BRISTOL - 4

[heading 125]

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.

I am sure they pay corporation tax. They make a hugh amount of profit and are very successful. That would be an unfair advantage on neighbouring airports if they didn't and they would effectively be subsidised by the tax payer. So cannot see that happening as they don't like the thought that Cardiff airport is owned by the Welsh Assembly.

[MerchantVenturer]

I don't know the current corporation tax position re South West Airports Limited (SWAL), the holding company that owns Bristol Airport for its sole owner, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.

The Stop Bristol Airport Expansion group (SBAE) - they no longer seem to be active on the Internet having once had a significant website - publicised the fact that in 2007 SWAL had made a profit around £25 million but had paid no corporation tax because (according to SBAE) the profit had been written off to repay shareholder loans.

In 2007 SWAL's shareholders would have been Teachers and part of the Macquarie Group.

I have no reason to think that whatever they did was illegal, otherwise the taxation authorities would have been on to it; whether the practice has continued at SWAL since then I don't know.

[JaffaCake]

The only way BRS would build an extension to the runway would be if the major operator (i.e. easyJet) were to state that in order for it to expand further it needed a longer runway for destinations not currently served (such as SSH).

Given EZY seem to be making loadsadosh from the current network range, there would never be a sensible economic argument from either side, not now or the future, particularly as modern aircraft are ever-improving their power-to-weight potential.

[MerchantVenturer]

Wizz Air to Launch 4 New Flights from Sofia in March 2016 - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency (http://www.novinite.com/articles/170231/Wizz+Air+to+Launch+4+New+Flights+from+Sofia+in+March+2016?)

Wizz to commence a 2 x weekly service to BRS (Mon and Fri) from Sofia from next March. It will be their second route from BRS after Katowice began in June this year.

This will be the first scheduled route from BRS to the Bulgarian capital although there have been weekly ski charter flights for many years.

[speedbird_481_papa]

Hi merchant I trust you are well? I have said all along that Wizz will just test the water with the Katowice route and will expand very quickly if that route was to prove sucessful, which it has done.

Right from the 1st flight they have been running about 95% loads. I can see wizz becoming almost as big here in BRS as they are currently at Luton.

Apparently Sofia is the first of about 6 routes still to be announced from BRS and they want to compete directly with the routes currently served by Ryanair and others not currently served from BRS :D:ok:

[MerchantVenturer]

Fine thank you, speedbird, and you I hope.

Ryanair currently flies to Warsaw Modlin, Poznan, Wroclaw, Rzeszow, Gdansk, Budapest and Kaunas in the old 'Eastern Bloc' (Modlin and Budapest at 3 x weekly, the remainder 2 x weekly).

You will know better than me , I'm sure, that all the Ryanair BRS 'Eastern Bloc' routes enjoy monthly load factors in excess of 90%, often in the high 90s%, at least in the summer. Winter can be slightly less and not all the routes operate then.

But then so did Katowice and Bratislava but Ryanair axed these, presumably because the yield was not to their liking.

The only other former Eastern Bloc routes from BRS are easyJet's Krakow, Prague (both mainly 4 x weekly) and Berlin Schoenhof (mainly 6 x weekly).

I really wonder whether any of the above routes would stand competition. I'd like to see Wizz tackle some routes not currently flown. It would be a shame to have two airlines competing on a route that satisfied neither with the result that both pulled out.

Looking at the Wizz bases Riga stands out in terms of evidence of a market. Ryanair used to operate it with summer monthly load factors over 90% but pulled out in early 2012. Wizz took on Katowice after Ryanair decided it was not for them (and quickly added a third weekly rotation) so maybe Wizz would look at Riga.

Capital cities not served from BRS but sites of Wizz bases are Belgrade and Bucharest. If Sofia shows promise with bookings perhaps we might see one or both of these.

I suspect the airport would be pleased to have some more non-based aircraft operating in to spread the load. There can be nearly 30 departures before 0800 in summer.

[MerchantVenturer]

A poster on another forum who is well informed on BRS matters is saying the announcement of another Wizz route from the airport is imminent.

[MerchantVenturer]

Further to my previous post, the Wizz Air booking engine is now showing Bristol-Kosice (Slovakia) 2 x weekly (Tues and Sat) from October.

Ryanair's Bratislava route generated high load factors but seemingly not the required yield and was axed, although Kosice is in the east of the country.

[Seljuk22]

Kosice twice weekly from 10th October
https://wizzair.com/en-GB/about_us/news/wizzen340

[Bristol_Traveller]

Everyone stand by to deal with lots of very bemused visitors arriving at BRS and trying to work out how to get to Weston-super-Mare.

Dismaland (http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/aug/20/banksy-dismaland-amusements-anarchism-weston-super-mare)

I wonder how many people will try and use the 121 bus?

[a bristolian]

Well... first very interesting visitor today .... to the home of Banksy.... big ship from the US??

[bravoromeosierra]

And what was the visitor?

[MerchantVenturer]

I believe the allusion is to a Boeing 757-200, reg N770BB, that flew into BRS from New York today. It's owned by the Yucaipa Companies, a major private equity and venture capital company.

This is being discussed on another aviation website.

[FRatSTN]

What's going on in Bristol tonight?? Looking at FR24, seen several diverts to CWL, BHX and STN. I'm assuming weather related?

[cornishsimon]

why the heck divert to STN ?


cant specifically answer about BRS but the last couple of days Devon and Cornwall has had terrible fog and today specifically within the last 6 hours really heavy rain.


my guess is fog




cs

[FRatSTN]

Just seems strange considering it was sunny all day and 30 degrees in STN and is still clear and very warm now. No idea what the weather is like in BRS and struggling to get an up to date METAR. Could it be thunderstorms perhaps?

[davebham]

Yes I've just noticed this too. Must be the Lightning storms which are isolated across western and eastern Britain tonight

[j636]

Sky News reporting the airport is closed and has been evacuated after a routine inspection of an aircraft that arrived from Allicante sparked an alert after an item was reportly discovered.

Expected to open for the 04.30 arrival.

[MerchantVenturer]

Major security alert closes Bristol Airport | Bristol Post (http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Major-security-alert-closes-Bristol-Airport/story-27660816-detail/story.html)

Addendum

BRS website showing eight easyJet flights cancelled today between 1140 and 1610, presumably a knock-on effect from the earlier security alert:

Toulouse
Rome
Inverness
Glasgow
Berlin
Copenhagen
Edinburgh
Paris

[bar none]

The security issue allegedly was a note on a Ryanair aircraft.

Airport closed, 12 diversions, approx 2000 passengers disrupted.

Perhaps Bristol Airport should write to the Guinness Book of Records claiming the most disruption for the least reason ever!

[MerchantVenturer]

So what was supposed to be done? Allow aircraft to continue to land and arriving passengers to crowd the terminal whilst the police and airport/airline authorities were endeavouring to determine whether the note was a hoax?

It's easy with hindsight to criticise but I have no doubt the criticism would have been of a far different order had the authorities not taken such action and a device and possibly secondary ones around the airport had detonated killing and maiming hundreds of people.

An airport doesn't have to be a major one to be a terrorist target.

[HeartyMeatballs]

Rest assured all of the airport and the airlines have been working extremely hard to put things back together. I've heard of one crew operating a 17 hour duty. Unfortunately when things go wrong in aviation they go very wrong. You can't just majic jets and crews out of thin air.

You should read some of the comments on BRS's FB posts. They're actually quite worrying! People are absolutely clueless.

[heading 125]

17 hour duty is that what low cost pilots fly. Umm

[HeartyMeatballs]

Umm. Nobody said flying 17 hours. By the time crew got back to base by taxi they had been on duty 17 hours following diversions.

[Severn]

Earlier in the month users commented on how they had heard that Wizz Air might be looking to expand at BRS in a big way in the future.
I thought I'd have a look at where the potential destinations might be.

Katowice, Poland and Sofia, Bulgaria are served from BRS already with Košice, Slovakia starting in October. All three destinations are Wizz bases.


The following destinations are Wizz Air bases that are already served by airlines from BRS:

Budapest, Hungary - (served by Ryanair)

Gdańsk, Poland - (served by Ryanair)

Warsaw, Poland - (Warsaw-Modin served by Ryanair)

Poznań, Poland - (served by Ryanair)

Wrocław, Poland - (served by Ryanair)

Prague, Czech Republic - (served by easyJet)


The following destinations are Wizz Air bases (in order of size (ie, number of aircraft based)) that are not served by other airlines from BRS:

Bucharest, Romania - (LHR, LTN, STN, LPL & DSA already served from the UK)

Cluj-Napoca, Romania - (only LTN already served from the UK)

Vilnius, Lithuania (LTN, STN, DSA, GLA & BFS already served from the UK)

Riga, Latvia - (LTN, STN, MAN, LPL, DSA, EMA, LBA & GLA already served from the UK)

Skopje, Macedonia - (only LTN already served from the UK)

Timișoara, Romania - (only LTN already served from the UK)

Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina - (not served from the UK)

Târgu Mureș, Romania - (only LTN already served from the UK)

Belgrade, Serbia - (LHR & LTN already served from the UK)

Kiev, Ukraine - (LHR, LGW & LTN already served from the UK (from all Kiev airports)

[mustrum_ridcully]

I'm pretty sure some of the Central/East European destinations don't actually have daily flights from BRS so Wizz Air might be in a position to capitalise on this if they can manage daily flights.

[bobsyerunlce]

If I were a betting man, I would guess at Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and/or Riga being future possibilities. I think Budapest is underserved by Ryanair at BRS and Riga was a popular route some years back. Having said that, who could have foreseen Kosice being the next name out of the hat so I'll keep my fingers crossed for Bosnian and Macedonian routes (from a purely selfish point of view!)

[MerchantVenturer]

If Kosice can work for Wizz from BRS then perhaps the airline might look at further routes.

What the reaction of Ryanair would be if Wizz competed directly with them remains to be seen. Apart from sun routes (ALC, AGP, PMI, IBZ, TFS, ACE and FAO) Ryanair and easyJet have avoided each other's routes from BRS.

easyJet tried Budapest daily in 2005 but reduced it the following year before pulling out. Ryanair took it on in 2007 initially at 4 x weekly, before reducing to 2 x weekly and then dropping it from 2010 until 2012. Ryanair restarted at 2 x weekly but it has been 3 x weekly for the past couple of years winter and summer.

All this might raise a question mark over further increases in frequency although the market seems to be there but perhaps 3 x weekly is about right. The last three months have seen monthly load factors of 97%, 98% and 98% on BRS-BUD, but so too have all the other Ryanair former Eastern Bloc routes been in similar loads territory which doesn't necessarily mean that Ryanair is content. They dropped Katowice (picked up by Wizz) despite high load factors.

Riga was operated by Ryanair from 2007 until early 2012 which seems a long time to decide it isn't working (or of course it may have been bigger fish to fry somewhere else). As with forecasting football results I'm hopeless at predicting new routes but Riga might have a chance I suppose.

BRS seems to do well with capital cities, mainly but not exclusively through easyJet and Ryanair - I've lost count how many: around 15? So perhaps Bucharest and Belgrade might be in with a shout if Wizz decides to expand further.

[superq7]

The security issue allegedly was a note on a Ryanair aircraft.

Airport closed, 12 diversions, approx 2000 passengers disrupted.

Perhaps Bristol Airport should write to the Guinness Book of Records claiming the most disruption for the least reason ever!

It was a note scrawled on a sick bag found by a cleaner, talk about over reaction ! pathetic.

[crackling jet]

So then being a trained and qualified aviation risk assessor on shift, what would you have done, with a written bomb threat found onboard a recently arrived a/c from a country with not the best security at the point of departure, then say response is pathetic, especially with a/c parts spread all over the airport or some countryside somewhere.

Or you were due to fly on it and found that nothing had been done, as taking it seriously was "pathetic"

[superq7]

I would have used my common sense e.g. tow the aircraft away from the terminal then deploy some sniffer dogs and perform a thorough search, absolutely no need to close the airport at all, do you think LHR would shut in the same circumstances ?

[Standard Noise]

And where exactly would you have towed the aircraft to? Please, give us the benefit of your undoubted experience.....

[fa2fi]

And , more importantly who would move the plane? Ground staff are paid WAY too little to be dealing with planes that potentially have an explosive device. You can move it anywhere. If it were a 737 with a device and a couple of tonnes of fuel on board if it goes up there's a very good chance the debris would end up on the runway. The descision to close was the right one.

[bar none]

Crackling Jet and FA2fi.

No doubt that you are both security experts having decided that the decision was a correct one.

If someone scribbles a bomb threat note on the underground by your logic you would close the whole system? Same on a London Transport bus?

With such paranoid thinking we have to congratulate the bad boys......they have definitely won.

[Monty Gordo]

At the outset let me say i have no specialist knowledge as regards bomb threats and, in the absence of that, believe that the authorities at Bristol took the right decision to evacuate the airport.

However, there are questions that i would ask which might be important to the decision as to whether or not to evacuate.

When was this note found, was it immediately after the passengers disembarked or was it much later?, or was this note seat identifiable, ie was it on a seat, under a seat, in a seat pocket or was it left somewhere else, ie a toilet.

I ask this because if the note was found immediately after the passengers disembarked, it could mean that whoever left it would still be within the airport terminal and he/she and the rest of the passengers on that plane could be evacuated into a separate area. Also, if the note was seat identifiable and found immediately, could not that person be stopped by either passport control or at another point before they left the airport?

It is the timescale of this incident that interest me, not the decision to evacuate the airport

[MerchantVenturer]

The bottom line is that someone had to make a decision on the facts available at the time, and I doubt that any of us know what information was available to that person. We seem to know about the note but not of any current background information that the police/security services might have possessed. For example, they might have had credible intelligence that some sort of attack was being planned somewhere. I'm not saying that they did - of course I don't know, but does anyone on here know either? If they do they won't be telling us and quite properly so.

The airport/airline authorities would almost certainly have acted on police advice who will always err towards caution because they have many lives to consider.

It's by no means unknown for terrorists to alert authorities to the presence of a planted device by means of a note or, more often, by a telephone call. They have many reasons for so doing.

If you're going to respond to a 'bomb call' you either do it properly or ignore it and who in their right mind would want authorities to ignore it? If doing it properly was an evacuation and diversion of flights then that was the judgement of the person charged with the decision: the person on the spot possessed of all the information available at the time. We armchair experts can criticise with the benefit of hindsight as much as we feel the need but we do so without having to bear a shred of responsibility.

Would some of you really have taken the risk of moving the aircraft with the chance of it exploding and causing numerous deaths and injury in a nearby terminal filled with incoming passengers whose flights continued to land?

The analogy of a London bus or the London Underground system is not a true parallel but I have no doubt that if it was felt circumstances warranted it then whatever was considered necessary, including a full closedown of the system, would be done. The same would apply at Heathrow if it was felt it was the proper action to take.

What no-one seems to have mentioned is the responsibility of the idiot or idiots who wrote what now appears to have been a hoax note. If he/she/they are caught they should be dealt with very severely by the courts. It undermines the fight against terrorism: every time a hoax call is made it takes up a huge amount of 'authority' time and sows the idea in the minds of the public that every call is a hoax. One day it won't be.

[fa2fi]

Well it wasn't just a little note that someone had scribbled. It was accompanied by a package that was apparently deliberately made to look suspicious. I was not there and didn't see it so don't know exactly what it means. But it was a note along with the package.

I work on the aircraft based out of BRS. I'll fully support any descision that keeps me, my colleagues and our passengers safe. I didn't make the descision, but I support those who did. 100%.

Regards.

[Monty Gordo]

Thanks for your post, and of course the information you divulge does paint a totally different picture, and one that any and every airline would take immediate and drastic action on.

This was a deliberate premeditated act designed to cause panic, it was plainly not a silly prank and, as MerchantVenturer states, those responsible deserve a severe custodial sentence.

Let us hope that with forensics now available a collar or collars will be felt by the police before too long.

[superq7]

Ah fa2fi mea culpa on my behalf then, I didn't realise there was a package as well , hope they find and deal with the :mad: who left it and caused all the inconvenience.

[caaardiff]

And another...?

