BRISTOL - 4

[MerchantVenturer]

a b,

I do indeed and I am intrigued in this case by your use of the word positive, which is followed by an exclamation mark.

I can't find anything on the local news media or local authority websites, nor even on BRS's own website, so presumably the decision is yet to be announced officially.

Whatever his decision it will be sure to give the local news media plenty to talk about - they will be spoilt for choice what with Town Green Enquiry controversy and near civil war over new supermarket and football stadium planning applications.

Addendum

Just been announced on BBC West local news that the secretary of state will not be calling in this application.

Is all this coincidence or was Eric Pickles reading PPRuNe this afternoon?

I suppose the only thing that might hamper things now is if SBAE decides to ask for a judicial review but that will mean putting their hands in their pockets and with both the local authority and secretary of state happy with everything their chances of success (from their perspective) probably would not be high.

Great news for the airport, a bristolian.

Well done to all concerned.

[crackling jet]

MV,

Well there you go, how's that for coincidence and fancy you questioning the word of A Bristolian, incidentally, we don't hear enough from you A B.

Also as i said earlier, now peoples money is being asked for they all seem to have disappeared into the woodwork out of earshot of rattling collection tins, or they are to busy nailing up for sale signs. Good riddance to all of them

[MerchantVenturer]

cj,

I never question the word of a b on matters relating to BRS - with good reason. He is always so well informed.

Just being a little mischievous in my last post - I hadn't realised the public announcement was so imminent.

I can understand that there are doubtless good reasons for a b not posting regularly but, when he does, it's always the real deal.

When I walk around Wrington (to those unfamiliar with the area that's the major village near the airport), except for one house on the edge that is festooned with SBAE posters, there are very, very few others on view.

This shows the true feelings of most local people, despite the best efforts of SBAE to indoctrinate them with their propaganda, because something that is really close to many villager's hearts - a proposed moving of their surgery to a neighbouring village - has resulted in numerous protest posters exhibited in houses right across the village.

[anoraknophobia]

Last week I was fortunate enough to have a tour of the Air Traffic Control Tower Curtesy of the local airport supporters group.Can't mention their name of course,but thankyou Andrew.Our escort for the tour was Mike Littleton,community liason manager for the airport.Those of you who have met Mike know what a nice guy he is,and a true ambassador for the airport.I asked him about the expansion plans and he said that they thought that Mr Pickles would not be minded to call in the planning application as his attitude was that it was for local councils to decide these things,as has been proved.Mike has worked in many roles at the Airport,Air traffic control and management and worked with the late great Les Wilson of which he had a few great but unrepeatable anecdotes.He also said that someone from S.B.A.E had written to one of the local papers in Ontario berating the Teachers Pension fund for their support for the expansion.I believe that one or two replied that their only concern was to get a good return on their investment.

[Bristol_Traveller]

The reason I speculate on LH is the reference .................we look to build the South West’s connectivity to key destinations across the world which to me suggests a route to a hub, unless of course it's a replacement transatlantic carrier for Continental which I don't think it is for one minute.

CO's departure may be helping the case for a new feeder, and I'll be relieved if it is into FRA. The BRU route is (ahem) quaint, and I find myself endlessly in LHR heading east and into GSA (Germany, Switzerland, Austria).

My good-feeling would be tempered if it's going to be run with another BD EJ-145. The inventory is so tight, that fares on the BRU route are always uncomfortably high compared to AF/KL. If we get FRA/MUC etc. run on EJ-145, I can see it would probably be a premium option, worth it for long-hauls, but probably costly for short-haul within Europe.

Or maybe it's Shaun having a bit of fun to get the BRS posters on PPRuNe adding 2 and 2 and making 97.

This is also possible. :rolleyes:

In other news - is anyone else planning to be on the last CO76/77? I'm in on the last '76 from EWR on 06-NOV, if anyone wants to join the wake on-board. (And it just worked out that way. Bizarrely).

[Bristol based Taffy]

Congratulations to all at BRS for the hard work, and the expansion which has finally been agreed on.

Let's hope that all those voiciferous members of SBAE will be happy to put their names forward on a NO FLY list, to be held at security screening for the foreseeable future.

:ok::ok::ok:

[Bristol_Traveller]

I'm moderately impressed that the council was able to ignore the organised protest that apparently generated 5,100+ of the 5,500 responses.

Clearly the thoughtful and targeted input (including from a number of PPRuners) did, in fact, count a great deal more than a bunch of people standing the rain handing out postcards.

Lessons to be learned there for SBAE, one would (optimistically) hope.

[MerchantVenturer]

CO's departure may be helping the case for a new feeder, and I'll be relieved if it is into FRA. The BRU route is (ahem) quaint, and I find myself endlessly in LHR heading east and into GSA (Germany, Switzerland, Austria).

My good-feeling would be tempered if it's going to be run with another BD EJ-145. The inventory is so tight, that fares on the BRU route are always uncomfortably high compared to AF/KL. If we get FRA/MUC etc. run on EJ-145, I can see it would probably be a premium option, worth it for long-hauls, but probably costly for short-haul within Europe.

Hello B_T

Good to read you're sticking to the CO 76 right until the last. My son, another aficionado, will be on the 76 a week or so before you with a group of about seven.

Since the bmiRegional 145s have taken over the SN route to BRU from the company's own ARJs the passenger numbers have increased significantly and look quite reasonable, so perhaps a 3 x daily 50-seater is better than a 2 x daily 80-seater in terms of yield especially if the fares are a bit tasty.

LH (Eurowings) carried nearly 100,000 in the year it operated the BRS-FRA until the end of April 2009 and I seem to remember much comment on PPRuNe and elsewhere during much of the route's existence concerning the very high fares often encountered.

So if the FRA route was re-started (I'm not sure how easily slots would be available) and the equipment was the BD ERJ-145 with BRU-like fares would that be a great deal different from the ticket prices the last time around?

I'm asking you because I know you have a great deal of experience travelling this and similar routes.

Incidentally, there is talk on another forum that bmi who operate ERJ-135s from LBA to BRU 'in their own name' will be expanding into Germany from the Yorkshire cities' airport, so maybe there is something afoot.

[Seljuk22]

New EZY flights to FUE (2 weekly, starting 11th Dec.) and SZG (2 weekly, starting 12th Dec.).

[Bristol_Traveller]

I seem to be on BRS-EWR more this year than in the prior 5 combined. I'm out again on Monday morning's 77, if anyone's headed Stateside.

The original 2 flights Mon-Fri BRS-BRU were appallingly badly timed for anything other than trips to BRU. The 3x (almost) daily becomes a viable feeder into US/European connections at BRU, and I think it's this, along with SN's entry to Star Alliance, which has boosted numbers on this route. At the same time, cutting inventory is hardening fares and driving yields. And SN hasn't been a cheap airline since it stopped being Sabena.

In regards to a German route. I think it might be complicated. When LH took control of BD, they poured BD craft and crews onto LH/LX routes, and I think this might have caused some umbrage for LH. I vaguely remember seeing a protest from the LH Pilots' Union that LH were hauling in "cheaper foreign crews" to operate existing LH routes. Since then, I notice that LHR-TXL has gone fully BD, and that the BD aircraft has gone to a brand new LH route (LHR-DRS).

So, reading between the lines, I think there might be a reason why a BRS-FRA/MUC route might have to be "BD, operated by BD" as opposed to "LH, operated by BD". (Same from LBA, I guess?).

The BRS-FRA launch in March 2008 coincided with LH's (IMHO ill-conceived) £49 o/w fare promotion. I suspect that meant they artificially boosted E inventory (the lowest class) on the route, combined with a 98 seat aircraft. If they come back again, I'd be amazed if they released any E/L/T inventory on a 48 seat aircraft at all - my hunch is lowest short haul fares would be W, and there'd be some U/V avails for combination with long-hauls. So no chance of a sub £220 r/t to Europe. (LH's fuel surcharge is also a pretty painful £25/sector, which is £100 in fuel alone for a standard 4 hop Europe trip).

So, fingers crossed to welcome BD (Regional) to BRS....

[bravoromeosierra]

Does anyone know exactly where they're building the new hotel?

[crackling jet]

Hotel being built approx near the car rental offices, about one hundred metre's from terminal entrance and according to press release should be open summer 2012.

And who know's, there may even be a total airfield view from the third or fourth floors, though i doubt there will be any roof observation, but would be nice

[WATABENCH]

EZY EDI going to 4 x daily from November

[Bristol_Traveller]

Just had an e-mail telling me that AirSouthWest is to be acquired by Eastern Airways.

Not quite sure if this is good news, or two drunks propping each other up?

[MerchantVenturer]

B_T,

Some discussion in the below threads over the past couple of days re Eastern taking on Air Southwest, in the first link from #653 onwards.

http://www.pprune.org/airlines-airports-routes/198697-air-southwest-33.html

http://www.pprune.org/airlines-airports-routes/428057-eastern-airways-take-over-air-southwest.html

Although the intention appears to be to run them as two separate entities for the time being there are already one or two anomalies that might need sorting out sooner.

For example, Eastern currently routes the last ABZ-BRS-ABZ of the day via LBA in both directions but no tickets are sold between BRS and LBA in either direction.

The Eastern service arrives at BRS in early evening about two hours ahead of the Air Southwest LBA-BRS.

Many thanks for your input on BD, BRU, LH et al.

[bravoromeosierra]

Interesting that they've increased the frequencies to four daily, yet the Saturday flights only seem to have one frequency. Odd!

[MerchantVenturer]

The reason given on the airport website is that the increase is in response to demands from business passengers.

Whilst on matters Scottish I note from CAA stats that in August more people used BRS (686,271) than GLA (646,379). I don't think this has happened before in a calendar month.

[WATABENCH]

Couple of visitors last week, an Aurela 733 on behalf of TCX I believe, and Steven Spielberg and his private 733 popped in and parked up for a couple of days. Also anybody notice the Ryanair on stand 5 friday with a life raft lying to the side of it, if it had rained much more they would of been transporting the passangers around the ramp in it!

[MerchantVenturer]

Steven Spielberg and his private 733 popped in and parked up for a couple of days.

I suspect Spielberg was en route to Castle Combe, Wiltshire where they have been filming scenes for a major movie. He and his aircraft were at Exeter Airport recently when they were filming sequences on Dartmoor.

The airport website reports exceptionally high loads on flights from Europe and from around the UK in connection with the Ryder Cup and also mentions three charter flights from Amsterdam for the same event, though I've not seen anything of them on the BBC Text BRS airport site, the BRS airport web arrivals board or Mayfly.

A BD flight (ERJ145) was shown as inbound from Quimper, France this evening - don't know if that was for the golf.

[Cloud1]

Yes it has been at Exeter quite a few times over the last few months - although I thought it was a -700 series, certainly looked like it from up close anyway!

[santito]

Just noticed an advert for Malta by Air Malta on the airport website. I thought Air Malta stopped operating from BRS and Ryanair picked up the route?

[WATABENCH]

Air Malta still operating weekly on tuesday evenings on behalf of a few operators including Thomson, Thomas Cook, Belleair and their in house product Holiday Malta

[BleadonHell]

Re: Ryder Cup Charters

There was an addition inbound Amsterdam service which arrived at Bristol on Friday last at 7am operated by KLM. It departed back to AMS 45 minutes later. I don't know what machine type was used to operate the flight.

[Cloud1]

How do you mean it doesn't look good?? How badly damaged is the undercarriage? I assume the aircraft taxied to stand ok

[Welsh Bobby]

Its that short runway! Perhaps TOM ought to reconsider using CWL for its longhaul!!

[andrew1968]

Me thinks not!!!!

[andrew1968]

and with BRS expansion approved, can't see CWL getting any better just yet. CWL needs build on it's short haul route network, and once airlines start making money out of CWL the long Haul may return! I think it definately will some day, but not anytime soon!!!

[Welsh Bobby]

Cant disgree with what you are saying andrew1968,although it pains me to say it, CWL becoming a bit of a lost cause.
However the runway at BRS cant fill pilots of biggish metal with much confidence in difficult conditions. I can always remember landing there quite a few years back when pilots used to warn passengers to expect a hard landing due to short runway at BRS!
CWL much more suited to handle a fully laden 767.

