BOURNEMOUTH - 3

[MARKEYD]

Bournemouth handled 94 , 124 passengers in August up 16 % on last year

Loads were good on all routes with the new Dublin route carrying 2896 passengers making it a load factor of 75 % which is really good news for this particular route

The new Ryanair routes to Carcassone was 86 % , Rhodes was 75 % and Malta was 92 % . Wraclaw has not been published yet

Bath Travel have sold out on the 2 Venice charters using BA EMB 195 aircraft in Oct and have added a day trip to Ivalo for the Northern lights and Rome using a Thomson 737

[airsmiles]

Well this must be a record. I've driven past the airport on 4 occasions in the past 7 days, and in day time, and each time there hasn't been a single aircraft in the terminal. Not even the Atlantic/Titan a/c.

Do they tow the aircraft somewhere else before I arrive or is it really that quiet?

[Phalconphixer]

Well this must be a record. I've driven past the airport on 4 occasions in the past 7 days, and in day time, and each time there hasn't been a single aircraft in the terminal. Not even the Atlantic/Titan a/c.


Talk about a one airline airport... well, not quite but near enough...Just looked at departures and Arrivals for tomorrow... and it's not a pretty sight... 10 arrivals, 7 of which are Ryanair, 2 Thomson and 1 Aer Lingus.

Dont for petes sake upset M.O'L... he's got Bournemouth by the short and curlies and he knows it...

It's a sight busier than when I was there between 1990 and 2005 (there is a clue in the username...) but this heavy reliance on one airline cannot be a good thing in the long-term... if there is such a thing as long-term where Ryanair Operations are concerned.
pp.

[MARKEYD]

Ryanair seem to be taking there time with Bournemouth in releasing flights for next year with nothing from Feb onwards still , all other UK airports are on sale for the Winter / Spring

This time last year there summer programme had been released , guess there still trying to get the best deal from BOH !

[airsmiles]

Well it's busier than when I used to live nearby in the 1970's. Apart from the Jersey/Guernsey puddle-jumpers, the only holiday flights were Mondays and Tuesdays I think. Dan-Air Comets/B727's and BCAL 1-11's mostly with the occasional Spanish charter airline.

Maybe if they changed the name to Bournemouth (London) Airport they'd have more success? Seems a shame they can't take a few long-haul O&D flights from Heathrow and put that long-ish runway to good use.

[adfly]

Its a 2 hour + drive from London!! Not even MOL advertises BOH as a London airport! Its a nice thought, but any BOH expansion will most likely be within europe, primarily low cost with small doses of regional and charter flights for good measure.:ok:

[Rivet Joint]

Why not ask MOL by sending him an email/tweet, i've heard he is not shy in replying :ok:.

Surely a vulture like MOL would be expanding at Hurn if it currently had a business case? I suspect the existing operation is nothing more than pin money for him.

[Nakata77]

According to a poster who seems in the 'know' on the Ryanair thread Ryanair will be re-opening the BOH base from 1st Feb. I have asked why there are still no FR flights on sale though from this date. He says that the BOH loads, yields and in-flight sales are among the highest in the network. If that is true, why on earth are FR not basing 5 aircraft!?

[Groundloop]

If that is true, why on earth are FR not basing 5 aircraft!?

Probably because of their history of previous routes tried at BOH that they feel that they have the money-making routes covered.

[BOH]

Is there no one on this thread from the airport who can hint if there are any new/different routes next year? Would love to go somewhere a bit different!

[MARKEYD]

The only new route confirmed at the moment for next summer is Tunisia with Thomson Holidays every Sunday

[adfly]

*returning ;)

[pottwiddler]

Now that the Arab Spring has sprung, it should have decent loads...

[BOH]

Ive heard from a source in the airport that Ryanair is yet to commit to flying from Bournemouth next year...

Is that normal?

[FRatSTN]

I'm not sure. In fact I'm a little worried about Bournemouth since it doesn't even have flights from February uploaded yet. They haven't done Nov-Jan from Bournemouth for a couple of years anyway, so am certain that won't happen.

I think what usually happens is they only release Bournemouth schedules only once a year rather than twice at every other base, with flights from February right until October being released around November time. So effectively its winter timetable (Feb & Mar) comes later than other airports, but the summer (Apr-Oct) is earlier. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens!

[moku]

BA Cityflyer's Embraer 190 that is being used for this weekend VCE charters for Bath travel is scheduled to arrive in BOH at 21:20 tonight, Friday and depart Sat am at 07:10.

[MARKEYD]

Looks like Ryanair have started to load some of there summer schedules from Bournemouth with Faro , Malaga , Alicante and Fuerteventura

The worrying thing is these flights all start from very end of March 2013 , with nothing loaded at all from the start of Feb still ?

Surely Ryanair are not having a 5 month break this year as opposed to 3 months away which the airport has seen for the last few years now ?

With nothing loaded yet they are really leaving it till the last minute to even get passengers to book from Feb now .

However they no full well that its far to late to get any other airline into Bournemouth as such a late stage and get any sort of programme up and running

[lwaw1uk]

Ryanair have go the airport by the b---s, but MAG Cant see that, !!:ugh:

[9287Excellent]

It would be a shame if Ryanair do take a 5 month break...its been quite nice seeing Bournemouth actually starting to look like a proper international airport this summer, especially on Mondays and Fridays!

[BOH]

Ryanair return on March 15th 2013

The seasonal staff have been told they arent required until after then

Shame, doesnt seem BOH ever has luck!!

[pug]

Ryanair have go the airport by the b---s, but MAG Cant see that

Why not? It might be more of a mutual thing. Isn't it better that FR remain committed to the airport even if it means dropping services during thinner months, rather than pulling out altogether? Dont Thomson operate year round?

Not a bad situation for a small regional airport to be in IMO.

[Rivet Joint]

It's not luck Hurn is lacking but rather a year round yeild rich customer base hence the perennial seasonal bucket and spade routes. It's simples ;)

[adfly]

They have a pretty rich customer base around Bournemouth alright! There is still demand in the winter even if only for ~2 FR flights per day but it is obviously easier/cheaper for FR to operate on a seasonal basis. We'll have to hope that some year another leisure airline (MON, TOM, TCX, JET2 among many others) has a go at filling in some of the gaps!

[MARKEYD]

Bournemouth handled 86 , 897 pax in September up almost 14 % on last year

The Dublin route continued to do well with 2470 passengers using it making a load factor of 68 % . Although the route is continuing into the winter months Aer Lingus Regional have adjusted the schedule with most Tuesday and Wednesday now not operating during the winter months , along with no flights on Saturday .

The rest of the summer schedule showed continued good growth with most of the Ryanair routes in the 90 % loads which is fantastic

Thomson flights went out virtually full on nearly all of there services , shame they cant be a bit more adventurous and start a few more new routes or extra services next year or even this winter given Ryanair not back till mid March now

All goes horribly wrong though from November again !

[airsmiles]

If Ryanair are parking aircraft at Stansted anyway, you'd think they'd find of way of parking one at Bournemouth. That way they could at least operate it enough to occupy one set of flight/cabin crew. Surely the marginal profit from some winter sun/weekend break flights would be better than suffering the fixed aircraft costs with no revenue at all?

[MARKEYD]

Ryanair have started to add a few more flights from Bournemouth , the majority now starting in April and seem to be a mirror image of this years flights so hard to tell if any increase yet

Very disappointing that Feb is now not happening a 5 month gap is a long time with only a few Thomson flights

Noticed that Exeter has a massive increase on flights next year with Balkan re starting to Bulgaria . Atlantic Holidays to Funchal and a big increase in Thomson flights .
Norwich also has had similar luck in obtaining extra flights , while it looks like nothing for Bournemouth , was hoping that Olympic may re start Heraklion but looks unlikely

[putneyuk]

Understand that Atlantic Holidays will also return to Bournemouth next year with the normal 2 departures to Madeira

[9287Excellent]

It is a shame to see no new routes from Bournemouth yet! My landlord operates an airport parking scheme and in the summer it seems to be quite a popular airport with people in South, I think helped out by Ryanair and their cheaper fares. This summer we've had people parking here from as far down as Plymouth and Falmouth and quite a few from Exeter. Whilst I realise the cheap fares don't always mean the flight is profitable or the airport make much from the passengers, especially Ryanair passengers, if it helps to fill up the flights, it can only mean good things for future years, these people just need to support the new services when they come!
Lets hope someone adds a another new destination and that people support it, so more get added in the future!

[Siggyboy]

It's a mystery that BOH cannot attract a few more flights. If Exeter can BOH can surely? Passenger numbers growing, load factors good etc. Are yields poor? Are MAG hard to deal with? Has FR such a grip its keeping others away?

There are a few unrealistic ideas put forward on this thread about routes but am sure BOH could do better...

[ltua330]

Hi

Yes I am concerned with the lack of activity at Bournemouth Airport,i am no expert and please don't shoot me down in flames with my post,I just want to be able to have an Airport on my doorstep with a whole range of flights and holiday destinations.these are my thoughts.
I'm not sure if the management at BOH really want a busy airport with different airlines and are just happy to have Ryanair as the monopoly.I totally understand the yield side of things but take the Olympic Holiday charter to Heraklion,this is a tour operator flight with the majority of people on package holidays paying good money and the flight was very popular with high loads,this flight has now gone and why?Were BOH management charging them too high fees and they found out Ryanair were paying less?Were they fed up of landing on time then 2 Ryanair aircraft landed and were offloaded and loaded before the Heraklion flight leaving them to depart late?this happened on numerous occasions.so now around 180 people are travelling to other airports to get a flight to Heraklion.Its the same with the Innsbruck charter in the Winter ,this flight once again was very popular with the large skiing community in Bournemouth ,Poole and surrounding areas.its now disappeared and so once again people are travelling to other Airports to fly to Innsbruck. Was this down to cost as well?Barbados fly-cruises had 12 flights but one this year and last one next year why?These flights are still going from London,Manchester,Glasgow,East Midlands etc so what is going on?These kind of people who use these flights will not suddenly decide not to go they will be forced to go to London instead.
Another thing which annoys me is the incoming tourist trade which BOH management does not seem to get.Germans and Austrians love the south coast and and regularly come over on charter flights. Exeter Airport has flights in the Summer but what gets me is that the first stop on the tour is Bournemouth then they travel to points of interest around the South,Why on earth are BOH airport not in contact with this tour operator to get it into BOH especially if the Tour start in Bournemouth?The Airport should be in talks with holiday companies abroad and our local Tourist Boards trying to attract people to our area which would bring in loads of money. Newquay,Exeter,Cardiff and Inverness,Jersey and Guernsey all have these charter flights but they have better management and foresight,yes its hard work attracting this kind of trade but they have done it.It seems to me that BOH management are looking at the easy option of Ryanair all the time.Don't get me wrong I am not against Ryanair and its brilliant that BOH does have a much busier Airport than in the past but It does need to think outside the box a bit more.Newmarket Holidays are doing well as well so it can be done.I would love to know how many people are travelling from BOH to other airports to catch flights this Winter and which destinations as I'm sure there would be enough which would warrant an airline or tour operator flying from BOH in the period Nov-Mar.I certainly know of people who want to fly from BOH but have to go to LGW.

Martin

[pottwiddler]

Martin

It's not a 'Bournemouth' management issue at local level, marketing is done from elsewhere, (Manchester!). I'm sure the Bournemouth management would love a busy airport.

[9287Excellent]

In reply to Martins post regarding European tourists, I think the management already is in talks and doing deals with at least some German tourist companies as I recall seeing several Air Berlin aircraft at the terminal at various points over the summer, I know one of them was going to Hamburg, not sure if they all went there or if it was just that one particular flight, but I think most of these flights were just one way, by that I mean on Monday, for example, the aircraft would appear on the Airport live flight information as arriving, but no return flight, then the following Monday, an aircraft would position into BOH and operate the return flight back to Germany, so whilst some tours may be going to SOU or Exeter, I think some are coming to Bournemouth.
As I say, I don't know if the above was the case for all the Air Berlin flights this summer, but the one I saw and later looked up, was definitely going to Hamburg and only operated as a return trip (aircraft positioned in empty).

[lwaw1uk]

The airberlin flights brought in Paxs for cruise ships in Southampton.

[Siggyboy]

My insider knowledge of people who work there say MAG have very little interest in marketing BOH...not saying thats true...but sad if it is...

[shaftr1]

Siggyboy, the same happened at HUY, MAN not interested in marketing the place, the flights gradually died out, now Eastern have bought the place look at the new flights that have been announced. MAN only care about one airport and thats MAN

[Groundloop]

As MAG spent millions on the new terminal to now claim that they are not interested in marketing BOH is simply ridiculous!