Police investigate potential 'security threat' at Bristol Airport | Bristol Post (http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Police-investigate-potential-security-threat/story-27700324-detail/story.html#siEXyhBOCpvrL3zG.01)

There was no package last week, just a note.

[fa2fi]

Well I checked in for work just a few hours after it all kicked off. I was told that it was a package and a note. Numerous news stories reported a package also.

It may have turned out the 'package' was innocent. It could have been anything. I wasn't there. But certainty at the time that they were discovered it was thought that there was a suspicious package onboard.

[MerchantVenturer]

Bristol Airport bomb hoax suspect is arrested by police | Bristol Post (http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Bristol-Airport-bomb-hoax-arrested-police/story-27709110-detail/story.html)

It's been reported that a man has been arrested 'on suspicion of making a bomb hoax and communicating false information' following an alleged incident at BRS over the weekend.

[crackling jet]

Bar None.

Every one working on or around a/c have a great deal of training towards security at the airport, so not being a security expert though do have a thorough knowledge of the proceedures involved, once the call is made the ball starts rolling and these proceedures kick in, to what degree depends on the the viability of the threat and then is met with the corresponding degree of response.

Gone are the days where someone walked up looked at it, kicked it, picked it up and shook it before pornouncing 'NAH it's OK.

My previous post was not mean't to be derogatory, just an observation from someone who faces this situation at times when around the airport/aircraft.'

[MerchantVenturer]

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Man-appear-court-following-bomb-hoax-Bristol/story-27713797-detail/story.html

A man has now been charged with 'making a bomb hoax' and appeared in court today.

[SamYeager]

Man due to appear in court following bomb hoax at Bristol Airport | Bristol Post (http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Man-appear-court-following-bomb-hoax-Bristol/story-27713797-detail/story.html)

A man has now been charged with 'making a bomb hoax' and appeared in court today.


Hopefully the court will make an example of this prat "to encourage (discourage) the others".

[superq7]

38 year old Robert Boyd-Stevenson pleads guilty to the bomb hoax.

http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/man_pleads_guilty_to_bristol_airport_bomb_hoax_1_4219037

[Severn]

17/09/2015 - WIZZ AIR ANNOUNCES 6TH AIRCRAFT FOR WARSAW

The new aircraft will serve four new routes from Warsaw to Aberdeen, Bari, Bristol and Reykjavik.
Two of the A320s based in Warsaw will also be replaced with new larger A321 aircraft.
The link to the press release is below:
https://wizzair.com/en-GB/about_us/news/wizzen348

The new Warsaw-Bristol route will operate twice weekly on Wednesday and Sunday starting on the 13 May 2016

[TSR2]

The airport was evacuated on September 22 and several flights were diverted in a separate bomb hoax incident

Lottery Ticket anyone !

[superq7]

Lottery Ticket anyone !

Well spotted TSR2 :ok:

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

UK airlines receive bomb threats several times a day, every day, all year. It's absolutely routine and the vast vast majority are quickly classed as not credible by the many trained bomb threat evaluators employed 24/7 for this routine everyday task.

To shut a runway for 6 hours for a misspelled anonymous note may be perceived as disproportionate.

On a superficial level it appears at least to have the merit of being the safest thing to do. However thus ignores the risks you've now introduced. Aircraft will have to unexpectedly divert, another airport will have to cope with a sudden large increase in workload. Aircraft will be making approaches with lower reserves of fuel, pilots will be working deeper into the night getting more tired. The next day the disruption and delays to getting the aircraft back to the reopened runway will see flight duty hours reaching or exceeding normal limits. Stressed and delayed passengers will be confrontational all day.

Sure, this stuff happens and the system copes. Nevertheless shutting a runway at a major airport does drill all sorts of new holes in the Swiss cheese safety slice. It adds links to the error chain. It erodes safety margins in quite tangible ways.

It would be good if that didn't happen again


WWW

[MerchantVenturer]

This will be the first direct challenge by Wizz to Ryanair at BRS with the latter's Warsaw Modlin route.

[LandingConfig]

Sofia and Kosice showing on the drop down from Bristol on the Wizz website.

[fanrailuk]

Ryanair to start Kraków as of March next year in direct competition with EZY.

Maybe this is FRs way of getting back at Wizz who are starting to steal their eastern block thunder, however trampling on orange toes in the meantime.

There seems to be a lot of duplication going on of late on what are generally seen as marginal routes...things could potentially get a little bit messy! :*

Only time will tell...

[MerchantVenturer]

Wizz announced Sofia and Kosice in August and previously discussed within this thread.

Ryanair seems to be going to operate to Krakow 3 x weekly which, taken with easyJet's current up to 4 x weekly, would equate to the once daily easyJet service to KRK that was operated a few years ago.

The only other recently announced duplication is Wizz's intention to commence Warsaw Chopin against Ryanair's Warsaw Modlin.

The routes may well be marginal in terms of yield (I don't know) but in terms of passenger numbers all the BRS former Eastern Bloc routes enjoy extremely high load factors with, for example, Ryanair's five Polish routes seeing monthly load factors between 95% and 99% all this summer thus far. Wizz's new Katowice route saw over 94% in both July and August, its first two full calendar months on the route.

Having said this I'm sure that many people might have hoped for unserved routes rather than adding competition to some already operated.

Ryanair competes with easyJet on more than half a dozen sun routes but the only other occasions I can remember the two airlines serving city pairs at the same time were Milan - Malpensa (easyJet), Bergamo (Ryanair) and Belfast - International (easyJet), City (Ryanair).

Ryanair still serves Bergamo (summer only) and easyJet still serves Belfast International. bmi regional now serves Malpensa but Belfast City is unserved.

Whether this is some sort of precursor that easyJet and Ryanair cannot compete at BRS away from the main sun routes, as fanrailuk puts it, only time will tell.

[MerchantVenturer]

Venice Marco Polo

Further to #2804, from 23 March next year easyJet will fly to Venice Marco Polo 4 x weekly against Ryanair's version of Venice at Treviso which itself has been increased from 2 x weekly to 3 x weekly from next summer.

easyJet operated a daily service year-round between Bristol and Marco Polo for several years until 2009 when the route was axed.

[NewquayJacob]

Venice looks to be operated by a VCE based aircraft.

[speedbird_481_papa]

Looking at the flight number I would say it is a Venice based aircraft as the flight number is EZY3362 BRS-VCE and the EZY3361 VCE-BRS and the other international flight numbers for BRS based a/c are all between EZY6000-EZY6200. Looks like BRS are benefiting from easyJet oppening a new base for once! :ok:

[ssflyer]

Have used this twice recently. My first booking was direct with the official airport site as there was a discount offer on meet and greet ( there are always offers/voucher codes on the other parking options)
Bristol Airport - Arrivals, Departures, Flights and Airport Parking | Bristol Airport (http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/)
For my second trip the discount was not available so I booked at 18% discount through SkyPark Secure after checking their credentials (they also trade as Skypark Steve)
Airport Parking | Search & SAVE | SkyParkSecure (http://www.skyparksecure.com/airport-parking)
The booking confirmation from Skypark Steve was identical to the Official Airport one, the only difference was the price.
The Meet & Greet system works well, you phone the M&G number 10 minutes before arrival and you park in a reserved meet & greet area in the drop-off car park adjacent to the terminal where staff are waiting for you.
On both occasions the car was inspected and two minor scratches noted.On return we phoned their number after collecting hold luggage and our car was waiting for us in the designated area.
On both occasions the staff were very professional, the car was certainly parked on site as per their contract (less than 2 miles covered) no damage and other than seat adjustment nothing had been altered.
Will certainly use them again
SS:ok:

[crackling jet]

Busy day today with additional rugby flights all over the ramp and also Vulcan fly past this afternoon.

[TBSC]

Wizz will start Sofia-Bristol earliern than planned (on 11JAN).

[MerchantVenturer]

September CAA stats show that 712,751 passengers were handled in the month, an increase of 8.1% on the September 2014 figures. The rolling 12-month total stands at 6,652,852, up 5.8% on a year ago.

This is the first time that four consecutive months have each seen passenger numbers above 700,000 with August producing over 776,000.

With additional flights this winter from easyJet, Thomson and the new Wizz operation it looks as though 6.7 million will be attained by the end of this calendar year beating last year's previous record total of 6.33 million.

[MerchantVenturer]

The enhanced winter schedule begins next week with EDI seeing 27 weekly rotations, five on Mondays and Fridays with four on other days except Saturdays which are single daily, although January will be reduced slightly. Oddly though the last of the five Monday rotations arrives at BRS at the early hour of 1705 making a meaningful day trip next to impossible. For the remaining weekdays and on Sundays it's 2150 or 2155.

This will be easyJet's biggest ever winter offering on this route. There were 23 weekly rotations last winter.

GLA will have 23 weekly rotations, up from 18 last winter, with Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and some Sundays seeing four although as with EDI there will be a slight reduction for January.

[FRatSTN]

Seems quite common for EZY now to vary flight times between each weekday. On the more typically business routes there's often an extra flight on Mon and Fri compared to Tue, Wed, Thu and often an absence of late Monday/Tuesday and early Thursday/Friday rotations. Makes sense I suppose but doesn't always give the best choice.

[NewquayJacob]

New Easyjet routes for S16 to Nantes and Dubrovnik.

[MerchantVenturer]

Nantes commences 24 March on Mondays and Thursdays and Dubrovnik commences on 19 June on Wednesdays and Sundays.

This will almost certainly scupper bmi regional's 2 x weekly to Nantes that began this year for a limited peak summer period.

Thomson also started a weekly Dubrovnik flight this summer but it was linked with cruises so may be able to run alongside the easyJet route.

As things stand Wednesday's first batch of flights from the end of June require 13 based aircraft so there may be more announcements to utilise the 13th aircraft (which would be a record number for BRS) at other times.

0605 Malaga
0605 Palma
0620 Fuerteventura
0630 Corfu
0635 Edinburgh
0645 Murcia
0655 Zante
0700 Dubrovnik
0700 Belfast Int
0705 Faro
0705 Geneva
0715 Glasgow
0720 Bilbao

[Seljuk22]

EZY confirms 13 based aircraft next summer
easyJet Media Centre (http://mediacentre.easyjet.com/stories/9588)

[MerchantVenturer]

Qatar Air Mulls Gatwick Route as Heathrow Flight Upgraded to 787 - Bloomberg Business (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-18/qatar-air-mulls-gatwick-route-as-heathrow-flight-upgraded-to-787)

An article about Qatar in the UK and Ireland with their main man in this country musing on possible expansion which includes the comment: Away from London, it’s looking at serving southwest England and possibly another Scottish airport, Oliver said.

If they did move south west it may not be BRS of course. Could be CWL or EXT.

CAA stats

October's provisional figures were published today showing that 640,190 passengers passed through the terminal during the month which is an increase of 8.6% on October 2014. The rolling 12-month total stood at 6,703,084, an increase of 6.4% on a year ago.

At the beginning of this year the airport predicted 6.7 million for the calendar year of 2015 so, short of some unexpected brake on progress, the final figure ought to be a bit above 6.7

[Flitefone]

Almost no doubt that Bristol will see Qatar operating regularly from BRS within 12 months. The region has long been on the radar at Emirates, who lack suitable aircraft.


Bristols' impressive passenger growth seems to be following the same direction as Birmingham in sweeping up capacity not available at LHR.


I fully expect to see BRS continue strong growth through the next decade.


My inkling is that Qatar will announce BRS shortly after the government pronouncement on new runway capacity for London (most likely more long grass) using the chance to grab a headline or two..


FF

[santito]

I would not be so sure. The only suitable equipment QR have is a 787 or one of the few A350s in the fleet, and I am not even 100% sure it could use BRS without a moderate load penalty, as the early models are overweight. I think all of the current 787/A350 fleet are in use as things stand today.

[AirGuru]

Whilst the article does mention serving South-West England which directly implies BRS in my eyes, and being the largest catchment to facilitate such a route, i believe it would be rather fun to see whether a B787/A350 can get in and out of BRS without any difficulties or payload restrictions. CWL and EXT are better suited in that regard, although where there's a will, there's a way. I'm also a firm believer that BRS will see a LH operator sometime in the next year, currently with QR being the front runner, although I thought BRS was in pursuit of a TK link to the Middle East and beyond ?

[caaardiff]

From what I hear the 787 will have no problems reaching Florida and the Caribbean from BRS.
I'm guessing the above would be in charter config, so based on QR carrying less passengers and DOH being closer than the likes of Florida, would the 787 work?

[MerchantVenturer]

I’m not aware of any recent definitive statement concerning the B 787’s and A 350’s ability to operate from BRS.

There has been a lot of discussion on local and national aviation message boards about the subject for a while now, possibly for two reasons: the first is that in 2010 the Thomson MD stated that BRS would be amongst the first airports to operate the TOM B 787 but in the event that has not happened; the second is that a few months after the MD’s statement a TOM B 767 experienced a hard landing at BRS leading to structural damage to the airframe with the subsequent AAIB report highlighting, inter alia, a disproportionate number of hard landings with B 767s on runway 09.

Some believe that Thomson is no longer prepared to use its 787s at BRS but the absence of the type at BRS might equally be the result of commercial considerations as much as operational ones, although it does seem certain that anything larger than a B 767 could not use the full length parallel taxiway because the wings would overhang a fence next to a public road. The airport proposes turning circles and back tracking to overcome this problem.

The first two issues of the BRS master plan published following the government's 2003 White Paper on civil aviation, and both are about a decade old, stated that Boeing had indicated the B 787 would be able to reach Cape Town or western America from the existing runway, later illustrated as a distance in excess of 9,000 kilometres. I realise that early assessments of capability don’t always translate into reality when new aircraft types are finally delivered, and I believe that early 787s were overweight, but with Doha less than 5,500 kilometres from Bristol Boeing must have made a considerably over optimistic prediction with the information they initially provided if even 5,500 kilometres are out of range.

Having no technical qualifications in this subject whatsoever I cannot venture any worthwhile opinion on this particular aspect.

Given that Qatar apparently wants to increase its BHX presence I’m a bit surprised that south west England is in the airline's sights at present. BHX is reasonably convenient for many West Country travellers when it comes to long haul and BHX is increasing its portfolio across a number of airlines.

The other point to bear in mind if Qatar, or any other airline, is looking at the Middle East (or other long haul) from the West Country/South Wales is the APD situation. If Wales gains this power and reduces it to nil, as the Wales Assembly Government has suggested is in its mind, then long haul could become an attractive proposition for airlines deciding on BRS or CWL. The Westminster government’s various proposals for mitigating the effects on English airports of APD devolution to Scotland and Wales would seem to offer little or nothing in BRS’s case, and some might not be legal under EU legislation anyway.

Put simply I believe that if it was a straightforward issue of BRS or CWL for such a route as Qatar then the former’s position serving a larger and wealthier primary catchment, as well as a larger secondary catchment in the further south west and M4 corridor, would carry the day.

However, if operational and/or government taxation policies intrude the issue is much less clear.

[ssflyer]

[Given that Qatar apparently wants to increase its BHX presence]
"Wants to increase" is an understatement.
QR have jumped in with both feet with a daily 787 and an additional flight on Saturdays-commencing April 16
Insider rumours also state EK are to introduce their 2 class A380 on their midday flight.
I see some tasty prices coming up.
SS
ps I still have to drive down the M5 for my Easyjet/Ryanair flights :*

[santito]

I surmise that there are no plans near or mid- term for 787 services. If there were, I would envisage BRS would be in the process of modifying the existing airport infrastructure (taxiways, stands, etc) to support such operations.

Commercially, BRS is probably attractive to 2-3 of 787 operators (TOM, QR, EK), but operationally I think BRS struggles.

[Pandy]

Understood that airlines don't like LH tags or 3 legged routes but..

BRS/CWL are so close together and IF APD is devolved a routing of DOH/BRS/CWL/DOH would give QR or whoever a 2 way benefit.

Larger / wealthier catchment area of BRS coupled with the better
operational capability of CWL.

Think I'm correct in stating that APD is payable on departures not arrivals though quite how that would work out for departing BRS pax - not too sure.

[bravoromeosierra]

I surmise that there are no plans near or mid- term for 787 services. If there were, I would envisage BRS would be in the process of modifying the existing airport infrastructure (taxiways, stands, etc) to support such operations.

