EK A380 BHX

[chris50]

EK will operate the A380 into BHX on the 9th sept first time .Arrive 1235/Depart 1505 EK039/040 A380 from/to Dubai
cheers chris

[HXdave]

any news yet if one is going to operate into manchester (landing, not just flypast!).

[PaperTiger]

Are the load factors really that good ? Surprising.

[bhx egbb]

An Emirates’ A380 super-jumbo is to make a flight from Dubai to Birmingham Airport in September. The plane will serve the route for just for a single day – September 9 – as part of the Birmingham Airport’s 70th anniversary celebrations.
The giant double decker aircraft will be used on one of Emirates’ two daily services from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Birmingham, giving passengers the first chance to fly directly to and from Birmingham on the A380. President Emirates Airline Tim Clark said: ‘Emirates and Birmingham Airport have enjoyed a successful partnership since we started services in 2000, and it’s fitting that we should mark this significant milestone in the airport’s history by flying in our most talked about aircraft.'
Birmingham Airport’s deputy chief executive officer Joe Kelly said: ‘Our 70th anniversary is a fantastic milestone for the airport and we are delighted that Emirates is helping us celebrate our birthday with the A380. This is the first commercial flight of an A380 outside of London Heathrow in Britain. As well as our 70th anniversary, September 9, is also the date that our new £45 million International Pier opens with state of the art facilities and it is therefore very fitting that the first aircraft will be the Emirates A380.’


Link below
Superjumbo flight to Birmingham Airport : Birmingham Airport News Stories (http://uk-airport-news.info/birmingham-airport-news-170709a.html)

[Avman]

Just out of curiosity, will the new £45m Pier be able to accept an A380, or will they have to park on one (two) of the remotes?

[Ringwayman]

No, the loads are not that good. They're appreciably lower than MAN and the latest info I know about is that only 200 pax booked so far for EK39 and 132 for EK40. They expect it to be 374 for EK39 and 231 for EK40. Just a single F class ticket sold each way apparently.

I'm still trying to find what kind of modified airfield operations have been put in place, given that MAN's is known.

[Invicta DC4]

The new pier will be able to accept the A380. At least one stand has double airbridges.

[Geezers of Nazareth]

Who handles EK at Birmingham, and have they got the ground kit to handle it?

[Invicta DC4]

Servisair handle Emirates at BHX. Don't know about the ground kit, I assume Emirates will supply the tow bar. Only problem with the ground handling I can see is catering the upper deck.

[Skipness One Echo]

You can feel the annoyance that MAN is not seeing the Emirates A380 before BHX...... It's a PR thing and there are fewer F class seats sold out there in the regions full stop. Unlike BA's model, this is factored into the equation with Emirates though.

[Ringwayman]

It's not the annoyance, just the frustration that having had it's birthday in June and being the most likely candidate for A380 services to regional Britain in the short to medium term, EK uses such an aircraft to BHX "unprofitably" instead of MAN (slight hint: MAN 40,000 pax on EK in June, BHX 34,000, with an apparent 7% point difference in loads).

Remember they've swapped the BHX 77W and the LHR A380 around. Not totally logical given the likely booking patterns for them.

Has anyone got any details of what BHX has done in terms of taxiways, etc?

[groundhogbhx]

Definately more than 1 F class booked outbound and load building nicely. Plenty of room for cargo apparently so it shouldn't make much of a loss on the flight, if any and plenty of good PR for the airline.

[Voldermort]

Surely selling even one F seat is an achievment as it is never an option from BHX,MAN,GLA and NCL which are only normally served by a/c in 2 class layout:ok:

[Whitehatter]

FC is not really a product you want for regional operations, it's more for capitals and business centres where the nobs can fly on expenses.

Even Emmaroids is having its share of issues with places like New York where the A380 and its fancy cabins is just too much plane for the route. Their next tranche of deliveries may include high density versions which will be more suited to the odd location where volume of seats can be tailored to demand. BHX could even see their two flights combined into one A388HD if the traffic case is there for it. The relatively low fuel load for BHX-DXB helps with runway lengths too.

from what Singapore Airlines has been saying, if they can do that it cuts their operating costs down substantially and gives a much better CASM when an A380 replaces 773ER operated seats out of an airport. Idle musing but with the sort of numbers mentioned above I'd say BHX is a strong case for an A380HD with no first class

[JimmyTAP]

There was a rumour on some sites that an Emirates A380 was visiting MAN on Monday the 7th September (before BHX:))

[Nil defects]

Given the LDA in Birmingham is about 2000m - this should be interesting!

