BOURNEMOUTH - 3

[adfly]

2012 looks to be another quiet year for BOH, Ryanair adding Wroclaw, Thomson adding Mahon but making Sharm el Sheikh winter only plus Blue Islands are the only gains on the commercial side of BOH it seems!

[MARKEYD]

Not sure what is going on with Ryanair but for the summer they seem to have had a massive re jig of the flight schedules making many of the original Bournemouth based routes into W patterns from other airports

Murcia is not bookable at the moment and on Wed there are no flights scheduled at the moment using a BOH based aircraft and the rest of the time there seems to be large amounts of down time at the airport

[adfly]

So it will either be:

Glass Half Full: Most routes have been changed to other bases/W patterns to make way for new routes to be operated by the BOH based aircraft! :)

or

Glass Half Empty: Futher changes to allow BOH based aircraft to be moved elsewhere. Most, but probably not all routes/frequencys retained via W patterns and other bases. :(

[Bournemouth Air]

Glass nearly empty regarding Bournemouth.

[pug]

Bournemouth Air, BOH seems to be weathering the storm quite well.

[FR-]

I have not seen any memo's asking for crew for BOH as yet . . .

[pottwiddler]

Same old tripe being churned out again...yawn!

[Groundloop]

Sorry, not sure what your point is here. If you mean the same destinations as last year - well, they are the ones that make money - obviously.

[TSR2]

Perhaps he/she left the 'e' off the end of 'trip'

[Bournemouth Air]

One good move for Bournemouth is that Vueling have Denied any Flights from Southampton. Even though Southampton is n there destination board. Anybody from Bournemouth Airport Contacted Vueling ?

[MARKEYD]

Ryanair have put on sale Murcia again 3 a week using the BOH based aircraft with a 2 flights scheduled on a Saturday which has always been very popular as a change over day for many holiday homes

The schedule for the BOH based a/c is slowly filling up now with about 5 gaps left in the programme during the week

For those interested this is the based a/c programme so far !

Mon BOH AGP BOH --- BOH
Tue BOH IBZ BOH AGP BOH
Wed BOH ---- BOH MJV BOH
Thu BOH ---- BOH FUE BOH
Fri BOH AGP BOH --- BOH IBZ BOH
Sat BOH MJV BOH GRO BOH MJV BOH
Sun BOH GRO BOH --- BOH AGP BOH

[pottwiddler]

One good move for Bournemouth is that Vueling have Denied any Flights from Southampton. Even though Southampton is n there destination board. Anybody from Bournemouth Airport Contacted Vueling ?

Probably but everything is going to be run from Manchester soon...

[Jamie2k9]

For those interested this is the based a/c programme so far !

Mon BOH AGP BOH --- BOH
Tue BOH IBZ BOH AGP BOH
Wed BOH ---- BOH MJV BOH
Thu BOH ---- BOH FUE BOH
Fri BOH AGP BOH --- BOH IBZ BOH
Sat BOH MJV BOH GRO BOH MJV BOH
Sun BOH GRO BOH --- BOH AGP BOH

Murcia will fill the Monday and Thursday gap to.

[j636]

A few strange flight numbers.

TOM1627A Innsbruck 12.21 - Landed 14.13
TOM7TC Innsbruck 13.56 - Landed 14.15

TOM1627B Dublin 12.40 - Scheduled 12.40
TOM7TC Dublin 15.00 - Departed 17.00

[Bournemouth Air]

G-THOP On a Diversion.

[Bournemouth Air]

Does Anybody know what the future of the CAA Air Traffic college is.

Since recently there have been concrete bollards blocking all entrances.

Interesting to hear further information.

[MARKEYD]

Before all the down grading of flights happened , there were big rumours that the building would be converted into a hotel of some sort , obviously unlikely to happen any time soon but the building is large and is right in front of the ramp so who knows if and when things start to turn around it could either be used as a hotel or even knocked down to make way for a future terminal expansion ie a brand new check in hall !

[25 DME FIX]

MARKEYD

Would probably think that demolition will be the only option, may be a problem with levels of asbestos.

[MARKEYD]

Thomson have dropped Las Palmas on a Monday for next winter leaving only TFS , SSH , ACE , TFS and PFO for the winter season . Strange as always been a popular destination .

No sign of Innsbruck returning either for next winter with Inghams Ski

[adfly]

Not good! I always though that route did fairly well, especially in the winter!

Also does anyone know when Ryanair are due to return as I belive last year they returned in January although as yet there is no sign of MOL and his 189 seater harp at BOH.

[pottwiddler]

RYR start operations in February as they did last year. You may have seen an aircraft parked up last year but the part-timers run February to November.