Commercially, BRS is probably attractive to 2-3 of 787 operators (TOM, QR, EK), but operationally I think BRS struggles.


This has apparently recently appeared in the EAD info for BRS:

(g) B787 available taxi routes:
Departure Runway 09:
Taxiway Z to Taxiway G, enter Runway at GX.

Runway 27:
Taxiway Z to Taxiway A, enter Runway at AX.

Source: http://www.ead.eurocontrol.int/eadbasic/pamslight-69B5310658A32ABBFD398B843489A7E9/7FE5QZZF3FXUS/EN/AIP/AD/EG_AD_2_EGGD_en_2015-10-15.pdf

[MerchantVenturer]

Understood that airlines don't like LH tags or 3 legged routes but..

BRS/CWL are so close together and IF APD is devolved a routing of DOH/BRS/CWL/DOH would give QR or whoever a 2 way benefit.

Larger / wealthier catchment area of BRS coupled with the better
operational capability of CWL.

Think I'm correct in stating that APD is payable on departures not arrivals though quite how that would work out for departing BRS pax - not too sure.


Even if Wales had reduced APD to nil for flights departing the Principality a BRS-CWL-DOH would attract the APD rate in place for English airports for the entire journey in respect of those departing from BRS, ie long haul rate, as would a CWL/BRS/DOH for those departing from BRS.

So if Wales had secured devolved APD and reduced it to nil and the UK government maintained the present rate for English airports (currently £71 economy, £142 premium - rising to £73/£146 next April, although under 16s will be exempt from next March) the difference would be significant.

Many years ago airlines did operate CWL/BRS/ANOTHER or BRS/CWL/ANOTHER (both scheduled and charter) but this hasn't occurred much in the past 20 years.

[bobsyerunlce]

Even if Wales had reduced APD to nil for flights departing the Principality a BRS-CWL-DOH would attract the APD rate in place for English airports for the entire journey in respect of those departing from BRS, ie long haul rate, as would a CWL/BRS/DOH for those departing from BRS.

So if Wales had secured devolved APD and reduced it to nil and the UK government maintained the present rate for English airports (currently £71 economy, £142 premium - rising to £73/£146 next April, although under 16s will be exempt from next March) the difference would be significant.

Many years ago airlines did operate CWL/BRS/ANOTHER or BRS/CWL/ANOTHER (both scheduled and charter) but this hasn't occurred much in the past 20 years.

I flew to Ibiza in 1995 via Cardiff. What a great 5 minute flight it was!

[speedbird_481_papa]

New link to the textual data for the B787 is

EGGD / BRS Textual Data (http://www.ead.eurocontrol.int/eadbasic/pamslight-F232BD4BF89B53A0F3786A824D27F5BC/7FE5QZZF3FXUS/EN/AIP/AD/EG_AD_2_EGGD_en_2015-10-15.pdf)


Scroll to page 9 and all the info is there :ok:

previous link appears to be broken now

hope this helps

Regards

Speedbird

[MerchantVenturer]

The taxi routes in this document for the B 787 use the parallel taxiway for its entire length both entering and leaving the runway.

It's not clear what has changed from the time when the BRS master plan stated that the 787 would be too wide for the parallel taxiway (wings would overhang a fence next to a pubic road) and suggested that turning circles would be constructed as an interim measure, with a longer term goal of moving the public road (Winters Lane) to the north, something that would doubtless have been met with howls of protest from all sorts of groups and individuals.

It does seem then that one potential operational impediment no longer applies unless someone with expert knowledge corrects me.

[crackling jet]

Not totally sure but wasn't the land at the North side of the taxiway sold in the early 90's to the golf club on the proviso that if any of it was required by the airport for development it would come back under airport ownership, obviously for a fee of course

[Severn]

Although nothing has been announced from the airport yet, if you take a look on the WOW Air website it is showing Bristol as a new destination from May 2016.

The flights look as if they leave Bristol at 12:00 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to Reykjavik (Keflavik) with onward connections to Boston, Montreal, Toronto and Washington (Baltimore).

They're showing flights to Reykjavik (Keflavik) from £39 and to Boston for £99 one way!!

It will only be WOW's second destination in the UK, the first one being London Gatwick.

This is an excellent addition to the BRS network, especially as it gives great low cost connections to the USA and Canada, with more destinations over the Atlantic to come.... the below was taken from the ch-aviation website from the 4th November.

WOW air (WW, Reykjavik Keflavik) has announced plans to source its first widebody aircraft needed for the upcoming launch of flights to the US West Coast.

Using three A330-300s, the Icelandic LCC plans to serve Los Angeles Int'l (4x weekly) and San Francisco, CA (5x weekly) from its Reykjavik Keflavik hub beginning summer of next year. The A330s will be configured with 340 seats in a single-class layout.

WOW air currently operates a fleet of three A320-200s and two A321-200 (sl)s on flights to both mainland Europe as well as Boston and Baltimore Thurgood Marshall in the United States. Toronto Pearson and Montréal Trudeau are expected to launch in May 2016.

[Seljuk22]

3 weekly fights from 13th May with A320
Bristol gains one-stop low-cost transatlantic connection following WOW air arrival :: Routesonline (http://www.routesonline.com/news/29/breaking-news/252070/bristol-gains-one-stop-low-cost-transatlantic-connection-following-wow-air-arrival/)

[fanrailuk]

Notably, easyJet flights to KEF are only on sale until 12 April 2016, therefore one could assume this route has been dropped by them and picked up by WOW. :rolleyes:

[MerchantVenturer]

I found it surprising that easyJet decided to stop Keflavik next April. The route began in December 2013 and the first year carried more passengers than easyJet's publicly stated prediction before the route began.

2015 is the second full year and CAA stats show that the route is well up on 2014 in terms of passenger numbers albeit September and October saw significant drops compared with those months in 2014. Fares have never looked that cheap either.

easyJet operated at 3 x weekly last winter but 2 x weekly in the summer. I was expecting them to return in winter 16/17. Whether they will now remains to be seen.

Accepting that easyJet has been the main driver of BRS's success over the past decade it's always a good thing to have more airlines. Relying on one major customer is never wise in any industry if it can be avoided.

Another plus is that WOW will arrive at 1010 and depart at 1100 which is a quieter period at BRS where the terminal can become uncomfortably crowded at times, although the recent terminal expansion and current further terminal expansion work ought to go a long to dealing with this.

Perhaps the one minus point is that WOW is not well known to local travellers so publicity will have to be good, something that BRS usually excels in when it comes to supporting its airlines.

[Morrihell]

Does it possibly point to the traffic on the route originating mainly from Iceland rather then the Bristol end of things?

It would make sense if you look at it from that mindset perhaps...

MH.

[MerchantVenturer]

That might be a reason. It could also be to do with transatlantic connections or simply availability of aircraft I suppose.

Incidentally, it does seem that easyJet intends to return to the BRS-KEF route next winter after dropping it from next April. The linked report (below) says that winter passenger numbers rose considerably but summer saw almost no growth.

Whether they will have that re-think now that WOW has arrived remains to be seen. If they don't and resume at this winter's schedule 6 x weekly across both airlines seems a lot of seats to fill, even with some transatlantic onward connectivity.

The passenger numbers in the report for January-August are incorrect according to CAA stats with twice the number flying than shown in the report.

easyJet reduces Iceland-Bristol to winter only - Iceland Monitor (http://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/nature_and_travel/2015/11/26/easyjet_reduces_iceland_bristol_to_winter_only/)

Remaining with easyJet, Catania has re-appeared in the booking system for next summer, again at 2 x weekly but commencing slightly later in early June.

Of matters generally at BRS, the CEO hinted in the recent consultative committee minutes that further growth can be anticipated in 2016.

[MerchantVenturer]

BRS to FRA, MUC, CDG, ABZ, DUS and HAM are now all bookable through next summer. Until today only the first three were bookable beyond March. Frequencies don't seem to have reduced.

Of the routes flown this year only MXP and NTE are missing from next summer's booking engine (NTE has disappeared from the drop-down destination list). Given that easyJet is to commences a 2 x weekly Nantes summer service from next March, it's no surprise that bmir's route won't be brought back (as seems the case).

easyJet flew daily from BRS to MXP until the recession took hold against a daily Ryanair Bergamo. Ryanair now operates just 3 x weekly to BGY in summer only. With a 13th based aircraft for next summer it does seem that more work will have to be found to utilise it fully.

The airline has already announced that Venice Marco Polo will return from next March (it too was dropped during the recession) against Ryanair's Treviso and today easyJet has announced a new Glasgow-Malpensa route. So it would not require a huge leap of faith to believe that MXP would be a strong contender if easyJet intends introducing more routes from BRS for next year.

[Severn]

KLM has updated its schedules and during July and August the evening rotation to AMS has been upgraded from the usual E190 and is now showing as a 737.

Below is the summary:

from 01 Jan 2016 - 21 Feb 2016 - 20x weekly flights (20x E190) - (2,000 seats a week)
from 22 Feb 2016 - 26 Mar 2016 - 26x weekly flights (26x E190) - (2,600 seats a week)
from 27 Mar 2016 - 03 Jul 2016 - 28x weekly flights (28x E190) - (2,800 seats a week)
from 04 Jul 2016 - 28 Aug 2016 - 28x weekly flights (21x E190 / 7x B737-700) - (3,094 seats a week)
from 29 Aug 2016 - 31 Oct 2016 - 28x weekly flights (28x E190) - (2,800 seats a week)

[MerchantVenturer]

The eastern extension to the terminal building was officially opened today by The Princess Royal. There was an item on the local telly news that also featured airport CEO, Robert Sinclair.

He was talking about reaching 10 mppa which is the limit currently set by the airport's planning consents after which, he said, they would be looking to go beyond that.

That would involve another battle with environmentalists and fellow travellers without doubt, but at least the current leader of North Somerset Council, in whose area the airport sits, appeared to be supportive when he was interviewed in the same news story.

The 12-month figure up to the end of November is 6,741,123, up 6.8% on a year ago (CAA stats), so 6,750,000 should be exceeded in the calendar year. November itself at 412,084 was up 10.2% on November 2014.

It will still take a few years to get to around 10 mppa and that assumes there are no nasty shocks along the way waiting to jump out.

[MerchantVenturer]

Bristol Airport reports record year | Bristol Airport (http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/about-us/news-and-media/news-and-media-centre/2016/01/record-year)

Bristol Airport reports a record year that handled 6.76 million passengers an increase of 7.7% on 2014.

The airport expects in excess of 7 million in 2016.

[EI-A330-300]

EI increase DUB from 17 to 20 weekly next summer.

[superq7]

EI increase DUB from 17 to 20 weekly next summer.

That's good news EI.

[crackling jet]

Just out of interest, does anyone know how the bookings for WOW are going, a good point for the skiing comunity in the southwest where there is no snow in europe, then this new low cost service should entice them on to this route for cheap onward travel to Canada for skiers paradise with gaurateed snow, but we will see.

Just hope the Canada-Bristol curse does not appear again, as every airline that has operated Canada - Bristol has ceased operations during their second season. hopefully the Canada - Bristol gremlin will get off in Kef and the route will live long and prosper.

SO SKIERS BOOK ON THIS ROUTE AND SAVE SOME MONEY AND HAVE FUN IN THE SNOW. AND AS THEY SAY USE IT OR LOOSE IT !!

[MerchantVenturer]

Can't answer that one c j, although the BRS CEO, Robert Sinclair, was on BBC Radio Bristol this morning and put in a plug for WOW.

It's a two and a half hour long news programme first thing in the morning and I wasn't quite sure why the CEO came on as his interview was obviously by telephone and lasted no more than a couple of minutes.

It seems that Simon Calder had been on the programme before I tuned in and had made some comments about WOW's fares and the chances of BRS reinstating a NYC service. I presume the CEO was brought on to rebut something that ubiquitous travel journalist had said.

What the CEO did say was that he was still confident that a NYC service would be obtained in the next year or so. That's fine as far as it goes but last April a BRS spokesman said in an article published on the web regarding NYC that, “We believe we came very close to securing the route last year for this summer but missed out to another airport. We are very confident that this year will be different and we will be able to bring non-stop connectivity to the New York and wider US market directly from Bristol Airport in 2016,”

Discussions were said at that time to be at an 'advanced stage' for the return of a NYC service in 2016.

The CEO also spoke this morning of transatlantic flights to holiday destinations in a year or so.

I still have the feeling that airlines are waiting to see if APD is to be devolved to Wales. Until the Westminster government makes a decision one way or the other the matter might remain in limbo. Scotland only got APD devolved to their government as part of a package to try to prevent their voters opting for independence. There is not a similar imperative for Wales so the matter may be allowed to drift until a way is found not to disadvantage English airports too much (if there is a way which at the moment seems unclear).

[GayFriendly]

“We believe we came very close to securing the route last year for this summer but missed out to another airport. We are very confident that this year will be different and we will be able to bring non-stop connectivity to the New York and wider US market directly from Bristol Airport in 2016,”


I wonder if that was AA who started BHX-JFK flights last year? Hopefully you will see New York back on the departure screens at BRS soon!

[EI-BUD]

In relation to the comment about a New York service, you would have to wonder will Norwegian start to appear on routes ex the UK for some long haul services that have been marginal for the big US carriers. With a lower cost base these routes could prove commercially attractive to the likes of Norwegian.??


Obviously subject to aircraft availability etc. But could 737-800 do a Bristol New York routing nonstop?


EI-BUD

[nwoody2001]

"I wonder if that was AA who started BHX-JFK flights last year? Hopefully you will see New York back on the departure screens at BRS soon!"


I suspect it was more likely United's NCL-EWR route personally that was the main competition, but


UA = EWR - NCL
AA = JFK - BHX
AA = JFK - EDI


...all could have been the competition!

[StevieW]

Obviously subject to aircraft availability etc. But could 737-800 do a Bristol New York routing nonstop?

A 737-800 can barely do Bristol-Canary Islands non-stop with unfavourable airport and en-route weather conditions.

[fanrailuk]

Worth noting that the BM MXP service it not on sale beyond 21 March; all other BM routes are on sale until the end of October so can only assume this route will cease to operate after that date... :rolleyes:

Is it only a matter of time before EZY eyes this route to take on FR BGY?

In the meantime, notably, the CWL BE service has gone to 4 x weekly during the summer.

[MerchantVenturer]

A 737-800 can barely do Bristol-Canary Islands non-stop with unfavourable airport and en-route weather conditions.

Ryanair operates at least 6 x weekly from BRS to the Canaries with B 737-800s and have been for a number of years. Do they have problems at times? I haven't heard on the grapevine that it's a major issue for them.

Worth noting that the BM MXP service it not on sale beyond 21 March; all other BM routes are on sale until the end of October so can only assume this route will cease to operate after that date...

Is it only a matter of time before EZY eyes this route to take on FR BGY?

In the meantime, notably, the CWL BE service has gone to 4 x weekly during the summer.

In 2008 and 2009 Ryanair and easyJet did go head to head on daily flights to BGY and MXP respectively. easyJet then pulled out and Ryanair gradually reduced BGY to the point where it's now just a 3 x weekly summer service.

MXP is a route that I'm very surprised easyJet has not brought back. They introduced Basel this winter at 4 x weekly (2 x weekly in January) then back to 4 x weekly at the beginning of February and on through the summer. Stats suggest that the route is not up to easyJet's usual BRS loads, and whenever I've looked fares have not been expensive either.

Venice which easyJet is bringing back in March at 4 x weekly (using Venice-based aircraft) was flown until 2009. It will go against Ryanair's version of Venice at Treviso which would be a similar scenario if easyJet flew MXP against Ryanair's BGY.

[StevieW]

Ryanair operates at least 6 x weekly from BRS to the Canaries with B 737-800s and have been for a number of years. Do they have problems at times? I haven't heard on the grapevine that it's a major issue for them.

It's not common, but certainly not unheard of to have tech stops in Portugal. Strong head winds en route and a high load, coupled with a low QNH, wet runway and reasonably high temperature (>15 celcius) in Bristol can limit performance. Non-standard take off configurations (bleeds off/flap 25) to reduce runway distance required are certainly not uncommon on the Canaries routes.

