyone heard this or know anything about it ?.

[Fairdealfrank]

Bristol Bath Airport or Bath Bristol Airport anyone?

The idea has been shot down by BRS...

BBC News - Bristol Airport rejects calls to add Bath to its name (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-31846527)


Not surprised, Middlesbrough Airport tried similar, rebranding itself as "Durham" also after a well-known historical cathedral city. The result: went from bad to dire.

[SWBKCB]

Middlesbrough Airport ?? Surely not...

[Bristol_Traveller]

I see we have a new taxi provider for the Airport - Arrow Cars.

I used them at MAN in February (using their app), and it was pretty good. I think getting onto a company that has a better technology base will be good protection should Uber / Hailo etc. launch in the area.

[Bristol_Traveller]

BM are going to start BRS-DUS on 27APR, which is another great addition to the German network.

DUS is a LH mini-hub, and will host their new long-haul leisure brand, so it'll be interesting to see if the BM flight picks up LH/EW codeshares.

[cornishsimon]

Can't see it not to be honest.
BM is turning into a privately owned LH group feeder airline that operates the odd flight outside of the LH group.

Can't in all honesty see BM launching a route to DUS without an agreement to have LH codes added.


cs

[airhumberside]

DUS is a LH mini-hub, and will host their new long-haul leisure brand, so it'll be interesting to see if the BM flight picks up LH/EW codeshares
FWIW, Dusseldorf is a Germanwings hub these days as far as short haul in concerned, not Lufthansa. A business focused regional airline and a low cost airline don't strike me as obvious partners, but you never know. Personally I would view BRS-DUS as point to point like BRS-HAM. DUS long haul (EWR+ORD) remains Lufthansa mainline but to use bmi regional to connect would require an overnight stay in DUS

The first Eurowings long haul flights are from Cologne

[ATNotts]

Düsseldorf is the principal airport in Nordrheinwestfalen, and at the centre of Germany's industrial powerhouse.

As such, independent of any Lufthansa / Eurowings / Germanwings hub, a city such as Bristol, and it's hinterland should easily be able to support at least minimum once daily business orientated service to DUS, though clearly a twice daily morning and evening weekday service would be preferable for business. Other major UK regional airports support a multi daily DUS service, and have done for many years.

Still, from little acorns, large oak trees grow.

[Bristol_Traveller]

I'm assuming that the LH Long-haul flights ex-DUS will eventually migrate to EW, if LH stick to their guns on the 'LH only to/from MUC and FRA' policy.

I hadn't spotted at time of posting that the DUS flight was an evening flight. If it goes double-daily then a morning flight would surely arrive in time to connect to the lunchtime departures to EWR and ORD. There's usually a reasonable chance of getting award seats on those flights, hence the attraction over flying via FRA and MUC.

I wonder if DUS was a more attractive destination than CGN. Surely it wouldn't make sense to serve both?

[ATNotts]

I wonder if DUS was a more attractive destination than CGN. Surely it wouldn't make sense to serve both?

Düsseldorf has always been the "airport of choice" to serve the Ruhr, CGN being too far on the southern edge of the industrial region to serve it as effectively.

Attempts at BHX to serve both DUS and CGN have (always) ended in tears - with CGN losing out to the frequency and yield on DUS services.

[MerchantVenturer]

There was a piece on the airport website last week saying that easyJet has placed on sale at BRS 'a record number of flights and routes' for the coming winter.

I note that both EDI and GLA appear to have improved frequencies next winter with, for most of the winter, EDI operating 5 x daily on Mondays and Fridays and 4 x daily for the rest of the week except Saturdays which remain single daily.

GLA will be 4 x daily on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays; 3 x daily on Tuesdays and Wednesdays with, as with EDI, Saturdays remaining at single daily.

With Thomson operating an enhanced programme next winter as well as (possibly) bmi regional, BRS should begin to narrow the gap a bit between its summer feast and relative winter famine (in 2014 January saw 342,000 passengers against August's 730,000).

The latest CAA stats are for February this year and show that the airport handled 381,074 passengers in the month, up 3.5% on February 2014 (atms were up 0.8%) with the rolling 12-month passenger total 6,364,159, an increase of 3.2% on a year ago.

Great Western Cities

In recent weeks there has been speculation on the CWL thread about the Wales Assembly Government's role in providing funding for Flybe's initiative at the airport and how this might impact on BRS. Incidentally, with the publicly announced decision of two or three months ago that the WAG would make £13 million available in stages as a loan to its airport company for route development, it was always going to be extremely likely that a positive outcome for the airport would result, and I expect further developments.