[FRatSTN]

Siggyboy, the same happened at HUY, MAN not interested in marketing the place, the flights gradually died out, now Eastern have bought the place look at the new flights that have been announced. MAN only care about one airport and thats MAN
Not entirely true is it! They have done a good job at East Midlands Airport and the fact they've made it a considerable UK base for Ryanair (which isn't easy to do) as well as having the four leisure airlines Jet2, Monarch, Thomas Cook and Thomson on a decent level doesn't happen by itself. Even Flybe use it now, the only major airline to not use it is EasyJet and they have done in the past and only moved because they thought other bases were more profitable, not because anything MAG did pushed them away.

Also why are MAG the favourite to buy Stansted if they only care about Manchester? They are pushing very hard to buy Stansted, which has now slipped only very slightly below Manchester in size and they intend to bring growth to Stansted (something BAA has made no effort to do by just using it as a subsidiser for Heathrow growth). They will bring huge economic boosts to Essex by managaing the place a lot better than it is now and delivering passenger growth once again. Again, how do they plan to achieve that if they only had an eye for Manchester.

Going back to Bournemouth, they have only recently invested in a brand new terminal for gods sak! How you can say they only care about Manchester is clearly not the case. A development like that is a lot more than any other airport of that size would get even with very strong marketing. I think MAG have done an exceptional job at all of their airports. Humberside was always their weakest airport but investing there, they would not have got as much out of it as they would do in the other three they currently have.

[Readability 5]

A development like that is a lot more than any other airport of that size would get Precisely. The development at Bournemouth was a pet project of the previous Chief Executive, and after his departure the new boss admitted that it was wrong to spend over £40m on an airport with limited prospects for growth, whilst here at EMA the terminal desperately needed replacing with something fit for the 21st century, where the queue for security doesn't mingle with the queue for check-in, and passengers don't have to walk to arrivals in the pouring rain because of the lack of even a covered walkway to the terminal. MAG have starved EMA of investment since 2001, and the impression that we staff get is that they do indeed care only about ' enhancing shareholder value', the current favourite buzzphrase coming from Olympic House.

R5

[pug]

Wouldn't be surprised to see BOH offloaded (if they can get the right price) to make way for STN if they bid for it.

[shaftr1]

The terminal at BOH was something instigated by Ryanairs demands, don't get me wrong it's good for BOH and much needed but if MAN were honest they would say it was a mistake to spend the money. I agree with Pug, I can see BOH being off loaded. As for EMA, not sure but I think they still have their own marketing, where as BOH and HUY were shipped to Manchester.

[FRatSTN]

There's no reason why MAG would want to offload East Midlands and since they are already going through with bidding for Stansted, I think Bournemouth may be for keeps. They sold Humberside to raise further funds for the Stansted bid and since they are already well into that, I'm not sure whether off-loading Bournemouth is worth it, neither the right choice economically in the long run.

I think it's important for MAG to own airports in a range of sizes and markets so they can see how different types of airport react to the economic and environmental impacts. It also allows for them to make many more successful investments in the future in a wide range of circumstances on any scale. For example if they bought Prestwick (which I doubt they will), they have their experience from Bournemouth to have an idea of whay nedds to be done and how it should be managed effectively to be successful, just like they have their experience from Manchester in order to run Stansted properly. Furtherore, having a strong portfolio of airport can build on relations with airlines, as you may be working with them in more than one place, for MAG that's Ryanair, where they have a major base at all the MAG airports in question!

[pug]

They didnt sell HUY to raise funds for STN. They sold it because it didnt fit in well with their overall strategy. I dont think they were rushing to sell it, more that they were approached by T3 with an offer.

Were it not for the £45million investment at BOH then Im sure it would be the same story there. They dont need experience in operating small airports if they had no intention of operating them.

It is surely no coincidence that in the first two months under mew ownership, HUY have already secured new flights for next summer..

[shaftr1]

Pug, hence my comment MAG did not market HUY.

[mrshubigbus]

So Bournemouth are about to loose Ryanair for 5 months leaving just a handful of flights? And is there still ongoing talk about possibly shutting the whole terminal operation down on some days during the winter due to a general lack of flights?
Well, whatever the case, between the Manchester Airport Group and "Ruinair" the place has slowly turned into a "ghost town" during the winter with "hundreds of thousands" of catchment area passengers forced to fly from elsewhere.
MAG, RYR, between you, I salute you for your complete failure to make BOH work. Not forgetting the very enticing drop off and pick up fees and £45 million airfield upgrade fees. Cobham and other northside operators must be proud of you giving them Cat 3 capability!
Thank goodness for those night time mail / newspaper flights!
Will BOH ever reach a million passengers ever again??? Personally I don't think so but only time will tell

[MARKEYD]

November flights

Mon
Dublin Aer Lingus ATR72

Tue
Tenerife Thomson 738
Jersey Blue Islands J31

Wed
Paphos Thomson 738

Thu
Sharm Thomson 738
Jersey Blue Islands J31
Dublin Aer Lingus ATR72

Fri
Tenerife Thomson 738
Dublin Aer Lingus ATR72

Sat
Jersey Blue Islands J31

Sun
Arrecife Thomson 738
Dublin Aer Lingus ATR72

One off charters during November are New York using Monarch on Sun 18 and Barbados on Fri 23 using Thomson . Wait till Dec when nothing operates on a Wed at all through until March !

[Siggyboy]

That is part sad and part pathetic...No more comment needed!

[Siggyboy]

Fears Ryanair may quit Bournemouth Airport until March (From Bournemouth Echo) (http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/10024795.Fears_Ryanair_may_quit_Bournemouth_Airport_until_Ma rch/?ref=mr)

[mrshubigbus]

And Quote:-

MD Paul Knight told the Daily Echo that Manchester Airports Group had “tremendous negotiating capability with both low cost and full service charter operations”. The M.A.G commercial team are working very hard in this very difficult economic climate to deliver growth at Bournemouth, using all the benefits of our new facilities and low cost base to encourage new and increased operations. We are confident that the commercial team's efforts will deliver the growth requested by our passengers, local businesses and, in fact, the whole of the Bournemouth Airport team.

Well this statement clearly shows they haven't got a clue!

It looks like Ryanair / MAGs negotiating skills are going to cost Bournemouth Airport around 200,000 potential passengers during this coming five month period! You can't tell me that there aren't places that folk would like to fly to over this period! 45 million well spent once again not forgetting that £2.50 a car for just driving down the airport approach road!
This isn't just a current issue but one that has been on-going for years with no sign of any long term carriers coming in any time soon other than Ryanair who've got the place well and truly sown up! Mr O'Leary is clearly one clever man!

[Groundloop]

MD Paul Knight told the Daily Echo that Manchester Airports Group had “tremendous negotiating capability with both low cost and full service charter operations”. The M.A.G commercial team are working very hard in this very difficult economic climate to deliver growth at Bournemouth, using all the benefits of our new facilities and low cost base to encourage new and increased operations. We are confident that the commercial team's efforts will deliver the growth requested by our passengers, local businesses and, in fact, the whole of the Bournemouth Airport team.

Well this statement clearly shows they haven't got a clue!

No, it doesn't. It shows that he is giving a local newspaper reporter with no knowledge of the aviation industry something to get them to go away and write something "positive" to print. He is not actually expected to say something like "We're doomed!" , is he?

[mrshubigbus]

I think you'll find that having been around in Bournemouth for over 100 years, long before the airport even existed, that the Bournemouth Daily Echo Team certainly know alot more about the airport than Manchester Airport Group - don't you think? The Echo reporters will know all about the general lack of progress at the airport going back to the days of Dan Air in the 1970s when it was a thriving "local" providing many flights to the Channel Islands and the Dan Air Link City service that connected the airport with the rest of the UK.
The passenger numbers have fallen by nearly half over the past four years yet in their eagerness to attract more business they come up with stupid schemes to charge for drop off and pick up which is suicidal and have jumped into bed permanently with Mr O'Leary so it seems. No other airline in their right mind is going to try and break this beautiful bond between them are they? Maybe the boss of MAG and RYR have had a lovers tiff?
One way or another, if this happy relationship isn't broken up then I don't see any real progress by any other potential carriers do you?

[Groundloop]

I think you'll find that having been around in Bournemouth for over 100 years, long before the airport even existed, that the Bournemouth Daily Echo Team certainly know alot more about the airport than Manchester Airport Group - don't you think? The Echo reporters will know all about the general lack of progress at the airport going back to the days of Dan Air in the 1970s when it was a thriving "local" providing many flights to the Channel Islands and the Dan Air Link City service that connected the airport with the rest of the UK.

The current standard of reporters writing for the Echo completely contradicts the above statement! If the reporter had been any good and knew anything about the industry surely he/she should have challenged the MD's statement, or at least not just printed it without comment?

[mrshubigbus]

Regardless of the Daily Echo report the other day, what is crystal clear is that Bournemouth needs an airline that is willing to fly schedules and support the airport all year round. This nonsense with Ryanair surely can't be allowed to continue as it's costing the airport very dearly!
With around 600,000 passengers now flying from the airport, a regular service by a carrier that is prepared to actually base two 737s / A320s is the way forward. Not a charter airline but a scheduled carrier flying to a dozen or so routes. In the summer, twice a day to the Med, with maybe a night flight over the busy weekends and in the winter ski destinations as well as the Canaries which would be year round. The current domestic routes are about as good as it's going to get! Let's not forget that many airlines have tried and failed again and again and again over the years, and of course you only need to drive for 30 minutes to Southampton for those services.
For this to happen MAG must get rid of Ryanair and break this very unsatisfactory relationship. Five months without a service really is taking the mickey! The biggest problem of all appears to be that while Ryanair are there other carriers won't even consider coming to Bournemouth!
If Bath Travel could be persuaded to come back and tie up with a company such as Monarch for example and persuade them to base two A320s then I see no reason at all why this shouldn't be a long term happy relationship. It's about time that normal service was resumed! Who are actually promoting Bournemouth? A team in Manchester or are MAG based in Bournemouth supporting the local community? Well other than Ryanair, it hasn't gone too well has it! Ask them about Palmair?
Ryanair have got to go along with that extremely stupid drop off / pick up fee!

[MARKEYD]

Could not have put it better !! well said and totally agree with everything in the above post

Its comming to a very disturbing and worrying end now , for 5 months the airport is pretty much a ghost town and 45 million invested is not a good return in any imagination

With the drop off fee upsetting pretty much everyone who see it as punishment for using the airport and supporting it , while the airport in return trying to make a bit of extra cash to cover for this winter debacle in any way they can while Ryanair hold the airport over a barrel

[canberra97]

I think Jet2 would be ideal for BOH, they have really expanded over the last few years with many bases opened up and a move south would be a good move not only for Jet2 but also for BOH and with a fairly large fleet of boeing 737/757s, the routes they offer from other UK airports would be ideal for BOH.

Even under the current economic climate Jet2 seem to be doing quite well financially and there are a few of those ex BMIBaby Boeing 737-300s hanging around!

I know Jet2 intended to fly from BOH several years back but it never materialised, I think now is the time for them to consider BOH in there future plans!

If Easyjet were to expand from BOH I think they would have done so by now but that would be absolutely great news for BOH if they did, if Easyjet can make SEN work with STN fairly close why not BOH with SOU being close by, the possibilities are there regardless of the airports access, public transport to the airport and drop off charge, etc!

I guess that the BOH PR team will take the time off during Ryanair's absence from the airport, after all they do deserve a break!:)

[Groundloop]

I know Jet2 intended to fly from BOH several years back but it never materialised,

They did fly from BOH - to Belfast but pulled the route.


The Echo reporters will know all about the general lack of progress at the airport going back to the days of Dan Air in the 1970s when it was a thriving "local" providing many flights to the Channel Islands and the Dan Air Link City service that connected the airport with the rest of the UK.

That "thriving" local airport of the 1970s handled just over 73,000 passengers in 1979 (the best year of the 70s). Even last year BOH handled 613,755 pax.