But that's what happens when you build a short runway on the top of a hill.

[MerchantVenturer]

Many thanks.

Bristol hasn't had a lot of luck, or perhaps lack of foresight is more accurate, with its airport sites. Whitchurch that served the nation so well in WW2 closed in the mid 1950s because the city council decided it was too small for future types of aircraft.

So what did they do? Bought a former RAF station, which was by then a glider club, on a small site on top of a mist-laden hill that stored up exactly the same problems for future generations that led them to close Whitchurch.

And just across the city was a works aerodrome that possessed most things that Lulsgate lacks. It doesn't any more of course.

The fact that BRS/EGGD is thriving makes many wonder if it would not be even more successful if it had become FZO/EGTG.

[caaardiff]

Is BRS possibly hindering the chance of a direct NYC link by attracting WOW?

WOW will surely want to feed it's long haul network, rather than just have 3x weekly KEF service. In my eyes this would be direct competition against a NYC route. Most carriers that would be suitable for BRS-NYC would be offering onward connections, not just direct NYC. Granted those carriers (AA/UA/US) would offer many more connections than WOW, but would this dilute the service? Bearing in mind EI also offer the same.

[StevieW]

The fact that BRS/EGGD is thriving makes many wonder if it would not be even more successful if it had become FZO/EGTG.

Almost certainly. Long haul from Lulsgate isn't sustainable with the payload restrictions or fuel stops that hindered the previous attempts. With Filton's long runway, the EWR route and TOM's bucket and spade services would've almost certainly survived. Far superior ground transport connections would've only bolstered this further. It's a shame, but that's UK politics.

[Bristol_Traveller]

My bet is that the discussion was with UA on resuming EWR-BRS, and we did lose out to NCL.

I'm still sceptical that direct TATL can become a bedrock service from BRS. There's so much competition across the Atlantic from BRS (KL/DL via AMS, EI/AA via DUB, BM/LH via FRA, SN/UA via BRU), plus now WOW via KEF, and of course competition against BRS from other similar sized airports in Europe wanting a direct US flight.

It's a nice headline service to have, but from a traveller's point of view, if I want to get to anywhere else in the US other than NYC, it's probably easier via AMS/DUB/FRA/BRU and then direct over the Atlantic rather than connecting at EWR (assuming it's BRS-EWR) and being constrained to UA metal.

I loved flying BRS-EWR (from the first flight to the last flight), but I wouldn't want to bring it back at the expense of richer connections into Europe, or have it wilt as it did last time. (Although the upgrade opportunities were always excellent).

[LGS6753]

Checking prices recently, I found WOW ultra-competitive on LAX and SFO in summer. Also, the short connection times made it a very viable option.

[MerchantVenturer]

As soon as Continental gained access to LHR, which they didn't have when they commenced their EWR-BRS route in 2005, I always wondered how long the Bristol route would remain. In effect it was shifted 100 miles east along the M4 to become the fifth daily CO LHR-EWR rotation at that time. They moved their LGW-EWR to LHR even before they moved the BRS route.

So far as I'm aware the CO B 757-200s always made it non-stop to EWR without the need of an en route fuel stop. Whether that was at the expense of load restrictions I don't know. If it was and was a regular occurrence it seems odd that CO ever started the route and continued to operate it for five and a half years.

The BRS master plan now nearly a decade old accepted (and still accepts?) that there was (still is?) no demand for a large network of long haul scheduled routes suggesting that four might be the limit, with three to the USA and the fourth to the Middle East. Long haul charter routes were a different proposition and the airport then put its hopes on the (then in production) B 787 and A 350.

Bristol as a city and city region region is one of the most prosperous and economically successful in the UK and has managed this with no direct long haul air connectivity (other than the former EWR route) from its local airport. It can be argued that its residents are already spoilt for choice: one of the world's biggest airports is 90-105 minutes away; the local airport certainly punches above its weight given its physical size and remote location with an abundance of short haul offerings and links to several nearby European hubs; BHX is 80-90 miles along the M5 with a growing list of long haul routes and carriers; there are smaller airports at CWL, EXT and SOU (and BOH if it gets its act together) within reach if, for whatever reason, none of the other airports mentioned fits a particular bill.

I'm certainly not knocking the idea of the return of a NYC route. It would undoubtedly be useful for some but would it be a game changer for the local economy which as I've already pointed out isn't doing at all badly compared with many other areas of the country? I remain to be convinced.

I endorse B_T's view that a NYC service is fine for the New York area but there are often better options to fly from the Bristol area to other parts of the USA. Like B_T my son sometimes used the CO service when he had business in New York but at other times he drove to LHR to fly direct to other US cities as he found this to be more efficient.

BRS is exceptionally good at what it does best: connecting with Europe and just beyond. B_T makes a valid point about not wanting a NYC area service brought back 'at the expense of richer connections into Europe'.

Is BRS possibly hindering the chance of a direct NYC link by attracting WOW?

I don’t think that any airline looking at a direct service would be put off by WOW’s presence any more than KLM etc with their transatlantic hub connections put off CO.

However, when I heard the WOW news my first thought was that the direct NYC route confidently predicted for 2016 had taken a step or two backwards, at least in timescale.

[ATNotts]

MV

Rarely do I read such good analysis in a posting on PPRuNe!

Congratulations. Shame many posters on other AH&N threads aren't so objective!

[SWBKCB]

If you go back to the late Go/easyJet days (2001/2002) BRS and NCL were similar airports in terms of size and range of airlines - from memory pax numbers were very similar.

Since then they have diverged, based largely on the relative success (or otherwise) of the regional economies.

The fact that NCL has attracted Emirates and United, and also has slightly stronger links to European hubs strengthens the argument that it is BRS proximity to LHR/BHX that is impacting on long haul growth (though the physical constraints also play a part), because in most other aspects BRS has powered ahead (OK, maybe not in football related traffic :ok: )

[CheekyVisual]

From experience the canaries are right on the max range of the 738 with full payload from BRS on most low pressure days. If you start getting down into pressures below 990 then you start to get payload limited especially if coupled with a nice strong headwind. Tech stops in Portugal are rare but not unheard of.

Even on average days there is not a huge margin and careful number crunching is often required.

Even if you could fly a straight line to NYC, which you can't, it is still nearly twice as far to the states as the canaries. Using my total back of a fag packet 738 performance. On an average Bristol day a 738 could probably lift about 30 passengers to New York and that's working on a 50ish kt headwind but it is likely to be more on most days.

You need something properly built for the job like the 75, 76 or Dreamliner. Or a longer runway ! Can't comment on Airbus as try to avoid touching them.

[MerchantVenturer]

Many thanks for your kind remarks, ATNotts. Appreciated

Your memory is pretty good SWBKCB. In 2001 NCL was actually busier than BRS in passenger numbers: 3.37 mppa versus 2.67 mppa.

In 2001 Go Fly, absorbed into easyJet within a year or two, commenced operations at BRS and easyJet has been the major conduit for the BRS passenger growth since that time. This week easyJet announced that it has now carried 40 million passengers through BRS.

http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/about-us/news-and-media/news-and-media-centre/2016/01/easyjet

[SWBKCB]

Those were the days. At the 10 year anniversary for EZY at NCL in 2013 they were quoting 13 million EZY pax through NCL. Although BRS had the Go base which became EZY, NCL then got a similar sized EZY base with a similar range of destinations and they seem to run in parallel for a few years, and then diverged somewhat... :(

[TheTravellingBookie]

Any idea who's operating the Friday summer flight to Antalya bookable through Thomson? Still showing as TBA0000.... Any info appreciated....

[MerchantVenturer]

The Milan MXP route will operate this summer after all. It's shown as 3 x weekly (Sunday, Monday and Friday) on the bmir website booking page. It was thought that it was to cease in March.

[bravoromeosierra]

Looks like KLM won't be sending the B737-700 to BRS this summer after all.

[MerchantVenturer]

I note that some interest has been created in another airport thread regarding a survey into the cost of getting to the UK’s ten busiest airports (measured by passenger numbers) by public transport that found BRS is the most expensive.

The Mail seems to have picked up this report from the local Bristol newspaper which ran the story first.

Based on the narrow parameters used (ie the cost of public transport from the nearest city centre to the various airports) that may be true. One of the contributory ‘facts’ was said to be the lack of a rail station at the airport but that also applies to EDI (it does now have a tram) and GLA, both of which fared better than BRS in this survey, in GLA’s case much better, so I question the importance of that ‘conclusion’.

The main bus connection is the Bristol Airport Flyer which has been running for nearly 20 years. It operates 24 hours a day, at 8-9 minute intervals for much of the time, between the airport and Bristol’s main railway station at Temple Meads and the country bus and coach station which is a mile further into the central area (like its airport Bristol’s main rail station is in the wrong place, but that’s another discussion).

Return Flyer fares are £11 with a single at £7. The Flyer is run by the airport without any public subsidy, which is not the case with every UK airport’s shuttle bus connection, and operated by a fleet of 12 large single decker First Bristol vehicles (in airport livery and adapted internally for the conveyance of luggage)) and drivers under contract to the airport. The airport allows holders of English concessionary travel cards (pensioners’ bus passes) to use the vehicles during the time the cards are valid, i.e. after 9am and all hours at weekends.

I’m a regular user of the Flyer and there is no doubt that the majority of travellers begin and end their journeys at Temple Meads station, with most possessing through rail tickets to/from the airport. The airport is shown as a ‘station’ on the GWR network with the last (or first) leg by bus, incidentally at a far greater frequency than any rail network could hope to achieve. The next busiest pick-up or drop-off point is the country bus and coach station where through tickets on local buses and National Express coaches linked to the Flyer are available.

Another (double decker) bus service from 0300 hours until midnight links Bath with the airport via two small en route towns and south Bristol. This runs half hourly for much of the time. There is no public subsidy with this service. There are also regular local bus services via the airport linking Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon, Portishead and many local villages which are publicly subsidised but the raison d’etre is the linking of the villages with the towns. Some people access the airport via these local services but many (mainly pensioners with bus passes) use the airport as an interchange from Flyer or Bath Air Decker to one of the local services which the airport permits as part of its commitment to the local community.

The airport has put around £5 million into local transport and road schemes via its section 106 planning consent payments to the local authority for the expanded terminal and other infrastructure developments.

Finally there is a coach service to/from South Wales that operates 12 times a day and a long distance National Express that calls in the small hours.

The taxi provision is controversial with some people. Like a number of regional airports BRS grants a concession to one company to operate from the airport. That of course doesn’t stop passengers making their own prior arrangements with other companies or picking up a hackney off a rank in Bristol.

I’ve set out BRS’s public transport links in some detail to show they are comprehensive and it’s the market that dictates the fares. Bristol is an expensive city in which to live and its bus fares, by First’s (the major bus provider) own admission, are higher than the company charges in some other cities, although I suspect that the airport sets the Flyer fares.

The survey is interesting in that it provokes discussion but the narrow parameters tell only a small part of the overall story. The last CAA survey that involved BRS (in 2012) found that 18.1% of BRS passengers arrived at the airport by public transport. The other regional airports surveyed that year were BHX (19.2% of arrivals by public transport), MAN (15.5%), EMA (9.0%), CWL (8.9%) and EXT (4.8%).

On this evidence the expensive journey from city centre to airport doesn’t seemed to have put off travellers, but most would have travelled further than from/to the city centre. A more meaningful survey would have established total public travel costs to airports and not just the fairly limited city centre to airport.

[MerchantVenturer]

Further to my previous post, it's been announced today that a new bus service will commence next month from Plymouth calling at Exeter, Taunton, Bristol Airport and Bristol. There will be 19 journeys a day, seven days a week.

Stagecoach to launch new service from Plymouth to Bristol Airport - for just £1 | Plymouth Herald (http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Stagecoach-launch-1-service-Plymouth-Bristol/story-28632917-detail/story.html#1)

[MerchantVenturer]

A Bristol Labour MP supported Bristol Airport this week in a Commons debate on regional airports. She was concerned at the effect that a re-distribution of passengers brought about by the devolution of air passenger duty powers to the Welsh Government would have on both the airport’s fortunes and the economy of the region.

She quoted previous figures that the BRS management had projected which suggest that the airport could lose up to a third of its routes and 25% of its passenger numbers if apd was devolved to Wales.

She also called for ‘greater certainty’ for regional airports and said that the government should make decisions on apd and the Heathrow runway issue (this would have a bearing on the West Country where already six million passengers from the South West use London airports each year).

Aviation minister Robert Goodwill apparently told the MP that he did not have time to address the concerns around the airport tax charges.

In some ways I see mixed messages emanating from BRS. They’ve quoted the projected loss of routes and passenger numbers yet at the same time the airport owner (Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund) is spending tens of millions of pounds on infrastructure improvements. By the time the current round of amelioration is complete by the end of this year around £100 million will have been spent since 2010, with at least another £50 million in the decade before that expended by the previous owners. For an airport of Bristol’s size this is a very large investment and could suggest that the owner either believes that apd will not be devolved to Wales or, if it is, the effects may not be as serious as previously stated.

From remarks in the media by politicians and commentators I’m gaining the impression that complete apd devotion to Wales may not be a runner at the moment (a story appeared in one of the Sunday papers -Sunday Times? - a couple of months ago reporting that apd devolution to Wales was running into difficulties at UK government level) but that long haul apd devolution is now what is being talked about more and more.

The Silk Commission recommended that long haul apd powers be devolved to Wales in the first instance. Those supporting this line point out that it would not affect any of Bristol’s existing routes because there aren’t any. That’s true but it would almost certainly scupper any chance of the airport gaining some in the foreseeable future.

Furthermore, it ignores the tens of thousands of passengers who fly long haul from BRS via the hubs at AMS, BRU, FRA, MUC and DUB who pay the full UK long haul apd rate.

I think what is needed now is an early decision one way or the other on devolution of apd powers to Wales. If the decision goes ‘against’ BRS at least the owner and management will know where they stand and can act accordingly.

[bcn_boy]

A Bristol Labour MP supported Bristol Airport this week in a Commons debate on regional airports. She was concerned at the effect that a re-distribution of passengers brought about by the devolution of air passenger duty powers to the Welsh Government would have on both the airport’s fortunes and the economy of the region.

She quoted previous figures that the BRS management had projected which suggest that the airport could lose up to a third of its routes and 25% of its passenger numbers if apd was devolved to Wales.

She also called for ‘greater certainty’ for regional airports and said that the government should make decisions on apd and the Heathrow runway issue (this would have a bearing on the West Country where already six million passengers from the South West use London airports each year).

Aviation minister Robert Goodwill apparently told the MP that he did not have time to address the concerns around the airport tax charges.

In some ways I see mixed messages emanating from BRS. They’ve quoted the projected loss of routes and passenger numbers yet at the same time the airport owner (Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund) is spending tens of millions of pounds on infrastructure improvements. By the time the current round of amelioration is complete by the end of this year around £100 million will have been spent since 2010, with at least another £50 million in the decade before that expended by the previous owners. For an airport of Bristol’s size this is a very large investment and could suggest that the owner either believes that apd will not be devolved to Wales or, if it is, the effects may not be as serious as previously stated.

From remarks in the media by politicians and commentators I’m gaining the impression that complete apd devotion to Wales may not be a runner at the moment (a story appeared in one of the Sunday papers -Sunday Times? - a couple of months ago reporting that apd devolution to Wales was running into difficulties at UK government level) but that long haul apd devolution is now what is being talked about more and more.

The Silk Commission recommended that long haul apd powers be devolved to Wales in the first instance. Those supporting this line point out that it would not affect any of Bristol’s existing routes because there aren’t any. That’s true but it would almost certainly scupper any chance of the airport gaining some in the foreseeable future.

Furthermore, it ignores the tens of thousands of passengers who fly long haul from BRS via the hubs at AMS, BRU, FRA, MUC and DUB who pay the full UK long haul apd rate.

I think what is needed now is an early decision one way or the other on devolution of apd powers to Wales. If the decision goes ‘against’ BRS at least the owner and management will know where they stand and can act accordingly.

You do not pay the uk long haul apd if you fly via a hub airport in another country. If you fly via AMS long haul you only pay UK short haul apd. The long haul apd is paid to the Dutch.