What may not be so widely known is that in February the political leadership in the cities of Bristol, Cardiff and Newport agreed to form what is effectively a super city region (under the title Great Western Cities) in order to boost the Severnside economy and develop renewable energy. The cities have already formed partnerships to shape transport plans although it doesn't appear likely that the respective airports will feature in this.

Given that for many years Bristol and Cardiff have been earnest rivals in all manner of things, the coming together is an interesting concept. It remains to be seen how it will work out and what, if any, effect it will have on BRS and CWL. Bristol and Bath (another former arch rival) have been working together quite successfully in recent years to boost tourism in their regions so perhaps the spirit of co-operation is well and truly abroad.

[MerchantVenturer]

Bristol Airport Targets the Return of Transatlantic Service :: Routesonline (http://www.routesonline.com/news/29/breaking-news/248317/bristol-airport-targets-the-return-)

Shaun Browne, BRS aviation director, has said that the airport is 'very confident' of getting a New York scheduled service in 2016. He said that 'talks are in an advanced stage'. The airport came very close to achieving such a service for this year.

It seems likely that there wouldn't be two such services from Severnside and the CWL ownership and management have made it very clear that they want a New York route.

Based on the size and make-up of the respective catchments there seems little doubt that BRS would have an advantage. Operationally, CWL holds the better hand although the Continental B 757-200 seemed to have no problems during the five and half years it operated BRS-EWR.

Politics may yet have the final say if the next UK government decides to devolve APD to Wales, something that seems likely if Labour has to rely on the Scottish Nationalists and Plaid Cymru to govern the UK, where a quid pro quo or two (or more) will be looked for. Without some form of compensating mechanism for England or the English regions CWL would have a considerable advantage over its neighbour when it came to long haul.

[santito]

Great news!

I wonder who it is? Realistically there are only two possibilities I guess- American and United. I hope it is the former, but I expect it to be the latter.

With it being rumoured that TOM will bring LH back too, late 2015/2016 could be a very good one for BRS!

Now I wonder if there is any chance of TK doing anything, or one of the ME3 putting one of their shiny new 787/A350s (the only aircraft in their fleets they realistically could operate from BRS) on a daily any time soon? I think BRS has definitely 'earned' it from pax numbers. It must be one of the busiest airports in Europe with no long(ish) haul routes!! :ok:

[GrahamK]

TOM long haul announced for S16, no sign of Bristol I'm afraid, there is some new short haul routes though, Catania, Hurghada and Sal.

[bravoromeosierra]

there are only two possibilities I guess- American and United.

Why not Delta?

[MerchantVenturer]

Thomson and First Choice drive on with exclusive product agenda - www.travelweekly.co.uk (http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2015/04/15/53830/thomson+and+first+choice+drive+on+with+exclusive+product+age nda.html)

The above link appears to suggest that TOM long haul is not currently on the agenda for BRS. In fact, Severnside and the greater South West England/South Wales still don't feature at all in the plans as set out by the TUI UK/Ireland MD in the linked article.

I suppose there might be an outside chance that the company is waiting to see if the next government devolves long haul APD to Wales before committing itself to either BRS or CWL.

[Pandy]

MV how much is APD on a departure to New York ?

Any reduction in APD would be offset by the costs of the greater
catchment area (ie BRS vicinity) travelling to Rhoose (inc bridge tolls)

[MerchantVenturer]

Pandy

The long haul APD rate in economy class is now £71 and is due to rise to £73 in April 2016. Children under 12 will be exempt from APD in economy class from this May and next year those under 16 will also be exempt.

Charter routes to the likes of Florida and Mexico are obviously heavily used by family groups so the exemption of young people would to some extent nullify any advantage that an APD-free CWL might have over BRS on long haul charter flights.

Taking, say, 250 as the average load for Florida/Mexico, if everyone paid APD the amount would be just under £18,000 per flight. Exempt youngsters might reduce that to around half.

If the Wales Assembly Government was given APD powers they've already said they'd reduce the rate, to nil if they can afford to do it. If an airline passed on the entire APD saving it wouldn't make any more money per se but might attract more passengers with a lower overall fare.

An airline choosing to pass on half the APD saving would gain a bigger take on a flight and still be able to offer a lower overall fare.

Although CWL seems to struggle with some types of flight, often city and business routes, its record suggests that summer sun and long haul transatlantic charter have always been well supported in terms of passenger numbers - how that translated into profitable ventures probably only the airlines/tour companies involved would know.

I know that my examples regarding APD costs on a flight are basic and somewhat simplistic because other costs between airlines and airports feature that can be negotiated but the BRS senior management is obviously seriously concerned about Wales gaining its own APD powers.