[blue up]

Anyone got a photo of the roof of that 767, yet?

[Welsh Bobby]

Is it still there?
Didnt it get on its way to SFB 3 hours late or did they bring in a replacement aircraft?....did the SFB go direct today?

[yeo valley]

they brought a replacement in from lgw. im certain it went out direct.

[bravoromeosierra]

The extra KLM flight into BRS on Friday was PH-KZN.

[wanna_be_there]

There was a Skyservice 763 with pretty much same issue after an awkward landing in PUJ a couple of years ago, was written off as far as I know

Im sure that aircraft is now G-TCCA or something similar with TCX, so was repaired. Also Royal Air Maroc had a similar incident with their B763 at JFK that was repaired, so I wouldnt kill it off just yet.
Not good for thomsons long haul ops anyway, good job its the winter season now and not peak summer!

[clipstone1]

no chance of moving the aircraft with that damage, Mr Boeing will have to fabricate a way to repair on site....

[santito]

Can someone link to some pics of this poor bird?

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Thomson are a quality operator with highly experienced crews and the 767 is a tough machine. Which all serves to reinforce the point that 09 at BRS deserves great respect in high winds.


WWW

[santito]

So how did a hard landing damage the roof of the aircraft? Was the damage definitely caused by the landing at BRS?

[clipstone1]

because with a rapid de-rotation the nose gear will have a considerable vertical load placed on it which will cause the fuselage to flex, hence the upper skins can crease.....

[BlueTui]

Im sure that aircraft is now G-TCCA or something similar with TCX, so was repaired. Also Royal Air Maroc had a similar incident with their B763 at JFK that was repaired, so I wouldnt kill it off just yet.
Not good for thomsons long haul ops anyway, good job its the winter season now and not peak summer!

October is still classed as summer for Thomson/First Choice so the 767's are as busy now as the middle of July/Aug. November starts the winter season where all the 767's are extremely busy, more so than the summer- one of the reasons all the 767's are still flying round in their previous livery unlike the 737/757's

Think there will be some headaches over the comming weeks. LGW-MLE-LGW yesterday operated on an ex Thomsonfly G-OBYG (328 config, opposed to 258 config) because of this problem.

[clipstone1]

It's not gonna die......just gonna be in intensive care for some time....

[santito]

Ok thanks.

Real shame the mgmt can't find anywhere to stick an extra 400m of tarmac (and the money/ approval for it) as it would make the world of difference to the airport and probably see a new service or two pop up (Transat, EK...)

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Real shame they can't drop it down about 600ft, level the runway, make it twice as wide, three times as long, put a couple of motorways and a railway like right next to it and call it Filton! :ooh:


WWW

[Stampe]

Seconded WWW then it could really call itself an airport.Together with LBA the most marginal of airports in the UK.Surprising there havn,t been many more incidents like this really.A tribute perhaps to the skills of the crews who operate regularly into BRS and of course lady luck if you just happen to draw the short straw and end up as operating crew into this challenging field on a demanding day.VBR Stampe

[birdscarer]

Stampe - it is extremely unprofessional to publically start questioning the safety standards of an aerodrome with no understanding of how the operation works. Poor show. :=

[WindSheer]

Don't knock the airline or the professionalism of the drivers! Top outfit!

On the other side of the coin, 09 at BRS is known throughout the trade as being a bit of a :oh: That combined with probable downdrafts yesterday make for a twitchy experience!!

:ooh:

[Pidge]

2.4g was registered according to an ex-colleague at Thomson.

[TSR2]

On the other side of the coin, 09 at BRS is known throughout the trade as being a bit of a That combined with probable downdrafts yesterday make for a twitchy experience!!

I am sure that will be a comforting thought for passengers.

[MerchantVenturer]

Stampe and WWW,

As experienced airline pilots your opinions are not to be discounted lightly.

You both seem to be questioning the safety at BRS - especially Stampe.

If you are right why do professional pilots continue to operate into the airport putting their own and passengers' lives at risk?

These sort of comments were made at the time of the runway closure several years ago by a number of posters on PPRuNe whose profiles indicated they were professional pilots, yet so far as I'm aware no pilot has refused to operate into the airport since the runway re-opened (I'm not talking about on a particular occasion because of weather or other reason on the day). Of course, some of you may know different.

Either the airport is too dangerous to operate into or it isn't. If it is pilots should vote with their feet and not just their mouths.

If it isn't the comments are unhelpful at best and frightening to many passengers at worst.

As a SLF who has regularly used BRS for over thirty years and who knows his place in the world of aviation professionals, can I ask if there has been an enquiry held in record time that has blamed the airport for this incident?

I ask because pilots are forever, rightly I am sure, castigating people on PPRuNe for coming to their own conclusions about an incident before an enquiry has been held and the report pubished.

[flyerboy]

This is not the first time this airframe has experienced this problem. As S7RGV of Vietnam Airlines on 19/09/2000 it had similar damage after another hard landing.

[Standard Noise]

Rumour has it, that the nice peeps at AAIB are coming to have a gander at it and will be looking at everything to do with the previous repair. Boeing may or may not be looking at coming over and a repair in situ could be in the offing. But as I say, it's only a rumour.

[Ranger 1]

27+ years in the job it never ceases to amaze me how all the experts wannabe accident investigators come out of the woodwork here on PPRUNE.

Two things that will be looked at is What exactly happened and Why it happened, which is best left to the experts.
I am aware it is a rumour network however any conclusions drawn by individuals should be treated with caution, I echo Birdscarers comments and would add Airline, manufacturer, to that as well :=

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Calm down ladies. There isn't a pilot alive who is familiar with 09 in high winds that would disagree that it merits respect. Nobody called anything dangerous. :rolleyes:

The previous repair rumour is very interesting.


WWW

[firstchoice7e7]

Its quite a coincedence that the same bird suffers the same fate twice :

ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 767-324ER S7-RGV Ho Chi Minh City Airport (SGN) (http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20000919-0)

[WindSheer]

Accident: Thomson B763 at Bristol on Oct 3rd 2010, hard landing (http://avherald.com/h?article=431c99c1&opt=0)

Aviation Herald have picked up on it.

[Harry the Hound]

As has been said above, Thomson pilots are no mugs, some of the best and most experianced in europe in most peoples eyes, lets not get carried away with the if's and but's. There seems to of been many incidents similar in the past where the aircraft has been repaired and continued in service, and these were on much longer runways than 09, the only chaps that know what really was going on were sat up front, and in my eyes looking at the WX did a good job to get that bird down, I have always flown with FC/TUI for my hols both longhaul and short haul and use BRS regulally and will continue to do so.

[TSR2]

and in my eyes looking at the WX did a good job to get that bird down

I don't think Thomson Airways will agree with you on that. Perhaps they should have diverted but we can all be wiser after the event.

[Standard Noise]

Perhaps they should have diverted but we can all be wiser after the event.

If the Pilot in command made a decision to land it would have been because the wx was within his/the aircraft's/company limits. As for your statement that 'we can all be wiser after the event', mmm, it would seem so on here.

[CSman]

As an old timer,who flew DC3/Viscounts and BAC111 into Bristol ,it always was a B/awful airport and although since my time, they now have radio aids and a posh terminal building,it has not changed my opinion.In my day 09 was either eyeball/radar or if you dared QDM approach.For the DC3 there was always the option of the grass R/W[that ran from the end of the old terminal apron toward what is now the flying club area something like 20-21.If you look in the grass you might even find a rut where I once planted the Dak on a dark and windy night

[macdo]

Regarding Merchant Venturer's post. Pilots have laws, SOP's and minima that dictate if we can operate at a given airfield. Overlaid on top of this, is the commander's decision on a given day. (IE SELF PRESERVATION)
Some airfields, by their environment, are more challenging to work than others. BRS is a case in point. Nice day,27, wind down the runway, no problem. Crappy day, 09, wet, big xwind, heavy large a/c, not so comfy. But still legal in all senses. QED the crew would have had to make an approach to land.
Safety is not black and white. If it were, half the holiday destinations in the Eastern Med, Santa Flights and a certain Portugese holiday island would disappear from the brochures tomorrow.
Since airline flying is described as "hours of tedium, punctuated by moments of terror", I would gently suggest that PPrune is not the place for you.

[Stampe]

Excellent post macdo airline flying is statically very safe nowadays but people need to realise some airports are much safer than others by many orders of magnitude.Looking at my log books I see I have operated large airliners to/from BRS on average twice a year for the past 12 years.Local crews get to know the peculiarities of a challenging airfield by frequent exposure ,visiting pilots much less so.Very few airfields in my 30 year civil flying career have caused me as much concern as BRS in poor weather.

[Silvertop]

I think the argument here is does a challenging environment erode safety? And given the same set of circumstaces would the result of been the same at that other strip of tarmac a few miles north of Brs? who knows?, not me thats for sure.

Of course there is no such thing as absolute safety, but there are times certainly when saftey can be eroded beyond an acceptable level, when the runway at Brs was being resurfaced for example.

Having operated at and enjoyed Brs for many a year, there is no doubt that it can be a very challenging environment, especially 09 on a dark, wet, windy night. So do we then just have to work harder to maintain an acceptable level of safety, as I suppose we have to do at many other challenging airports?

Very often when writing down the ATIS the numbers will say "in limits" and an approach can be flown, but the numbers cannot convey the reality of the conditions that might be experienced on that approach. Local experience here counts a great deal in being able to visualise the potential problems in those numbers, then its a bit of forewarned is forearmed.

I don't think anyone is critisizing the standards at the airport or the people that work at it. Its just a question of topography and prevailing weather really.

There is not a pilot anywhere upon hearing about this unfortunate incident that has not muttered the often repeated phrase "there but for the grace of God go I".

Cheers Silvertop

[MerchantVenturer]

Thank you all for the clarification and amplification regarding Bristol - especially runway 09 in 'challenging conditions'.

I think I will continue to read PPRuNe. After seven years or more it's become quite a habit.

I'm not a nervous passenger (probably too thick to be aware of the efforts pilots have to put in on occasions) because I have nothing but admiration for the high degree of skill and training that airline pilots bring to air travel.

[q1W2e3R4t5]

The metars didn't have strong crosswinds till after the event

EGGD 030550Z 12012KT 4000 RA BR SCT002 BKN012 12/12 Q0990
EGGD 030520Z 10011KT 1400 R09/P1500 R27/P1500 RA BR SCT001 BKN002 11/11 Q0990

Aircraft landed at 0530z so low cloud, rain and visibility.

Late or no flare on the threshold side of the hump? or

landing deep and checking the nose forward?

[santito]

BHX thread says a couple of US carriers will announce 2011 routes soon.

Could there be anything for BRS in there? I very much doubt it but may be worth a look. I am sure the BRS team have been trying to secure a new USA link.

[2J&D]

Been looking at the threads and I even suggested that AA might look to replace CO....One person thought it might be a good idea, especially with the complete lack of OneWorld carriers...Somehow though, I think we might not be so lucky this time around. I wouldn't think UA would operate to ORD from BRS....However time will tell!

[OltonPete]

Flights are released and it seems 10 based up to June and 11 from July.

Quite a tidy schedule with few gaps although I only checked a few dates
in June and August.

I have not checked the current schedule to compare it but there appears to be few surprises.

The Prague up to July departs at 14.15 and returns at 23.00 but then changes time to 13.25 departure returning at 18.05.

Pete

[clipstone1]

all I shall say is "it could've been much worse"! well done boys you got the pax and crew to the gate in one piece in challenging conditions. a big lump of metal is repairable.

[bobsyerunlce]

Some good news taken from todays local press:
Plans for a 251-room on-site hotel at Bristol Airport have been approved by North Somerset Council.
Work could start as soon as next year and be completed by the end of 2012, it is claimed.
The development, to be sited 100m from the terminal, is expected to generate 140 full-time jobs.
Bristol is the only airport in the top 15 airports in the UK without an on-site hotel

[OltonPete]

Source: CAA

September 608478 +2% Rolling Year 5259281 +2.1%

Pete

[andrew1968]

I think you mean rolling year 5,759,281!!! Slip of the finger me thinks!!!

[OltonPete]

Cheers

Confirm should read 5759281.