[mrshubigbus]

Now is definitely not the time for the marketing PR team to take a break! They need to be working overtime to bring in a scheduled carrier who will fly from the airport all year round!!! You can't spend 45 million on an airport then have virtually no passengers for 5 months!!!
I would definitely agree that Jet 2 are a possibility with 2 x 737-300s based at the airport. In fact either Jet 2 or Monarch working alongside Bath Travel would be a very workable way forward for the airport in my view. But, there is still one major stumbling block which makes this currently impossible!
R Y A N A I R!!! You can't have an airline hold an airport to ransom every year!
Somebody at MAG has got to make a big call and either sling O'Leary into touch or accept that in future he might continue to pull his routes for up to five months of the year. I couldn't run a business which is supposed to support the local community all year round with an airline that does this!
It might take a brave move by Bournemouth Council to buy the airport back from MAG who are not surprisingly more focused on Manchester, East Midlands and Stansted than a tiny regional airport in Bournemouth! FACT!
Those three airports generate 50 million passengers for MAG!
And on a final note - today - Wednesday 7th November there is one arrival - yes just O N E arrival into Bournemouth! A Thomson 737 at 2100. The multi million pound terminal will stand empty all day with hundreds of staff required to man the shops, security, customs, handling agents, cleaners, etc.
This can't go on all winter and every winter!
The council in Bournemouth need to stop focusing / investing in follies such as the IMAX / SURF REEF disasters and start concentrating on their real assets that support the whole community!
GROUNDLOOP - Jet 2 to Belfast isn't what we are talking about here is it!!!

[pug]

I like the fact mrshubigbus assumes that MAG would spend £45 million on a new terminal and then not try to grow scheduled flights there. Or that there would be a queue of airlines beating a path to the door if Ryanair left.

Perhaps you should approach them with an offer to buy it?

[mrshubigbus]

I can only add that they didn't anticipate that Ryanair would pull out for five months. My understanding was that the money was only invested because Ryanair indicated that they would increase their presence at the airport. It was suggested at one point that they would base as many as five 737-800s at Bournemouth and all year round! That would explain the massive expansion of aircraft stands which are very rarely full of aircraft these days.
MAG made an investment decision which in this case seems to have been an expensive mistake so far!
Have I once suggested that there would be a "queue" of airlines waiting to come in if Ryanair left??? If you read my post, I suggested that an airline might be tempted to move in with two airframes if Ryanair weren't there. Palmair operated two 737s at their peak for example but simply couldn't maintain the operation in the face of huge pressure from RYR.

[pug]

If you read my post, I suggested that an airline might be tempted to move in with two airframes if Ryanair weren't there.

Perhaps MAG know otherwise. Just a thought.

TOM and FR both having a base at BOH is pretty good going for an airport of its size at the moment. If Ryanair find it more cost effective to stop for the winter, then does it bode well for these other airlines you believe would step in?

[mrshubigbus]

Do you stop having holidays from November through to the end of March?
Nor do I. 200,000 potential passengers will now have to fly to places like the Canaries from Gatwick or Bristol, not forgetting all those potential ski destinations. I know there are long term issues with airlines basing themselves at Bmth and yes I agree that it is great to have Thomson based with a year round 737-800 service and Ryanair with a seven month service to many destinations. That doesn't mean success in this curent climate.
Just walk round the terminal today to see that for yourself.
What I would sadly admit to though, is that if MAG or any other potential owner can't do anything with Bournemouth airport in a climate where there are low cost airlines such as Ryanair flying 300 737s, Easyjet with 200 A319/320 etc, then I'm afraid that the airport have missed the boat completely. I for one don't ever see over one million passengers travelling through the airport again unless something major changes. The current investment was planned with three million passengers in mind!
Oh I love this thread - I should find something better to do with my spare time however, when I'm not flying my 320!

[pug]

200,000 potential passengers will now have to fly to places like the Canaries from Gatwick or Bristol, not forgetting all those potential ski destinations.

Can think of a few airports where that is happening at the moment. Not necessarily the fault of the airport in question.

Jet 2 to Belfast isn't what we are talking about here is it!!!

But Jet2 would fly every day of the week in winter if they were to base at BOH? Ever seen their winter schedules from BLK, EMA? Not to mention that nobody in Bournemouth will know who the 'North's leading leisure airline' are.

is that if MAG or any other potential owner can't do anything with Bournemouth airport in a climate where there are low cost airlines such as Ryanair flying 300 737s, Easyjet with 200 A319/320 etc, then I'm afraid that the airport have missed the boat completely.

If thats the way you want to look at it, then surely you've answered your own question.

I would suggest that the ball is very much in Ryanair's court. Why it would be a good business decision for BOH to try and push their biggest source of passengers out isnt clear, particularly as a replacement looks unlikely.

[MARKEYD]

Listening to most travel agents both Thomson and Bath Travel over the last year based in the Dorset area , they are consistently sending thousands of customers up to Gatwick or Bristol to catch flights to the Canaries and mainland Spain during the past two winters now , most driving past the airport to get to another !

Its amazing that Thomson have not seen a gap yet to put on extra flights in the 4 / 5 month period to Tenerife / Alicante / Malaga for example to at least help with this loss and make a few pounds in the meantime . The utilisation of the based aircraft is shocking in the winter

Bath Travel commands huge respect from the local area and work quite closely now with Thomson in selling holidays from Bournemouth and still have to send many potential customers up the road as flights that do operate are full

Its very frustrating and bewildering sometimes that this is happening and even more with the Marketing department at the airport which i believe is now based at Manchester to cut costs .
All i ever have had back is a generic e mail saying they are in " Daily contact with potential airlines and tour companies "

[pug]

Marketing department at the airport which i believe is now based at Manchester to cut costs

Like MAG told their stakeholders when proposing the sale of Humberside; 'It takes up a disproportionate amount of management time relative to it's size'. I believe that will be the same case for a number of the smaller regional airports, BOH included.

That said, the management at BOH will no doubt have input, and IMO its naive to assume that they aren't talking to current and new operators to try and convince them to open more routes.

[Groundloop]

Its amazing that Thomson have not seen a gap yet to put on extra flights in the 4 / 5 month period to Tenerife / Alicante / Malaga for example to at least help with this loss and make a few pounds in the meantime . The utilisation of the based aircraft is shocking in the winter

Don't you think Thomson have considered this and rejected the idea? After all, they pulled Gran Canaria for this winter (hence I am having to go from Exeter). It is obvious Thomson do not think the market is there - despite what many "experts" on here think. I am sure Thomson would love to increase the aircraft's utilisation - but not if it means operating at a loss.

What most people are forgetting when discussing Ryanair's departure for the winter is that RYR ground a lot of their fleet over the winter - because a significant proportion of their pilots have run out of hours for the year. A maximum of 100hrs a month but only 900 for the year means that, as they are worked hard in the summer, they run out of hours over the winter. The flight crews that still have hours are used on more lucrative routes than BOH. This is slightly simplified but this is a major part of RYR's reasoning.

[mrshubigbus]

Can you shed any light on these experts. I'm just someone who wants to see the airport succeed. I haven't come across these so called experts have you?

[pug]

Can you shed any light on these experts. I'm just someone who wants to see the airport succeed. I haven't come across these so called experts have you?

mrshubigbus

The M.A.G commercial team are working very hard in this very difficult economic climate to deliver growth at Bournemouth, using all the benefits of our new facilities and low cost base to encourage new and increased operations. We are confident that the commercial team's efforts will deliver the growth requested by our passengers, local businesses and, in fact, the whole of the Bournemouth Airport team.

Well this statement clearly shows they haven't got a clue!



Thus implying you are more knowledgable than the commercial team. Therefore, you must be an expert.

I should find something better to do with my spare time however, when I'm not flying my 320!

The A320 presumably being 'flown' on the same computer as the one you use to post on this forum.

[mrshubigbus]

PUG,

Well I like your sense of humour! I do hope I don't get up to 712 posts though!

"The M.A.G commercial team are working very hard in this very difficult economic climate to deliver growth at Bournemouth, using all the benefits of our new facilities and low cost base to encourage new and increased operations. We are confident that the commercial team's efforts will deliver the growth requested by our passengers, local businesses and, in fact, the whole of the Bournemouth Airport team".

It fortunately doesn't take an expert to realise that they are just going to have to try a bit harder, especially if you walked through the terminal today or possibly do so at any time during the next five months.

PUG - over to you - as you'd better have the last word!

I've thoroughly enjoyed our little debate today but won't be making a habit of it though.

[Rivet Joint]

I see delusion has once again set in on this thread. It seems to rear its head almost on a routine basis.

The facts (the short version this time :rolleyes:)

Ryanair
Eazy
Jet2
Flybe
Aer Arann
Blue Islands
Thomson Fly

Just a list of the players in the UK regional market who all as it happens had a finger in the pie that is Hurn. Result? Only Ryanair around and even thats for half the year.

You can pick as much as you like on the scale of each of their involvement but Hurn is the so called cherry waiting to be plucked and yet.......................

Answer? There is no great need to fly from there, and there is certainly no desire to fly there FROM ANYONE :hmm:.

[lwaw1uk]

Some more good news for Hurn/Bournemouth for 2013 NOT:ugh:

Looks like Aer Arann flights to Dublin will only be on Thur/Fri/Sat/Sun.

eta BOH 1505 etd 1530

Unless they have not loaded the missing day , but unlikey..

[Flitefone]

Perhaps some facts to illustrate the reality of airports in the UK. The CAA publish comprehensive statistics on the throughput of all UK airports.

The past peformance and passenger trends are worth looking at.

BOH is a small regional airport, similar in size to Exeter, Durham Tees Valley, Norwich, Coventry, Blackpool, Doncaster, and these days not very different to Glasgow Prestwick and Cardiff.

This is where you will find the data:
UK Airport Statistics | Aviation Intelligence | About the CAA (http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=80&pagetype=88&pageid=3&sglid=3)

I have prepared a graph (i was bored) of the throughput of these airports, and SOU, using CAA data for 2001, 2006, 2011 and projected for 2012. PM me if you want a copy.

If you take the trouble to look, you will see that BOH is the only one of any of these airports improving over 2011, and most importantly still substantially ahead of 2001 figures. Southampton hasn't done badly either, but is still in decline, although much less than its peers Prestwick and Cardiff.

Cardiff this year is back at 1996 pax levels!

BOH was at 157K pax back then... and SOU at 544k... a very different picture!

Times are hard for all UK regional airports, BOH is performing better than most, and is way ahead where it has been for most of the past 25 years. Well done!

Looking ahead, its pretty obvious that Flybe is struggling near term, and equally clear that Ryanair is booming.

If you want to understand airlines' strategy, take time to read the annual shareholder reports and interim updates, both Ryanair and Easyjet make good reading and tell you all you need to know to figure out what they will do.

Easyjet have no intention of expanding at places like BOH, their focus is business passenger growth, they are going after short haul markets served by Lufthansa, Air France, Alitalia, Iberia, TAP and British Airways.

See here:Results centre - easyJet plc (http://corporate.easyjet.com/investors/results-centre/2012.aspx?sc_lang=en)

Ryanair are likely to slowly grow at BOH and other UK bases, perhaps 5 -10% per year. In line with its published plan for growth accross Europe detailed in their investor report published a few days ago, see here:

Investor Relations News (http://www.ryanair.com/en/investor/investor-relations-news)

Flybe will almost certainly shrink in UK, which will hurt SOU, and other UK bases, my guess is a 3-5% pax reduction in 2013.

Not a disaster, both SOU and BOH are doing a lot better than most of their UK peers.

FF

[compton3bravo]

Good argument flightfone but one thing I think you have missed is that the other regional airports in the UK have not spent 45 million on a new terminal etc. which very few people want to use and in my personal opinion will never use to justify that sort of outlay. Sorry to be so negative but their is just not enough punters in the catchment area.

[Flitefone]

Compton, the terminal investment is a different debate. This needs to take into account the price paid for the airports, the book values of the asset and so on.

It's a bit like putting a new roof on your house, if you don't fix the roof the value of your house goes down, and correspondingly a new roof improves the value.

The new terminal at BOH was a necessity and improves the value of the airport. It makes sense to build one that has capacity for the life of the building. Which has been done. The decision was taken to build it, the money is spent and the asset value of the airport, at least on the books will have increased. There is no value in telling someone they should not repair their roof after they have done it!

As regards catchment, it undoubtedly exists, but so do about ten other airports going after the same catchment traffic. An airport normally reckons to attract passengers within two hours drive, BOH competes with a good few on that basis.

Key for BOH is its runway capacity. I predict that passenger traffic at the airport will continue to recover at a modest pace.

Time will tell.

FF

[airsmiles]

Southend has a population of around 173,000 (in 2011) whereas Bournemouth/Poole/Christchurch is over double that. Bournemouth Airport has much better airport facilities all round than Southend. The latter is also located on the coast like Bournemouth and in a relative backwater. Stansted is only 40 miles away which and, even using cross-country roads, can be reached in an hour.

So why has Easyjet signed a 10 year deal with Stobart's to base 3 or 4 aircraft so close to Stansted in what appears on paper to be an unpromising area?

I think the answer lies in the relative skills of both of MAG and Stobart in developing and managing the two businesses.

[Aero Mad]

I think the answer lies in Southend Airport having a railway station and a direct link to London.