[MerchantVenturer]

If you book a through ticket from, say, BRS to LAX via AMS you pay the UK long haul apd rate. Here is a breakdown of a test booking I've just made with KLM, BRS-LAX via AMS. The UK long haul rate of £71 is clearly shown.

Price specification
adult
ticket price 278.00
carrier-imposed international surcharge 148.00
uk air passenger duty 71.00
uk international/domestic airport passenger service charge 21.73
airport passenger service charge 9.60
noise surcharge 0.80
security charge 10.40
us customs user fee 3.80
us international transportation tax 24.80
us aphis fee 2.70
us ins user fee 4.90
usa passenger civil aviation security service fee 3.90
usa passenger facility charge 3.10
price 582.73
number of passengers 1

[ATNotts]

If you book a through ticket from, say, BRS to LAX via AMS you pay the UK long haul apd rate. Here is a breakdown of a test booking I've just made with KLM, BRS-LAX via AMS. The UK long haul rate of £71 is clearly shown.

Percentage added for "extras" over and above the ticket price is nearly as extreme as the excise duty component on UK petrol!

What, by the way, is "carrier imposed international surcharge"?

[MerchantVenturer]

I don't know what 'carrier imposed international surcharge' is but in this example the apd amount is over 12% of the overall fare which would come down from £582 to £511 if apd was set at nil or abolished.

[Bristol_Traveller]

Carrier Imposed Surcharge is the "new" name for "Fuel Surcharge" (which usually gets the YR or YQ identifier in the fare construction).

Scrutiny of the "fuel surcharge" has increased substantially as oil prices have plummeted, but YQ failed to fall in parallel. Rather than continue the charade of this being a fuel related surcharge, it's just been renamed to a general catchall addon cost.

It survives because corporate discounts are often applied to the base fare, pre application of the surcharge (so a "50% corporate discount" can actually be substantially less in the context of the final payment made).

It also provides some protection against some of the incredibly complex and convoluted routes that have become possible as airlines have got into JVs. (The routings available between BRS and LAX cover all travel through just about every single US hub airport). By charging a per-sector "surcharge", there's less risk the airline will lose money on someone choosing a cheaper, more esoteric routing.

The most frustrating part of YQ for me is the huge cash cost it dumps on frequent flier mile redemptions. In the case of LH, and their increasingly perverse application of YQ, sometimes using miles and paying their "standard YQ" is substantially higher than just buying a cash ticket (with "discounted YQ") outright.

APD is charged by each country on your itinerary to which it applies. UK APD is calculated on the distance to your final ticketed destination. IE APD is a fixed cost. It's possible to end up paying multiple APD fees to multiple countries on a single itin. I know of an increasing number of BRS fliers who hop over to DUB on the EI flight (APD cost £13) and then turn right around on BA to LHR and onto longhaul, because it can save a big amount on both APD *and* airfare.

/end rant.

[ATNotts]

Scrutiny of the "fuel surcharge" has increased substantially as oil prices have plummeted, but YQ failed to fall in parallel. Rather than continue the charade of this being a fuel related surcharge, it's just been renamed to a general catchall addon cost.

So unlike investments, which can go down as well as up - carrier imposed surcharge only goes one way!

I wonder Simon Calder hasn't had a go about that one. perhaps he has?

[MerchantVenturer]

Winter 2016/2017 is gradually being loaded, with three new winter routes so far in the system:

Bergamo 3 x weekly. Since 2011 this has been a summer-only route

Treviso 2 x weekly. This has only ever been a summer route; perhaps this is in response to easyJet restarting Venice MP from next month which presumably will operate through next winter

Krakow 3 x weekly. Commences this summer against easyJet's long standing year-round route to KRK

Italy v England Six Nations rugby

Three Boeing 737-400s will operate to Rome (FCO) this coming Friday (Alba Star, Enter Air and Mistral) in connection with the above match that takes place in Rome next Sunday. They return on Monday of next week.

I can't remember this sort of operation from BRS for a match involving England in Italy before. BRS's international rugby experience is usually restricted to being an overflow airport for CWL re big matches at the Millennium Stadium.

[MerchantVenturer]

Severn region of Bristol, Cardiff and Newport could create new economic 'powerhouse' - report | Bristol Post (http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Severn-region-Bristol-Cardiff-Newport-create-new/story-28716732-detail/story.html)

Interesting that on a day when the vexed question of APD devolution to Wales and its possible effect on Bristol Airport and the economy of its hinterland is again in the news that local politicians on both sides of the Severn estuary should reveal the results of a report they commissioned into Bristol, Cardiff and Newport joining together to form an economic powerhouse.

[MerchantVenturer]

Good start for 2016 with BRS's own numbers showing an increase of over 13% on January 2015 - just under 410,000 passengers, nearly 50,000 more than the previous January - in what is usually the lowest month at the airport.

7 mppa should be achieved in this calendar year (it would be the first time in the airport's history that this level has been reached) although the summer monthly percentage increases are unlikely to match the excellent performances of last year.

[Steamer Ned]

Regarding the current discussion ongoing re APD and Bristol/Cardiff airports, I recently noticed the comment reproduced below in the Bristol Post online version. Maybe the well-informed individuals frequenting this forum might wish to comment.


“The point about this issue goes well beyond any effect on BristolAirport. If APD is devolved to Wales it will mean that travellers there will fly tax-free whilst travellers from all English airports will continue to pay £13 per short haul flight and £71 (rising to £73 in April) for each long haul flight. Business class is double these figures.


The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) receives a massive multi-billion-pound block grant from Westminster in order to function. This money is provided by all UK taxpayers including us in Bristol, so we would be subsidising tax-free travel in Wales whilst still paying this tax in England. Furthermore, the WAG owns CardiffAirport so would be in the privileged position of being able to set its own APD rates which it has already said it would reduce to nil. If that isn't anti-competitive, I don't know what is.


England remains under the control of the UK government, with MPs representing constituencies in all four home countries having a say on English APD rates, but English MPs having no say on Welsh (or Scottish or Northern Irish) rates. So far as CardiffAirport is concerned it would reward failure. The airport was in danger of closure (according to Wales’ First Minister and the current CardiffAirport company chairman) until the WAG bought it at what many experts say was a vastly inflated price (£52 million). Since then the WAG has put in another £13 million to effectively pay airlines to fly from Cardiff.


BristolAirport is highly successful, and since the city council sold it into private hands many years ago has never needed the public purse to help it along. If some tax payers in England are happy to subsidise air travellers in Wales that's up to them. I'm certainly not."


[points regarding car parking/drop-off charges not relevant to the APD debate followed]


"Incidentally, the WAG and the CardiffAirport management would be dancing all the way around their Bay if their airport had even half the route network that BristolAirport enjoys. Why should a successful airport be penalised in favour of a struggling one? It's like having two neighbouring shops with the government allowing one to sell its goods without VAT.”


(Comment by ‘FromMendip’, Bristol Post 13.02.2016)


I guess it’s possible ‘FromMendip’ might be one of those posting here …



SN

[supermarine]

Perhaps from Mendip can pop over the Severn Bridge in the not too distant future and pay less APD on his next long haul holiday, it seems like a winner to me.

[crackling jet]

Well said Steamer Ned.

[MerchantVenturer]

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/59557/airports-demand-clarity-on-apd-in-budget

The Airline Operators Association (AOA) has been vocal on the APD subject again this week demanding that the chancellor reduces APD by at least half in next month's Budget. I doubt that they expect that he will.

However, their spokesman does make the valid point that 'the prime minister was quite clear during the 2015 General Election campaign that he would not allow unfair tax competition to damage UK airports'.

The AOA also wants the government to respond to a review of the impact of devolving APD that it launched in the summer of last year with a discussion paper that set out three possible ways of mitigating the effects on English airports if APD is devolved to the other countries in the UK.

The options involved variable rates of APD in England (which might be illegal under EU rules - the government was to seek advice from Europe. I wonder if it did and if so what that advice was); devolving APD within England; aid to regional airports although anywhere with a throughput of over 3 mppa would not be eligible except in some exceptional cases where the limit could be 5 mppa.

The options are said to have drawn 'universal criticism'.

So if Wales is get APD powers it will be fascinating to see what the chancellor proposes to compensate English airports. Probably nothing in reality although there may be some political spin to cloud the issue.

[Letsflycwl]

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/59557/airports-demand-clarity-on-apd-in-budget

The Airline Operators Association (AOA) has been vocal on the APD subject again this week demanding that the chancellor reduces APD by at least half in next month's Budget. I doubt that they expect that he will.

However, their spokesman does make the valid point that 'the prime minister was quite clear during the 2015 General Election campaign that he would not allow unfair tax competition to damage UK airports'.

The AOA also wants the government to respond to a review of the impact of devolving APD that it launched in the summer of last year with a discussion paper that set out three possible ways of mitigating the effects on English airports if APD is devolved to the other countries in the UK.

The options involved variable rates of APD in England (which might be illegal under EU rules - the government was to seek advice from Europe. I wonder if it did and if so what that advice was); devolving APD within England; aid to regional airports although anywhere with a throughput of over 3 mppa would not be eligible except in some exceptional cases where the limit could be 5 mppa.

The options are said to have drawn 'universal criticism'.

So if Wales is get APD powers it will be fascinating to see what the chancellor proposes to compensate English airports. Probably nothing in reality although there may be some political spin to cloud the issue.

It's not just Wales.....remember that.....its Scotland and Northern Ireland too

[SWBKCB]

the government was to seek advice from Europe. I wonder if it did and if so what that advice was

At a rough guess, it will be on the lines of:

1. This is what the relevant Regulation/Directive says;
2. it's up to you to interpret how that applies in your particular circumstance;
3. Only the European Court of Justice can give a definitive answer to the question you've asked


It's not just Wales.....remember that.....its Scotland and Northern Ireland too

Quite right, but in a discussion on Bristol Airport, what happens in Wales is the key point.

[MerchantVenturer]

House of Commons Hansard Debates for 24 Feb 2016 (pt 0001) (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmhansrd/cm160224/debtext/160224-0001.htm)

In a Commons session yesterday on matters affecting Wales Liam Fox, MP for North Somerset, asked the Secretary of State for Wales, Stephen Crabb, what assessment had been made of the potential effect of devolving air passenger duty to Wales.

The Sec of State replied, "This Government have a proud record on devolution in Wales: establishing the Silk commission, devolving landmark new fiscal powers and taking forward the St David’s day agreement through the new Wales Bill. In that agreement, we committed to consider the case for devolving APD to Wales and this work is currently being undertaken and assessed by the Treasury."

Dr Fox then asked, "Devolving air passenger duty will create a market distortion favouring a state-owned airport against a private one. It will damage the economic viability of Bristol airport and have consequential detrimental effects in the south-west. When my right hon. Friend discusses this with the Chancellor, will he gently reflect on the fact that, had our colleagues not made such great gains in the south-west, there would not be a majority Conservative Government?"

The Sec of State replied, "I am sure that my right hon. Friend, like me, welcomes the fact that the Government are cutting APD in all parts of the UK. However, let us be clear: I want Cardiff airport to be a success story, but I also recognise that there are serious concerns about the effect APD devolution might have on competition issues in relation to Bristol airport."

I suppose the reference to cutting APD 'in all parts of the UK' refers to passengers under 16.

No surprise that this little exchange shed no new light on what the government may decide and I doubt that Dr Fox's attempt to pull in some favours for the South West's help in bringing in a Conservative government will cut much ice. Perversely, Bristol itself provides three of the four Labour MPs in the South West region with the other 51 being Conservative.

[SWBKCB]

Ministers hint at action to protect Newcastle Airport in George Osborne's Budget - Chronicle Live (http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/ministers-hint-action-protect-newcastle-10946819)

Similar story up North. Lets see what the Budget brings... :rolleyes:

[MerchantVenturer]

Gianni Infantino, the new FIFA President, used easyJet on Friday to fly from Geneva to BRS for the annual FA International Board meeting in Cardiff this weekend.

I couldn't imagine his predecessor, Herr Blatter, using a low-cost airline.

[ATNotts]

Gianni Infantino, the new FIFA President, used easyJet on Friday to fly from Geneva to BRS for the annual FA International Board meeting in Cardiff this weekend.

I couldn't imagine his predecessor, Herr Blatter, using a low-cost airline.

Probably wouldn't have stooped low enough to fly on an airline, biz-jet more like for that (alleged) rogue.

[MerchantVenturer]

CAA stats show that BRS handled 437,478 passengers through the terminal in February an increase of 14.8% on February 2015, although as with other airports the additional day this leap year helped. The rolling 12-month total reached 6,885,518 which is 8.2% up on a year ago.

The 7 mppa stage seems certain to be reached and passed this year, although the summer is not likely to see the scale of monthly gains of last year as the base figure will be that much higher, although there will be an additional easyJet aircraft (making 13 at the BRS base) for the main summer period and the Wizz flights will operate right through the season which was not the case in 2015 as the airline only began operations in July and then only to Katowice.

However, what perhaps is more noteworthy is the fact that the winter performance is now assuming a greater role. For a number of years winter has been disproportionately weaker than summer in terms of flights and passenger numbers.

This winter though the period November through to February has seen double digit percentage increases each month.

November 2015 saw over 38,000 more passengers (than November 2014) and December saw 41,000 more than the previous December. This year there were 47,000 more in in January than in January 2015 and February saw an increase of over 56,000 over the previous February.

Overall this has given a percentage rise of 12.2% for these four winter months and in real terms over 182,000 more passengers.

I've not included March as this can be skewed depending on when Easter falls.

[MerchantVenturer]

So no mention of APD devolution to Wales was made in this week’s Budget, despite predictions that it would be by many media commentators, but this may only be a temporary reprieve for BRS.

Once the Wales Bill was withdrawn a few weeks ago, mainly on the grounds that it might lessen the Wales Assembly Government’s (WAG) fiscal powers rather than enhance them and was so full of holes that the European Court of Justice might have been occupied for years dealing with legal challenges, it seemed to me that any decision to devolve APD would await the new Wales Bill which will be presented later this year.

The Westminster government continues to say that English airports will not be disadvantaged through APD devolution to other countries in the UK.

Of the three options mooted last year in a Government Discussion Paper only the one that would see powers over APD devolved fully or partially to local authorities or Combined Authorities (including mayoral city-regions) within England is likely to be both legal and pertinent to all airports irrespective of annual passenger throughput.

EU state aid rules dictate that Member States must not vary national tax rates so that they are more favourable to some regions or a region, because it would be deemed that a selective economic advantage had been provided to businesses operating in those regions or region.

Any devolution of tax powers must meet the ‘Azores criteria’ to comply with EU state aid rules which essentially means that the regional authority within a member state to which tax powers are devolved must bear a sufficient degree of fiscal and economic autonomy from central government.

Clearly the WAG does fall within these criteria but the current local authorities around Bristol don’t; at the moment but see below.

In yesterday’s Budget the chancellor gave the go ahead for a metro mayor for the Greater Bristol area; that’s the area that used to be the county of Avon but is now governed by four separate unitary authorities: Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath & North East Somerset. If the proposal is agreed by these local authorities central government would give the mayoral-region power, and cash, to regulate transport and housing. Although not publicly stated the next step could be to extend this into genuine fiscal and economic autonomy.

However, the idea is unlikely to proceed as the short-lived county of Avon was reviled by nearly all the local residents and elected representatives, and this proposal is seen by many as a return to ‘the bad old days of Avon’. Although the Bristol and South Gloucestershire political leadership seem supportive of the idea those in the other two unitary authorities don’t as they believe that most money and power would reside in Bristol itself. Prominent Conservative MPs in these areas, Liam Fox and Jacob Rees-Mogg, have also come out strongly in opposition to the proposal.

Even if the plan went ahead and APD was one of the powers devolved the metro mayor region would find it impossible to cut APD. Devolution of APD would also mean a cut in government grants similar to the amount that could be raised in APD by the devolved authority.

With Wales it’s different because the WAG has a multi billion pound budget and CWL provides a relatively small return in APD, so cutting it to nil/abolishing it would be much more easily achievable within its much larger budget and the WAG leadership says it will do it.