:cool:

[Skipness One Echo]

Given the LDA in Birmingham is about 2000m - this should be interesting!

Why? Are you claiming it's unsafe? Really?

Charts say 2280 and 2298 depending on which end.

[Invicta DC4]

As Emirates have had to pull a A380 from the LHR EK1/2 run on the 9th September for the BHX visit, the chances of a EK A380 visiting MAN on the 7th September are zilch IMHO (other than a diversion).

I think its about time the BHX knockers from the North West moved on and get over their A380 anxiety - you'll get one visit MAN at some point.

[Captain Caveman]

So Airbus designate BHX as a suitable operating airfield and London alternate when they were designing and building the 380 and you say 2000LDA is interesting ?

[groundhogbhx]

The problem with combining BHX's 2 flights into 1 A380 would be a severe loss of cargo space. It is not unusual for both 77W's to have every available hold position full, so a swop to an A380 would probably lose more money than it would make. On top of that I don't think it would take the 884 plus infants that depart daily during the holiday peaks and would have trouble dealing with the combined low loads we are getting at the moment. Also TC wouldn't be talking about a 3rd daily flight if he thought he could do as well with a 380 on one of the current services:ok:

[Ringwayman]

Remember the A380HD for EK is going to be a 644 seater. And Unless BHX is getting more than that number of pax per day, it's remains a candidate for a "2 into 1" EK special. Especially if the BHX figures remain so much smaller than MAN even when they are generating 1768 pax per day in peak periods (assuming you mean both services operating at full load).

The lack of cargo space is something that may be eradicated using a dedicated freighter service.

[ATNotts]

Looks as though Emirates has committed a deadly sin in daring to put their shiny new 380 into BHX on a scheduled service before MAN sees one in similar circumstances!

It's a PR stunt as much as anything else. I feel sure I read somewhere that in terms of length it is shorter than the 773, and imagine that all the taxiways are perfectly wide enough to take a 380. I know nothing of the 380s performance and therefore just how payload restricted it will be off BHX, but it is absolutely inconceivable that Emirates would be even thinking of using the type unless it was operating within it's certificated limits.

As for First class, whilst it's absolutely clear that the UK regional routes are more leisure orientated, and it's only those around London with more money (usually someone else's rather than their own) to fritter that will partake of First class that doesn't mean there is no demand - and it would come as no surprise if they got more than a couple of punters up front.

[Doors to Automatic]

Given the LDA in Birmingham is about 2000m - this should be interesting!

MLW 386 000 kgs
Landing distance at MLW, Trents, 300', 1900 m

So they have got around 300m to play with at max landing weight. It will want to be down before the 06/24 intersection!

[Invicta DC4]

Where does this LDA of 2000m keep coming from?

The declared LDAs from NATS charts are: Runway 15 - 2280m,
33 - 2298m. :ugh:

[Skipness One Echo]

MLW 386 000 kgs
Landing distance at MLW, Trents, 300', 1900 m
So they have got around 300m to play with at max landing weight. It will want to be down before the 06/24 intersection!

What makes you think it's going to be at maximum weight? It's flown all the way from Dubia burning fuel as it goes and won't be sold to full passenger capacity in case of a last minute B777 sub.

[Jolly Foreigner]

Doors to Automatic - how many commercial aircraft have you seen touching down after the "old" 06/24 intersection then? None if any I would suggest particularly if they were landing on 15 :eek:

EK's MLW has been certified for the 380 as 391T by the way.

Looking at the arrivals into LHR, a typical landing weight seems to be around the 373T mark. Even with a MZFW into LHR the landing weight is around 377T. It would be reasonable to assume then that for BHX even at MZFW the landing weight would be around the 380T mark taking into account the slight increase in fuel burn and flight time for BHX over LHR.

For BHX the landing performance even at MZFW plus the required fuel reserves is not going to create any problems for the beast.

The boffins in the EK flight performance office will have done their calculations many times over to ensure this visit cannot turn into a PR embarrassment due to any oversights, and seeing as local boy TC will no doubt be on board.