[EI-BUD]

Southend has a population of around 173,000 (in 2011) whereas
Bournemouth/Poole/Christchurch is over double that


Southend Airport's catchment is around 600k people, it also has the possibility to attract passengers destined for London, and as a low cost gateway and a convenient airport, it will gain a good amount of London bound passengers. The time from landing to being on the train is very short, and travelling from Liverpool Street, it feels no different in terms of time to Stansted or Gatwick in my experience.

[stluke]

Unfortunately airmiles figures are way out, this backwater of south essex as he puts it is somewhat more populated as EI-Bud points out.

Southend - 174,000
Rochford (actually where the airport is) - 83,000
Castle Point - 89,000 (8miles)
Basildon - 175,000 (13miles)
Chelmsford - 168,000 (20miles)
Brentwood - 74,000 (20miles)

As you can see somewhat closer to 750,000 within 20 miles, south essex does not have one large city but is a collection of large towns which almost overlap onto each other.

With two rail connects to London both only 50 minutes away the potential is huge and was obviously more appealing to Stobarts then Bournemouth.

[Flitefone]

Southend is a London airport and as such not a relevant comparison with BOH, although the data is interesting. Exeter would be a better benchmark, as the others listed in post 320.

[airsmiles]

Actually I was spot on as I said the population of Southend was 173,000 not the airport's catchment area! If you read my words you'll see I was comparing apples with apples. As a former resident of Colchester I know that people actually live outside of Southend, but didn't have reliable catchment area figures for both airports.

So what is the catchment area for Bournemouth airport to compare against Southend's 750,000? Would you include Southampton as it's about 30 miles and 40/45 minutes away? Wiki says Southampton urban area was 304,000 people in 2010.

Agreed the lack of a rail link at Bournemouth Airport is a problem, especially as the main line isn't actually that far away as the crow flies. Perhaps MAG should be investing more in a rail-air link with a decent frequency?

As for Southend picking up London passengers that could well be true. However, there are many more services available from Stansted, Luton and Gatwick, so why would Southend be so attractive to Londoners?

[Fairdealfrank]

Quote: "Southend - 174,000
Rochford (actually where the airport is) - 83,000
Castle Point - 89,000 (8miles)
Basildon - 175,000 (13miles)
Chelmsford - 168,000 (20miles)
Brentwood - 74,000 (20miles)

As you can see somewhat closer to 750,000 within 20 miles, south essex does not have one large city but is a collection of large towns which almost overlap onto each other."

Much like the area around LHR and beyond, some laughingly refer to these as the "outer metropolitan area".

On the other hand, BOH has a smaller conurbation along the coast, with a rural hinterland plus the Southampton conurbation beyond the New Forest, all of which is shared with SOU of course.


BTW, pardon my ignorance, the name is not familiar, where is Castle Point?

[yeo valley]

castle point is in Boh.

[HurnPax]

Castlepoint is the out of town shopping centre for Bournemouth.

Castle Point is a borough and local government district in South Essex .

Nice to see this thread jump to life in the last few days even if it is heading off in some interesting tangents.

[stluke]

So BOH is Bournemouth/Poole/Christchruch and SEN is Southend, sounds like apples, oranges and pears with apples to me!!

Im sorry but SEN is actually in Rochford with is really just part of Southend you would not know you had moved from one area to another, its just an electorial boundary.

As for the rest of the places I quoted none of them have a airport in them unlike SOU, also all the places I quote are closer to SEN than STN before that gets raised.

Look I have nothing against BOH, but when its made out that SEN is some "backwater" I feel the need to respond.

[LTNman]

so why would Southend be so attractive to Londoners?

It might not be, only time will tell but at least Southend has a part time public transport nework that some passengers can use while BOH has none.

Bournemouth’s problem in attracting passengers can’t be helped by it having no proper public transport links. I don’t count the local bus service to Bournemouth as being a suitable way for passengers with luggage to get to the airport. Apart from that there is nothing. The airport might as well be on the moon for Jonney Foreigner who arrives with no one picking him up.

I have been to BOH a few times and I have to say it does have the feel of being an airport in the middle of nowhere.

[airsmiles]

So BOH is Bournemouth/Poole/Christchruch and SEN is Southend, sounds like apples, oranges and pears with apples to me!!

Im sorry but SEN is actually in Rochford with is really just part of Southend you would not know you had moved from one area to another, its just an electorial boundary.

It's just the same down here. The reason I lumped in Bournemouth, Poole & Christchurch together is that it's just one big conurbation now, as opposed to the wider catchment area. The purists down here would also argue that Bournemouth Airport is actually in Christchurch and not Bournemouth at all.

Look I have nothing against BOH, but when its made out that SEN is some "backwater" I feel the need to respond.

Agreed backwater wasn't the best choice of words but I was also applying the words to Bournemouth as well. Let me turn around what my post was saying. "How come Southend, having a similar geographical situation and close proximity to other airports, manages to successfully attract a significant Easyjet base whereas Bournemouth can't?" I wasn't knocking Southend at all but trying to understand why Bournemouth is performing so poorly.

[insuindi]

In response to why BOH can't attract an Easyjet when SEN can - one thing i can offer:

SEN had a direct and very regular train service from the airport into London, that takes around an hour (in just over an hour, around 70-75mins you'd be in BHX by direct train from London). Two hours is far out.

[crewmeal]

Several factors to consider here. Compare the current movements up the road at SOU. Compare that with BOH. What is the estimated catchment area for the two airports? What facilities has each airport got? Connections to Southern Railway? car park charges? As discussed many people will be p:mad:ed off with the charges at BOH.

It is highly unlikely that any airline will expand at an airport within 20 miles of each other. SOU will always be the winner even with its shorter runway facilities.

[yorky66]

The fact that BOH has no rail and very poor road connections has been discussed over and over again for longer than I can remember.

Forget the rail connection - it will never happen.

Better road connections and maybe bus connections may happen, but only if the decline in air services from the terminal is reversed.

There are numerous and varied reasons for the decline.....for example the new Arrivals Hall is too small, and cannot accommodate more than one arrival at once.
This is a fact that dissuades Easyjet and others basing aircraft here.

Also the lack of flights means the ground staff are not present when diversions suddenly occur. These diversions (up to 9 at a time in the past) were a real money earner for the airport.....no longer.

However this still doesn't explain why flights which were so popular (winter Sat ski flights and winter sun flights to Malaga and the Canaries and Cruise connection flights just to list a few) have been gradually whittled away to oblivion.

Even the airport staff (those that still exist) are baffled by the lack of interest in anyone providing these services.

Meanwhile the bizjet and service companies are very appreciative of the Cat III facilities.

[Barnaby the Bear]

As mentioned several times fastest train to London from Bournemouth is 1hr50 which routes via Southampton Parkway, add the Bus transfer and it doesn't make a great alternative to as far as transport links go.

I liked using Bournemouth in the past and hope it is able to find its niche, perhaps with Charter operators using the larger aircraft not possible at Southampton.

[Flitefone]

Perhaps some facts to illustrate the reality of airports in the UK. The CAA publish comprehensive statistics on the throughput of all UK airports.

The past peformance and passenger trends are worth looking at.

BOH is a small regional airport, similar in size to Exeter, Durham Tees Valley, Norwich, Coventry, Blackpool, Doncaster, and these days not very different to Glasgow Prestwick and Cardiff.

This is where you will find the data:
UK Airport Statistics | Aviation Intelligence | About the CAA (http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=80&pagetype=88&pageid=3&sglid=3)

I have prepared a graph (i was bored) of the throughput of these airports, and SOU, using CAA data for 2001, 2006, 2011 and projected for 2012. PM me if you want a copy.

If you take the trouble to look, you will see that BOH is the only one of any of these airports improving over 2011, and most importantly still substantially ahead of 2001 figures. Southampton hasn't done badly either, but is still in decline, although much less than its peers Prestwick and Cardiff.

Cardiff this year is back at 1996 pax levels!

BOH was at 157K pax back then... and SOU at 544k... a very different picture!

Times are hard for all UK regional airports, BOH is performing better than most, and is way ahead where it has been for most of the past 25 years. Well done!

Looking ahead, its pretty obvious that Flybe is struggling near term, and equally clear that Ryanair is booming.

If you want to understand airlines' strategy, take time to read the annual shareholder reports and interim updates, both Ryanair and Easyjet make good reading and tell you all you need to know to figure out what they will do.

Easyjet have no intention of expanding at places like BOH, their focus is business passenger growth, they are going after short haul markets served by Lufthansa, Air France, Alitalia, Iberia, TAP and British Airways.

See here:Results centre - easyJet plc (http://corporate.easyjet.com/investors/results-centre/2012.aspx?sc_lang=en)

Ryanair are likely to slowly grow at BOH and other UK bases, perhaps 5 -10% per year. In line with its published plan for growth accross Europe detailed in their investor report published a few days ago, see here:

Investor Relations News (http://www.ryanair.com/en/investor/investor-relations-news)

Flybe will almost certainly shrink in UK, which will hurt SOU, and other UK bases, my guess is a 3-5% pax reduction in 2013.

Not a disaster, both SOU and BOH are doing a lot better than most of their UK peers.

FF

[Barnaby the Bear]

Good post.

[Groundloop]

However this still doesn't explain why flights which were so popular (winter Sat ski flights and winter sun flights to Malaga and the Canaries and Cruise connection flights just to list a few) have been gradually whittled away to oblivion.

Even the airport staff (those that still exist) are baffled by the lack of interest in anyone providing these services.

They were obviously not popular enough. They may appear to have been popular but must not have made (enough/any?) money for the airline/tour operator. Airport staff (like most armchair experts) do not know the cost/income figures for these services. If these services had made enough profit in the past they would still be there. With the state of the industry at the moment any service that made good money would not have been dropped.

[Rivet Joint]

I'm afraid Groundloop you can say that to you are blue in the face on this thread, it just doesn't register. They just don't understand a business even on a layman's terms :ugh:

[shamrock7seal]

Very positive news on the stats for Oct'12, almost 28% ahead on last year putting through over 80,000 passengers. One of the fastest growing airports in the UK behind Southend which of course is growing at something like 1000% from such a small base.

The year to date total is a respectable 681,000 too which is favourable when compared with airports of a similar scale that have suffered far worse during the economic woes.

[adfly]

So BOH is around 70,000 pax above last years total already! I predict we will see around 730,000 pax in total for 2012 which is a very impressive increase on last year and also only ~20,000 behind 2010! November should also see big increases vs last year thanks to the late summer hols which meant TOM operated some of their summer routes for a little longer than usual and Ryanair also delayed their annual pullout from BOH by around a week to make the most of it.

[TSR2]

One of the fastest growing airports in the UK behind Southend

Actually based on Rolling Year to Oct12, Bournemouth is the best performing airport in the UK (for pax numbers over 100K) except for Southend.

[9287Excellent]

Glad to hear that Bournemouth continues to do well! Shame to see it in a such a quiet state over the winter period, but nice to see JFK on the departure board for tomorrow! I realise its only a one off Christmas charter, but still nice to see!

[BOH]

Just an observation from the Ryanair website.

If you look at the cheap flights section on their website for BOH flights it confirms they restart March 16th 2013.

Also it list the flights as follows:- Carcassonne, Pisa, Wroclaw, Alicante, Faro, Girona, Ibiza, Malaga, Malta, Murcia, Palma, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife South, Lanzarote

Only one the list is missing from last year is Rhodes, and that's the only one not available to book. No new destinations for next year?

[BOH]

Today the Security Staff have been given a 'welcome to the company' presentation from MAG who have apparently been too busy to do it before now. Surely thats a good sign that MAG arent looking to offload the airport?

Apparently the projections were optomistic with losses in 2012 but huge growth within three years on the commercial side, hopefully thats a sign of something we don't know, or am i just a bit hopeful!?!?

[LTNman]

So the drop off charge is not harming business then?

[pottwiddler]

The security team became MAG employees in April, just as it gets busy for any airport so they probably didn't have chance to be fair.

Bournemouth figures have been showing around 10% climb this year which is phenomenal in this climate, but I'm inclined to think that last year was just dire!
I don't think growth will be much at any regional airport, it's just a case of squeezing as much money from the 'poor' passenger as possible. Judging by those figures people have not been put of by the car park prices

[Nakata77]

BOH, please explain what you mean by huge growth on the commercial side within 3 years?

easyJet have been courting BOH for years and years - I can only imagine they have factored in a base development of some sort.

easyJet must be reassured by Aer Lingus on Dublin - Ryanair have not come back on to the route to kill them off.

[EI-BUD]

easyJet must be reassured by Aer Lingus on Dublin - Ryanair have not come back on to the route to kill them off.