Middle East

?Direct flights to America from Bristol Airport on the cards by next summer | Somerset Guardian (http://www.somersetguardian.co.uk/8203-Direct-flights-America-Bristol-Airport-cards/story-26344395-detail/story.html)

This local newspaper report comments on the NYC story that's been the subject of recent posts in this forum. It also adds that the airport hopes to 'secure aeroplanes flying from Bristol to the Middle East within the next 18 months'.

Hope and expect are different animals and it may be speculation on the part of the newspaper, although such local journals aren't usually equipped with specialist reporters in aviation matters. It may be that they have included Turkey in the Middle East. I think that most people with an interest in the subject would believe that Turkish Airlines to Istanbul is much more likely than one of the MEB3 gracing the former RAF Lulsgate Bottom.

[Pandy]

On another site there is a post covering the announcement of UA substituting B767s for B757s to Spain & Germany this coming winter, leaving 4 x 757 frames spare

Could this be usable for BRS, one post suggests BRS service com S16

The other point raised is that BRS mgmnt is actively looking at extending
the runway - is this possible?

[yeo valley]

it would be possable to extend runway, except 2 problems. to the east the land is common ground and cant see eating into that. lots of ppl would be kicking off.
to the west the runway falls away very much.it would be possable if present runway flattened out to make up the ground.only other way is to put runway on stilts similar to the runway in ace. either way i think groups of protesters would kick off and things would take years to sort out.
the problem is brs is in a green belt situation.

[Wycombe]

Runway in ACE (Arrecife, Lanzarote) is not on stilts, you are thinking of FNC (Funchal, Madeira).

[yeo valley]

Runway in ACE (Arrecife, Lanzarote) is not on stilts, you are thinking of FNC (Funchal, Madeira).
you are so correct wycombe.ty for correcting me.getting old thats my prob.

[caaardiff]

I think main point in the BRS runway discussion is "Is it actually needed?"

A runway extension wouldn't be a cheap thing to do. Would the benefit of a single daily flight to say DXB really be worth it?
I think it's a case of what Airlines have suitable aircraft for BRS runway, rather than what Airlines do we want and how much do we need to change for them?

The 787 has the capability of using BRS runway, it's the taxiways that are the issue.
BRS needs to plan for the future where aircraft will have much better capabilities. 757s won't be around much longer. 787's and 350's will likely be improved.
Don't forget the Central extension, Eastern extension due to be completed soon and the Western extension due to get the go ahead. I can't imagine there's much money left in the pot at the moment.

[MerchantVenturer]

yeo valley has summed up the difficulties, both technical and environmental, that would ensue was serious consideration given to extending the runway.

The airport went into the issue in considerable detail in its master plan, providing five scenarios from doing nothing to extending the runway completely onto Felton Common which for those unfamiliar with the area is at the eastern end of the airfield. The best option for retaining an extended runway fully within existing airport land would be an extension of 389 metres but even here the localiser and possibly approach lighting would need to be repositioned onto the Common with the airport taking control of a 240 metre x 150 metre area of the Common.

The master plan doesn't indicate the length of extension that would be gained by extending the runway fully onto the Common but it would clearly be considerably more than 389 metres. The A 38 would have to be put in tunnel under the runway for about 150 metres.

Felton Common has been designated a Local Nature Reserve by the local authority under the relevant legislation which would be a serious obstacle to overcome let alone the enormous environmental objections that would undoubtedly pour forth.

The master plan conclusion was that any improvement in performance that might be achieved would be 'relatively small in comparison with the costs and potential environmental impact'. However, the issue will be 'kept under review' in subsequent master plans.

At no stage has an extension to the west been contemplated in the master plan. As has been said, because of the falling ground this would almost certainly necessitate an elevated section of runway on 'stilts'. Even if it was technically feasible there might still be an issue with Cat3 ILS which is not used on 09 because of the topography and I don't know that an extended elevated runway would improve this situation.

With hindsight when Bristol City Council moved its airport from Whitchurch to Lulsgate in the 1950s because the former had become too small for the larger aircraft then coming into service it was creating a similar problem for future generations.

Given what has been achieved at Lulsgate with all its physical disadvantages it's not unreasonable to speculate what might be the position now with a larger and better situated airport site. That will apply to a number of airports of course with LBA one that instantly comes to mind. It suffers many of the physical and weather limitations that beset BRS.

I don’t know whether the cost of building the runway would be a block if the owners thought it necessary. As caaardiff mentions, tens of millions have been spent and are being spent on infrastructure improvements, with more in the pipeline after the western terminal extension which seems the next thing that’s going to be built after the current building of the eastern terminal extension is completed.