I can't even read my own writing :{

Copy & Paste next time I think!

Pete

[MerchantVenturer]

It may be that Bristol's very good run in increasing passenger numbers each month this year except April (the volcanic ash month) is about to experience a bit of a challenge.

I've done a check on the Ryanair timetable for January 2011 and, as things stand at the moment, there are only 55 rotations per week - 51 flown by BRS-based aircraft and four by others (from the timings).

This is down a massive 40% from last winter when there were about 90 weekly rotations.

The main reason is the loss of the 2 x daily Belfast City route and the daily Shannon.

In addition the daily Bergamo has gone (though this had been reduced to 3 x weekly this summer), as have the 3 x weekly Reus, the 2 x weekly Budapest and Rzeszow, and the weekly Turin during the ski season. In addition DUB has reduced from 21 to 16 weekly rotations. There are also other minor changes.

On the plus side, routes operating this coming winter that didn't last winter are Venice Treviso (3 x weekly), Kaunus, Gdansk and Faro (all 2 x weekly).

The current timetable can be operated by three based aircraft, though they won't be fully occupied all the time from BRS, compared with four based last winter (again they weren't fully utilised) and five this summer.

[bobsyerunlce]

Drastic reductions from ryanair. Shame. I hope it is just for the winter.
Does anyone know the reasons why easyjet originally dropped Milan and Budapest? Was it low pax or high airport charges?

I would like to see some new destinations announced anyway. It's healthy to mix the route network up year on year but would be disappointed if no one picked up BUD. I always enjoy trips there.

[MerchantVenturer]

Both Ryanair and easyJet had good loads on the Budapest when they operated it at different times - very good in summer.

This summer for example Ryanair's BUD route has had monthly loads factors from May to September as follows: 91%, 93%, 93%, 93%, 87%. Winter lfs are usually in the 70s and 80s% range.

Presumably the loads aren't good enough to make the money that would keep the route running, at least in winter. I remember last winter or the winter before that Ryanair axed all its BUD flights for about six weeks because of a dispute with the BUD airport authorities over charges.

Milan has gone from feast to fast. For about 18 months from 2007 Ryanair and easyJet competed daily throughout the year to their versions of Milan - FR to BGY and U2 to MXP. For the most part they diluted each other's loads.

easy pulled out of Milan first and Ryanair reduced it to 3 x weekly this summer. Summer loads have been ok, good in high summer with 85% in July and 90% in August this year.

Rzeszow is gone for the winter after monthly lfs of 91% to 95% in July-September.

It just shows that high loads don't guarantee a route and that the underlying yield is always paramount.

As for new Ryanair routes, no-one can say they are not adventurous at BRS.

Since the base opened in 2007 the following routes have been tried and discontinued - some were seasonal:

Derry

Dinard

Grenoble

Katowice

Salzburg

Scezecin

Shannon

Cagliari

Eindhoven

Pau

Perpignan

Montpellier

Toulon

Trieste

Bydgoszcz

Gdansk was taken up after easyJet dropped it, then Ryanair dropped it only to bring it back this summer and it is being retained for winter. Summer lfs have been mainly decent to very good at 79%, 84%, 92%, 93% and 89% for the main summer months May-September.

It's a bit of a conundrum to think where else they might try. Some of the axed routes could be brought back I suppose as Gdansk was.

I presume Reus (previously a year round route) will return next summer but it remains to be seen if Rzeszow and Bergamo will as well.

[Jamie2k9]

Ryanair are closing all routes from Budapest from 30 October in a row over airport charges. No routes will return next summer.

[santito]

I am wondering if there is a new route in the pipeline? (Maybe US/ Middle East?)

From the press release on pax numbers from the BRS website:

Shaun Browne, Aviation Director at Bristol Airport, said:
“These results follow an announcement by Flybe that it will operate a twice-daily service between Bristol and Belfast City from November. We hope to have further good news for travellers soon as we look to build the South West’s connectivity to key destinations across the world.”

[speedbird_481_papa]

I am wondering if there is a new route in the pipeline? (Maybe US/ Middle East?)

From the press release on pax numbers from the BRS website:

Quote:
Shaun Browne, Aviation Director at Bristol Airport, said:
“These results follow an announcement by Flybe that it will operate a twice-daily service between Bristol and Belfast City from November. We hope to have further good news for travellers soon as we look to build the South West’s connectivity to key destinations across the world.”

Aye this is on the news that TOM are basing at least 1 B787 at Bristol, meaning they can fly to all sorts of luxurious destinations, from right here on our doorstep. Also there was a meeting a couple of months back with an american Carrier to take up the BRS-America route. My Money is on Delta, being part of the Skyteam it would make sense.

Also, the reasons why the MXP and BUD routes were dropped, as well as the VCE and PSA, is all over high airport landing fees and taxes.

Hope this helps

Speedbird

[santito]

Speedbird_481_papa,

Can I ask how you know this? as I think both these things are news to everyone who frequents this thread.

If anyone were to pick up the BRS-USA route, I would also bet on Delta or possibly AA doing it, as they already serve MAN and BHX, but I wouldn't hold my breath on seeing either of them at BRS in the next 2-3 years minimum.

[wanna_be_there]

Santito

Delta and AA dont serve BHX, they only serve MAN/LHR (and DL serves LGW-Cincinatti.

It could be Delta, as DL have talked to CWL in the past but couldnt come to an agreement over financing the route. Has BRS poached this one away from CWL?

AA, it just doesnt fit their portfolio. They dont serve the likes of GLA or AMS, so I wonder why they would suddenly swoon over BRS?

There are 2 questions I have to ask though:

CO has long been the regional champion. If they cant make it work, what chance do other carriers have

DL were looking to the WAG to subsidise the CWL route. This means BRS could be offering a subsidy. If DL comes due to a subsidy, will they stick around when that money runs out? Personally, look at their EDI performance and I think youll find your answer.

[Skipness One Echo]

If anyone were to pick up the BRS-USA route, I would also bet on Delta or possibly AA doing it

It's very unlikely for the same reason as BHX. It's too close to hundreds more options in London. US tried BHX and left after one season, albeit one following the banking crisis. Continental scaled back to daily as there was no market for two flights. If anyone was going to make Bristol work it would have been Continental and they are moving the Bristol B757 to Heathrow where they expect it to be more profitable.

Delta couldn't make EDI work which I think is a better case than Bristol, which leaves American who almost started NCL-JFK. Given that they now have ATI with BA and IB, I suspect they will be focussing on each others bases in Europe and BRS of course has no BA presence.

I don't see scheduled, legacy US flights returning in the near term I'm afraid. The marketing teams at airlines are always talking to marketing teams at airports, that's their job. I wouldn't read a lot into it, Delta might have looked at Cardiff but how many Delta B757s are parked at Rhoose?

[MerchantVenturer]

"We hope to have further good news for travellers soon as we look to build the South West’s connectivity to key destinations across the world.”

When the above comments of Shaun Browne (BRS routes director) were discussed in this thread recently there was also speculation that it might refer to another European hub, hopefully from my point of view Frankfurt.

The LH (Eurowings) link between BRS and FRA ran for 12 months and ended at the end of April 2009 having carried over 98,000 passengers.

Whilst acknowledging that raw passenger numbers alone don't necessarily indicate a route's profitability the figures at least suggest that there is a market.

I don't know whether slots would be a problem at FRA in the sense that there may be bigger fish for LH to fry in a limited pan; if not there might be a chance of the route resuming if the economic climate shows signs of sustained improvement. LH intimated that the recession was the reason for the BRS-FRA route being removed and there was more than a hint that it would return when conditions improved.

It's also been suggested that bmiRegional (already operating BRS-BRU for Brussels Airlines since January with passenger numbers up 15% for the first nine months of this year over the same period in 2009) might be the carrier.

Logically, it's difficult to argue with Skipness's UK regional-US points. It was reported that Delta spoke to CWL in the hope that the Wales Assembly Government would support a CWL-JFK route to the tune of a million or two a year. I was never sure how the WAG could legally do this.

What is certain is there is no public body in the South West who would have the money or the inclination to support a BRS link with the USA even if it was legal.

I note also that KLM is pushing its AMS gateway on advertising hoardings around Bristol with a slogan about why bother to flog up the M4 - no doubt trying to attract some of the former CO passengers.

[bobsyerunlce]

I think it's fair to say that with BRS promoting KLM and Brussells everywhere, there is no US carrier lined up to replace CO.

Whilst it isnt ideal, having Amsterdam and Paris, and to a lesser extent Brussells as hubs for onward travel is fairly strong for a regional airport but I agree with the last post that FRA would be very welcome if it returned.

Referring to a previous post, when do TOM announce their schedule? As they will be basing "at least one" 787 at BRS (to quote someone else), it would be very interesting to know where they plan to fly

[Bristol_Traveller]

Just filling out the Airport's Business Users' survey, and there's an interesting question on membership of loyalty programmes. All the usuals plus a few notables:
* Spanair
* Germanwings (LH's LCC outfit...)
* SWISS (incorrectly lacking capitals on the survey)
* Lufthansa
* American Airlines
* United Airlines
* Virgin Atlantic
* Wizz Air (Polish LCC)

Interesting that they left bmi's Diamond Club off the list - that's the travellers' favourite at the moment, for as long as it lasts.

There's also a question on how FFPs make us feel valued by airlines, with a prompt to give as much detail as possible.

[MerchantVenturer]

Referring to a previous post, when do TOM announce their schedule? As they will be basing "at least one" 787 at BRS (to quote someone else), it would be very interesting to know where they plan to fly

Thomson aren't taking delivery of the 787 until 2012 so it's probably a bit early for schedules to be announced.

Two or three months ago the Thomson MD announced that BRS would be one of the airports operating the 787 but I don't think anyone is anticipating the airport will see one based fulltime - not for some time anyway.

BRS is more likely to see the 787 visiting in the way the TOM B763 currently does with the summer weekend charters to Florida and Mexico, and presumably it will take over those routes.

It would be nice to think there would be more routes from 2012 but I suspect airports such as Manchester and Gatwick will be way ahead in the queue.

[bristolflyer]

I imagine CO have left because Heathrow is more lucrative and not because they cannot make Bristol work. I note they have just added a fifth daily flight from LHR. Once they got a foothold into LHR it was almost inevitable that they would leave at some point. Bristol, especially for those who live in the north of the city, in the is simply too close to LHR. I cannot see a full service taking on a New York route as it does fit with any other airlines business plan. Continental is the only airline that has supported point to point services to regional airports, whereas BA, Virgin, United, AA etc have always focused on the Heathrow hub. I could see Ryanair dipping their toe in at some stage...anyone for £10 fares to New York (Halifax)?

[2J&D]

At the end of the day the CO service was not selling that well in the BizFirst cabin, which is where the money was made...No problems down the back but yields are the name of the game! I do get your point re the new 5th service from LHR...makes you wonder! I do know that the response CO got from the local area when they announced the closure of the route was amazing and they did look long and hard whether it was the right choice to close the route...I think we need an airline that is not so premium traffic reliant, but does such an airline exist??

[santito]

Unless their name starts Easy, Ryan, or similar, then I do not think so.

[bravoromeosierra]

I cannot see a full service taking on a New York route as it does fit with any other airlines business plan. Continental is the only airline that has supported point to point services to regional airports, whereas BA, Virgin, United, AA etc have always focused on the Heathrow hub.

The Bristol flight other regional routes aren't point to point though, they rely on connections through Continental's network at Newark more than O&D traffic.

[santito]

Noticed there is a business traveler survey up on the website. Is anyone planning to go to the meeting mentioned or know who the airline in question is? I think it might be easyjet, as the questionnaire is called "Easyjet- questionnaire". Perhaps they are planning on starting an FF program and becoming more of a business traveller's airline? as all the questions are about lounges, FF status, etc.

Questionnaire (http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/news-and-press/latest-news/2010/10/easyjet-questionnaire.aspx)

19. Would you like to attend the Bristol Airport business travel forum on Thursday 25th November? This is an opportunity to meet with other business travellers and discuss how you would like to see Bristol Airport change to meet your needs.
There will also be senior representatives from a major airline on hand to take your questions and hear your suggestions for routes etc.
Please indicate your availability to attend this event.