Are you kidding, the fact that FR are not flying so much tells easyJet that the business is not there in winter to any great extent. And as for easyJet coming to Dublin will never happen, the only way easyJet would come to Dublin is if they wanted to do Southend or Paris Cdg, routes FR would never touch, and Geneva is also another one but FR would go there to keep easyJet out.

With easyJet focusing on key market areas such as Milan for expansion and now that 50% of revenue comes from outside of the UK, the only reason that I could see them looking at Bournemouth would be to hit Flybe hard ex Southampton and attract some of their clients over, easyJet have been quite focussed on taking Flybe on on some of their thinner routes, but starting up a base to do so with all of the costs involved, I am not so sure.

EI-BUD

[Groundloop]

BOH, please explain what you mean by huge growth on the commercial side within 3 years?

Expansion of the industrial estates on the north side of the airport?

[Nakata77]

If the airport will make a profit with the commercial expansion on the N side then thats great even with little or no growth in the passenger side for now. Still better than a lot of the UK regional airports.

EI-BUD (that's an Aer Lingus 737-300 right?) I think I wasn't clear enough. I didn't mean easyJet would be interested in BOH-DUB, just that Ryanair didn't make a predatory move on EI's BOH route.

Of course there is demand during the winter - just not to some of the crazy places Ryanair fly to! People don't stop flying between Nov-Mar. But they certainly will not pay what they pay in the summer to fly from somewhere like BOH to somewhere like Carcassone or Wroclaw or Pisa were the weather can be just as bad as BOH. FR's own business model is at fault. They have to ground 80 aircraft each winter. Does easyJet ground that many a/c? No because they are serving airports people need to get to year-round.

Another point: FR's DUB-UK market has been drastically cut back all over UK due DUB airport fees and 737-800 being too big. Nothing to do with BOH specifically. And no reflection on potential demand from BOH to other cities.

[MARKEYD]

The new Dublin route has been up and running now for 6 months

Figures for the route are below , the route drops to 4 a week this winter then back unto 6 a week from end of June with a new lunch time departure and Saturday added and Monday dropped

May 2237 41 pax
June 2454 49 pax
July 2556 47 pax
Aug 2896 54 pax
Sep 2470 49 pax
Oct 2200 41 pax

Ryanair are now due back on 14 March and are still finalising there summer programme which is due to be amended in the next few weeks , Rhodes is not showing at the moment to be on sale but then its also not on sale from any other UK airport .

[BOH]

As it was explained to me (so third hand) they refered to the terminal/passenger operations as the commercial side. The north side is making profit,the commercial side has made a significant loss this year, the airport has been given two years to turn it around and have projected being profitable next year with growth year two and significant growth year 3.

I imagine (my view) they have to say growth otherwise in 2 years time its byebye MAG

MARKEYD - do you have contact Ryanair side? Is there growth from them?

[Rivet Joint]

Please tell me what clientel want to fly to Hurn?

The only airport I can compare Hurn to is Blackpool, i.e its main billing is as a British seaside resort.

These two airports might be able to sustain a few bucket and spade routes for the grey lot but thats it! Hurn needs another Palmair and thats the limit.

[MARKEYD]

Have to say you are as predictable as ever in your comments

[Siggyboy]

Ah River Joint...yawn...Bournemouth is far from a retirement for the grey these days...when did you last visit 1957?

[Rivet Joint]

Well I'm open to being proved wrong?

I just don't get all the MAG slating on here. They have spent circa 50mil at the prospect of a small carrot being dangled by FR.

[Flitefone]

Rivet

Investment by MAG in their asset BOH has little to do with Ryanair and a lot more to do with the value of the MAG asset, the airport.

As I said before the investment decisions were made long ago, are irreversible and frankly irrelevant as regards debate.

The asset value of any airport will go up with investment in new infrastructure like the terminal and cat111 ILS. So the book value of BOH will have increased accordingly.

Of course the airport needs customers and as such today BOH is much more diverse in activity than most UK regional airports. And as has been pointed out several times, BOH has had a better year this year than any airport in the UK except Southend.

To be clear BOH serves like its big sister SOU, the markets of Dorset, Hampshire and south Wiltshire, and even the IOW. It's a simple geographical fact. Every airport has its strengths and weaknesses for users. BOH is no different.

Which airlines and other aircraft operators choose to use our local airports will change with time. Ryanair have been around at BOH since 1996' significantly longer than Flybe at SOU for example, which was formed with its present name in 2002.

However you look at it, Ryanair has shown its commitment to the BOH markets for 16 years. That's already pretty good!

Five years from now the airline landscape will have changed again, SOU is more likely to see major change than BOH, simply because Flybe is much less likely to survive as it is than Ryanair. The profits and cash position of each airline tells you that.

As regards airport sales, the owners of Southampton are in greater debt than the owners of BOH, a sale of either airport is unlikely in the near term, because no one is buying regional airports in Europe at the moment. The only reason to sell an airport asset is to reduce debt, to comply with law ( which is why gatwick and Edinburgh were sold, and why stansted is for sale) or to exit the airport business, which national express did when they sold EMA and BOH.

It's all pretty simple really.

FF

[airsmiles]

Interesting post Flitefone.

The only thing I'd add though is that an investment doesn't automatically mean the asset value created will remain forever. Recoverability of your investment is crucial to retaining the asset value. If you make a poor investment, as companies manage to do from time to time, then you might end up taking an asset write-down and consequent hit to your annual performance.

[SWBKCB]

a sale of either airport is unlikely in the near term, because no one is buying regional airports in Europe at the moment.

EDI has just been bought, as has a 49% piece of NCL (we'll not mention MME)

[putneyuk]

today Blue Island announced they will pull out of Bournemouth and Isle of Man from February 2013.
Please find attached the media release regarding the cessation of Blue Islands services to Bournemouth & the Isle of Man with effect from February 2013.


It has become apparent that with the greater number of connections available to these destinations via other airports, our 3 times a week services to both of these airports was no longer sustainable.


With our 3 times a day weekday services & double daily at weekends to Southampton offering a greater flexibility to passengers we did not see the passengers required on our Bournemouth service when we re-introduced this service in 2011 to enable us to continue.


The Isle of Man has seen passenger numbers drop 72% in the last four years as a result of a number of key business accounts consolidating their businesses in a single jurisdiction. With British Airways offering a 3 times daily service to the Isle of Man from London City we believe our customers are better served by using our service from Jersey to London City then connecting onto British Airways giving them greater flexibility with their travel plans.

[MARKEYD]

Thomson / First Choice and Thomson ski have started to put on sale winter 2013 / 14 programme , the following services are scheduled to operate from Bournemouth using there Thomson based 737 800

Mon
Las Palmas 0720 1630

Tue
Tenerife 0815 1735

Wed
Paphos 1020 2100 operates Nov / March / April

Thu
Sharm el Sheik 1145 2355

Fri
Tenerife 0815 1735

Sun
Arrrecife 0925 1820 ( 1320 2215 Dec - March )
Turin 0610 1100
Tunisia 0630 1305 April

Good to see Las Palmas back again and Tunisia starting early in April

[Flitefone]

Good to see the year ending well for BOH, latest CAA stats show the airport still performing better than any other for passenger growth % over last year (except the new easyjet base at Southend)

Stats here: http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport_data_prov/201211/November_2012_Provisional_Airport_Statistics.pdf

Well done!

FF

[tibbs87]

Instead of focusing on the leisure markets all the time, why does BOH not look at competing business routes against SOU, with an airline like Cityjet or BMI Regional or for the northern routes with Eastern Airways. Maybe look at routes to GLA/EDI/MAN/LBA & NCL, there is notable business growth in Bournemouth, especially in the financial sector with LV, Nationwide & RIAS amongst the notable sites.

Even try to attract Middle Eastern carriers like Emirates for a Dubai route - which can be done with the airline's Airbus A330's, with the affluent catchment areas of Dorset & southern Hampshire this could be feasible. With a financial mecca/leisure city like Dubai, it could work for both business & holiday travellers alike :)

[MARKEYD]

Yep good figures for November

Paphos 1361 170 pax Thomson

Dublin 1620 45 pax Aer Lingus

Arrecife 1473 184 pax Thomson

Tenerife 3256 181 pax Thomson

Sharm 1601 160 pax Thomson

New York 444 pax Monarch 757 charter

Barbados 257 pax Thomson 767 cruise charter

Ryanair have re added Rhodes to the summer schedule on a weekly wednesday service

[adfly]

I think the New York number needs to be halved, 444 pax in a 757!!! (229 is bad enough!). Good to see a fairly strong November on the whole for BOH though.

[bac3-11]

quite agree,also of course one of bournemouth's biggest employee is J.P.Morgan with employees going to and fro from New York. Need that Air Lingus connection! See that it could be possible in the central summer months.Lets hope others spot it and utilise it. Air Lingus ought to be pushing it NOW!
Always at a loss why Easy dont do Geneve all round as plenty of Swiss visitors always here. a couple of weekend flights should be worth a try.

[shamrock7seal]

Can't believe Manston gets a double daily KLM operation using a based Fokker 70 before Bournemouth does. What is wrong with Bournemouth airport, surely they can do a better deal than Manston? I don't see the traffic from Manston, compared to Bournemouth. Is it the Flybe link from SOU deterring them?

[Pain in the R's]

Airport’s like Bournemouth can only do so much to encourage route development. It takes an airline to put on a route and they will only do it if they think they can make a profit.

The truth is that Bournemouth compared to Southampton is not an attractive airport to operative from with a lack of any proper public transport being a major issue. You only have to see what has happened to Southend to see how a railway station has transformed that airport in the last year.

So what does Southampton offer?

Fastest journey times by rail from Southampton Airport Parkway station



London Waterloo: 69 minutes
Southampton City Centre: 7 minutes
Bournemouth: 37 minutes
Poole: 53 minutes
Fareham: 34 minutes
Portsmouth: 60 minutes
Winchester: 10 minutes
Basingstoke: 24 minutes
Woking: 42 minutes
Reading: 49 minutes
Oxford: 74 minutes



With Bournemouth airport only able to offer an hourly bus service to the town and its railway station at a cost of £8 return for an open ticket will not encourage many passengers.

It says a lot when passengers can also get to Bournemouth town centre quicker from Southampton airport than from their own airport by public transport if a bus is not due.

[shamrock7seal]

I think you'll find I was comparing BOH to Manston not Southampton. Manstons public transport is even worse... Still doesn't address the KLM decision to fly from Manston.

[EI-BUD]

Shamrock7seal; I agree it would seem like an odd choice of destination for KLM i.e. Manston, however, there may be a logical explanation, for e.g. is there industry in the area which would use a flight to AMS and onwards? In addition, what information do they have in terms of customer details and address which may indicate that the locals of Manston are using KLM ex say LHR, NWI etc?

This will probably be one of the shortest sectors on KLM network?

EI-BUD

[Rivet Joint]

I certainly raised an eyebrow when KLM announced Manston but the answer is simply that being located in Kent (and where there is no competition or even routes full stop last time I checked) it is another region of the UK that they can feed through their AMS hub. I guess the aim is to tempt passengers who would usually use LHR long haul.

I believe PITR'S point is a valid one seeing as KLM codeshare on the BE SOU route. Basically they have the region covered. They do serve pretty much every reigional airport in the UK though so who knows!

[Groundloop]

I think the New York number needs to be halved, 444 pax in a 757!!! (229 is bad enough!).

I think you will find that the number refers to 222 pax to New York and then 222 pax back from New York!

[MARKEYD]

Having said in an earlier post that there were no more cruise charters being operated i stand to be corrected

P & O are operating a stand alone Barbados charter on 22 Feb 13 without Bath Travel taking seats which is a first , hopefully if it sells well they may continue with the odd flight still

Nothing really new as it stands next summer both Thomson and Ryanair have the same number of flights as this year and New Market using Small Planet have a similar programme

Aer Lingus Regional dont start a full 6 day service until July to Dublin and no Blue Islands to Jersey after end of Jan

All in all i would imagine the passenger figures will stay pretty much the same unless Ryanair add any new routes , they never announced new services until Jan this year so possibly ?

Would be good to see Thomson adding another Palma route making it back upto 4 a week like last year , using a non based carrier like Air Europa / Iberworld the loads were full pretty much all summer
Also still a gap missing in finding a replacement carrier for the very popular Heraklion route operated by Olympic holidays which finished 2 years ago now many travel agents finding it very frustrating having to send customers continually up to Gatwick .
Thomas Cook come back please !!

[MARKEYD]

Good to see finally Aer Lingus Regional have added onward connections from Bournemouth via Dublin base to Boston , New York and Chicago with good connection times now as flight been moved back for the summer season

Noted as well that the flight is being operated throughout the summer by a smaller ATR 42 but loads have consistently been in the 46 seat average

[bac3-11]

Lets hope Air lingus advertise the link and also canvas the local employers who would use the service, then perhaps it could be a year round link and get the 72 back

[tibbs87]

Also don't forget Virgin Atlantic have now initiated domestic & short range flights again, utilising Aer Lingus A319's. Maybe Bournemouth Airport could persuade them to start flights to Glasgow or take over on the Dublin route?