Probably the best hope is that aircraft such as the B 787 and the A 350 will be able to use the airport on long haul (probably mainly charter) without much if any load penalty. The master plan, whilst recognising that long haul scheduled routes would not be great in number, expressed the view that aircraft like the 787 and 350 would play a part in improving the long haul network.

The Lulsgate site could not be extended in size without intruding into the surrounding Green Belt. Furthermore, the airport's current planning permissions limit passenger throughout to 10 mppa which could easily be reached in the next five to ten years.

[bravoromeosierra]

The 787 has the capability of using BRS runway

Any payload limitations? I'm sure there were some issues with wingspan though, although the A330 is wider and has used the taxiway to/from 09 before.

http://cdn1.airplane-pictures.net/images/uploaded-images/2009/4/23/43398m.jpg (http://www.airplane-pictures.net/photo/43398/ei-ewr-aer-lingus-airbus-a330-200/)

[yeo valley]

what a shame when they extended the runway back in the 60s they didnt take the tump off the runway. put winters lane in a tunnel and the soil and rock used to fill the fall away from the end of the western end of runway. back then it would not have had any objections from any group you care to think of.
that way runway could have been longer and not cost a lot in filling the fall away.also the runway would have been level the whole length.
hindsight is a wonderfull thing,back then who would have thought that airport would have been so successfull as it is now.

[bristolflyer]

Hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing.....I won't mention the F-word. I do wonder what they'll do at 10 million. There is a geographical limit on expansion at BRS. In sixty years time people will be questioning why didn't they do the obvious current unknown in 2015! In my book build a severn barrage that could generate 10% of the nations power and put a runway on top.

[Bristol_Traveller]

Why not Delta?

Or Norwegian?

If you're going to plummet off the bottom, might as well consider all the options. :-D

How about bmi regional getting 'their' A330 (G-WWBM) back from TCX? They used to do a great US roster from MAN (ORD, IAD, LAS).

[MerchantVenturer]

We seem to agree that hindsight is an exact science - well almost because there will always be those who disagree as to what should be done or should have been done.

In fairness to those 'in power' in the 50s and 60s when the airport was moved to Lulsgate and later saw the runway extended, no-one could possibly have imagined then that the sleepy little rural field that handled just 59,000 passengers in 1961 (CAA stats) would be seriously concerned about the prospect of an enforced limit of 10 million passengers per year half a century later.

Even the late Les Wilson, the airport MD who was a local airport legend in his own lifetime and who was Mr Bristol Airport personified, would have been staggered at the level the airport has reached.

I have some brochures and BRS newspapers of the early 1990s when Les was telling everyone how much a new terminal building was going to be needed. In 1992 when BRS was around 1 mppa Les was saying that in ten years time the passenger throughput would be 2 mppa and the old terminal would not cope. There were more than a few who believed that Les was being hopelessly over optimistic in his forecast.

Even he could not have imagined that in that ten years time BRS would be over 3 mppa and over 6 mppa within another five years. Sadly, he was killed in a road accident in 1995 before he saw any of the fruits of his endeavours over so many years.

That's still the difficulty. None of us knows what will be the aviation scene a quarter of a century or a half a century from now.

In the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and first half of the 90s the airport was owned by the Bristol City Council that had little money (and precious little appetite) for spending on airport improvements. Now that BRS is in private hands its shareholders aren't going to speculate incautiously on hugely expensive schemes that might turn out to be white elephants in the future.

My own view is that, given their poor hand in terms of the site, those running BRS have performed miracles in reaching its present level. It seems that they haven't finished yet although that 10 mppa barrier will undoubtedly lead to ructions if an attempt is made to have it removed sometime in the future.

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

There is no need and no appetite to extend the runway.

A multi-storey car park, hotel and terminal extension are more urgent and beneficial investments.

Long haul regional flying is a financially forlorne activity that for some reason certain airports become obsessed with. It must be vanity over sanity.


WWW

[Morrihell]

Well said!

[bobsyerunlce]

apparently a Blue Islands plane landed this morning with smoke billowing out of it. I don't know any more details at the moment but it caused a couple of diversions

[MerchantVenturer]

According to a short item in the local paper an engine warning light came on during approach. Perfectly safe landing and engineers later checked the aircraft.

A company spokesman is quoted saying that initial indications were that the light was a false warning.

[Cloud1]

According to a short item in the local paper an engine warning light came on during approach. Perfectly safe landing and engineers later checked the aircraft.

A company spokesman is quoted saying that initial indications were that the light was a false warning.