BRS generates a far higher sum in APD and, put against the much smaller budget of the Greater Bristol area councils, cutting it would be impossible as there would be a huge shortfall in the authority’s overall budget. Even the Scottish government will only be able to afford to cut APD by half initially although the long term aim is to abolish it.

So having a metro mayoral region for the Bristol area could be a way for the chancellor to devolve APD to Wales and at the same time say he is not disadvantaging the West Country because they could have the power too if they wished, even though he would know their finances would not allow the sort of APD reduction that would take place in Wales.

Of course, if the UK votes to leave the EU the government would not be bound by any of the EU state aid rules and would be free to explore other ways of minimising any harm to English airports caused through devolution of APD to the rest of the UK.

[Pandy]

Just received the following on a BRS Airport newsletter - don't recall
it being posted on this thread



More flights and better schedules to key business destinations

•Improved day returns to Paris with evening flights Monday to Thursday
•A second daily flight to Düsseldorf every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
•New Sunday morning Frankfurt service, offering worldwide connections with Lufthansa
•Extra Monday morning flights to Munich


Got to be a positive, can't believe they would be adding frequency if the
routes weren't profitable

[MerchantVenturer]

The net result will be an additional five rotations per week.

CDG will see much better timings, at least on Monday through till Thursday when the second rotation will be an evening one instead of an afternoon one as is the case at present albeit Friday will remain like this through the summer.

Given that easyJet still only operates one daily rotation to CDG bmir will be useful for those wanting a day return journey on this route with the later second rotation.

The additional flights to FRA and MUC add a bit more to what is already a good frequency with FRA 3 x daily and MUC 2 x daily M-F with fewer at weekends. Loads seem very good for the most part although we don't know how much bmir gets from the LH code share.

DUS is the one that surprises me a bit. Loads have not been great and I would not have been surprised to see it disappear rather than be increased, although bmir's fares probably mean that the return is acceptable on relatively lightly loaded aircraft.

Looking to the summer Ryanair will be operating an average of around ten more rotations each week compared with summer 2015. Most are increases in frequency on some of the summer sun routes but there are also two new routes this summer: Reus returns after an absence of a couple of years and Krakow commences in competition with easyJet's long established route. All routes that operated last summer return for the coming summer.

Looking further ahead to next winter Wizz Air has now put all four BRS routes -Katowice, Kosice, Sofia and Warsaw Chopin - in its booking engine at the same frequency as the current winter. Sofia will be increased to an A 321 next February.

[globetrotter79]

CDG - the better Bmi timings together with the fact that Flybe have totally screwed the EXT-CDG schedules for the summer ought to give the Bmi regional Bristol-Paris operation a great jump start

[MerchantVenturer]

easyJet's new routes to Venice Marco Polo (4 x weekly) and Nantes (2 x weekly) began this week.

Easter seems to have given them a flying (yes, I know) start with the first outbound VCE flight on Wednesday shown as sold out as are the next two outbounds tomorrow and Sunday.

NTE begins today with the outbound shown as sold out.

[MerchantVenturer]

easyJet has extended its Keflavik route that was not due to operate after mid April. It will now operate at 2 x weekly until 9 June which means that for about a month in May and early June it will run in competition with the new WOW route to Keflavik operating at 3 x weekly .

WOW has recently put its Keflavik route into its booking engine for next winter at 2 x weekly. With easyJet due to resume KEF at the end of October there will be at least 4 weekly rotations next winter across both airlines.

In the past easyJet has operated KEF in winter at 3 x weekly. It remains to be seen whether there will be enough passengers for both airlines, albeit the winter months have proved busier than the summer months on BRS-KEF since the route opened in 2013 which until this year has been a year-round route for easyJet, and WOW has its transatlantic connectivity.

Thomson

Thomson summer 2017 programme has appeared on the Internet in recent days and shows additional rotations on a number of routes plus new ones for Thomson to Chania, Girona and Catania albeit these are already operated by Ryanair (the first two) and easyJet.

Early indications also suggest that Thomson will resume its routes to Mexico and Florida in summer 2017 operating respectively on Saturdays and Sundays. Both routes were axed after the summer 2013 programme.

It has to be said that history tells us that early versions of such networks don’t always come to fruition in entirety but these initial signs might be seen as a positive signal in general.

[HH6702]

Where abouts is these shown on the Thomson website ?

[bycrewlgw]

Where abouts is these shown on the Thomson website ?

If you do a dummy booking search you can see it there. No flights loaded yet but give the option of USA and Mexico 👍🏻

[jono577]

Begs the question if Thomson do USA / Mexico from BRI next summer (2017) what will they operate it with?

[heading 125]

Begs the question if Thomson do USA / Mexico from BRI next summer (2017) what will they operate it with?

Especially as the 787 and 767 are too big to operate from Bristol. 757 long haul would be so restricted as well.

[2J&D]

Previous long haul flights from BRS operated by Thomson a few years back where on the 767, so not to big to operate from the airport....

[jono577]

Is the 787 to big ? just found this on NATS airport info.

B787 available taxi routes:
Departure Runway 09:
Taxiway Z to Taxiway G, enter Runway at GX.
Runway 27: Taxiway Z to Taxiway A, enter Runway at AX.
Arrival
Runway 09: Runway to vacate either BX (Taxiway B) or AX (Taxiway A) to Taxiway Z to allocated stand.
Runway 27: Runway to vacate GX, Taxiways G and Z to allocated stand.
(h) B787 aircraft will not be able to backtrack.

[crackling jet]

Jono557,




Correct, the 787 received EASA Certification for operation out of Bristol last year, so lets wait and see, The business is here and it would be good to see the holiday long haul services back again.

[MerchantVenturer]

Boeing 767s can and do operate out of BRS. When TOM last had summer transatlantic charters from BRS to Florida and Mexico they used the former First Choice B 767s that were configured with fewer seats (270 from memory) than the original Thomson aircraft. This enabled Sanford to be reached non-stop in the last two years of operation. Previously they had an en route fuel stop which remained in place for Cancun and was at MAN.

Now that the former First Choice 767s have left the fleet I assume that those 767s that are left would require a fuel stop even for Sanford.

However, if TOM is to reinstate these routes it seems rather odd that they would not have gone into the question of the viability of the 787. Bristol Airport in a recent communication told me that the 787 can operate from their airport on long haul but the reply went into no detail and the question was left in the air as to whether this would be non stop to the Middle East and to NYC which were the specific routes I asked about.

In 2010 the Thomson MD said that BRS would be in the first group of airports to operate the 787. When this didn’t happen some people conjectured that the incident later that year when a B 767 suffered a hard landing at BRS causing considerable damage to the aircraft played a part in the subsequent non-appearance of the 787. The AAIB report highlighted, amongst other matters, that runway 09 had seen a disproportionate number of hard landings with B 767s and as a consequence some people wondered whether Thomson would operate 787s into BRS.

Given that there is an airport across the Severn Estuary with a runway that can operate larger aircraft on long haul Thomson must be confident that, despite its physical limitations, BRS will give them a better commercial return, or why would they bother even to contemplate using Lulsgate if it was so beset with unresolvable difficulties?

[heading 125]

Boeing 767s can and do operate out of BRS. When TOM last had summer transatlantic charters from BRS to Florida and Mexico they used the former First Choice B 767s that were configured with fewer seats (270 from memory) than the original Thomson aircraft. This enabled Sanford to be reached non-stop in the last two years of operation. Previously they had an en route fuel stop which remained in place for Cancun and was at MAN.

. When this didn’t happen some people conjectured that the incident later that year when a B 767 suffered a hard landing at BRS causing considerable damage to the aircraft played a part in the subsequent non-appearance of the 787. The AAIB report highlighted, amongst other matters, that runway 09 had seen a disproportionate number of hard landings with B 767s and as a consequence some people wondered whether Thomson would operate 787s into BRS.


That's what I was thinking. The CAA stated in the accident report of the B767 heavy landing that Bristol should look into having aircraft of that size there and it is surprising that they still think it is ok to operate aircraft larger than this ie the 787

[MerchantVenturer]

The incident with Boeing 767-324, G-OOBK occurred on 3 October 2010. Thomson continued to operate this type of aircraft at BRS for the following three summers on weekly charter flights to Florida and Mexico, ceasing at the end of summer 2013. The former First Choice B 767s that operated the route were to be withdrawn from the fleet in summer 2014.

The AAIB report can be accessed via the below link.

https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/media/5422eb45ed915d137100005d/Boeing_767-324_G-OOBK_05-12.pdf

The report's conclusion was as follows:

Damage to the fuselage occurred as a result of rapid de-rotation of the aircraft following a hard landing on the main landing gear. The runway profile, nuisance GPWS alerts and the meteorological conditions may have influenced the landing.

I'm in no way qualified to pass any judgement on the type of aircraft that should or should not land at any airport. You may be in which case you have the advantage over me.

However, I can find nothing in the AAIB report that recommends that this type of aircraft should not use BRS and, as a member of the public, I can only rely on the result of investigation by qualified people who had first hand knowledge of all the evidence in this particular case.

Given that UK airlines are regulated by the CAA, and airlines like Thomson Airways have highly qualified technical staff in their employment, I find it hard to believe that such an airline would operate its aircraft at places it didn't think was safe to do so.

[LEEDS APPROACH]

In aviation it's very rarely about 'safe' or 'not safe' it's about degrees of safe. Makes me laugh when I here people say that the A330 200 is ideal for LBA. On a sunny day with a North Westerly maybe.

[Wurzel72]

I hear from a friend at Thomson the 787 is visiting Bristol in April and will be operating the Long Haul Routes

[MerchantVenturer]

Thanks for that, Wurzel.

CAA stats for the calendar year of 2015 have now been published and below are the ten busiest routes:

Amsterdam 384,000 + 10%

Dublin 378,000 + 14%

Edinburgh 352,000 + 9%

Malaga 300,00 + 7%

Palma 289,000 + 6%

Faro 273,000 + 1%

Alicante 271,000 no change

Glasgow 267,000 + 9%

Belfast Int 246,000 + 7%

Geneva 206,000 + 9%

BRS again carried more passengers to/from GVA than any other non-London UK airport. This has occurred over the past several years.

[skyloone]

Was there ever scope or plan to extend the 27 end. Landing distance is not so much the issue in BRS but departure certainly is. Glide slope could stay the same but would allow bigger AC and also allow more fixed and assumed de-rates off both end thereby reducing noise signatures. Recess 27 approach lights into surface like BUD for example. Not sure of jet wash issues for road? Apologies if once upon a time discussed.

[bravoromeosierra]

I hear from a friend at Thomson the 787 is visiting Bristol in April and will be operating the Long Haul Routes

If you find out when and are able to share the specifics then please do! Thanks.

[jonfear]

I hear that it will be 19/04 between 11:00 - 20:00.

[MerchantVenturer]

skyloone,

The airport’s master plan deals with the issue in some detail and suggests five options (apart from the first the others would all involve an extension at the eastern end of the airfield) that have been considered which, in summary, are:

1. Do nothing and reassess in the light of experience if thought necessary.

2. Extend by 140 metres - the maximum that can be accomplished within existing airport land without any need for airport control of Felton Common. The A 38 would still need to use a 150-metre long tunnel and ILS for 09 would need to be relocated just inside airport land.

3. Extend by 389 metres - the maximum that can be accommodated within existing airport land but the ILS localiser and possibly approach lighting would need to sited on the Common, with a 240 metre by 150 metre area of the Common coming into airport control.

4. Extend by 239 metres with a 150 metre starter strip. This option would add 389m to the runway 27 take off run, but only about 150m to the runway 09 take off run. This therefore means that runway 09 has performance penalties compared with runway 27.

5. Extend runway further, with further encroachment onto Felton Common. Safety requirements might erode some of the potential benefits.

The overall conclusion in the master plan 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’. Therefore the preferred option is the ‘do nothing’ but the issue will be kept under review in subsequent updates of the master plan.

The full master plan can be accessed via the Bristol Airport website.

Thomson Boeing 787

bravoromeosierra,

A poster on another forum has posted a date and times when a B 787 will visit in connection with a long haul announcement. Because I don't believe that PPRuNe encourages the posting of links to other aviation sites, and also because the date has not been officially confirmed, I'll PM you the details and you can make of them what you will.

I suspect that a public announcement will be made nearer the date, assuming the information about a date in the other forum is correct, if the idea is to obtain some publicity for the venture.

[jono577]

MV always good to read your posts, would you be able to PM the other forum info re the 787 at BRI

I have heard similar elsewhere but have no times or dates to report.

[bravoromeosierra]

On a separate tangent I am quite surprised that you can't book BM flights for November yet - are they yet to release their winter schedule?

Was considering using the LH codeshare but if they won't sell me a ticket maybe I wont'!

[MerchantVenturer]

It's the same with Ryanair and easyJet.

Ryanair has only released a handful of routes from BRS for next winter and easyJet is still to announce its entire winter schedule

[MerchantVenturer]

Regarding recent posts about a Thomson Boeing 787 visiting BRS, the airport's Mayfly for next week has now been published and shows a Thomson Boeing 787 arriving from Manchester at 1110 on Tuesday 19 April and leaving for Stansted at 2115 the same day.

[heading 125]

Regarding recent posts about a Thomson Boeing 787 visiting BRS, the airport's Mayfly for next week has now been published and shows a Thomson Boeing 787 arriving from Manchester at 1110 on Tuesday 19 April and leaving for Stansted at 2115 the same day.

Let's hope 09 not in use then

[callum3242]

Hate to say it but the 787 flight appears to now be a 757 according to the BRS maylfy.

[Wurzel72]

787 is defo coming one of my friends works for Thomson and is visiting it with other agents

[santito]

Top of page 6 on Mayfly PDF still shows a 788.

[AirGuru]

G-TUIB inbound to BRS.

[Wurzel72]

here she is

[gilesdavies]

Thomson first Dreamliner flights from Bristol on sale this month (http://www.travelnewswires.com/news_feature.php?c=setreg&region=2&m_id=_r~AnY!v~A&w_id=31848&news_id=2021742)

[MerchantVenturer]

The news today has received limited coverage in the local media. The regional ITV early evening news did cover it (with an inevitable interview with Simon Calder who seemed very underwhelmed about it all) but the BBC main regional tv bulletin didn’t even mention the news.

G-TUIB landed on 27 and used the full length parallel taxiway to the western apron which at least confirmed that it can use this taxiway, something that originally was thought not possible because it was said the wings would overhang a perimeter fence next to a public road immediately outside the airport boundary. The airport master plan spoke of constructing a turning circle to overcome the difficulty.

I’ve not read any confirmation today that the 787 will be able to fly non-stop to Cancun (it may have been said and I missed it of course). If it can’t then the economic dynamic of using BRS must be considerable as the CWL runway presumably could accommodate a non-stop service.

Another interesting point concerns possible APD devolution to Wales. Thomson can’t know the government’s intentions so they must have decided that if the tax is devolved they can live with a more favourable APD regime in Wales or they can’t and will switch the flights to CWL in a year or two.

If the latter were to occur it would give the BRS owners primary evidence that the more favourable tax conditions had caused market distortion and affected competition and might be significant if they decided to challenge APD devolution in the European Court of Justice. That’s assuming the UK doesn’t vote to leave the EU in which case the UK government could adopt, if it wished, a more imaginative method of mitigating the effects in England of APD devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as it would no longer be bound by EU competition rules or EU state aid rules which must meet the ‘Azores criteria’.

[LEEDS APPROACH]

Key to longhaul from BRS on the Dreamliner is the Yield per flight. The flights will I think be payload restricted and some will be lost to weather but because of the high demand the yield will be high per flight. Therefore even after diversion and restriction the routes will be profitable. LBA too has a short runway and is even more elevated and across the prevailing wind. It is not the proximity to MAN of LBA which will rule out Dreamliner flights from LBA but the location within Yorkshire [allied to accessibility and functionality] which more than halves the demand. Low demand equals poor yield. Incidentally, as we speak BRS is now twice as many passengers (rolling) as LBA and pulling away. Bristol, although far from ideal in terms of airfield characteristics controls the catchment. If it did have a runway extension, a la BHX, it would grow even more quickly like BHX is doing now.