[MARKEYD]

Sorry but your way off track on that one !

[shamrock7seal]

Has anyone tried to book BOH-JFK?

The fares are crazy. For two people return the fare came out at GBP1,575.

If they don't sort out the fares no-one will use it. It's cheaper to drive to LHR, park your car and fly direct!

[Hangar6]

Some thoughts

In general BOH route is doing just fine for EIR

A busier route WAT LTN was closed this week as EIR are down one a/c

So this indicates BOH yields are better on a lower load factor
EIR will start taking the larger ATR Q1 this year, and ALL smaller ATR will leave the fleet.

EI have about 20% of their DUB USA traffic coming from EUR and UK at the moment and this is probably enough for now

USA flights from ROI are packed , yearly LF at 85% plus , and the summer months at 95%

To go for higher volumes of feeder traffic ex UK EUR in effect dilutes the currently good revenue on the BOH flight , so I imagine its only full fares they are after , dont forget better to have a couple seats available for last minute high yield traffic for the busy finance folks to come to DUB with suitcases of money to help us than almost give the seat away for the USA , of course getting business class BOH DUB JFK is the goal , so I can see a certain logic after all with the smaller plane until the new ones arrive , there wont be many empty seats on the flight to DUBLIN

I imagine this route will see frequency growth soon, EIR will end up with two extra aircraft by Q4 this year and all ATR72 fleet, so then there is room to go for the holiday makers BOH DUB MCO etc

Steady growth to a dauly then twice daily then 3 daily weekday service is the plan , unless fuel hits 120usd of course

[tibbs87]

I still think there is demand for a Dubai route, something that Southampton, Exeter & Bristol don't do and I am sure Emirates A330-200's, maybe B777-200's could manage a take off roll at Bournemouth??! ;)

[pamann]

This thread has become somewhat delusional when it comes to some posters 'wish lists'.

[canberra97]

pamann

I think it's just a way of keeping the Bournemouth thread alive as there are alot on here who dream of routes that would be totally unsustainable from BOH!

[canberra97]

tibbs87

I think your find that VS are using 4 x A320 from EI as to the A319s origianally planned for their planned domestic routes from LHR to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Manchester.

And why on earth would you think that VS would fly domestic out of BOH, are you aware of why they are going to fly domestic out of LHR, it's all about feeding their long haul network out of LHR so why consider BOH, if anything and it's a success I think LGW would come well over BOH for any future UK domestics!

I think your getting carried away with yourself as a plane spotter and not being realistic about route opportunites ex BOH especially considering as you have suggested Emirates!!!

[Rivet Joint]

:eek:

Totally lost for words at the continued madness on this thread :eek:

[turbroprop]

RIVET JOINT

I agree with you it is utter madness but fun to read.

On a serious note I saw some activity around the old BAC hangars. I assume they are preparing the site to re-open the BAC 1-11 production line to produce aircraft to meet the demand due to the "expansion" at many UK regional airports.

[MARKEYD]

For once i do agree with the above 2 posts !

Bournemouth needs to get back to basics with postings all this nonsense is just a waste of time and has been read about over and over again

Lets hope hope Ryanair might possibly add a couple of new destinations this summer , they always leave it till the last minute for Bournemouth though

[Flitefone]

Some real world commentary on what it's like being the boss of a regional airport right now.. Not an easy task!!

http://www.iaa.ie/media/G.Doyle-WaterfordAirport-3rdDec20121.pdf

This was a speech given by the boss of Waterford airport at an Irish aviation policy meeting in Dublin before Christmas. The meeting was in preparation for the Irish presidency of the EU, which has just begun.

If you are interested, you will also find the Michael O'Leary presentation on the same site and both the aer lingus and Irish transport minister's views.

Will tell you a lot about aviation in 2013. Lots of facts from some smart and well placed individuals.

FF

[Rivet Joint]

Interesting rumour Turbropro I must say. I have heard whispers though that the 1-11 is being used as a front for the actual top secret modifications being carried out to bring Concord back. Apparently BA and AF have been secretly fighting over slots at BOH to bring back the luxury service to JFK (hence why the fairs are so expensive as highlighted by Shamrock below). LHR was in the running but the fact BOH had an above 90% load factor on its one flight a year blew it out of the water. Apparently this is a direct quote of WW. My contact also tells me that all the big players are ready to make their move and that they agree with the posters on here that they can't understand how the famously tight and low cost orientated FR haven’t taken advantage of the huge local market. Branson apparently banged his fist on the table with dismay at the situation.

I think we would also all agree chaps that it would strengthen the one rotation a day to DUB and certainly it wouldn't be delusional to envisage most of Europe routing through DUB to get to BOH to get on the forthcoming Dubai and NY routes. Time will tell but exciting times for BOH.

[adfly]

The wish lists did get rather out of hand here but I don't think you need to be that sarcastic in your response Rivet Joint!

[turbroprop]

O yes he does.

This is a rumour site. If you require a wish list then write to Santa. I am sure he will use BOH more often than some of the airlines mentioned.

[Buster the Bear]

So Blue Islands R.I.P. from Hurn.

I placed a booking for two adults and a child return to New York in October. £2,200 you must be having a laugh!

Remember that fare is minus the APD of a direct flight from the UK to NYC and only the element from Hurn to Dublin and back!

As for reducing the Stobart Air from Luton to Waterford down to zero when the loads and yields have been excellent for years!

Better to place an ATR 42 from Hurn to Dublin once a day, than a 72 twice a day to Waterford from Luton!

Going to end in tears!

[tibbs87]

Oh well, I am a wisher. But more so have a lot of enthusiasm, something which is lacking in the United Kingdom for sure. The logic to my idea would be that a 'Dubai' route could be sustained via the affluent areas of Dorset, Wiltshire and South West Hampshire combining with the fact that Bournemouth has some rather large financial companies based there this could become popular. I know this is a rumour site, but you cannot knock me down for enthusiasm, which can account for good ideas and boost Bournemouth Airport, but hey ho, I am just another young man (obviously who has no idea!) Darn it! :{

[compton3bravo]

Thank you Flitefone very interesting insight into running an airport. Had a real go at Stobart Air about moving most of the capacity to Southend from Luton. Now it is all ended in tears and reading between the lines he said - in football parlance - ´´you don´t know what you´re doing´´. Hopefully someone will pick up the Luton route from the start of the summer timetable.

[canberra97]

Yes I think you have summed yourself up Tibbs when you quote ' I am just another young man (who obviously has no idea).

Enthusiasm is one thing but reality is another, in NO way would Emirates ever start a route to Dubai from BOH even for the reasons you suggested!

I can remember a few years back when Continental Airlines were expanding in the UK that a BOH to EWR service was mentioned alot, that never happened exactly for the same reason EK won't be landing at BOH any time soon.

[shamrock7seal]

Of course there is a big difference between pipe dreams and reality but there are some who would have argued that Aer Lingus operating BOH-DUB would have been a delusion.

BOH doesn't have a lot of choice in terms frequencies/routes and thus a KLM global connection service is still something the airport should persue. This also solves the inbound issue that BOH could tap into. Currently 156,000 foreign students (mainly Italy, Spain, German, Scandinavia, Korean, Japanese) come to BOH each year by train and national express bus after arriving at LGW and LHR. These are affluent students with money from rich families not broke British students!! And the number hasn't declined even after the recession.

BOH should be able to support a higher frequency Channel Islands service too. It hasn't been operated correctly in the past by either blue islands or bmi baby.

The above, together with some steady but conservative growth from FR and EZY I think is the future for BOH.

[Siggyboy]

Shamrock7seal

Spot on

There are some wild requests for BOH, and also at the other end of the spectrum a few that seem to want it to fail at costs..

But your post takes a sensible middle ground. I still think it will be 2-3 years before we see anymore serious growth

[adfly]

I'd be a little brave and add Thomson to the growth list, they seem to fill their flights year after year and I could see a second aircraft added to BOH in the coming years as the economy (hopefully) improves a little, even if it was only for the Summer season.

By 2015, assuming an improving economy I could see:

Ryanair - 2x 738's based, possibly 1 in the winter?
Thomson - 2x 738's based - 1 in the winter.
Aer Lingus Regional - Possibly 1 ATR 42/72 overnighting?

Beyond that, a few more flights by some non-based airlines but that would be about it.

[turbroprop]

Nice to read a couple of level headed posts about the real world.

Regardless of which airport I bet there is a dedicated team trying to attract business to their airport. In the present climate I am pretty certain they would get more success nailing jelly to the ceiling in their office.

Like many airports, they do not make a profit from the airline with landing, handling fees etc. So they are forced to use other methods to generate revenue. ie charging for trolleys or to drop off passengers etc.

I only fly from BOH because my company pays. I certainly would not pay myself. This is because of the nice warm welcome you get as you approach the airport. Not welcome to Bournemouth, but pay a minimum of £2.50 or be shot signs dotted all over the place.

[FRatSTN]

I'd be grateful for what Bournemouth currently has. It has had a lot of investment by its owners such as the new terminal in recent years and it does have both Ryanair and Thomson using the airport as a base and both are big brands and market leaders in what they do (FR: low-cost and TOM: package holidays). That is a heck of a lot more than what can be said at most small regional airports like Teesside and Humberside at the moment. Bournemouth is in good hands and it will get what it deserves in the future.

[turbroprop]

Like a lot of these airport threads everyone seems fixated with Self Loading Cargo. The largest airline to operate out of BOH during the winter is Atlantic Airlines. Freight nevers gets mentioned. Must be a good earner for the airport. Then there is GA, both puddle jumpers and Biz. When ever I visit BOH there always seems to be a steady amount of GA traffic. Oh and Chobham / FRA again large fleet based at BOH. What about European with all their aircraft conversion and maintenance. Etc etc. BOH will always survive due to it's diverse activities. Might not be as sexy as being to quote nice big pax numbers, but Freight, maintenance and GA are more important to BOH than a few extra pax flights.

[Big Tony]

Talking of freight anyone heard any rumours of fed ex coming to bournemouth. A few guys have heard they've made enquiries about a daily atr flight in the summer

[Buster the Bear]

Lot of fog in and around the London area, so possibly long delays?

[BOH]

Thomson pilot said today the Thomson 787 is coming to Bournemouth on delivery until it enters service for pilot training :O:O

[Wycombe]

A Vueling A320 was present for a planned visit of about 6 hours on Friday, departing to and from BCN. Interesting??

[Bournemouth Air]

Nice colours on the visiting vueling, let hope for some good news for the future.

See picture EC-JZQ. Airbus A320-214 'VUELING' ~ 11th January 2013 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28132040@N07/8369568495/)

[yorky66]

Interesting ?......Very !...and post 405 !

[BOH]

Extract from Airliner World Jan 2013 news:-

"Vueling says it will launch 28 new routes during 2013, increasing the number of destinations served from its Barcelona/El Prat base to 100. The Spanish carrier which will add connections to Gatwick, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf wants to increase the number of based aircraft from 34 to 43 and employ a further 500 staff"


...so very interesting indeed!!!! :oh:

[OltonPete]

The 28 routes they were talking about are here: -

Vueling to Launch 28 New Routes from Barcelona in S13 | Airline Route – Worldwide Airline Route Updates (http://airlineroute.net/2012/10/16/vy-s13/)

BOH is not listed and the news is old - there have been nine updates since.

I am not saying BOH are not in line, just that the article is probably referring to what has been announced already.

Pete

[Rivet Joint]

So by this reckoning every plane arriving at Hurn be it for maintenance, using the paint shop etc will be linked to opening routes? Actually you're right, that sort of logic makes perfect sense on this thread.

[Le Tirer]

I do not know if it means Vueling are going to start a route from BOH or not but the visit of the A320 was somewhat unusual. It did not visit any maintenance organisations or paint shops but remained parked on the main apron for 6 hours. It did not divert in as also has been suggested.

Riverjoint - I have not seen anybody on this thread suggest any of the many and varied flights that do visit for maintenance or painting will lead to new services e.g there was a Czech Holidays A320 out of the paint shop today.

LT

[shamrock7seal]

Let's just assume for one moment that they were considering a BOH - BCN service.

If Vueling's SOU - BCN operation didn't work (didn't penetrate the UK-outbound market), why would it suddenly work from BOH?

I think the only operator that could make a BOH-BCN route work would be easyJet or Ryanair as they would appeal to both ends of the route. Vueling is not well known in the UK.