[PlymSpotter]

I do wonder if CO's decision to leave SkyTeam contributed to their withdrawal at BRS, considering that AF and KLM scoop up the majority of premium pax and have a strong FF base in the region as a result. If the prices were the same, I know I'd route via AMS rather than EWR if it built miles and status with Sky, rather than contribute to a negligible Star account.

[OltonPete]

Post on the Newcastle thread mentions that RJ85's are shown on NCL-BRU
next summer and it seems to be the same for Bristol as well.

Still three daily and I think the aircraft overnights in Bristol.

I wonder where the 145's are going?


Pete

[Bristol_Traveller]

I should imagine the 145's are going back to bmi regional.

However, I heard something different very recently, so I suspect the RJ85 equipment entries might be just placeholders.

On the issue of ScaryTeam v. Star - I think there is/was an underappreciation of how important status earning/holding is to frequent fliers, particularly those who have to put up with short-hops into hubs. Frankly, I dread having to hit the security queue at BRS at 6am in the morning if I can't exercise my Star Gold privilege to hop down the Fast Track line. And to escape to the lounge above the writhing masses.

I managed to get a status match for a colleague from Flying Blue into a Star Alliance airline plane at Gold level, at which point he was happy to consider using the LH route to FRA. Unfortunately, a combination of illness and the route getting pulled meant he didn't really get good use of it.

It will take time for people to shift alliance allegiances. I've "millions" of miles in Star, and Gold status for a number of years, so it's unlikely I'd switch easily to ST.

[Bristol_Traveller]

Long shot, but if anyone else is on tonight's last CO76 to BRS, I'm currently in the CO President's Club opposite gate C90. PM me if you want guesting in, or want to find me.

I shall be in the BF cabin, holding a wake for anyone who wants to join in - I trust they've loaded sufficient spirits.

I had a chance to speak to someone from US Airways last week. Interesting conversation, from which I got two useful things; 1) BHX was a nightmare for them and 2) they recently got from Cardiff to Heathrow in 2 hours on a Sunday morning, so have a sense that both CWL and BRS are too close to LHR. (It was a leisure trip, incidentally, before that kicks a rumour mill off).

[airvanman]

I see Terminal 2 is going up on the Southside ;)

[bobsyerunlce]

Eh? Terminal 2?

[mathers_wales_uk]

Yeah i heared it is for the poorly Thomson 767.

[Goldilocks95]

looks very much like the pyramid stage from glastonbury!

[UFGBOY]

is that 767 still there ?!

[Bartman27]

boeing engineers arriving shortly aircraft expected to be air worthy about the second week in December :D

[crackling jet]

Airvanman

You don't have time to be on here being humorous, specially when some people don't get it 'What terminal'

[Silvertop]

I'm impressed that its still there after last night's breeze :D officially "sporting" I would say :ok:

Cheers Silvertop

[EI-BUD]

I note that Bristol/Newark had 8944 pax with Continental in Oct; shame it is closing, or has it closed yet? The yield must be poor as BFS is said to be profitable and it had only 8832 passengers in Oct!

Any sign of a replacement carrier?

EI-BUD

[Bristol_Traveller]

Every time I fly, I hear reasons why BRS didn't work out, and none of them are down to absolute passenger numbers.

On my list, as heard from crew and other associated people (although I appreciate these rumours recycle themselves)

BusinessFirst loads poor - not enough pax
BusinessFirst yields were poor - too many pax not paying full fare, or on upgrades
Economy yields were poor (too many seats going at S and L fares)
Winter passenger numbers were too light, and CO don't like running partial or seasonal schedules
No cargo opportunities because of the runway length at BRS
Softest cut to make in order to free a 757 for an additional LHR rotation
Facilities at BRS (no airbridges - a number of crews have commented on this)


I must admit, I suspect that BFS, EDI, GLA survive because the alternative airports for the States are inconvenient. BRS really suffers a perception problem - it feels faster from North Bristol to bomb down the M4 to LHR than tootle down the Portway and A38 to BRS.

I don't have much short-term expectation of any scheduled long-haul from BRS. I think the route team would get better results concentrating on a set of (affordable) hub connections, which give access to a selection of carriers and destinations.

Just my 2p-worth.

[Severn]

I was browsing the new easyJet route map and saw that the airline flies to a total of 43 different destinations from Bristol, although of course not all at the same time (as some are seasonal).
According to the route map that places Bristol in 3rd position with regards to the number of destinations served from a hub after Geneva with 49 and London Gatwick at 86!
I have always known that BRS has been a major base for EZY but I didn't realise that we still held such a top spot out of the easyJet hubs especially after the rapid expansion at MXP, CDG and MAN recently.
Thought i'd share that.

[santito]

Interesting stuff- never realised BRS was 3rd...

[Confirmed Must Ride]

In response to Bristol Traveller - there was no cargo because the airport was unable to provide such facilities. Whilst runway length posed a problem for some days (09 and only 5-10% of the time), there was plenty of capacity for cargo. It was carried in the early days but forwarders and CO had bad experiences with Ward Aviation.

The airport has never had any really interest in providing cargo facilities, as proven in their master plan. Without this I believe they are doomed in trying to get any major carrier link.

Shame as there is a big demand with Avonmouth just down the road.

[santito]

Why is the airport not interested in cargo? Seems like a good way to boost income?

I guess they are restricted quite heavily on departures/ arrivals PH and pax give higher yields than cargo?

Also does Filton do much in the way of cargo flights? If they do, I am not aware of it.

Thanks

[Bristol_Traveller]

In response to Bristol Traveller - there was no cargo because the airport was unable to provide such facilities. Whilst runway length posed a problem for some days (09 and only 5-10% of the time), there was plenty of capacity for cargo. It was carried in the early days but forwarders and CO had bad experiences with Ward Aviation.

That's interesting. I'd heard from two people on separate occasions, but they'd drawn the assumption it was down to load restrictions. If it was a facilities issue, that is a different view.

I assume a contributory issue is that CO was the only scheduled long-haul out of BRS. I don't know what impact requiring daily "enhanced" security checks, business class catering and cargo handling would have on an airport that doesn't have other long-haul flights - wouldn't it make it disproportionately expensive and complicated?

[bravoromeosierra]

Does the KL AMS flights variate between 3 and 4 daily? Random dates throw up an extra flight to AMS at 08:50.

[OltonPete]

bravoromeosierra

I can only find three a day with a change of time in respect of the first inbound/second outbound from Bristol next summer compared to now.

KLM have stated that they are bringing back their 6th bank and some routes would be increased (some have been announced) to connect with this bank.

The summer timetable shows quite a bit of time changes re the morning/early afternoon and mid afternoon UK departures but none extra for Bristol as yet but I assume it is not too late for summer 2011.

Pete

[bravoromeosierra]

OltonPete, you are correct regarding the daily frequency.. however KL1050 seems to have moved to 08:50 from 11:25 on dates for Summer 2011. This means there is a departure from AMS to BRS at 08:05, perhaps fitting in with the early morning bank of arrivals.

I must have misread the change of schedule as an extra flight.

[Confirmed Must Ride]

First class catering was never a problem, First Choice managed to get some impressive cargo loads when they could.

But with a cargo facility that didnt open weekends or before 9am on weekdays it was doomed.

Also having a facility that was only reached by a single track road put off the big trucks needed by the forwarders.

[OMGitsDAVE]

Sorry if this has been mentioned...

SMALL PLANET ENTERS UK MARKET

Small Planet Airlines is to position a Boeing 737-300 at Bristol airport from December.

November 23: Lithuianian carrier Small Planet Airlines is to position a Boeing 737-300 at Bristol airport from December 2010 to support contracts to the Canary Island and several European ski resorts over the winter 2011 season.

Airliner World: The Global Airline Scene (http://www.airlinerworld.com/view_news.asp?ID=2780)

[Cloud1]

Thats good new for Bristol then, do we know which tour operator it is supporting?

[bobsyerunlce]

Small Planet Airlines will initially operate weekly charter flights Bristol-Chambery for tour operator Esprit, Cork-Fuerteventura for Irish tour operator Sunway and Dublin-Geneva for tour operator Topflight.

[Jamie2k9]

Small Planet Airlines will initially operate weekly charter flights Bristol-Chambery for tour operator Esprit, Cork-Fuerteventura for Irish tour operator Sunway and Dublin-Geneva for tour operator Topflight.


No Charter flight between Cork-Fuerteventura for any irish tour operator.

[cym]

so from 1 based unit to 1 rotation?

enough metal on the ground during the winter for that to be a non story!!

Whats happened with the S2000 trips from Germany? Seasonal reduction or what?

[bravoromeosierra]

Whats happened with the S2000 trips from Germany? Seasonal reduction or what?

You mean the OLT to Bremen? Think that one is pretty much sold out to Airbus.

If ticket prices are anything to go by anyway..

[MerchantVenturer]

Hello cym

The OLT still seems to be operating daily to/from Bremen Monday to Friday.

I'm sure you're aware that it used to operate from Filton to Bremen/Hamburg as a sort of inhouse transport for Airbus but that it was switched to Lulsgate a few years ago to try to carry members of the public as well, presumably to defray Airbus's costs.

The Hamburg leg was dropped a couple of years ago and rotations to Bremen later reduced to daily on weekdays most of the time. They were once around 9 x weekly.

Passenger numbers aren't great for much of the time but it seems that it still serves Airbus's purpose.

easyJet

A report appeared in the business section of the Bristol evening newspaper recently regarding easyJet and the airport.

Carolyn McCall, easyJet CEO, was quoted and this is a summary of the points mentioned.

1. Bristol is important to the airline because it is their largest (UK?) hub outside London.

2. The airline is always looking at new opportunities and new areas, hence the introduction of several new winter destinations this year. If there is a demand from passengers then they will take a close look at routes.

3. As part of their customer experience programme the airline has been talking to the airport about the way its passengers are bussed to the aircraft.

4. The airline did well in Bristol even though the industry was brought to a standstill twice – by the volcanic ash cloud and the harsh winter. Ms McCall said: "We were really impressed with the way Bristol handled the snow at the start of the year. It was really impressive the way everyone got involved in helping to clear the snow as quickly as possible."

There is now less need for bussing given the construction of the western walkway and I thought the low cost airlines did not like air bridges as turn-arounds can be slowed down.

[WATABENCH]

Monarch doing 2 Gambia/Cape Verde flights over xmas period, but nothing bookable after these dates on Gambia Experiance website, flights were due to be operating throughout winter season with Hamburg Intl until they went under.
Any likelyhood of finding a carrier for rest of season? plenty of spare airframes around the country during winter period.
Any diverts in last night with snow in east of uk?

[Travel Agent]

Was informed last week by Gambia Experience that despite best efforts they have not been able to source an airline for the season from Bristol or Stansted so in a word no...

[crackling jet]

I see G-OOBK, The Thomson 767 is emerging from the hangar this afternoon, all nice and straight but not sure when it's going to fly.

Small Planet( Lithuanian) 737-300 due to arrive shortly,if not already here, Bristol based !!!, doing 2 rotations per week, but may pick up ad hoc charter work for rest of the week, perhaps it could operate the Gambia/ Cape Verde service that no one can be found to operate Bristol's or I think Stansted' s as well. I can't believe that, you'd have thought carriers would be jumping at the chance of extra revenue during this lean period.

Oh yes, Merry Christmas to all :ok:

[andrew1968]

Small Planet( Lithuanian) 737-300 due to arrive shortly,if not already here, Bristol based !!!, doing 2 rotations per week, but may pick up ad hoc charter work for rest of the week, perhaps it could operate the Gambia/ Cape Verde service that no one can be found to operate Bristol's or I think Stansted' s as well. I can't believe that, you'd have thought carriers would be jumping at the chance of extra revenue during this lean period.

I maybe wrong but i thought the aircraft from Small Planet Airlines was arriving on Friday 10th December at 20.00 as LCC3099 from Vilnius (VNO) B737-300. It due out again on Sunday 12th Dec at 07.30 as LCC3051 to Chambery (CMF) back at 11.55 from Chambery (CMF) as LCC3052.

[bravoromeosierra]

KLM is now x4 daily from 27.03.2011

Departures to AMS @ 06:10, 08:55, 14:15 and 17:10

Departures from AMS to BRS @ 08:05, 13:15, 16:20 and 20:55.