"Smoke billowing out" vs "false warning"....... Hmmmm

[Morrihell]

A couple of diversions?

One to be exact...there you go, one, not a couple!

MH.

[AirGuru]

You may actually find it was a couple. EZY BFS and BMI BRU both diverted to CWL around the time of the incident. Passengers dis-embarked and as far as i'm aware continued the flight to BRS with passengers around an hour later.

[yeo valley]

the 2 diverts into cwl from brs was correct.
the planes returned to brs with the pax as well.
it was not a major delay in landing into brs,i was suprised they never had much holding fuel on the 2 that diverted.perhaps early days with runway shut,till they knew how things were with the affected aircraft.
apart from the 2 diverts everything else got into brs ok.

[JaffaCake]

Commercial aircraft will not carry sufficient fuel to cover every eventuality - it would be financially unviable given that the complete closure of a runway is, fortunately, uncommon. However, fortune does mean that once closed, it is rarely easy for the authorities to advise inbound aircraft how long the runway is likely to be u/s. Aircraft commanders will therefore divert instantly if there is any ambiguity whatsoever.

[MerchantVenturer]

The minutes of the recent airport consultative committee meeting give some detail about current and future infrastructure developments, viz:

1. The Eastern Terminal Extension currently in process of construction will open on 1 July this year.

2. The Silver Zone Car Park extension is 'progressing well'.

3. The A 38 road works that will improve airport access are due to be completed by the end of this month.

4. Work on the onsite hotel will commence 'shortly' for opening in spring 2016.

5. The planned Western Terminal Extension will include a new security search area.

6. A planning application will be made to extend the basement under the terminal in conjunction with the approved first phase of the Western Terminal Extension. The basement will assist in the provision of facilities and storage.

7. A new Silver Zone Car park reception is in the offing.

The works for the South Bristol Link Road that will connect the A 370 at Ashton and the A 38 just outside the city boundary seem to be about to start with a planned finishing date of 2016. The new Metrobus route from Temple Meads to Ashton where it will link with the South Bristol Link Road also appears about ready for construction to begin with notices at the Redcliffe roundabout warning of major Metrobus route-related work for ten weeks

The link road ought to ease the path of airport-related traffic as the tedious crawl around the Ashton and Bedminster congested suburban streets will be eliminated. Whether the Airport Flyer will use the Metrobus and link road routes hasn’t, so far as I’m aware, been decided. When this Metrobus route was first proposed there was conjecture that the Flyer might use it to reach the link road.

The airport published its passenger figures for April today which show an increase of 7.1% over April 2014 with 539,000 passengers passing through the terminal. After the first four months of the year the airport seems on track to reach the 6.7 mppa forecast by its management before the year started.

[andrew1968]

Wizz Air have increased its BRS - KTW schedule from 2 to 3 flights weekly by adding a flight on Wednesdays from 15th July 2015.


Previous mentioned start date of 22nd July, but starts a week earlier than I thought.


Thanks MerchantVenturer for correcting me.

[bobsyerunlce]

Wizz Air have increased its BRS - KTW schedule from 2 to 3 flights weekly by adding a flight on Wednesdays from 22nd July 2015.

That Wizz news is possibly promising. Maybe the take-up has been quite good. I really hope Wizz can prosper at BRS long-term. I've been to some great places with Wizz and I've not yet had a bad experience

[MerchantVenturer]

Looking at the Wizz booking engine, the Wednesday rotation begins on 15 July and carries on until the end of the summer season in late October. Currently the winter schedule is showing 2 x weekly, Mondays and Fridays.

Katowice always saw high loads with Ryanair - well into the 90s% most months but presumably the yield didn't satisfy Ryanair.

Let's hope that Wizz gets high loads with commensurate yield.

[MerchantVenturer]

BRS has announced yet another record month for passenger numbers - this time for May with over 656,000, a rise of nearly 8% on May 2014.

The eastern extension to the terminal building that's due to open next month will certainly be needed as it's likely that around 750,000 will pass through in August, and not that many fewer in June and July.

Robert Sinclair, airport CEO, stated, “The high levels of growth experienced already this summer highlight the importance of the significant investment we are making to enhance passenger facilities. Completion of the eastern terminal extension will be followed by another major project to improve key aspects of the airport experience, and we expect to announce details of this exciting development soon.

I take it the 'exciting development' relates to the western terminal extension that has been mentioned recently, including a reference in the minutes of the last airport consultative committee meeting.

[Welshtraveller]

Why was the TOM Bristol to Pula flight delayed this morning? Thanks.