:ok:

[groundhogbhx]

I see the nice new Stand 54 has already been marked up for it's arrival:ok:

[GK430]

Jolly Foreigner

You would be surprised how many a/c touched down north of the old 06/24.
I ran out of my office one day after an A.321 floated by with still a few feet to drop.
I anticipated another closure whilst it was dragged out of the soft, but luckily
it exited fairly normally via A1.

[aviationspotterbhx]

rumours have it emirates will be flying 2 A380's into Bhx on the 9th september first 1 landing at 12.05 the second landing at 15.05 this is coming from news sources

[ZULUBOY]

Can't see that happening but it's going to push Ringwayman over the edge if true!!

[groundhogbhx]

Try 1 landing at 12.05 and then the same one departing at 15.05:ok:

[Doors to Automatic]

Doors to Automatic - how many commercial aircraft have you seen touching down after the "old" 06/24 intersection then? None if any I would suggest particularly if they were landing on 15

None on 15 but quite a few over the years on 33 (the usual landing runway)

[beamer]

BHX comes to a grinding halt already when the 340 comes in - everyone else may as well go home when the big bird comes to play !

[Captain Caveman]

That when it arrives it cannot use the out two reversers only the inner two due to the overhang / wingspan ? Full runway sweeps before landing / after landing / before takeoff / after take off ???? standard practice ?

[Avman]

I believe that the 380 is not equipped with reversers on the outers.

[Otto Throttle]

I hope Brum are better prepared for the 380 than their colleagues at LGW. Despite being declared as a 380 diversion field, when SIA had to divert into LGW some months ago (due to an evacuation of the tower at LHR), it was embarrassing to see the length of wait while the ops guys had to physically measure the taxiways to see which routing the beast could take to stand.

You'd have thought a half intelligent individual would have thought this minor detail out beforehand. :ugh:

As Brum is considerably less well-organised than LGW, I expect much egg on face.

[Invicta DC4]

The A380 only has inboard thrust reversers.

What was the issue with the A340 at BHX?

Care to elaborate?

[crewmeal]

it was embarrassing to see the length of wait while the ops guys had to physically measure the taxiways to see which routing the beast could take to stand.

You'd have thought a half intelligent individual would have thought this minor detail out beforehand.

On one hand you comment on half intelligent people at LGW measuring the taxiways, then in the next light.......

As Brum is considerably less well-organised than LGW, I expect much egg on face.

How do you know BHX is considerably less well organised than LGW? This event has been in the planning for a few months and I'm sure EK trust all those involved to make it it a successful event.

[ajl146]

For those interested about runway lengths, the A380 had loads of runway to play with, both on landing and take-off. Runway inspections caused a bit of delay, especially after take-off, however that is unsurprising as the A380 departed runway 15, whilst all other traffic was using runway 33 (so that the PR people could take photos of it rotating next to the Emirates pier I think). So even with a 12 knot wind blowing behind it, and carrying 325 passengers, the A380 had a fair amount of runway left.

The day appeared to go without a hitch, so well done to Emirates and BHX. It was even better having had two flypasts from the prototype last saturday too!

[keeprighton1974]

A lovely bit of Brum organisation :ok:

Well done to all.

[Dont Hang Up]

the A380 departed runway 15, whilst all other traffic was using runway 33 (so that the PR people could take photos of it rotating next to the Emirates pier I think). So even with a 12 knot wind blowing behind it, and carrying 325 passengers, the A380 had a fair amount of runway left.


Makes you wonder why they need a runway extension :ooh:

[ajl146]

Makes you wonder why they need a runway extension http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/icon25.gif

So they can send one out with 800 passengers aboard of course! (They'll be lucky).

[Stopend]

Why the extension ? So they can reach the US West coast and the far East! Role on 2013 :D

[Guest 112233]

As said on another thread on PPrUNE, EK operate two flights from Brum and MAN to match their patterns of onward departures from Dubai. The Manchester flights carry more pax than BHX so are a candidate for the A380 first, and a possible third daily flight - I'm sure its not quite as simple as pure numbers of Pax, but MAN is the obvious candidate.

CAT III

[Summer breeze]

A lovely bit of Brum organisation http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/thumbs.gif

Well done to all.

Apart from those trying to go about their daily business, all car parks stuffed due to the interest and no contingency plans in place....... was a stressful day for some!