[MerchantVenturer]

I wonder if this is the good news that was mentioned on the airport's website two or three months ago.

We hope to have further good news for travellers soon as we look to build the South West’s connectivity to key destinations across the world.

If it is the speculation about LH returning might have been wide of the mark.

[airhumberside]

Lufthansa's General Manager last week told the Travel Trade Gazette no plans to reinstate BRS-FRA I'm afraid

[bravoromeosierra]

Even if the good news isn't as good as some may have hoped, it's still good to see some frequency improvement on the blue chip routes.

[bobsyerunlce]

If FRA was as successful as it appears to have been after reading some of the posts on here, why didn't one of the LCCs pick up the route?

Is there any info on whether the BRS to FRA passengers mainly stayed in FRA or were they mostly transiting through on to another destination? This would then possibly account for the reason a LCC didn't swoop in.

[MerchantVenturer]

I don't know the ratio of passengers who flew onwards from FRA though LH did report that in the first six months of the route BRS-emanating passengers used all their worldwide connections from FRA.

I know the route was very valuable to many in the West Country who used it for onward travel.

The route lasted for 12 months until the end of April 2009 and carried around 98,000 passengers in that time. LH wouldn't have stopped flying the route on a whim so presumably there were better pickings for its aircraft (actually Eurowings of course) elsewhere.

When it ceased to operate the LH UK manager gave the impression it was being suspended rather than axed because of the recession that was beginning to take a hold.

She said then that she saw no chance of it returning in 2010 which led some to believe it might in 2011 if economic conditions had improved. It appears it's not coming back imminently so one has to now wonder whether it will come back at all.

LH has routes to FRA from LHR and BHX and might consider that they can serve West Country travellers from there.

As for low cost airlines, easyJet doesn't fly to FRA and Ryanair uses Hahn. Flybe does fly to FRA from MAN, BHX, GLA and SOU so conceivably would be the best bet, but then again they might consider that BHX and SOU serve the needs of West Country passengers, especially as Flybe would need to sort out slots at FRA for a BRS route.

I would much prefer LH to return rather than a point-to-point airline as it would be much more useful to me.

[bobsyerunlce]

As for Wizz never commencing the Warsaw route, was that because of a falling out with BRS over lack of advertising or was it due to Warsaw charges? I have heard both being cited as reasons but as Wizz have a number of routes from Warsaw, I struggle to believe it is down to costs. Surely BRS couldn't have messed up so quickly after it was announced? I was hoping for more Wizz routes after Warsaw got announced. Does anyone know what happened?

[MILEHIGHBOY]

Gambia Experience BRS-BJL and Cape Verde now no longer bookable on website only LGW MAN & BHX

[Bristol_Traveller]

I'm surprised (in a not good way) that Marianne was so emphatic that BRS was not in LH's considerations. I can't believe they got *so* badly burned by BRS-FRA that they wouldn't come back again - and if they did get that badly burned, I still think that they managed yield poorly on the route. (OTOH SN seem to be capable of excruciating discomfort on BRS-BRU).

However, one must keep looking for opportunities, maybe like this one offered by Wolfgang Prock-Schauer of BMI.

What is the vision for bmi ?

The vision is for it to be a top quality product, to be embedded in the Lufthansa group and Star Alliance, for it to be contemporary British and covering all the UK regions, so not only London-centric but the whole of the UK, that’s it in short. And keeping in mind our heritage, an international focus, but not forgetting the heritage of BMI – so we call it British Midland International. In this all three of the airlines have a specific role to play. BMI International is out of LHR. Regional serves the regions and more and will serve over water routes to continental Lufthansa hubs, and BMI Baby we want to keep so we have a foothold in the UK low cost carrier market as the UK is predominantly low cost, as part of our complete offering, just as Lufthansa has German Wings.

So maybe it's time to hangup on London/Köln and make some calls to Donnington Hall, and see if we can make 1 BD ERJ into 2 BD ERJs...

[2J&D]

Could something green be coming to BRS??!

[Carvair66]

This?

FLIGHTS between Bristol Airport and America are set to be relaunched after an airline stepped into the breach, the Evening Post understands. (http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Flights-USA-relaunched/article-3001474-detail/article.html)

But West Coast, Hawaii and Phuket by 787??? To SLF like me that seems an awfully long haul from such a short runway.

[wanna_be_there]

Certainly seems Aer Lingus are to start if its via Ireland.

Wonder if this will affect CWL?

[santito]

So This is just going to be the same thing as CWL with pre- clearance at BRS before continuing to NYC?

[WATABENCH]

So are we looking at a return of BRS-DUB with EI and then change in DUB, or are we talking BRS-JFK with tech stop somewhere like SNN? And if this is so what equipment? BA do LCY-JFK via SNN i believe with A318. Could be one of their A320/A321's? I cant imagine that they would be looking at putting anything bigger in to BRS to operate this flight. I suppose what ever the routing there is always the option of adding extra pax in Ireland should they want to keep it topped up.
What ever it is it will be great news, and would seem a lot more favourable to pax heading west to fuel stop in Ireland than changing somewhere or driving 100 miles in the wrong direction up the M4. Does EI have a tie in with any US carriers for people looking at going elsewhere in the US?

[BleadonHell]

All EI have to do is change the timing of their Bristol-Shannon flight from pm to am and you get JFK daily with a quick connection and pre US immigration clearance. JFK departs Shannon daily @13.00, Boston (4 wkly) @13.25.

EI's US partners for onward connections is Jet Blue.

[WATABENCH]

Thanks Bleadon, well should find out pretty soon what the fuss is about i guess.
JFK Daily direct A330 I reckon :}

[stalling attitude]

ATR tech stopping in glasgow, faroes, keflavik,sonderstrom, gander, boston and JFK.

[MerchantVenturer]

Local radio news this morning had a man at the BRS press conference.

It seems it is Aer Lingus/Aer Arann returning on BRS-DUB from next March and offering onward connections to JFK, Boston, Chicago and Orlando at DUB.

The radio station said the flight will operate from BRS 3 x daily.

Presumably this is the 'further good news' mentioned on the BRS website two or three months ago.

When I last looked Ryanair had reduced their BRS-DUB schedule for summer 2011 to 18 x weekly, down from 21 x weekly in summer 2010, but there will still be a lot of seats on BRS-DUB next summer if the radio station has its facts correct.

[2J&D]

Well, seen as though the flights are shown in the GDS's:

3 x Daily BRS-DUB on ATR aircraft, from 28 March 2011.

Obvious oppertunities are connections to USA, but not just NYC! but also BOS/ORD/IAD/MCO...

[WATABENCH]

EI3280 DUB 0635/0750 BRS
EI3281 BRS 0815/0930 DUB

EI3286 DUB 1515/1630 BRS
EI3287 BRS 1700/1815 DUB

EI3288 DUB 1845/2000 BRS
EI3289 BRS 2030/2145 DUB

On Aer Lingus website now

[santito]

As predicted nothing exciting then. An ATR 72 to DUB. Stalling Altitude was the closest with his prediction!

[WATABENCH]

Santito, nothing major as in a US carrier, but this does open up a lot of onward US and other connections, and clearing immigration in Ireland saves a shed load of hassle for pax when they land on the other side of the pond. Always good to have full service carriers serving BRS from their main hubs. Good work to get them back on the route. :ok:

[2J&D]

Santito,

Depends on how you look at it...

This now offers us something new to sell to the US, since CO left. Plus with the added benefit of travelling in the right direction (as opposed to CDG/AMS) plus the possibility of pre clearence in DUB, I would say it was fairly good news!

At the end of the day, it is a new route for BRS and it shows that EI must have some faith in the airport. There was a market for the US even at the time CO pulled the route and I think EI have been smart to have recognised this and jumped in pretty quickly.

With the extra KLM service as well, congrats to all at BRS who have obviously worked hard to secure a new service and prove there is a need for extra capacity.

Look at it the other way, it could have been an airline pulling out, now that would not be exciting!

[bristolflyer]

Whilst any new route is always welcome this is a bit of a non-event. Accept for the pre-clearance in Dublin it's the same as an AF or KL connection. EI have been been in and out of Bristol so many times over the years I've lost count. They pulled the Dublin route last time because they could not compete with Ryanair. I can't see that situation changing. They're not going to have an ATR full of onward US bound passengers everyday. If Continental couldn't attract the required number of business passengers with all that marketing and a direct flight I can't see Aer Lingus doing any better with an inferior product. If I remember rightly they tried this "Hey look everybody it's flights to America from Bristol...except that it's not" back in the late 80's. It didn't work then and I don't see a massive up take now. They've dropped out of the OneWorld alliance and are currently not a member of any. That is going to be a big draw back when business passengers make a decision who to travel with. I have to say I'd still rather travel to LHR and fly with Virgin direct especially if my final destination is not NYC. I used to use Continental, but only finished in New York on about 25% of my trips. There is no way I do Bristol - Dublin - JFK - LA if that were even possible. Fair shout to the route team for working as hard as they have ever done to try and come up with something.

[Skipness One Echo]

Why does this whole business of flights to the US get people so worked up? As far as BRS is concerned it's an ATR72 on BRS-DUB up against a much cheaper option on a B737-800.

Since Aer Lingus pulled off GLA-DUB to allow Aer Arrann to fly the route, the fares have rocketed due to no economies of scale in comparison to the seat mile costs of the ATR. Also only the first and to a lesser extent the second rotations will be any use for connecting flights at DUB. Not sure what EI are offering that FR don't already do faster, cheaper and better on vastly superior aircraft. Think how little you see THAT in print!

[bravoromeosierra]

I wouldn't say cheapest is always the best though. I have nothing against Ryanair, but I'd rather consider Aer Lingus now they're back on the route again.

It looks better for the airport too.

[PPRuNeUser0162]

I'd agree with bravoromeosierra, returning to BRS last night from AMS my colleague noted the difference between the airport environments. Whilst you can't really compare the two (global hub vs regional airport) it certainly seems as if BRS is very 'no-frills' - particularly the new walkway, which certainly appears to be done on the cheap (v narrow and low quality materials / finishing). The return of a 'full fare' airline route, even the regional arm, shows that airlines other than EZ and FR have faith in the airport.

[crackling jet]

As i said a couple of months ago as soon as Aer Lingus went into code share with Aer Arran after Continental announced they were giving up the route,did i not say "there's our next New York service" hubbing via Shannon. Next weeks lottery numbers anyone !!!!!

Stil it's feet through the door and bums on seats, every little helps these days

[Bristol_Traveller]

At least EI seem to have loaded some fares, based on this routing:

SPECIFIED ROUTE: 0011
BRS-SNN/DUB-NYC
BRS-DUB-SNN-NYC
BRS-SNN-DUB-NYC

Lead in fare to NYC is £254 (plus tax), compared to CO's £241 and KL's £256.

Incidentally, with all this talk of (non alliance affiliated) EI operating BRS-DUB-NYC, let's not forget that you can still book BRS-BRU-NYC on the CO fare.

BRS(CO/SN)BRU-BOS/CLT/DTT/EWR/NYC/PHL/WAS(AC/CO/LH/UA)NYC
BRS(CO/SN)BRU-NYC
BRS(CO/SN)BRU-EWR/NYC(AC/CO/LH/UA)NYC

You have to call CO on the phone, and availability on the BRS-BRU route is really ridiculously tight (I think it books into SN's S or V classes), but it works and the connection at BRU is good in both directions. (I know that the crew who worked the final EWR-BRS went back on the Monday on this route).

[MerchantVenturer]

................particularly the new walkway, which certainly appears to be done on the cheap (v narrow and low quality materials / finishing).

Apparently it cost £7 million to build. It was built as general permitted development without the need for formal planning permission, which means the airport is limited in the facilities it can put in - not supposed to increase the terminal floor space.

Now that planning permission has been granted for the major expansion it may be that the walkway might be upgraded.

And speaking of the major expansion plans, the end of this week will be three months on from the date the secretary of state announced he would not be calling in the plans for public enquiry.

SBAE (StopBristolAirportExpansion) vowed to take the sec of state to judicial review over his non-intervention.