[yeo valley]

air traffic control down line delays. due back into brs at 13.30 local, about 1 hour late.

[Welshtraveller]

Thanks - must have been unlikely as 90% of flights in Bristol are on time.

[yeo valley]

true on that one.
if it can get away with the flt programe with no delays then very lucky. happens to someone somewhere all the time. nature of the buisness i suppose, as many things can dictate what happens.

[mockingjay]

Slots were given last minute today. My outbound operated early but on the return was hit with a 40 minute slot just before we pushed.

[MerchantVenturer]

The timetable for the coming winter is showing an increase on BRS-AMS to 4 x daily (from the 3 of recent winters) apart from January and early February when it will revert to 3 x daily. Aircraft type remains the E 190 on all rotations as this summer.

easyJet will be 11 x weekly on the route through the winter.

[MerchantVenturer]

Major £24 million expansion plan launched at Bristol Airport | Bristol Post (http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Major-24-million-expansion-plan-launched-Bristol/story-26744086-detail/story.html)

Announced today that the £24 million west extension to the terminal will begin in the next few weeks for completion next year. The £8.5 million east extension is due to open in the next couple of weeks.

The airport CEO says this will take the sum spent on terminal and infrastructure improvements to over £120 million since 2010.

Last year the central pier and walkway was opened; this year the eastern terminal extension and next year the western terminal extension and airport hotel.

[yeo valley]

i had heard mutterings the last couple of days that this was going to be announced to day. good news.

[MerchantVenturer]

Two more new routes:

Vienna (VIE) 2 x weekly Mondays and Fridays

Basle (BSL) 4 x weekly Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

Both to commence in November this year and they will be year-round.

Eastern terminal extension

I had an email from the airport saying the extension will be opened to the public tomorrow.

[thrubwell]

extension to departures opened 03.00 today, looks very smart especially the upstairs restaurants etc

[Severn]

Just been looking at the number of destinations served from each EZY/EZS base, and found the results quite interesting.

EZY serves 56 destinations from BRS which is pretty impressive, especially as this means it comes third on the list of number of destinations served from all EZY/EZS bases.

The list below shows the bases with more than 30 destinations served:

LGW - 110
GVA - 69
BRS - 56
LTN - 52
BSL - 51
MXP - 51
SXF - 44
MAN - 41
CDG - 40
FCO - 37
AMS - 35
LYS - 35
EDI - 34

It is now also the fifth largest base with 12 based aircraft (7x A319s and 5x A320s) in EZYs network after LGW, MXP, LTN and GVA.

[MerchantVenturer]

The Westminster government is committed to considering the case for devolving APD powers to Wales in line with those being given to Scotland. If such powers were devolved to Wales it is likely that BRS would be potentially more affected than any other English regional airport. The government has issued a discussion paper this week setting out three options it wants to explore in more detail to support English regional airports from the impact of APD devolution to the rest of the UK.

The options are:

Devolving APD within England
Varying APD rates within England
Providing aid to regional airports within England

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/442960/Discussion_paper_on_impacts_of_air_passenger_duty_on_regiona l_airports.pdf

Taking the last option first, the paper points out that EU state aid regulations control strictly what aid can be given and the EC guidelines of 2014 state that those airports with a throughput above 5 mppa can only be helped in the most exceptional of circumstances. The paper concludes that many regional airports in England ‘could be too large to be eligible for aid’. BRS will be well over 6.5 mppa at the end of the year so clearly would be one of the airports mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Moving to the option of varying APD rates within England, this too is not straight forward. EU state aid rules dictate that member states must not vary national tax rates in a way that is more favourable to individual regions. One way might be to base APD rates on airport congestion and the government is seeking the views of the European Commission to determine the legality of such an approach. The discussion paper though is not convinced that this would result in an equitable distribution of passengers within English airports, fearing that there would be winners and losers. With this model central government would retain powers over APD in England.

The third option is the full or partial devolution of APD to local authorities or Combined Authorities. Boundaries would need to be defined and where an airport is located within the borders of one authority but close to another the local authorities may come together to share ownership of a devolved APD system.

A local authority or Combined Authority could pay HMRC to administer the system. If it didn’t it would have to ensure that it possessed the necessary resources itself, which would include training compliance officers and having staff able to pursue tribunals.

BRS is located in the area of North Somerset Unitary Authority, a small council, but it might be that the four authorities of the former Avon area would be asked to consider a joint approach. The first snag is that the authority/authorities would lose from their central government grant a sum equal to the amount of APD that BRS generates. I can’t see there is the remotest chance that the former Avon area authorities would be prepared to give up many millions of pounds from their budget in order to slash BRS’s APD rate. They, like other authorities around the country, are seeing huge cuts already. Given these four local authorities’ abysmal record in co-operation with each other they’d never agree anyway.