[TSR2]

The December 2012 Rolling Year Stats show a Bournemouth increase in pax numbers of 12.6% which is the 2nd highest increase in the UK. Only Southend had a higher percentage increase.

Things are looking up.

[LTNman]

Percentage increases mean nothing if you have airports being used by millions of passengers being compared with other airports carry just a handful of passengers.

[TSR2]

Percentage increases mean nothing if you have airports being used by millions of passengers being compared with other airports carry just a handful of passengers.

True as far as total number of pax is concerned but it does give an indication of the fortunes of an individual airport over the past year compared with the previous year.

[Nakata77]

It means that BOH's decline has bottomed out and growth has returned

[BOH]

so if the Vueling jet didn't come for maintenance or painting, and they really aren't considering a new route, what other reasons would there be to fly empty two hours here, park it for 6 hours then fly back?

[SWBKCB]

IF they were in BOH for talks, the airport operator isn't the only aviation company on the site, so could just as easily have been talking about a painting contract, etc, etc as opening a route.

[bac3-11]

Madrid-Bournemouth would be a very good route as Ryan' did this and got aoads of 85%+. Mystery why they dropped it. I had Spanish people staying with me last year and some had travelled across Spainby bus from as far as Compestella to Girona Airport ,just to get a flight direct to Bournemouth!

[yorky66]

Exactly BOH ..........a little bit of patience and optimism would do this thread a world of good.

[Nakata77]

It's a long way to fly an empty plane for a meeting about anything... this is why Spain is in such bad economic state!

[yorky66]

I thought someone said Vueling were expanding services !

Great P R..especially to send an a/c with huge "Thankyou" to 5 million customers on the side.:D

[Expressflight]

Whatever the reason for the visit to BOH of the Vueling aircraft, what really surprises me is the apparent lack of inside information that any of the regular BOH thread posters are able to obtain. An aircraft arrives, apparently empty, stays on the apron for six hours and departs, again apparently empty. Yet no one at BOH seems to have any information beyond that - not even to the extent of knowing its departure point and destination.

[Le Tirer]

Expressflight wrote
Yet no one at BOH seems to have any information beyond that - not even to the extent of knowing its departure point and destination.

See Wycombe's post #408
A Vueling A320 was present for a planned visit of about 6 hours on Friday, departing to and from BCN. Interesting??

Also my post #35 on Vueling thread
It arrived from Barcelona with a positioning flight call sign VLG905P, stayed by the terminal for 6 hours and returned to Barcelona as VLG906P.


LT

[Expressflight]

Thanks for that Le Tirer.

[dreamlinerdemon]

Vueling A320 sold to anon UK buyer for parts. Will salvage main gear, nose wheel, interior and engines, then scrap the rest.
Vueling to keep for remainder of winter season.;)

[BOH]

Quote from a different website...

"... it came in with representatives on board on a fact finding trip with a view to possibly running a service from Bournemouth in the future."


I see Vueling flies to Cardiff from Alicante, Barcelona, Malaga and Palma. Would these be viable from Bournemouth alongside Ryanair/Thomson?

I can see Madrid being a real earner for them, but don't forget it also has bases in Amsterdam, Paris and Rome, they are all possibles!

[dreamlinerdemon]

Quote from a different website...

"... it came in with representatives on board on a fact finding trip with a view to possibly running a service from Bournemouth in the future."

There were no reps on board, just the crew. A/C arrived, engineer turned up and inspected it, paperwork was signed and the a/c departed.

[Bournemouth Air]

Now that MAG has won the Auction for STD.

Will they keep Bournemouth ....?

[BOH]

So now MAG are the new owners of Stansted will BOH go by the wayside even more? I know MAG have given BOH 3 years to become profitable otherwise it will be off loaded, will this be the opportunity for MAG to sell it on to help pay for Stansted? I know it was discussed a few months back.

[pottwiddler]

So now MAG are the new owners of Stansted will BOH go by the wayside even more? I know MAG have given BOH 3 years to become profitable otherwise it will be off loaded, will this be the opportunity for MAG to sell it on to help pay for Stansted? I know it was discussed a few months back.

If anything, MAG have more power to their elbow when it comes to doing deals with airlines. And do you really think that £1,500,000,000 can be recouped by selling Bournemouth. If the sell off of Humberside is anything to go by where are you going to find the other £1,498,000,000. MAG have jumped into bed with a pension firm, IFM, who have in turn acquired shares in MAG.

[SWBKCB]

I think the concern for BOH is they are a little fish in what is now a much bigger pond, and will MAG have the capacity to develop all the airports in the group?

[Ringwayman]

Don't forget that (a) STN profits were greater than MAG profits (b) the Australian company now owns 30% of MAG. Both of these should free up some money for investment; I don't envisage a lot of work being done on STN as there should be room for that airport to grow without any spending on its terminal for a good few years.

[Nakata77]

BAA (SP) owns Heathrow and Southampton.

Southampton has an overlapping catchment with Heathrow, so it is in their interest to limit capacity development at SOU.

If I was running MAG, i'd want to compete effectively with BAA (SP) on all fronts and BOH can certainly do that with SOU.

[SWBKCB]

My concern would be not about the financial resources but the capacity of management to keep all the plates spinning. STN is a huge addition to MAG. Does it have the resources to move forward on all fronts or will there be a natural tendency to concentrate on the new kid on the block meaning that the smaller parts of the group like BOH will suffer?

[Nakata77]

Good point, but think more positively. The larger bargaining power that MAG holds could assist BOH. In negotiations (not just with airlines) BOH could benefit from the power and louder voice that MAG has.

If an independent and/or smaller airport company was operating BOH then there are just as many disadvantages and perhaps less bargaining power.

MAG is closer to the LCC's than BAA ever will - thats also an advantage.

[MARKEYD]

Bournemouth handled a small 13 , 849 passengers in December down marginally on last Dec

With the loss of the Las Palmas route and 2 less Easy Jet flights a week not to bad all things considering

Dublin route saw 1862 with a load of about 47 passengers per flight
Turin saw 561 passengers with good loads of 187 pax

Easy Jet started mid Dec and saw 3850 passengers , with about 120 pax per flight using a A319 a/c

[Uncle Arnold]

GA (light aircraft and flying schools) at Bournemouth is being squeezed out.
Commercial Routes are tried but disappear again

The airport finance budget was squeezed last year and redundancies announced yet MAG have £1.5 billion to spend??

Finance companies either want to see businesses making money or being within a few ££'s of financial projections or will not hesitate to pull the plug. With that style of finance behind MAG, I can see the knives out for the loss-making parts of the group. Bournemouth is failing to attract and keep carriers, even with it's nice new white elephant of a terminal. It is making a loss.

I would lay odds on MAG already having an application into the local council for planning permission to shut the airport and turn it into an industrial park.

[dreamlinerdemon]

New route for BOH.
Bournemouth Echo has reported Aer Lingus is changing the departure time of the BOH-DUB to 12.05 in June 2013 in order for pax to make the interconnecting leg to NYC from DUB
Not sure if the airport will market the route as BOH-NYC?
Aer Lingus (Aer Arran) will continue to use the ATR for the time being for the BOH-DUB leg.
Hopefully if the loads pick up then they will start to use a larger a/c.

[airsmiles]

Not sure about the NYC connection, as it's currently 10.45 and 15.45 out of Dublin to JFK. Obviously the latter is the only viable option but that's quite a lengthy connection time.

Out of interest, does anyone know what type of passenger makes up the current BOH-DUB traffic?

[dreamlinerdemon]

Not sure about the NYC connection, as it's currently 10.45 and 15.45 out of Dublin to JFK. Obviously the latter is the only viable option but that's quite a lengthy connection time.

Out of interest, does anyone know what type of passenger makes up the current BOH-DUB traffic?

Sorry a minor slip. Yes it's JFK. Current pax load on DUB around 35 - 50. No doubt will go up during the 6 nations.

[airsmiles]

I wasn't picking up on the use of NYC actually. I'm just not sure the connection to JFK makes sense. Business types would probably go for a direct flight from LHR, but price sensitive pax might put up with the rather lengthy total journey time.

[MARKEYD]

Dont quite get what your talking about ?

All thats happening is that an airline is trying to get a few more passengers to fly on the route , ( as any business would do ) so just advertising thats its possible to fly to New York , Boston and Chicago via Dublin than going up to LHR

Local news paper being blasted for advertising this new re timing by Aer Lingus , by the usual small minded group of twats who are still blaming the drop of fee for the car park , as single handily bringing the down fall of the airport

[pottwiddler]

Markeyd
It clearly matters to Dorset people who are spending 100's of quid on a holiday that £2.50 to get dropped off is £2.50 too far but what do you expect from a race not used to driving on Motorways! Some of the trolls will only be happy if the place becomes a GA Aerodrome.

[MARKEYD]

Made my night !!


To many Victor Meldrews flying out of Bournemouth !

[pottwiddler]

I noticed the other day that Leeds Bradford charge £6 for minibus dropping off. Next time I'm at the airport I'll suggest it to a member of staff that they're missing a trick! That's send Victor up to 30,000ft without the use of a RYR 738.

[Rivet Joint]

The Victor Meldrew vibe is indicative of the type of market Hurn falls back on. I.e. the Bath Travel brigade and those who want to further ruin the ugly part of Spain but only have their pension to pay for it hence Ryanair.

[MARKEYD]

Last flight of Blue Islands to Jersey tomorrow for the second time , loads of roughly 13 per flight out of 19 just not good enough with prices and schedules and advertising not enough for them

Really disappointing as BOH now the only UK airport again with no direct link even in the summer to the channel islands

Even a good holiday company like CI travel have contracts from Inverness to Exeter in the summer with Jersey but not Bournemouth with even 1 flight on Saturday with a small airline


Good old Dan Air with the 748 / Viscount managed an amazing schedule in the 80 s but times have so moved on !

Bournemouth is exactly the same as last summer with the same schedule as Thomson / Ryanair and New Market nothing new

[Flitefone]

Good to see the airport advertising in the route shop:

Bournemouth Airport (BOH/EGHH) | The Route Shop (http://www.therouteshop.com/bournemouth-airport/?utm_source=anna.aero+newsletter&utm_campaign=d450d83b50-anna_nl_300113&utm_medium=email)

As for those Dan Air channel Island flights, most of the seats were sold by SAGA holidays. The islands can't compete against the alternatives in Spain and elsewhere. SAGA left that market.

All those tourists have been lost to the islands.

Jersey used to handle 1.5m pax a each year in the early 80s, if you check today you will see that tree has been no growth since then, dreadful.

FF

[Bournemouth Air]

Also to rub it in for Bournemouth is the Blue Island will be trailing a Fokker 50 from Denim Air from Southampton

[adfly]

Bath Travel have added another day trip to Venice on the 1st April, not saying who is operating it currently but I'd guess BA Cityflyer again or Thomson. They also have a Rome day trip on the 18th March operated by Thomson.

[MARKEYD]

Its actually been on sale for a couple of months now only put on the airport web recently

Believe it to be a Thomson flight as Monday is the down time day for the a/c as is the Rome flight on Mon 18 March

These flights have been incredibly popular as have all 4 Northern lights charter all sold out , again using Thomson

Shame Bath Travel cant test the water this summer with a Palma flight at the weekend using BA City Flyer , the right type of aircraft for the route

[Phalconphixer]

BBC News - Aviation firm Cobham announces Bournemouth and Teesside job cuts (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-21382414)

I know this has been 'sort of' covered on the DTV thread but for the people that work at Cobham this is a major blow. One has to wonder how much this decision is based on the loss of the remaining A330 Tanker Conversions to Seville.

Cobham are it seems going back to their roots in supporting just the Falcon fleet for Defence Electronics, EW Training and Target Towing. I worked as a Hangar rat (Avionics) for Cobham at Bournemouth for 15 years during its transition to becoming the biggest F20 operator in the world.
Deep strip conversions including glass cockpit installations, Cabin conversions, Modifications, C checks and D checks of their own fleet and aircraft belonging to 3rd party private owners are what it does best.
What a shame they didn't extend the capability to other Falcon types and other biz jets and actively advertise their capabilities more fully. Instead they allowed the likes of Jet Aviation in Switzerland to corner the biz jet market.

I believe they lost the plot somewhat by taking on the Nimrod Conversions and it seems, more latterly, the A330.

My heart goes out to those who are directly affected by this latest round of redundancies. As I found out the hard way, its a bitter pill to swallow and there is little work out there when you are getting a bit past it... ie 50+

[Groundloop]

I believe they lost the plot somewhat by taking on the Nimrod Conversionsand it seems, more latterly, the A330.

In what way did Cobham lose the plot? It was not Cobham's fault that BAe decided to take the Nimrod work back in-house at Woodford after they had shut the RJX line there.