[bravoromeosierra]

If they can do SFB non-stop on a B787 from BRS there should be no issues with routes of a similar or shorter mileage being launched, a la Qatar to DOH*.


*Don't pretend to know whether QR would make any money from it or not though.

[MerchantVenturer]

Taking up a couple of LEEDS APPROACH's points, BRS would certainly be even more successful with a larger and better sited airfield. The numbers that pack through the airport despite its physical limitations and challenging surface connectivity are testimony to this. However, it’s highly unlikely that a runway extension will be built. I set out the airport’s current thinking on this in #2912 on 4 April.

BRS does have some parallels with LBA, apart from physical ones, in that it also loses a lot of potential passengers from its catchment to a larger airport (LHR) which, from some areas of Greater Bristol, is no more than 75 minutes along the M4. CAA surveys in recent years consistently show that over five million people from the South West use the London airports annually, mainly LHR. However, much of this is inevitable as BRS, even if it was physically larger, could never offer the range and frequency of flights, especially long haul, that LHR enjoys. BHX is also a useful alternative with airports at Cardiff, Exeter and even Southampton and Bournemouth (for certain outer parts of the BRS core catchment) available as well.

Ryanair

Ryanair has announced its winter 2016-2017 schedules from BRS. There will be 18 destinations, three more than last winter with 68 weekly rotations, an increase of 24%. Treviso, Krakow and Bergamo will be new for this winter. Treviso has previously been a summer-only route but extending it to winter may be a response to easyJet who restarted Venice MP this spring after a number of dormant years on the route, and it too will operate through next winter. Ryanair has just commenced Krakow against the long established easyJet route and both will operate next winter. Bergamo used to be year round but has been summer-only in recent years.

Alicante, Malaga, Faro, Lanzarote and Warsaw Modlin will all see extra frequency next winter, with the latter’s 4 x weekly possibly a look towards Wizz Air’s Warsaw Chopin that begins next month and will continue thorough next winter.

Ryanair has continued to add frequency for this summer which on average will see 13 additional rotations each week compared with last summer, an increase of over 12%.

easyJet

Having announced some time ago that they will be basing an additional Airbus (the 13th) at BRS for the main part of this summer easyJet has recently revealed its winter 2016-2017 programme. Routes extended into winter for the first time are Bordeaux and Bilbao, with increased frequencies on half a dozen other routes.

Airport Growth

BRS enjoyed another excellent month in March with CAA stats showing that 511,153 passengers used the airport, an increase of 14.2%. This brought the 12-month rolling total to 6,949,057. This means that in the first three months of this year nearly 168,000 more passengers passed through the airport than in the same period in 2015 which itself saw the passenger total for the calendar year as a whole grow by over 7% with nearly 450,000 more passengers than in 2014.

If the first three months of this year are replicated throughout the year the airport would find itself with around 7.45 million passengers at the end of 2016. However, it’s unlikely that growth will be sustained at this level throughout the year although a total of 7 million passengers should be exceeded comfortably.

[Seljuk22]

How many based aircrafts do FR have at BRS?

[marko1]

How many based aircrafts do FR have at BRS?

As far as I am aware up to 5

[MerchantVenturer]

Looking at next week's Mayfly most mornings require five aircraft for the first group of departures before 0800 plus a DUB-based aircraft to operate the return Dublin flight.

On another subject, the local paper carried an article last week on the news that Thomson's B 787 will commence operations next year. Embedded in the article was this paragraph: Last year the airport welcomed a record 6.7 million passengers through its doors. And if the predictions are right then that number will reach eight million in 2017.

I haven't read anywhere else about 8 million being reached by the end of 2017 and if that is to be achieved there will need to be some more routes and/or significant frequency increases on a number of existing routes.

Arrival of Dreamliner marks dawning of new age for Bristol Airport | Bristol Post (http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Arrival-Dreamliner-marks-dawning-new-age-Bristol/story-29138733-detail/story.html)

[santito]

If that article is accurate in terms of the 787 range from BRS (5000mi), then many destinations mentioned are still well out of range without moderate to severe load penalties or a fuel stop. Also I would love to know if 5000mi is based on optimum conditions at BRS, and if it applies to both 09 and 27.

LAX, JNB, GRU, and BKK are all at least 10% over the quoted 5000 mile range, and are the types of potential destinations the article refers to. (I am not sure there is an economic case for any of those except LAX possibly anyway)

YYZ, BOM, IAD, ORD, AUH, DOH, DXB, ATL, are all well within range of course, and with the exception of BOM and YYZ are all markets that COULD work from BRS in my opinion.

[SamYeager]

If that article is accurate in terms of the 787 range from BRS (5000mi), then many destinations mentioned are still well out of range without moderate to severe load penalties or a fuel stop. Also I would love to know if 5000mi is based on optimum conditions at BRS, and if it applies to both 09 and 27.



According to Wikipedia, yes I know, the range of the 787-9 is 8460 mi. BA reckon the range is 9440 mi but BA have business class unlike Thomson. Even if you knock off 2000 mi to account for overly optimistic projections from Boeing and Thomson packing in the punters that still leaves you with 6460 mi.


In fact having just checked the Boeing site they quote a range of 7355 nmi (~8460 mi) with 242 passengers in a two class configuration.

[adfly]

It won't fly that far off BRS's runway though! Furthest TOM fly it at the moment is LGW-HKT which is something like 6150mi.

[MerchantVenturer]

The BRS management seems cautious - some might say realistic - re the demand for long hauled scheduled routes. In their November 2006 master plan, in which they now say that although much in the aviation world has changed since then the principles of their master plan still apply, they suggest that probably only four long haul scheduled routes would be viable: New York, Washington, Dubai and another US destination such as Atlanta.

Maybe Doha or Abu Dhabi are interchangeable with Dubai.

The master plan goes on to say that there is further demand for long haul services (to other destinations) by charter aircraft.

[crewmeal]

I can't see any Middle East carrier investing in BRS especially as EK now have a regular 380 service at BHX and QR have started fly to DOH as well. United tried and failed which other carriers would have observed and I doubt whether they will look again for the foreseeable future. Don't forget the M4 and M5 corridors work well for both BHX and LHR.

[MerchantVenturer]

You're absolutely correct about the M4 and M5 being well used corridors for passengers in the Bristol region seeking long haul from LHR and BHX (I use London for long haul and have used Birmingham too), and this is almost certainly why the BRS management in its master plan believes that scope for long haul scheduled services is limited, apart from the physical constraints of the airfield.

As for the Middle East, last autumn the UK manager of Qatar Airways, Richard Oliver, said his airline was looking at serving South West England - see third paragraph in attached link.

Qatar Air Mulls Gatwick Route as Heathrow Flight Upgraded to 787 - Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-18/qatar-air-mulls-gatwick-route-as-heathrow-flight-upgraded-to-787)

Of course, looking to do something doesn't mean that you will but it does suggest that Qatar at least recognises there is a potential market worth looking at in the South West. It needn't necessarily be BRS; it could be CWL or even EXT.

Continental lasted five and a half years on BRS-EWR and eventually moved the service to LHR to become their fifth daily EWR rotation. They didn't have LHR access when they began BRS-EWR in May 2005 and cited the recession and poor take-up in the business-first cabin as two of the main reasons for the move.

BRS management has been quite public in recent years about talks with airlines to reinstate a NYC service and last year said that talks were at 'an advanced stage' with the expectation that a route would commence this year. It was assumed that the airline was United or American, or perhaps both.

That the route did not come about may well prove your comment correct but, again, there seems little doubt that airlines are at least exploring the possibility.

My own view, and it's shared by some acquaintances, is that long haul airlines are awaiting the decision on devolving APD to Wales (where it would be cut to nil according to the Welsh Assembly Government) before making final decisions whether, and if so where, to operate such flights from Severnside.

[shamrock7seal]

Regarding range, don't forget the Thomson 787-800's are fitted with far less seats than is possible in charter/low-cost config so the range is further than otherwise would have been if they had adopted similar config to their 767-300ER's

[cornishsimon]

BRS-JER Saturday service just announced on Facebook by BMI


cs

[skyloone]

Whatever the performance requirements or route potential of any aircraft / config I believe at minimum BRS requires a starter extension. TORA is limiting any decisions. I know many who in a heartbeat would choose to fly out of BRS and pay a small premium to avoid LHR, myself included. I know the 'build and they shall come' is not generally a sensible way to approach these matters and appreciate the airports caution but is it more to do with the local politics that could come into play with any runway changes?

On a separate point, stands are a bit limiting. I assume old staff car park could help but perhaps not by enough. Long haul AC are space guzzlers?

[MerchantVenturer]

Bristol Airport has been something of a building site for most of the past ten years with extensions, walkways and other amelioration at the terminal. Currently the terminal is being extended again at the western end (the eastern extension was completed last summer) and an onsite airport hotel is also taking shape. Three new aircraft stands were built about three years ago.

They've spent over £100 million in infrastructure development in the past few years and the next item in the jigsaw seems to be a multi storey car park with the airport in the process of asking the local authority if they can extend one of the open air car parks in tandem with the multi storey car park development instead of after the multi storey car park is built which was in the original planning application.

After that they may look at the old terminal building, currently used for administration and other matters. The development plan calls for demolition of the old terminal and the construction of an eastern walkway to new stands to be built in the area where the old terminal is situated.

This summer there could be 28-30 aircraft parked during some part of the night at times on the north side (ie the area used by all scheduled and charter aircraft) with easyJet, Ryanair, Thomson and Thomas Cook basing a total of 22 aircraft for starters.

As to any runway extension there would undoubtedly be a furious reaction from environmental groups and others if such a scheme was mooted seriously, the more so if it involved any encroachment onto Felton Common which, anyway, has been declared a Local Nature Reserve under the relevant legislation by the local authority.

The major expansion plans, now part way into construction, were delayed by several years due mainly to an extremely well organised, well supported, well financed and well connected organisation called SBAE (Stop Bristol Airport Expansion). When the expansion plans were being considered the local authority received objections from people and groups from around the world.

[MerchantVenturer]

Bucharest

Ryanair has announced a further addition to its winter network from BRS with a once weekly (Wednesdays) Bucharest rotation. Once a week seems a little odd but so far as I can recall it will be the first time that BRS has had a regular Romanian route, scheduled or charter.

Next winter will now see 19 routes, four more than last winter, with 69 weekly rotations, an increase of 25% over last winter.

[crackling jet]

Just out of interest, does anyone know how the WOW bookings are going ?

[MerchantVenturer]

BRS reported this week that April saw another very strong performance with passenger numbers up 10.56% on April 2015 meaning that 7 million passengers have passed through the terminal in a 12-month period for the first time in the airport's history.

The first four months of 2016 have seen a 12.51% increase in passenger numbers compared with the same period last year which equates to an additional 225,000 passengers. 2015 saw 450,000 more passengers than 2014 so if the 12.51% increase was to be maintained throughout the year a final total in excess of 7.6 million would be handled in the calendar year of 2016.

However, it's unlikely that such a percentage will be maintained throughout the year; a year end total in the region of 7.4-7.5 million is more likely. This would still mean that the airport would see an increase of over 1.1 million passengers in just two years.

[Bristol_Traveller]

Whilst browsing the arrivals/deps board, I noticed that EZY3361 VCE-BRS was shown as diverted.

The Easyjet site showed it diverted to CWL with the message:


Updated 15 minutes ago by easyJet Operations Control
Your flight has diverted to Cardiff airport, due to runway closure in Bristol. We plan to re-fuel your aircraft and fly you onwards Bristol once the situation has been handled. We thank you for your patience.


I can't see any other diverted flights? The flight was due to leave CWL for the hop to BRS at 15L20, due to BRS at 15L55 (which seems like a generous flight time indeed).

[LandingConfig]

That's a block time, 25 minutes from gate to gate.

[AirGuru]

There was a reported hole in the runway at BRS just prior to the A319 ex VCE landing.

It was resolved rather quickly so the hole itself can't have been that substantial.

[CSman]

Just blew the dust from my old log book
Cwl Brs DC3 20/25/minutes
Viscount 15/20 minutes
BAC 111 15 minute
Great days

[MerchantVenturer]

Nostalgic day at BRS today with a DH84 Dragon celebrating the 80th anniversary of Aer Lingus's first ever flight which was from Dublin to Bristol Whitchurch on 27 May 1936.

The DH84 carried the same registration EI-ABI and name Iolar as the aircraft that made the original flight. Today's Iolar made several short flights carrying guests including the Irish ambassador to the UK.

Aer Lingus Regional (Stobart) took the opportunity to announce a fourth daily rotation between BRS and DUB on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays giving 25 weekly flights in all. With Ryanair's mainly 3 x daily (19/20 weekly for most of the year) there will be no shortage of seats between Dublin and Bristol.

DUB was BRS's second busiest route in 2015 (after AMS) with over 378,000 passengers.

[MerchantVenturer]

It doesn't look as though the fourth daily service on selected days of the week will commence until the 31 October this year and currently the booking engine is only showing the fourth rotation on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, but nothing on Sundays as originally stated in the press release.

Flight times are shown (DUB-BRS: BRS-DUB)

0650-0800: 0825-0940
1005-1115: 1140-1250
1400-1515: 1540-1655
1730-1840: 1905-2020

Blue Islands

The Flybe franchise on BRS-JER starts next Monday 6 June with flights now bookable in the Flybe booking engine under a BE flight code.

[flyerboy]

Relief across the South West as government decides not to devolve air passenger duty | West Country (E) - ITV News (http://www.itv.com/news/west/2016-06-15/relief-across-the-south-west-as-government-decides-not-to-devolve-air-passeneger-duty/) …

[superq7]

Excellent news flyerboy :ok:

[santito]

Wonder if this is going to trigger QR/UA/AA to look at BRS as the latest additions to their network?

[MerchantVenturer]

easyJet new route to Las Palmas from 28 September once weekly - will compete with Ryanair and the the main charter airlines. This will mean that three of the four main Canary Islands (LPA, TFS and ACE) will be flown by both easyJet and Ryanair, with FUE currently the preserve of easyJet (and the charter airlines).

Thomas Cook

Thomas Cook now showing Almeria once weekly for summer 2017. From memory this destination hasn't been operated from BRS by anyone in the past 25-30 years. I have a vague recollection of Thomson (Britannia) operating the route sometime in the 1980s.

[crackling jet]

So the often threatened backside kicking from over the water is off then ?

[flyerboy]

LEI was operated on behalf of Horizon Holidays by their in house airline Orion in the 1980s until at least 1985

[MerchantVenturer]

Many thanks flyerboy. I remember using Orion between BRS and FAO in the summer of 1985. It was the first time I'd flown on a B 737-300. Coming back the aircraft was a B 737-200 with a notice on the door saying it was Boeing's 737th 737. I recall that a bit later Orion was absorbed into Britannia Airways with Horizon becoming part of Thomson Holidays.

APD Devolution to Wales

It seems the UK government has no intention of including this in in the new Wales Bill although attempts may be made to have it included, but without government support the chances are pretty well zero.

[dabchick]

Paramount Airways flew to Almeria with their MD83's. I crewed a few!

[MerchantVenturer]

I flew as a passenger with Paramount on a number of occasions from and to BRS. They were the first British airline to ban smoking on their aircraft and I seem to recall that they wouldn't even sell tobacco products in their onboard duty-free sales. I'm a non-smoker so may be wrong about the duty-free.

I always found the crews extremely friendly and the flights were thoroughly enjoyable. On one occasion when returning from a sun spot the captain stood at the front of the cabin with a microphone and gave passengers an amusing summary of the flight to come, instead of the usual anonymous voice from the flight deck.

It was such a great shame that things ended in the way they did.

[dabchick]

You are correct about not selling tobacco.


Paramount were trail blazers in many was and a good outfit to work for. The end was sad but did change workers rights after High Court rulings.


They ran their MD-83's all the way from Gatwick to Goa via Rhodes and a crew change at Sharjah. Long way with no smoke!

[TSR2]

I seem to recall flying on a Paramount flight during the pilots strike in Australia in 1989.

[Aero Mad]

Sorry to be a tremendous pedant (and to thread drift) but the first British airline to ban smoking on-board was, to my knowledge, Aurigny Air Services in 1977.