Does anyone know what SBAE is doing? They seem to have gone very quiet.

I believe that applications for a judicial review must be submitted promptly and in any event not later than three months after the grounds upon which the claim is based first arose.

So it would seem SBAE (or anyone else for that matter) must formally ask for a judicial review by the end of this week. A court will only extend the period if it considers there are very good reasons for so doing.

[Jamie2k9]

Aer Lingus fly to New York JFK not NYC.

[Bristol_Traveller]

Aer Lingus fly to New York JFK not NYC.

NYC is a city code for faring purposes, and encompasses any of EWR/JFK/LGA (which are actual airports). Same for LON (LHR/LGW/LCY/LTN/STN/BQH). And MIL (MXP/LIN). And so on....

[bristolflyer]

It is good to see full service airlines at Bristol, but the economic reality is that the majority of money made by the airport comes from LCC. Michael O'Leary has moaned time and time again about airports spending money on fancy buildings and putting up fees. When they do this he walks away. Surely the purpose of the walkway has little to do with the environment, but more to do with cutting the cost to airlines. Each Ryanair plane that can be reached on foot from the terminal is one less plane that has to have a coach provided for it and one less cost for the airline. I always seemed to me, if you look at the plans, that the west apron (which the walkway serves) was to be the budget end of the airport with few airbridges, whereas the east apron had a number of airbridges in the plans and space for the 787 and was where the full service operations would be located. In any event the walkway is a vast improvement on the original bus shelter!!

[SN146]

Any update on how SN is doing since they've introduced the regional jets of bmi regional and added a 3rd flight to BRU? It seems from the GDS the flights may come back to ARJ next year?

[MerchantVenturer]

Passenger numbers this year on BRS-BRU are very encouraging.

For the first ten months of 2010 31,517 passengers were carried which compares with 26,107 in the same period last year (CAA stats).

This represents a rise of nearly 21% in passenger numbers.

[SN146]

That looks good indeed.

Since the swap from ARJ to Embraer happened on Jan 10, the figures above are very representative indeed.

BTW, as I am also interested in seeing the results of the swap from ARJ to Embraers at NCL... any idea where I could find the data?

[Bristol_Traveller]

Passenger numbers this year on BRS-BRU are very encouraging.

For the first ten months of 2010 31,517 passengers were carried which compares with 26,107 in the same period last year (CAA stats).

This represents a rise of nearly 21% in passenger numbers.

This got me doing some mental 'rithmetric.

The ERJs seat 48, and there are 34 flights between BRS & BRU each week. That's a total of 1,632 seats/week. In 10 months there are roughly 43 weeks, which equates to an available capacity of 70,176 seats.

With flown passengers of 31,517, that's a 44.9% load factor.

That probably explains why that route is being priced for yield, not volume (or vice versa. Cause or effect? Discuss.).

On the RJ85's, they flew twice daily and not at all at the weekends, so 20 weekly flights, and at 82 people per aircraft, there were 1,640 seats/week, equating to 70,520 seats in that same 10 month/43 week period.

With flown passengers of 26,107, that's a 37% load factor.

So, whilst overall route capacity hasn't changed, the load factors are up. And I would guess the yield is up a much larger amount, looking at the fares SN generally charging. However, you'd need to offset that against operating 7 extra rotations a week.

To put those load factors in perspective, in October 2010 Ryanair ran an 85% load factor, and Easyjet ran an 88% load factor.

[santito]

The few times I used the BMI Regional Embraer from BRS in 2010, I would say those LF's are about right.... or a little high maybe.

I have also used BMI Regional from LDS-BRU a few times, and the loads were broadly similar.

I have noticed Air France getting good loads on the ATR-72 though, at least the flights I was on. I think there were even one or two that were completely full.

Good to see that full service airlines can still justify BRS in the face of EZY/ RYR.

[MerchantVenturer]

B_T

Probably a little bit higher than 45% though not that much.

Don't forget the route reduces to 2 x daily on weekdays in the main summer period for about six weeks.

That would take out 544 seats each week for that period - total of over 3200.

Also the airport was shut for six days in April because of the volcanic ash - probably another 1300 seats removed from the equation and in addition there have been a number of cancellations this year, mainly weather-related.

This would increase the average load factor for the year to around 48%.

[BleadonHell]

It won't come as a huge suprise to learn given Ryanair's heavy cuts to their winter schedules, plus the demise of the beloved EWR route that passenger numbers dipped in November.

317,956 pax = -5.85%

Details come from the Airport website. These numbers are yet to appear on the November CAA provisional report so no data on specific routes available yet.

BH

[Bristol_Traveller]

From what I can see (and have not analysed in depth), KL/AF are driving up load factors by keeping their fares relatively low (and their fuel surcharges don't seem to be as punitive as LH/LX/OS/SN). So they appear to be running quite high load factors, but I'd be betting their yields aren't great.

KL/AF have the benefit of tremendous heritage at BRS. Their route-network is expansive and well understood, and certainly the bank arrangements at AMS work very well. (Personally, I wouldn't connect through CDG until it was the very last option). So they have the front-of-mind awareness and the volume of business.

It's possible that what KL/AF has now represents the upper limit of passenger volumes on full-service airlines from BRS, and that there's no growth left in that market. I hope that's not the case.

It would be disappointing to be in a situation where point-to-point airlines account for nearly all movements at BRS, and the only credible long-haul connecting option is KL through AMS.

(And honestly, while we're at it, the SN marketing of the BRU route is just painful. Do they run the same "cut out the Chunnel" line in NCL as well? Awful).

[Ranger 1]

Not many posts in here recently, guess we all have been busy shifting the snow. :ouch:

[WATABENCH]

Its brilliant that Bristol stayed open yesterday when EXT,CWL and BOH all closed, the conditions were pretty rubbish, but there seemed to be an all hands on deck approach from all staff, Servisair, Menzies, OCS and customer service staff all helping clear stands and walkways, the fire crew and their contractors doing an excellent job clearing runway, taxi way and stands, flight crew showing patiance with operators given the situation was a massive help as well, and also senior management out and about in the terminal and ramp, being easily contactable and showing a face to passangers and staff, lets not forget that all this was done with most companies being under staffed as staff were snowed in at home or couldn't reach the airport.
And I believe only 14 flights in total cancelled, pat on the back deserved to all at BRS. :ok:

[yeo valley]

i would agree with the snow clearing. all did well with the conditions and a staff shortage.least the airlines kept most routes covered in some way.

[Bristol_Traveller]

A rumour reaches my ears that LH may be considering buying EI. That would make BRS-DUB-NYC a more interesting proposition.

[bristolflyer]

Really? I can't see how that would play strategically with the whole LH group. They're still very unhappy about being forced to take BMI.

[Random Flyer]

A rumour reaches my ears that LH may be considering buying EI. That would make BRS-DUB-NYC a more interesting proposition.


I dont see why one route becomes more interesting because of who the airline is owned by? What difference would LH owning EI make to the BRS-DUB route? :confused:

[Bristol_Traveller]

I dont see why one route becomes more interesting because of who the airline is owned by? What difference would LH owning EI make to the BRS-DUB route?

Currently EI is unaffiliated with any global airline alliance, having dropped out of OneWorld. If they were bought by LH, they would undoubtedly join Star Alliance (similarly, if BA bought them, they would go back into OneWorld).

EI inside an alliance is a more interesting proposition because:
It dramatically broadens the route network available, and the ease of booking across several airlines. It also increases BRS prominence in the global network. More people are likely to fly BRS-DUB as part of an Alliance connection.
For the flier, it means we get recognition and benefits when flying on BRS-DUB-NYC/BOS/IAD etc. That can make quite a difference even on a short-haul leg - priority security, lounge, priority boarding, priority on standbys, priority on upgrades, mileage redemptions, mileage upgrades. It makes the difference when deciding between going to LHR and flying UA/US/CO (with benefits) and flying BRS-DUB-NYC without.

[Bristol_Traveller]

Really? I can't see how that would play strategically with the whole LH group. They're still very unhappy about being forced to take BMI.

Reading between the lines, I think they're less unhappy now than they were when SMB foisted it on them. The pain has started to ease, in many ways. WPS appears to have "a plan" (even if it does involve moving Diamond Club into Miles & More - :\)

The only credible suitors for EI are LH Group, IAG (BA/IB) or AF/KL. I don't think AF/KL have the muscle to do it, so I think it'll be tussle between LHG and IAG.

From a BRS perspective, I think putting EI in LHG would work well for us, as it begins to make us a multi-route airport for LHG - we might even fantasise about it becoming a "base", serving out to BRU/FRA/MUC/DUB/ZRH....

[WATABENCH]

Sad news today about a hot air balloon crash near Bristol today, the balloon crashed to the ground in flames at 0930 this morning in the town of Midsomer Norton, approximatly 15 miles south east of BRS, the balloon was believed to of been carrying 4 lpg cannisters and was said to of been attempting a high altitude flight at 20000 ft when it came down in flames. The balloon was being tracked by BRS ATC at the time, I know the area very well and miracullously the balloon came down on a bowling green just yards from houses, a primary school, a hotel and several factories.
Sadly the 2 men aboard lost their lives, the AAIB are now on site investigating.


BBC News - Two killed in hot air balloon crash in Somerset (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-12102865)


Two Killed After Hot Air Balloon Crashes In Midsomer Norton, Somerset | UK News | Sky News (http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Two-Killed-After-Hot-Air-Balloon-Crashes-In-Midsomer-Norton-Somerset/Article/201101115876364?lpos=UK_News_Carousel_Region_3&lid=ARTICLE_15876364_Two_Killed_After_Hot_Air_Balloon_Crashe s_In_Midsomer_Norton%2C_Somerset)

[MerchantVenturer]

I've had another look at the Ryanair summer 2011 timetable for BRS (invariably a work in progress this time of the year and it's been amended a couple of times already in recent weeks) and the current state of play is listed below.

Alicante 8 x weekly (up from daily)
Bergerac 3 x weekly
Beziers 4 x weekly (down from 5 x weekly)
Bratislava 2 x weekly
Dublin 16 x weekly (down from 21 x weekly)
Faro daily (up from 4 x weekly)
Girona daily
Gdansk 2 x weekly
Gran Canaria 3 x weekly (up from 2 x weekly)
Kaunas 2 x weekly
Knock 3 x weekly
Lanzarote 3 x weekly (up from 2 x weekly)
Limoges 2 x weekly (down from 3 x weekly)
Malaga daily (up from 6 x weekly)
Malta 3 x weekly
Marrakesh 2 x weekly
Milan (Bgy) 2 x weekly (down from 3 x weekly)
Palma daily (up from 5 x weekly)
Porto 2 x weekly
Poznan 3 x weekly
Reus 2 x weekly
Riga 2 x weekly
Rimini 2 x weekly
Rzeszow 2 x weekly
Seville 2 x weekly
Tenerife 3 x weekly (up from 2 x weekly)
Valencia 2 x weekly (down from 3 x weekly)
Venice (Treviso) 3 x weekly
Wroclaw 2 x weekly

This shows a total of 108 weekly rotations, 21 of which (14 Dublin and 7 Faro) appear to be operated by non-based aircraft from the timings.

Summer 2010 saw around 124 weekly rotations.

There are more longer sectors in summer 2011 and there are still gaps in the schedule as currently published, though it seems the 5 based aircraft of summer 2010 will certainly be needed in the coming summer.

I expect a bit more tinkering before the final version; in fact, some is inevitable because at present six inbounds are shown late on Saturday evenings. The list shows 29 destinations at present.

Budapest, Belfast City and the shortlived Bydgoszcz are the omissions from summer 2010, with the first two axed from the Ryanair network so far as I am aware.

It is noticeable that Ryanair has increased its sun destinations with Faro, Alicante, Malaga, Palma, Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote seeing extra rotations.

They are certainly going head to head with easyJet on most of these routes with the Big Orange scheduling double-daily rotations each day in the main summer period on Alicante and Malaga, and 13 x weekly on Faro and Palma. easyJet also retains its 3 x weekly Tenerife against the increased 3 x weekly by Ryanair.

[bravoromeosierra]

Will be interesting to see how it unfolds with Aer Lingus and Ryanair competing on the Dublin.