As the major supplier of in-flight refueling equipment the Voyager contract made a lot of sense. What did not make sense was Cobham suddenly deciding they did not want it anymore and virtually handing it to Airbus.

[airsmiles]

Cobham willingly handed back millions of pounds worth of work and made 320 people redundant, just because they didn't fancy finishing the contract? I think there must have been a bit more to it than that!

[Groundloop]

"Cobham and Airbus Military have mutually recognised that it is the best way of meeting their own commitments and have taken the responsible decision to transfer the work," said AirTanker chief executive Phill Blundell, adding that the change would help the consortium deliver the planes to the UK "on time and to cost".

Okay, slightly more to it. Cobham may have realised that they could not deliver on time. (Cobham is a major shareholder in AirTanker)

[airsmiles]

Used to work for Cobham not so long ago and there's definitely a lot of face-saving in that press release! The cost to muddle through and pay the LD's was just too great I suppose, so better to agree a handover. Obviously, not so good for the 320 being made redundant though.

[Phalconphixer]

Been away from Cobham now for eight years so have missed a lot of the finer points of what has been going on... Very sad for all concerned. Some good people there...

[MARKEYD]

Bournemouth handles 15 , 336 passengers in January down about 7 % on last year but with the loss of Las Palmas and fewer Geneva services not bad in all

Dublin with Aer Arran had 1310 with a load of 39 pax per flight
Geneva with Easy Jet showed 5798 with loads roughly 126 per flight using A319

All Thomson flights averaged 185 per flight

Good to see a First Choice 767 to Barbados on the ramp yesterday , charter was for P/O cruises , the first stand alone flight that did not use Bath Travel lets hope more of those appear next year

Ryanair have added an extra flight to Faro for the month of August departing Sunday and Wednesday departing to Malaga for July and Thursday for the month of August , taking that to 45 departures a week to 16 destinations

[airsmiles]

And from what date will Ryanair grace us with their presence this year? Mid-march was the last I heard.

[Bournemouth Air]

March 15th is the dates that's been posted around.

Can't come around quick enough for some passengers in the airport. We all suffer.

[Bournemouth Air]

Does any body know what's happened with the expansion in the industrial estate. There was a mention of three large hangars being built behind European ramp and beagle moving into one. Is this still planned.

[Flitefone]

I believe Beagle need to sell their existing facility in christchurch. Morrisons supermarket chain wish to buy existing site and build a supermarket, but local planners have rejected application, but it is apparently in appeal. If it passes on appeal then Beagle will have the cash to fund the move.

[Bournemouth Air]

Its been a long winter with no flights and for company's that rely on Passengers its been a tough one.

Bournemouth Alicante starts 17 Mar 13
Carcassonne starts 25 Mar 13
Faro starts 15 Mar 13
Fuerteventura starts 14 Mar 13
Girona Barcelona starts 15 Mar 13
Gran Canaria starts 16 Mar 13
Ibiza starts 02 Apr 13
Lanzarote starts 16 Mar 13
Malaga starts 16 Mar 13
Malta starts 14 Mar 13
Murcia starts 17 Mar 13
Palma starts 19 Mar 13
Pisa starts 27 Mar 13
Rhodes starts 03 Apr 13
Tenerife Sth starts 22 Mar 13
Wroclaw starts 01 April

[Bournemouth Air]

Airline routes required through the Route Shop..


Bournemouth Airport (BOH/EGHH) | The Route Shop (http://www.therouteshop.com/bournemouth-airport/?utm_source=anna.aero+newsletter&utm_campaign=2648962e3d-anna_nl_060313&utm_medium=email#routesTab)

New routes and frequency possibilities and why these routes would work

[yeo valley]

looks like someone was bored with nothing to do one day. dream up routes with pax numbers.
it these route were worth doing then a lcc,full fare or charter airline would be doing tnem.
with the recession as it is at this time airlines will not take a chance on new routes or even a new airport.
a lot of cases its not pax numbers that matter.its yeild that is generatedthay counts.
my nearest airport where i live is quad cities and they have the same problem as boh.recession is no different there to the uk.
i would like to see small airports like boh do better. reality is airlines are there to make a profit and not a charity, for a group of spotters with a wish list the end of the day.
if the routes were viable then they would be operating now.

[pug]

Yes Yeovalley, MAG have 'spotters' working in their business development departments now :D

[Rivet Joint]

Pug: I think one look at this thread shows that Hurn has a greater concentration of 'spotters' of fantasists as I call them than any other airport in the UK. Surely the decision to plough 50mil into an airport that only attracts the mercenaries of FR and even then on a seasonal basis was made by a 'spotter'.

[Flitefone]

The route shop is an airport route development service used by many airports around the world wishing to grow their activity, check the home page and count the number of major airports and their locations... Much like the well established routes on line

New routes required by airports | The online route supermarket | The Route Shop (http://www.therouteshop.com/)

Welcome :: Routesonline (http://www.routesonline.com)

Airlines use them in their planning research.

The BOH page on the route shop as is made clear on the site, uses figures reported by UK CAA statistics, if the stats used by any airport were other than officially derived they would have much less value.

It is good to see any airport proactively, responsibly and professionally looking for new business.

What is interesting is the identity of those airports in the UK not using the services.

FF

[Expressflight]

Indeed, SEN's absence being perhaps among the most surprising.

[Gulf Julliet Papa]

If you do the maths the figures seem a bit high if we look at BOH's recent history...

Lets take Edinburgh...

163,265 / 189 (seats) / 365 (days) = 2.3 = number of flights per day on a 189 seat aircraft that should be filled.

A certain Irish airline did run EDI twice a day at one point...and I can't remember the load factor been 100% which according to the figures it should be. Unless I'm doing something wrong?

[pottwiddler]

It all very well advertising on route websites, which is commendable, don't get me wrong but if I was choosing routes, I'd get one that guaranteed 'two-way ' traffic. Especially in these hard economic times.

Loading is one thing but yield is another, and the only way to ensure good yield is good demand. But hey, what do I know? I'm just a 'spotter' haha!

[MARKEYD]

Finally a Ryanair aircraft has arrived this afternoon to resume services tomorrow after a ridiculous long wait since November

Off in the morning to Malta and Fueteventura

Extra flights now added in July / August to Alicante , Faro and Malaga

[airsmiles]

I agree MARKEYD. As they park up a chunk of their fleet each winter, you'd think they could park one at BOH and use a single crew to perform at least a few flights on some days over the winter.

I really can't believe they're unable to make a positive return on some winter sun destinations.

[Flitefone]

Good to see that aer lingus are now selling connections from BOH to New York, Boston and Chicago at sensible prices and with a US immigration clearance in Dublin, saving that dreadful prospect of the arrivals line up at JFK.

The time saved by pre-clearance of US immigration will mitigate the disadvantage of transfer time.

Prices start at £339 each way...

If you know your aviation history, you will already know that scheduled services from BOH to New York were last available in 1946 on American Overseas Airways and pan am using DC4 and Lockheed Constellations...

Real long haul westbound connectivity is now available at BOH, a great step forward.

FF

[No RYR for me]

163,265 / 189 (seats) / 365 (days) = 2.3 = number of flights per day on a 189 seat aircraft that should be filled.

Maybe these are roundtrip figures? ie divide the figure by two :confused:

[MARKEYD]

Easy Jet have released there winter flights today and good news is that they are still operating a service to Geneva , being there 9 th year

Flights are pretty much the same schedule as this winter with no flights again operating on a Tuesday or Wednesday , but for the month of January this extends to Thursday as well . Saturday will still see 2 flights operating that day

Flybe have upped the game at Southampton though with up to 9 flights a week operating next winter using a mix of aircraft

[MARKEYD]

Bournemouth handled 35 , 197 passengers in March down 13 % on last year purely due to Ryanair not starting there services until the 14 th of the month

Majority of the Ryanair flights were in the 70 % load factors

Dublin saw 1663 passengers an average of 46 per flight hence the use now of the ATR42

Geneva saw 7515 passengers with Easy Jet an average 86 % loads and return again next winter

Thomson again had a good March with the majority of flights going out 97 % full

[GreekIslandLover]

I like the idea of the regional hop to Dublin and clearing US immigration in Dublin. However, I note that the time in DUB between flights in only about 1 hour 30, the flights arrive and depart from different terminals. Although the website would allow me to book the flight from BHO to JFK, do they really connect? Is there enough time to get between the terminals and clear US immigration?

[MARKEYD]

Thomson Holidays have released there Summer 2014 programme today , unfortunately for Bournemouth there is no new destinations on the list with exactly the same destinations , days and flight times as this year

Tunisia is dropped and another Palma is in its place , obviously playing it safe

[shamrock7seal]

Aer Lingus Regional announced this week that they would be operating from T2 - the same terminal as Aer Lingus to improve the connection service.

[bournemouthflyer]

New news for bournemouth airport, Christchurch council have announced a rail link will be connected to terminal location, more flights too.. Virgin and American airlines operating 767 aircraft to US, and Ryanair basing 12 aircraft with 38 new routes.

[MARKEYD]

Stop wasting everyones time mate , might be your first and last post !

[shrekair]

Its actually true.

[canberra97]

I see we have two new idiotic posters that have recently joined or is it just the one under a a different name, never the less crap like that is not needed matey!

[Flitefone]

Canberra/Markey

The ignore function is a good option, go to User CP tab on PPRUNE home page, then settings and options, then edit ignore list....

FF

[shrekair]

Oh sorry. I am not a new member nor am I the same person that posted in the first instance. Although my status still appears to state otherwise.

Even if this was true I`m pretty sure that there would be other positive comments about the said topic. However I did speak to a chap from Christchurch that lives very close to BOH today. He did mention that he had heard rumours that a link road directly from the A338 to the airport was being considered. how true this is I can`t say.

[Bournemouth Air]

Rumours are circuling about easy jets testingbthe water with a spanish flight.

Good to see the Guppy at the Airport is making the newsnby being registered American, shame it looks like it maybe tin cans though.

[airsmiles]

The new link road is dependant upon the new industrial/commercial development going ahead. The last document I saw showed it coming off the A338 spur road onto Matchams Lane, near where the entrance to the North-East Aviation Complex is. That would avoid the Blackwater Junction and Hurn Bridge altogether but would presumably involve an upgrade to a small stretch of Matchams Lane and new entrance into the terminal.

[Nakata77]

April was 1.6% up on last year, handling more passengers than Exeter, Cardiff, Doncaster.

On the negative side DUB route only saw 1,036 passengers for the entire month the lowest it has been since Aer Lingus Regional started the route. Is this down to the reduced frequency and capacity of aircraft? 6 to 3 weekly and ATR-72 to ATR-42?

BOH once again handled many more International passengers than SOU (60,000 at BOH compared with 40,000 at SOU)

[Nakata77]

I have also heard this rumor but that it would be for S14

Although they tested the water before from BOH, the routes for the test were certainly not ideal (Grenoble and Krakow) to get a feel for the potential.

The Spanish market (including second home, VFR, leisure and inbound English language students) from BOH is considerable and it is one of the top UK airports for numbers of passengers to and fro. Routes yet to be exploited include Seville, Gibralter, Almeria and Jerez. There may also be market opportunities to Barcelona, Bilbao & possibly a return of Reus.

[bournemouthflyer]

Good to see a full apron of aircraft monday, the airport looks like a busy one, also couldn't help noticing the tidy well cut grass when I passed, the airport must be spending some money on a good ground maintanance crew!

[airsmiles]

From what I've heard the grass-cutting is undertaken by some members of the Fire Service crew. Good use of their time when not attending fires.

[LTNman]

The lawn mowers have been fitted with blue lights so the firemen can get back in a hurry.:rolleyes:

[TSR2]

The lawn mowers have been fitted with blue lights so the firemen can get back in a hurry

Na .... they just stop all movements whilst they cut the grass ;)

[MARKEYD]

Bath Travel are operating 2 flights again this October to Pisa and Venice on 19 and 20 Oct using a BA EMB 190

Bath Travel are also operating the usual New York charter on 24 November using Monarch

3 Lapland flights operate to Kittala , Enontekio and Pajala and 1 flight to Cologne operate in December

Various Northern light flights operate through out the winter and 2 flights operate to Tromso and Bergen for Norwegian cruises

This last Monday saw 6 Ryanair 737 800 , 1 Thomson 737 800 and a Small Planet 737 300 on the ramp at the same time , looking very busy for a change !

[zantopst]

re: Na .... they just stop all movements whilst they cut the grass http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/wink2.gif

should'nt joke but it actually did as the runway had to be closed for an hour due to contamination after 747 VP-BAT departed and blew all the cut grass onto the runway!!