[MerchantVenturer]

A new route to Turin will commence on 11 December, once weekly on Sundays. The only other TRN service is the winter Thomson charter operation also on Sundays. This will be easyJet's 60th route at BRS although not all are year-round.

The easyJet Las Palmas route announced recently commencing on 28 September will now increase from 1 x weekly to 2 x weekly from November. It will compete with Ryanair and the charter airlines.

[rog747]

asked on BMI regional re I am on 0645 dep BRS-VRN Inghams holiday charter in Aug re any grub on board please? catered or BOB


or does any one know BRS airport for a good full English before boarding

thanks indeed

[MerchantVenturer]

bmi regional provides light refreshments on its scheduled services that are included in the fare. However, on this flight the airline is the carrier for a tour operator so it will depend on what that tour operator has decided.

Bristol Airport has a number of eateries that can be seen at the below link.

Bristol Airport Shops and Places to Eat & Drink | Bristol Airport (http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/at-the-airport/shop-and-eat?tab=2)

There is also an Aspire lounge and an Aspire Plus lounge that can be accessed on payment. The latter provides hot breakfasts at the relevant time of the day. Details are on the BRS website.

The airport can become extremely busy early in the mornings even on Saturdays when around 25 aircraft depart between 0530 and 0730. The bmir Verona is due out at 0645 so you might expect to find the place quite crowded.

[rog747]

thanks - yes i see it will be busy -

have booked premium car park just across from terminal and fast track - see there are 3 breakfast eateries from your link so hopefully will get a table OK.

Inghams have given me 2 differing stories re BMI charter catering lol :D
BoB and its catered so it seems no one knows for sure :ugh:

hence my question here - thanks for reply

[Welshtraveller]

When I travelled on BMI regional to Verona in June 2013 (also booked with Inghams) a complimentary drink and muffin cake was served. Not sure if this has changed. Have a good trip.

[Bristol_Traveller]

I'm flying out of BRS(-FRA-IAD) on Thursday morning, so curious about the new security comb. Anyone seen it in action yet? Is it speeding things up or slowing things down as people get used to it?

Confusingly, as a LH*G I get Fast Track access when I fly on SN to BRU, but not when I fly on BM to FRA/MUC, so I guess I'll be getting the full experience.

[MerchantVenturer]

The western extension to the terminal has only been partially opened today with some of the security lanes becoming operational. The local ITV news interviewed some passengers who said they had experienced almost no delays today and spoke positively, but I doubt they were among the first group of the day when all the problems seem to have been occurring.

The remaining security lanes, enlarged baggage reclaim area, customs and meet and greet area will open later in the year.

[crackling jet]

Anyone have any idea what is in store from TCX next summer ?

[bmibaby737]

What are the loads like on BRS-KEF? Flying mid september and need to know if I have to reserve a window seat or not.

[NewquayJacob]

If your flying with Wow air, I asked for a window seat at check in and got given 2F.

Not sure about EZY.

[bmibaby737]

If your flying with Wow air, I asked for a window seat at check in and got given 2F.

Not sure about EZY.

Flying with WOW I should of mentioned sorry, What was the load like when you travelled?

[skyloone]

Ryanair - Any info on summer next year. It was mentioned to me that FR has not agreed a basing deal for AC next summer? Not sure if these things are done year by year or for X number of seasons.

[Bristol_Traveller]

Ending at the end of S16. Apparently it was consistently more expensive than BA/AA via LHR.

It seems it's hard to find the premium people are prepared to pay for avoiding LHR. UA didn't seem to get that right at BRS either.

My view is it's currently about £100 for an individual, but that doesn't work for two or more people who share a car.

I'd imagine loads in C were also underperforming, as they did at BRS. When AI is dumping LHR-NYC in C for £1,500, it's going to be tough...

[MerchantVenturer]

Continental operated BRS-EWR from May 2005 until November 2010 with B 757 aircraft. The flights were daily except November-March when they varied from 5 down to 2 x weekly at various times in the winter. It has to be remembered that at that time CO had no access to LHR (their London flights operated from LGW) and so may not have even started a BRS route at all if they had possessed LHR rights in 2005.

The first year actually exceeded CO's publicly stated target of 80,000 passengers for the initial 12 months, and the the calendar years of 2007 and 2008 saw annual passenger totals over 90,000. In terms of load factors the months June-October each year were invariably the best, with monthly lfs approaching 90% not uncommon in the peak summer months.

Of course, that only tells one side of the story and we don't know the yields; it seems from CO's remarks when they axed the route that the 16-seat business-first cabin was not well patronised, at least at full prices.

As the recession began to bite in 2009 annual passenger totals dropped to 83,000, partly due to a bigger monthly rotation reduction in the winter months, but by then CO had gained access to LHR and promptly axed its LGW route.

With the recession and access to one of the world's largest airports 100 miles away it seemed to me that the writing was on the wall for the BRS route, and so it proved. In early 2010 CO announced the closure of the route from early November that year and in effect the BRS B757 was moved 100 miles east to become the fifth daily EWR rotation from LHR.

Paradoxically, the loads in that final summer of 2010 improved significantly on the same period the previous year with September, for example, seeing a monthly load factor of 88%.

The loss of NCL's NYC connection linked with that at BRS a few years ago (although specific circumstances contrived to come together to halt this one) won't make it any easier for smaller regional airports to get themselves a regular NYC service. The mood noises from the BRS management seem less optimistic than they were a year or two ago when it appeared that the return of NYC was imminent.

In 2007 an aviation analyst company produced a paper for the Wales Government for a Cardiff-New York route based on a daily year-round service with, it appeared, one-class aircraft. They thought that the first three years of such a route would require an an annual subsidy of £600,000 after which the route should be self-sustaining and profitable. Their detailed projected passenger figures produced average loads once the route was worked up almost identical to the ones at BRS that CO found (in the end) unsatisfactory. On that basis the theory and the reality seem unrelated.

[cornishsimon]

I suspect that IAG are the ones to gain here with NCL & BRS.

People will drive to LHR ex BRS and likely connect via LHR ex NCL. However they will also likely choose EI via Dublin on the multi daily regional connectors.


cs

[Bristol_Traveller]

WOW air are throwing some very competitive fares into the market, mostly on the US side of the operation. I saw USD299 return for BOS-BRS recently, and the lead in fares to NYC are equally price busting. I recently priced up a LHR-NYC for GBP365 return, so whilst there's lots of TATL volume, the margins must be wafer thin.

None of that works particularly in favour of a "legacy" airline successfully operating BRS (or any UK regional airport) to the US. I still feel that supporting the hub routes to DUB/AMS/FRA/MUC/(KEF?) is the best way to make it easy for West Country people to get to the USA.

[rutankrd]

I recently priced up a LHR-NYC for GBP365 return, so whilst there's lots of TATL volume, the margins must be wafer thin.


If that was via a consolation web site its classic price dumping to fill the back of the bus.

With as many as thirty daily rotations LON-NYC alone that's one hell of a lot of economy seats to move.

Those in the middle, up front and traveling on fully flexible tickets make the yield and at prices some multiples of those dumped fares !

It's exactly this price dumping of the hugely excessive economy capacity out of LHR that makes the regional operations so difficult, seem expensive plus the added perception of a much better service in a twin aisle over the typical 75W.

United TALC 75Ws also now have rather large amount of Business and Biz first seats to fill in their current configuration - Making marginal services even more difficult !

[MerchantVenturer]

WOW delayed over nine hours beyond its scheduled 1010 BRS arrival time today. Last Friday it was an eight hour delay.

Presumably the transatlantic passengers have missed their connections at KEF and it begs the question as to whether there will be room on tomorrows's flights to North America.

[bristolflyer]

The feedback for WOW on Skytrax is appalling. Many people have given the airline a bare minimum of 1/10. It appears that huge delays are common. On a different note I was clearing out the attic today and came across this picture of an American Trans Air DC10. It was taken in the mid 80's. Perhaps the heaviest jet ever to land at BRS?775

[MerchantVenturer]

Bristol Airport has published its July 2016 figures which show that over 800,000 passengers used the airport in a calendar month for the first time ever. The total of 822,985 is 11.23% up on July 2015.

The rolling 12-month total is around 7.2 million, an increase of over 640,000 passengers compared with the same time last year.

[Flyjets]

Any airline have a base n Bristol for flight deck crew?
The traffic to this lovely city is increasing and there is space for new destinations.

[MerchantVenturer]

I'm not sure whether you are asking if any airline is currently recruiting, about which I have no knowledge, but the following airlines have aircraft and crew bases at BRS:

easyJet (A319/320)
Ryanair (B738)
Thomson (B738/757)
Thomas Cook (A321)
bmi regional (ERJ145)

[Flyjets]

I mean operational base.
Where actually the crew pairing are starting and returning back.

[NewquayJacob]

Flyjets

They are the crews based at Bristol...flights are crewed from BRS. They may include night stops sometimes but the crews are BRS based.

[MerchantVenturer]

Sorry. I thought I'd made it clear when I said, '........the following airlines have aircraft and crew bases at BRS'. NewquayJacob has confirmed what I'd meant to convey. Apologies if it was not as clear as I'd intended.

[MerchantVenturer]

The above road is on schedule for completion at the end of this year. Part of the road length will link the A370 (Bristol-Weston-s-Mare) at the Long Ashton bypass with the A38 (Bristol-Plymouth) just outside the Bristol boundary.

The link road will remove the need for airport-bound traffic from the M5 at Avonmouth via the A4 Portway to have to use the often heavily congested roads through Ashton Gate and part of Bedminster.

The airport contributed £3.2 million of the £45 million total cost of the new road.

Apron Space

Comments in other threads suggest that there is little if any space for further overnight aircraft parking.

Currently there are 13 easyjet Airbuses (319s and 320s), 5 Ryanair Boeing 738s, 2 Thomson B 757s and 1 B 738, 2 Thomas Cook Airbus 321s and around 5 bmi regional E145s based at the airport, plus at least 1 Eastern E145 on the southern (GA) apron for the Airbus corporate shuttle. With the night-stopping KLM Cityhopper E190 this makes up to 29 (not counting the Eastern) overnight parkers on the main apron.

The last two years have seen substantial passenger growth with an additional 450,000 in 2015 and a likely extra 600,000-plus this year (on course for this so far) which will mean around 7.4 million passengers using the airport in 2016.

The airport CEO is suggesting further growth in 2017 although perhaps not on the scale of 2015 and 2016 - my comment in italics, not the CEO's as far as I know - so the question is where will any further aircraft be parked if overnight parking space really is at a premium?

I realise that it's not simply a case of an airport saying we have x number of aircraft parking stands therefore we can accommodate x number of aircraft, as not all stands are configured for every type of aircraft. With the tens of millions spent on improving infrastructure in recent years at BRS it would seem odd if the airport could not accommodate all the aircraft that it needed to service the additional passengers its amelioration work was designed to bring about.

The published plans seem to be to demolish the old terminal buildings, now used as offices etc, and build a new walkway and additional aircraft stands there but that can't be done overnight.

If overnight parking really is 'maxed out' it appears that any further immediate passenger growth could only be achieved by airlines using non-based aircraft away from the morning peak which might be a limiting scenario.

Does anyone know with any certainty what further parking space, if any, there is on the apron overnight?

[rog747]

BRS is now a victim of its own expanding and rather quick success - big new terminal plonked on a hill with country farm lanes leading to it from all A and M routes

having used the airport in Aug to/from Verona on a Sat morning thank goodness my outward flight was delayed until 1015 as the throngs had gone so place was empty but coming back at noon a week later utter chaos ensued in coaching from a/c then the immigration arrivals hall and then bag reclaim to the point of both being dangerously overwhelmed if an emergency had occurred.

paid for premium parking - yes close to the terminal but up a hill and down again with bags and no covered walkways in pouring rain both days - hardly a good start or end to one's BRS experience plus even much of the premium car park surface is almost all basically gravel - try pulling your Delsey along on that and its no fun

get a grip BRS - shape up - yes shiny new terminal but way overcrowded and top end premium car parks a disgrace

[fanrailuk]

Not quite a "shiny new terminal" - 16 years old and crumbling, sorry counting...

[caaardiff]

If I remember rightly the stand numbers go up to 36, but stand 4 is a cross over of stand 5/6 so can't be used at the same time.
Stand 7, 17, 18, 19, 20, 27 and 28 don't exist.
However there is a 29L and 29R that can be used at the same time. There's also now 2 more stands used as a last resort, but not sure their numbers.

I make that 31, but again not sure how operational these extra 2 stands are. If only as a last resort with some clever parking, that's 29 fully operational parking stands.... full up!

I would expect EZY to put a 14th aircraft in next year too. I'm surprised they don't use aircraft from other bases like FR do to ease the AM congestion.

[MerchantVenturer]

BRS has been handling around 6 million passengers each year for around ten years now rog, so the success is not that recent.

Most people agree that the airport is in the wrong place - it's not the only one by a long chalk - but that's down to previous generations and there isn't much that can be done about that. More is the pity.

Given the Bristol city region's economic strength and the huge number of well-off, mainly older people in its catchment, plus its reasonable proximity to other catchments such as the further South West, South Wales and the western end of the Thames Valley, a postage stamp-size airport site is always going to present a challenge in accommodating all those people who want to travel.

The western extension to the terminal part-opened a few weeks ago - hot on the heels of last year's eastern extension and central pier the year before that - and is supposedly improving matters in the security queues. As with everywhere else, overseas arrivals are at the mercy of Border Force staffing levels although even here the next stage of development is reportedly a bigger immigration area: but that won't necessarily mean more Border Agency staff, just a less disagreeable area in which to have to wait.

I've been using this airport for about 40 years, and have seen its progress, good and bad, throughout that time. On balance, I can put up with a bit of overcrowding as a trade-off for the many flights and destinations now available, often at a decent price and certainly so compared with when I first used the place. In a way the airport is a microcosm of Bristol itself; heavily congested roads and seriously over-crowded local area trains during the peak periods.

I agree about the car parks. They are over priced and not worthy of the name, but the airport is a highly profitable venture for its owners and if people are continuing to use it in ever increasing numbers there is little imperative to spend money on peripheral matters, although a multi-storey car park is due to be built soon.

I shall be passing through again quite soon and will be looking out for the crumbling part of the terminal if fanrailuk would give me a pointer where to look.

And many thanks caaardiff for your rundown on the stands situation.

[CSman]

The mistake was made years ago when the local council decided that Lulsgate should be Bristol Airport. At least now they have some landing aids,in my day it was just LGT an NDB
On the North side of Bristol was a very good airport,I refer of course to Filton,which was close to M4, M5 and a main line railway station. It had a long runway suitable for long and short haul routes. Lulsgate was a poor airfield ,badly positioned even for the old a/c that i flew in there[DC-3,Viscount ,Bac 11] but this is what happens when you allow local politicians to make decisions,exactly the same problems at CWL Politicians make these decisions without knowing what they are doing

[rog747]

CSman must be a Cambrian driver!

[CSman]

ROG 747 correct, ended with your username

[rog747]

CSman

remember the days at Palma on a Sat afternoon in the late 60's
CS viscounts and 1-11's with all the smells and noise
BKS tridents too - BMA viscounts and 1-11's

rog747 (ex BD ops LHR)

[CSman]

rog 747 Sure do ,Bristol to Palma in a Viscount average time 3 Hrs 50 Minutes with no weather radar, But with the 1-11 same sector 2 Hrs and 5 minutes

[Flitefone]

This may be helpful:

http://www.ead.eurocontrol.int/eadbasic/pamslight-853FBDD48C2555D6B06A89A4DCE48046/7FE5QZZF3FXUS/EN/Charts/AD/NON_AIRAC/EG_AD_2_EGGD_2-2_en_2016-07-21.pdf

[Wycombe]

Bristol to Palma in a Viscount average time 3 Hrs 50 Minutes

Which makes you realise how fast todays turboprops are by comparison.

A Q400 would do it in about 2hrs 30min I think.

[MerchantVenturer]

Many thanks, Flitefone.

[rog747]

or our BMA viscount were LPL-PMI sat nights was close on 4h 45mins!

skipper came back down the cabin and had his dinner in an empty row