I do use the word 'competing' loosely.. fingers crossed they'll cohabitate too.

[Jamie2k9]

There is no way that Aer Lingus will still have 3 daily (2 on SAT) by the end of next summer. I could see it being down to daily or 2 daily on some days.

Valencia is expected to be 3 weekly with Ryanar but no decision made yet.

[Bristol_Traveller]

There is no way that Aer Lingus will still have 3 daily (2 on SAT) by the end of next summer. I could see it being down to daily or 2 daily on some days.


Daily won't be very helpful for the links out to the States.

Personally, I'm over the moon I don't have to suffer O'Bleary's disgusting contempt for his customers (pervasive through his organisation) any more. BRS-DUB was the only route I would fly on FR (on the basis it makes no sense to go to LHR/BHX to go to DUB). Now I don't have to. Excellent.

[Jamie2k9]

One daily flight would still get people to the US but 2 flights would be better for passengers.

Aer Lingus New York and Boston flights arrive in Dublin at 5:15 and 5:20 in the morning. With a departure for 6:30 to BRS. If passengers are on the return they can still go to New York, Boston, Orlando Chicago but there would be no return for Orlando and Chicago.

Lets hope people use it to travel to the US so the 3 flights will stay.

[andrew1968]

Ryanair have added IBZ - Ibiza to the list of destinations this summer from Bristol.

No details of operational day or times on website as yet, but there as a new route.

This takes routes served back upto 30 for Summer 2011

[Jamie2k9]

Most UK Ryanair routes to IBZ are 3 weekly. Would expect the same for BRS.

[andrew1968]

Thanks Jamie

[Jamie2k9]

IBZ operating on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. A departure of 08:40 from BRS.

[speedbird_481_papa]

This will kill off the EZY IBZ route then. More flexibility of times and ates to travel and last year EZY flew I think only about 5 time to IBZ. The rest of the services got canx. Was not a good summer for the IBZ last summer.

[speedbird_481_papa]

There is no way that Aer Lingus will still have 3 daily (2 on SAT) by the end of next summer. I could see it being down to daily or 2 daily on some days

This dublin route will be 3x a day service because of the onward connection times to the US. Aer Lingus would be silly to reduce this service even if load factors are low to allow them to serve their US pax.

If anything my gut feeling is that you will see from next summer onwards the flight changing from an Aer Arann ATR72 to an Aer Lingus A320. EI will start off i feel with an ATR but then will see how it goes and change it accross to an A320. Its the only way I feel because of the allowences that certain pax get i.e business class pax can have 2 bags each weighing 23kg from what i have been told. So surely using the RE ATR will have and I have seen it myself significant space and weight issues?

I can see bags being left behind now before the service has begun.

[MerchantVenturer]

This will kill off the EZY IBZ route then. More flexibility of times and ates to travel and last year EZY flew I think only about 5 time to IBZ. The rest of the services got canx. Was not a good summer for the IBZ last summer.

easyJet only operates a peak summer season on BRS-IBZ ( 2 x weekly) commencing mid July whereas Ryanair seems to be operating all summer.

easyJet will operate on Wednesday afternoons and Saturday evenings with Ryanair flying on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays out in the morning and returning early afternoon.

The flexibility mentioned could extend to using both carriers (one out and the other back) to maximise time in resort.

Last July and August was certainly a torrid time for easyJet operations across the board, blamed variously on overseas atc industrial action and lack of crew - Stelios became publicly animated about the situation and gave the airline management an ultimatum to sort it out.

BRS saw lots of easyJet cancellations with the Ibiza being mentioned more than once in the local press because angry passengers were less than amused at arriving at the airport to find their flight cancelled.

Despite all that CAA stats suggest that last August still saw a load factor of 90% on the A319 scheduled BRS-IBZ route - 2262 passengers from 8 rotations (16 sectors).

[speedbird_481_papa]

ahhhh this is very interesting, thaks Merchant! I didnt realise the loads were that high! :ok:

Also, where do you get the CAA stats from?

[MerchantVenturer]

This link should take you to the relevant CAA table for last August - scroll down to page 26 for UK routes to Spain.

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport_data/201008/Table_12_1_Intl_Air_Pax_Traffic_Route_Analysis.pdf

[speedbird_481_papa]

thanks merchant :ok:

[Vasto1M]

speedbird, air france manage with their often full ATR to get all the connecting passengers baggage on so I can't see EI/RE having a problem, and its not as if the flight is going to be full of US bound passengers anyway.

[bobsyerunlce]

Bratislava appears to have disappeared from Ryanairs route list after the end of March. Can anyone confirm this? Shame if correct.

[MerchantVenturer]

Bratislava is no longer shown as bookable for summer 2011. Rimini and Porto have also gone since I did my count up last week, vide #1676.

I said at the time that it was a work in progress and to expect more alterations. I remember doing a similar exercise last winter for summer 2010 and the differing versions of the timetable came thick and fast then.

Funnily enough last year Rimini kept appearing and disappearing in the timetable but it has now gone from the drop-down list as well so it's probably gone for real this year.

What is new though, and if it remains it is a typical Ryanair joust, is the return to DUB of 3 x daily every day including Saturdays and Sundays; it was only 2 x daily with 3 x daily on Mondays and Fridays only on the timetable last week. No doubt a marker set down for Aer Lingus/Aer Arann - I doubt that many will believe all these seats on BRS-DUB will be sustainable - 6 x daily between the two airlines!

Bratislava is a surprise as last year's summer monthly load factors from May to September were respectively 88%, 88%, 92%, 94% and 88%.

Just shows again that high loads don't always mean sustainable routes.

Porto's best month was August with 89%, otherwise it was around the 80% range so not quite so surprising whilst Rimini was a bit of a dog with its best month being August at 85%.

This may be something like the final version now because a Ryanair spokewoman told the local press a couple of weeks ago that there would be 26 destinations in summer 2011 and that's what the current timetable is showing. Will have to wait and see.

[Jamie2k9]

Last I herd there has/will be a travel tax introduced in Austria and that may be behind the route being dropped. BHX has also lost Porto for summer 2011.

In regard to EI route. There was about a 50% increase in passengers transferring onto US flights from Europe and the UK through Dublin last summer. So they may be some hope if passengers do fly to the US. I would expect the route to be reduced to 2 daily next winter if it's still around. It was only a matter of time before Ryanair went back to 3 daily.

[Bristol_Traveller]

I don't think the introduction of APD to Austria would affect flights to Bratislava, which is in Slovakia.

Germany started levying APD on 01-JAN-11. Austria starts levying APD on 31-MAR-11.

[Jamie2k9]

Ya just realized that.

[bravoromeosierra]

In regard to EI route. There was about a 50% increase in passengers transferring onto US flights from Europe and the UK through Dublin last summer. So they may be some hope if passengers do fly to the US. I would expect the route to be reduced to 2 daily next winter if it's still around. It was only a matter of time before Ryanair went back to 3 daily. Both airlines seem to be able to cohabit routes into other airports, although I'm not sure Bristol and it's catchment area can support 789 daily seats*. The advanced base fares on both airlines are very similar, although of course Ryanair seem to do the cheaper deals a few months out.

Does anyone know if Aer Lingus do connections (ie. European destinations) other than on USA routes via Dublin? The website doesn't seem to prohibit through tickets, for example if I wanted to fly Bristol-Dublin-Madrid-Dublin-Bristol.

*Based on 3x 189 seat 737s and 3x 74 seat ATR 72s on this summer's weekday schedule.

[Skipness One Echo]

There was about a 50% increase in passengers transferring onto US flights from Europe and the UK through Dublin last summer.

What drove this? Was it the Aer Arrann franchise expansion? Be interesting to see how much money that makes in the end.

[tubby linton]

Did the 767 that was damaged last autumn leave?

[flyerboy]

Yes it positioned out to LGW on the 8th December

[bravoromeosierra]

It would appear the infamous KLM CityHopper E190 is making a regular appearance at BRS this week.

[Welshtraveller]

I was due to fly from Bristol to Porto the first week of May. I had a big shock when I read on Prune that the flights have been cancelled. I checked the Ryanair website (pretended I wanted to book a flight) and the flights were unavailable. After going into my booking on the Ryanair website the flights appeared as normal, very confused.

I rang Ryanair direct to ask for clarification. Ryanair told me that it looks like the flights have been cancelled but my booking is still valid. They said that I may receive a e-mail informing me of the cancelled flights in the coming weeks. Reservation agent was no help at all and I am none the wiser.

I just want to find out if the flights are cancelled or not. If they are cancelled (which looks like a strong possibility), when will I receive the confirmation e-mail? How long does it take to receive a refund?

Grateful for any help or advice. Many thanks.

[Jamie2k9]

BRS - Porto is canceled for summer 2011. All booked passengers will e-mailed shortly. The call centre staff only know about how much you can find out on Ryanair.com.

[Welshtraveller]

Thanks Jamie. I contacted Ryanair again and they finally admitted that the route has been cancelled. In the process of arranging a refund. Going to book alternative flights from Gatwick with Easyjet. Thanks again.

[jakeyw]

Myself and a group of friends were due to fly out in July. We all had an email this morning confirming the flight is cancelled. We can get a full refund, or a free transfer to the Luton flight. Not exactly convenient, considering most of us live in Bristol! We may have to bite the bullet though, as some of us already had hotels booked.

[Welshtraveller]

I know how you feel Jakey, I sympathise. :ugh:

[Jamie2k9]

You should ask for a transfer onto a BHX flight if that better for you.

[Seljuk22]

BRS handled 5,723,432 passengers last year, up 1.9% (CAA stats)

[jaycee10]

Following the demise of the mail flights work is due to start very shortly on removing the old hangers used for the operation. Once this has been done six new stands will be built and the walkway extended to serve them. More room for the Ryanairs to park up next winter.

[stuart-travel]

with no mail flights to newcastle and edinburgh, so is the mail sent by other type of transport.
regards
stuart

[flyerboy]

Yes, all by road to EMA now

[stuart-travel]

Thanks flyerboy,
i have heard extra npt flights at ema this last week is this some reroute flights from brs now operating.
regards
stuart

[mathers_wales_uk]

CWL has obtain a NPT flight arrives 0200 from EMA but departs emoty 0245 to BOH.

Could this be the one with remainder mail travelling by road?

[stuart-travel]

The new npt flights into ema npt 031 and npt 028 with 031 from the south around 10.30pm and 028 from the north around 11.00pm
regards
stuart

[andrew1968]

From Bristol Airport website:


Thomson adds Bristol - Boa Vista to winter holiday programme

Holiday giant Thomson has announced that flights to West African hotspot, Cape Verde, will be available next winter from Bristol Airport.

From November 2011 to April 2012 Thomson Airways will operate a flight every Tuesday to Boa Vista, the island republic's most popular resort.

The Cape Verde islands are located in the Atlantic, over 500 miles off the West African coast. Described as the 'new Caribbean', Cape Verde combines Portuguese and African influences and enjoys a warm climate with winter temperatures in the mid-twenties.

Boa Vista is renowned for its white sandy beaches and, although it is the mose developed of the island group, it remains relatively untouched by tourism. An added bonus is that Cape Verde is in the same time zone as the UK, minimising jet lag from the seven hour flight.





:ok:

[LGS6753]

Will this be operated on a 767-300? Does that type have enough range, or will there be a refuelling stop, and if so, where?

[CabinCrewe]

Easily managed non stop by a 757. 757 operated ex GLA also. Perhaps combined ? Cant imagine there will be queues for that flight

[BHX5DME]

January Pax up 1.5% to 330,047

[airhumberside]

Easily managed non stop by a 757. 757 operated ex GLA also. Perhaps combined ? Cant imagine there will be queues for that flight
Unless a day of operation changes, flights can't currently be combined. TOM's only Tuesday Boa Vista flight from the UK next winter will be from Bristol

There is a significant expansion generally by TOM to the Cape Verde Islands next winter. 6 flights a week in total to Boa Vista and I think 4 to Sal

[andrew1968]

airhumberside you are correct, having checked the Thomson website the Bristol to Boa Vista flight is the only one from the UK on a Tuesday.

I would guess it will now depend on forward bookings as to whether this remains a stand alone flight from Bristol or if it gets merged with another UK flight!