The government says it welcomes views on these options together with any further evidence of the likely impact. It also wants to meet interested parties to explore their views further. Comments can be sent by email or by letter.

[Doors to Automatic]

I haven't waded through 137 pages of comments but are there any plans to extend the runway?

500m would make all the difference.

[superq7]

500m would make all the difference.

In what way ? I'm not being sarcastic at all.

[MerchantVenturer]

In its master plan the airport deliberates on a runway extension in some detail. It considers five options.

Do nothing.

Extend the runway by 140 metres.

This is regarded as the maximum extension that won’t need any airport control of Felton Common. The A 38 would still need to be lowered into a 150 metre tunnel and the ILS for 09 would need to be relocated.

Extend the runway by 389 metres.

The maximum extension that can be accommodated within airport land although the localiser and possibly approach lighting would have to be relocated onto the Felton Common; an area of Common 240m by 150m would need to come into airport control.

Extend the runway by 239 metres with a 150 metre starter strip.

This would add 389 metres to 27 take off run but only about 150 metres to 09 take off run. The need to encroach on Felton Common would be avoided.

Extend the runway further, with further encroachment onto the Common.

It’s possible that requirements to improve safety standards could reduce some of the potential benefit. There is also an issue with the approach lighting which currently sees the approach light array truncated to avoid the need to encroach onto the Common which could have a significant effect on it.

The local authority has declared Felton Common to be a Local Nature Reserve under the relevant legislation.

The master plan concludes: Our overall conclusion is that the improvement in performance that might be achieved by extending the runway is relatively small in comparison with the costs and the potential environmental impact. Our preferred option at this stage is therefore the 'do nothing' option.

However, the issue will be kept under review.

The above is my summary of the runway options. The full assessment can be read in the airport’s master plan via its website

There is no mention whatever of extending the runway to the west. Presumably the topography makes such an idea unrealistic.

The airport is currently restricted to 10 mppa by its planning consents. When it reaches that there will be another almighty battle with objectors (as with the expansion plans) if the airport seeks to have this limit raised. However, the clamour would be nothing compared with an attempt to take over Felton Common. That would become a worldwide cause celebre amongst the environmental community (the expansion plans saw objections to the local authority from as far afield as Australia).

[bristolflyer]

DoorsToAutomatic, I can't see them extending the runway. There is no business case for it. BRS have been incredibly successful in building a comprehensive lo-cost network. That is the business model and it works. Realistically how many long haul destinations could be served from BRS? New York was tried and failed. Potentially it could be served again now the economy is on the up, but apart from that Dubai, with Emirates, is the only other destination that springs to mind. Apart from those two there would be Orlando, Mexico and Goa as package destinations. The airport also believed that the next generation of aircraft 787/A350 could use the airport without restriction. The interesting question is where do they go after 10mppa as MV points out? The site is one the smallest of any UK airport and they are doing a good job maximising the space, but once the current development is completed there is nowhere else for them to go. A small second terminal could be built on the GA site opposite, but it wouldn't add much.

[Doors to Automatic]

Thanks for the heads up Merchant - I would think that a 389m extension would allow all the ops described above on aircraft like the 787 - the destinations listed by bristolflyer would surely make it worthwhile?

I seem to remember that the former EWR service was weight limited as 6500ft is tight for transatlantic ops even on a 757.

I would have thought that given the rich catchment and economic upswing the following are possible:

Scheduled
EWR, DXB, IST (unrestricted) and possibly a secong DXB or DOH/AUH

Charter/Seasonal
MCO, GOA, BGI, LAS, YYZ

[MerchantVenturer]

The BRS master plan is still the one published in 2006 in response to the then Labour government's earlier white paper. Many things were not anticipated in the master plan (and in fairness could not reasonably be expected to have been), not least the dreadful recession that visited the world in the next few years.

To that extent then the master plan cannot be relied on completely as a guide to what might now transpire, although the period 2016-2030 was only ever set out in outline form.

The 'forecast' for the period up to 2015 has turned out to be somewhat optimistic with, for example, a projected 8.1 mppa at the end of this year (around 6.6/6.7 mppa will probably be the actual total). BRS is not alone in this: neighbouring airports at CWL and EXT suggested over 4 mppa and 1.5/2 mppa respectively for 2015 in their master plan projections which were prepared at approximately the same time as BRS's.

As bristolflyer mentions, the airport put its hopes in the new generation of aircraft such as the B 787 and the A 350 as a means of overcoming some of the limitations of its runway. Whether that will turn out to be justified remains to be seen. After withdrawing the B 767 on the summer routes to Sanford and Cancun two years ago there was disappointment that TUI did not operate the B 787 on transatlantic charters, especially as MD Chris Browne said publicly in 2010 that BRS would be amongst the first UK airports to operate the Dreamliner. Whether this is a commercial or operational decision is not known.

In its master plan the airport said that passenger forecasts (then) showed there was limited demand for long haul scheduled routes and the airport identified four: New York (then being operated - to EWR), Washington, Dubai and another US destination that it suggested might be Atlanta. However, it did see further demand for long haul charter services.

Apart from the size of its site, BRS long-haul scheduled potential does suffer from its proximity to LHR which is the default choice for many local business people, and with electrification of Brunels' main line plus a spur into LHR access will be easier from the Bristol area in the forseeable future. One of the reasons cited by Continental for its axing its BRS-EWR flight was the poor take-up in business-first. Overall passenger numbers met and exceeded the airline's publicly stated target in the beginning, although the recession undoubtedly took its toll later on.

I wasn't aware of Continental's B 757-200 being weight-restricted by passenger numbers at BRS. It began as a 172-seat aircraft and later increased to 175 seats. BRS sees very little cargo to/from anywhere according to CAA stats.

[bristolflyer]

DTA, I agree with MV. I'm afraid charters to Vegas are pipe dreams. There have been occasional one off charters to BGI for cruises. I would love to see the return of a direct flight to NYC. I used the service on a number of occasions and it was fantastic to land at 8.30 and be home by 9.30, but sadly I don't see a return. Continental did not have access to LHR at the time it started flights from BRS, but it does now it has merged with United. The business model was sound in that they tried point to point to the UK regions thus taking traffic from LHR. BHX,MAN,BFS,EDI and EDI are still served. Bristol is just too close to LHR, especially if you live to the north of the city. You are right that there is an affluent catchment, it is that affluence that supports the extensive EZY network, but legacy carriers need repeat business traffic not rich tourists. As for DXB I believe a Gulf carrier would struggle to fill 250+ seats per day, let alone 500+ over two aircraft. There is a limited market for longhaul, but I can't see the cost/benefit to the airport in extending the runway to truly cater for it.

[globetrotter79]

First experience of dep lounge extension: to be honest a bit disappointing.

The main (first floor of terminal building) level seems smaller than anticipated and although they have fitted handy phone/tablet charging points in the seating area therein, even in a fairly quiet time of the day every single one of them was being used / so clearly they've totally underestimated demand for this facility.

Also, the much lauded new roof terrace remains closed...

Let's hope the much needed refurbishment/extension to departures security works out better!

[MerchantVenturer]

In its press release of 2 July the airport said,

..............with a rooftop garden featuring quirky sculptures expected to prove popular. Along with a second executive lounge, this will open as part of phase two within a few weeks’ time.

'Within a few weeks' time' is a bit vague and no reason was given for the delay.

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

There will never be a runway extension. I have that from the horses mouth. Which actually guffawed at the amount of money BHX has just completely blown on their extra Tarmac.

Successful airports spend wisely and runway length would be nothing but vanity.

WWW

[ATNotts]

There will never be a runway extension. I have that from the horses mouth. Which actually guffawed at the amount of money BHX has just completely blown on their extra Tarmac.

Successful airports spend wisely and runway length would be nothing but vanity.

WWW

I think you're probably right - BRS has an extremely successful business model offering a mix of leisure and business orientated services to Europe. Unlike at BHX, where there was already a basis of long haul operations (with Emirates, United, PIA, Turkmenistan plus charters) BRS has none. Even with that, it will take many years to recoup the investment in the runway extension there.

BRS is playing a very canny game businesswise at the moment - why try and be too clever?

[Alvechurch]

Yep, Bristol Airport is indeed playing a canny game and has done so for years.
So canny, that unlike BHX it manages to avoid paying Corporation Tax which of course is quite helpful.

[andrew1968]

Bristol Airport publish June 2015 airport statistics

Another great set of results, CAA stats published but Bristol not included in the first release.

June 2015 Pax

Total..............................705,925.....UP 9.18%

June 2015 Movements

Total..............................6,875........UP 9.63%

YTD 2015 Pax

Total..............................3,091,050...UP 6.97%

YTD 2015 Movements

Total..............................32,197.......UP 6.89%

Bristol Airport Website Link

Facts & Figures | Bristol Airport Passenger Numbers | Bristol Airport (http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/about-us/news-and-media/facts-and-figures)