Lets hope there is sufficient demand to obtain a decent load factor on a 757!

Only time will tell, but like you say Thomson seem to be making a push on this destination for W11/12, maybe this is due to the recent trouble in Tunisia and Eygpt trying to persude holidaymakers to try somewhere different!

[speedbird_481_papa]

Only time will tell, but like you say Thomson seem to be making a push on this destination for W11/12, maybe this is due to the recent trouble in Tunisia and Eygpt trying to persude holidaymakers to try somewhere different!

Aye I have to agree with you there. But I also think that Thomson have launched this route for winter 11/12 as the company behind The Gambia Experience and The Cape Verde experience struggled to find an airline to replace the defunct Hamburg International which was meant to operate this service for this current winter season and could not find a replacement service, so did not operate at all this year.

Maybe the Cape Verde and Gambia Experience will use some of the TOM 757 space to help fill it up and make the destination viable?

[airhumberside]

Im pretty certain the initial W11/12 programme, including the Cape Verde expansion, was released late last year, before the Egypt/Tunisia uprising

[MUFC_fan]

Over the coming years as the islands modernise and grow they'll become very much more like the Canaries.

They have an amazing USP - Caribbean weather but saving at least 2 hours each way on flight time. Not to mention the lack of time difference.

Thomson was in there early (no doubt thanks to RIU's attention towards the islands in recent years). I have no doubt TCX and MON will be landing in Boa Vista and Sal in the near future.

[crackling jet]

Good to see this new destination, although we were supposed to have it this winter with Hamburg Airlines via Banjul untill they went to the wall.Will Thomsons take on the Banjul portion of the trip as well, as it seemed to be sadly missed this winter and i can't believe no one stepped in to take up this capacity as it has traditionally sold well from Bristol since it was introduced some years ago incidently inaugerated by Thomsons( ok first choice,but all the same now) so kill two birds with one stone by introducing a new route and bringing back an old popular favourite.

[GROUNDHOG]

That is my next years winter sun hoilday set then if I am still living in the UK!

[airhumberside]

Maybe the Cape Verde and Gambia Experience will use some of the TOM 757 space to help fill it up and make the destination viable?
Cape Verde Experience are selling the BRS flight - seem to be selling all TOM UK-Cape Verde flights

[WATABENCH]

Nice to see a diffrent widebody last night, Titan 767 came in with 2 flights worth of EZY GVA pax. Any news on when the hotel is due to start being built and any ideas of operator?

[GROUNDHOG]

Cape Verde Experience told me a couple of days ago they had dropped BRS " Due to the failure of Hamburg Airlines". Oh well.....

[crackling jet]

anyone get a picture of Titans 767 ?

[MerchantVenturer]

Any news on when the hotel is due to start being built and any ideas of operator?

The Weston paper article published a few days ago and linked below focuses on developments at BRS.

New jobs and flight routes as airport growth starts - News - Weston Mercury (http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/new_jobs_and_flight_routes_as_airport_growth_starts_1_810770 )

The paper says that construction of the 250-bed hotel will begin this year with a well-known international brand yet to be chosen.

An airport spokesman is reported as saying that background work for the proposed £150 million expansion will take place over the coming months with key components of the development now being prioritised; aircraft stands, extensions to the terminal and improved car parking are first on the list.

In the past the airport has said the expansion will be built incrementally as traffic increases, so presumably this time scale still remains.

[Severn]

Taken from Travel Weekly :

Global 2011: Monarch considers increase to regional flying

Mar 07, 2011 11:00
The Monarch Travel Group is considering adding more regional flying from 2012.

Speaking at the Global Travel Group conference in Leicester this morning, Hugh Morgan, managing director of Monarch Travel Group tour operations division, said the group was currently considering an increase in regional flying.

He said the group was looking at basing aircraft in Bristol, East Midlands and Newcastle airports.

"It is a big investment but we can't utilise a foreign carrier as people don't necessarily support it. We would have to base aircraft at the airports.

"I think we will be doing a lot more regional flying from next year."

He said a decision would be made "very soon" once the company had evaluated all the logistics involved.

The group has previously received criticism from agents for failing to do enough regional flying.

Morgan said it was a 'chicken and egg' situation. "If you're going to do it, you have to do it properly," he added.

[WATABENCH]

Would be great to see a Monarch base at BRS, plenty of capacity going since demise of XL and then Viking and its assosicated tour operators, fingers crossed. Hopefully we would be more up the list than EMA due to the MON base at BHX, and hopefully NCL too due to JET2 flights and holidays operating there as well as TUI and TCX, time will tell i guess but Bristol could do with an alternative in the charter market to TUI and TCX :ok:

[andrew1968]

Latest stats from CAA show Bristol handled 344,771 pax in February 2011 which is down 5.7% on February 2010

These figures are a bit misleading as the two Belfast Airports have not reported yet, so I estimate around another 22,000 pax to be added to this figure which I would think will just take it back into positive territory!

[Alvechurch]

Andrew 1968

I don't think it works like that.
Surely the CAA simply looks at Bristol's reported figures and they will include the Belfast passengers? :confused:

[andrew1968]

I don't think it works like that.
Surely the CAA simply looks at Bristol's reported figures and they will include the Belfast passengers? http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/confused.gif

Alvechurch

When looking at the CAA Domestic Routes, Belfast City & Belfast International have not reported figures yet.

In addition to this looking at Bristol, neither Belfast airports are included in the list of airports served, therefore these are not currently included.

As with all CAA stats they are provisional not the final audited figures, therefore I will check again next Monday for the next update as I would expect them to report by then! I will update you accordingly!

I have just checked the report again, they are not included in the reported figures!

Take a look at the results yourself!

UK Airport Provisional Statistics: 2011 - 02 | Aviation Intelligence | Regulatory Policy (http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=80&pagetype=88&sglid=11&fld=201102)

[Alvechurch]

Andrew 1968


Ah yes, sorry, I see what you mean now, the Belfasts's have no numbers at all.
If you are right and it certainly looks that way, it seems Birmingham can add in about 23,000 extra passengers for the Belfasts, nice. :ok:

[Exasperated]

Alvechurch

When looking at the CAA Domestic Routes, Belfast City & Belfast International have not reported figures yet.

In addition to this looking at Bristol, neither Belfast airports are included in the list of airports served, therefore these are not currently included.

As with all CAA stats they are provisional not the final audited figures, therefore I will check again next Monday for the next update as I would expect them to report by then! I will update you accordingly!

I have just checked the report again, they are not included in the reported figures!

Take a look at the results yourself!

UK Airport Provisional Statistics: 2011 - 02 | Aviation Intelligence | Regulatory Policy
15th Mar 2011 11:51

Afraid you are incorrect.

The airport stats are not the total of the domestic and international routes but will be reported direct by each airport.

If you add the international and domestic numbers they total 329528 so the difference will be the Belfast routes not currently listed.

The CAA have a peculiar way of reporting the domestic stats based on alphabetical order and if the airport first alphabetically has not reported the figures are left blank. This is why the Aberdeen stats are listed for Belfast but none else.

Ex

[Jamie2k9]

easyjet will transfter it's Rome CIA route to Rome FCO from 6 June.

[speedbird_481_papa]

I thought that Stats reporting was provided to the CAA by each individual airport? So therefore, shouldn't the Belfast stats be included on this report already, as quite often my airport rings up our ground handlers, asking them to provide figures if the airline has not provided them beforehand. I shall ask and report back!

easyjet will transfter it's Rome CIA route to Rome FCO from 6 June.

That Is indeed very true! Confirmed to myself by a Captain and it is more than likely that because Rome FCO is also a base for EZY, it will be an FCO based aircraft operating the route, so FCO-BRS-FCO

[MILEHIGHBOY]

its a BRS based a/c operating FCO:

06JUN11 BRS/FCO 1215/1545
06JUN11 FCO/BRS 1620/1805

[Alvechurch]

Andrew 1968

Hmm, so I was right after all.
I'm too easily persuaded.
:*

[Silvertop]

easyjet will transfter it's Rome CIA route to Rome FCO from 6 June.

Hurrah:D:D:ok:

At last I can stop flying to the very very very poor excuse for an international airport that is CIA, the only airport in the world, that I know of, that after landing and switching to the ground freq, you actually tell the alleged ground controller what your allocated stand is !!!!:confused:

Great

[BleadonHell]

Some of the summer schedules kicked off at Bristol on Sunday. I noted:-

4 x ALC (2xFR, 2xEZY)
4 x AGP (2xEZY, 1xFR, 1xTOM)

Pretty sure there were also Multiple FAO and PMI services as well.

Bring it on........

[crackling jet]

Bristol summer, Anyone know who or what will be operating instead Viking/XL and will it be a based unit

[speedbird_481_papa]

Not that I am aware off. I think most of the routes that were taken up by xl/Viking are being operated by Thomson and Thomas Cook, so they are still being served.

But i am almost certain that there will be no other airline this summer.

Though this winter, keep an eye out for Jet2 :ok:

[bobsyerunlce]

What have you heard about Jet2 coming to Bristol??

[yeo valley]

look at the date and time on the jet2 comment possably.

[bobsyerunlce]

Seriously? What a weird way and place to get your April fools kicks.

[danielmellor]

Thought it was Small Planet taking up some of the Former Viking Airlines Based Plane?

[MerchantVenturer]

My wife and I tried out this new service this week and found it a decent experience.

Ryanair would have been about £15-20 cheaper in total for the two of us, taking into account all the extras including one checked bag in each direction, for flight times that are broadly similar (a couple of hours later in the return timings with Ryanair).

The outbound morning flight on Monday was on an Aer Arann ATR 72 in Aer Lingus Regional livery which left more or less on time and arrived at Dublin about twenty minutes ahead of schedule. It was pleasant to stroll out to the aircraft with seats already allocated (we didn't pay to pre-book seats but were seated together).

BRS was also a pleasant experience, after one or two not quite so good ones with departure lounge overcrowding and slow security in recent years, but security was transited this time in about seven minutes despite being in the morning rush with around 25 departures in the first three hours of the day. Is there also more public seating in the departure lounge too? Maybe the airport management has listened to complaints?

Back to the flight, there were, I think, 47 passengers in total which is perhaps not too bad at all for a new route and with the established Ryanair also departing to DUB just ten minutes ahead.

The return on Thursday evening carried 37 passengers and was operated by an Aer Arann ATR 42 in the airline's own livery. This aircraft has seen better days with seat-back tables missing from many seats, some of which were on their last legs.

Nevertheless, we landed at Bristol twenty minutes ahead of schedule and the experience was perfecly acceptable in our view, especially the leisurely walk to the bus and ride to the aircraft at DUB without the anticipation of a scramble for seats - though I can see that ordering a drink would have been problematical with no table but on such a short flight that wasn't a consideration for us.

I must specially mention the lone cabin crew member who is an excellent ambassador for her airline. She was friendly and hard-working with a ready smile. We were particularly impressed because as we entered the cabin she told us our allocated seats in the back row had limited leg room and she would move us to an empty pair further along the cabin. We had no idea there were such discrepancies in leg room on this aircraft and regard the lady's action as service often not found in today's society, and not just in aviation. I shall email our appreciation of her customer service to the airline.

If we go to Dublin again from BRS we shall use Aer Lingus Regional. I know that Ryanair does what it says on the tin and carries hundreds of thousands of customers on the route each year and will no doubt continue to do so.

However, the Aer Lingus Regional product suits us better.

[mathers_wales_uk]

Aer Arann have a great and friendly crew. The ATR-42 are very old and are rarely used to my knowledge on the Aer Lingus Regional routes. I would imagine that this maybe due to technical/maintenance reasons to reduce delays.

EIEHH which was the latest ATR42 to join their fleet was in fact an ex Air Wales aircraft G-SSEA

ATR-72 are more modern however not so sure about the EISLL, EISLM, EISLN aircraft that have come in from Air Contractors.

I hope Aer Arann continues with the excellent service

[WATABENCH]

New airline to BRS

Blue Islands launching BRS-JER from May 23rd :ok:

Blue Islands launch daily Jersey Service from Bristol - Bristol Airport (http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/news-and-press/latest-news/2011/04/blue-islands-launch.aspx)