[BOU_PAX]

Amazed LPA has been dropped as a winter destination as I frequently travel with both RYR and TOM on this route and it's always full. Now the nearest option to fly to LPA next winter is Easyjet from LGW :ugh:

[MARKEYD]

Bit of good news is that Ryanair are re introducing Malta after a gap of 2 yrs from May , not sure what the days or times are but there is a gap on a Wed morning to fill this service with a BOH based a/c

Murcia has also been increased to 5 flights a week !! with Monday and Thursday flights now added again using a BOH based a/c which pretty much fills up the flying programme now

[Badgermanuk]

Malta flights now loaded, Mon & Thursday using a Malta based Aircraft

Dep Malta 0705 - Return from BOH at 0945.

[Bournemouth Air]

With those flight times surely it seems to be a visiting Aircraft.

Anyhow it great news for Local businesses for Malta flights.

Well done Ryanair.

Shame Vueling are no online at Southampton

[Aero Mad]

Firstly, the only thing I have to do with Southampton is the fact that I am a passenger there. I have used Bournemouth as well.

But what keeps irritating me slightly is Bournemouth Air's constant anti-SOU rhetoric. Why is it a shame that Vueling is now online at Southampton? Would you rather that both airports had no business? From your posts, this certainly seems to be the case. I won't go into all the SOU vs. BOH rubbish but what I will say is that if you don't have a train line, people are charged to be dropped off and the only airline that has a comprehensive route network from the place is Ryanair, perhaps you shouldn't be complaining.

If you want passengers, you can have them! Bournemouth's problem is the lack of decent connections. Take Southend, an airport which until recently suffered from similar issues until Stobart took the bull by the horns and paid for a railway station. With a Bournemouth Airport Parkway station, you could have decent passenger numbers without even having to compete with Southampton, except on key routes - Bournemouth's runway length gives it a massive advantage and you'd probably get airlines like Vueling transferring operations to Bournemouth, as well as a host of new airlines and routes thanks to the nearest airport with decent connections being Bristol or Gatwick, which is some distance away... the demand's there.

Rant over. All I'm saying is don't complain about Southampton's success when Bournemouth just aren't putting the effort in - a spanking new terminal is all very well but not if people can't get to it. If they invested in a nice rail extention then perhaps they'd do rather better.

[Siggyboy]

Seen these are now loaded from BOH and actually just announced on BBC South Today. Good news.

[Rivet Joint]

Its not worth your breath Aero Mad, trust me.

[Bournemouth Air]

Thanks for comment bur being in travel , i in fact think Vueling is good for Southampton BUT after they denied any flights they had rumoured to have spoken to Bournemouth - hence thw shame

Good news for Rhodes and Caccasine.

Looking good for local business

[Groundloop]

If they invested in a nice rail extention then perhaps they'd do rather better.

Now who is being ridiculous? The nearest possible rail connection is over 3 miles away. Even if a route could be found, have you any idea what that would cost? A good post spoiled with a ridiculous ending.:ok:

[Wycombe]

It seems to me that BOH will now have significantly more RYR activity in 2012 than it did in 2011. The volume of flights must now be near to what there would be with a 2 aircraft base, if all flights were operated by those a/c?

[bob1810]

Any information on the passenger loads on Blue Island Jer/Guernsey.Are they likely to stay at Bournemouth.

[smithy1995]

Ryanair must have faith in BOH by adding these routes for the summer nearly as many routes as when BOH had its top figures except no eurocypria and onur air

[Siggyboy]

Nor Palmair!!

[ryanair1]

The summer BOH programme is around the volume that would be produced by 2 based a/c albeit only 1 actually based, the rest coming inbound from EU airports.

At the peak operation at BOH we had 2 aircraft based and a further 1 eqv volume being generated by inbound patterns from EU airports.

Further expansion would be required to get to previous volumes.

[pottwiddler]

And a long way off the much promised 5 based RYR at BOH.
However, it's a step in the right direction and it's encouraging that RYR are trying something new like Greece. Hope other airline feel bullish.

[Bournemouth Air]

Fustrated

Why has Bournemouth Airport not added these new flights to Facebook or there own website.

[lwaw1uk]

You find that the Bournemouth Marketing team are always slow at updaing the Airport Web-site.
If it was not for the Local Echo & BBC South today you wouldnt even know that ryanair were doing new routes from BOH.

Its good news routes, just need some for the winter now !

[EI-A330-300]

Very high chance the airport were not told by Ryanair they planned to add two routes. FR tend to announce routes before the airport knows in some cases.

[shamrock7seal]

I think it's cos MAG want to make cuts to staff again at BOH, so they are protesting by not adding anything to the website i'm guessing; but yes very frsutrating. The daily echo is not going to penetrate enough people to make those routes work. They need to think of new ways to promote.

Looking at the annual report and accounts from MAG it shows that BOH, despite the fall in pax numbers in '11 from '10, have managed to increase revenue slightly and revenue per passenger. The problem is that 'cost per passenger' has almost doubled in 2 years due to the exepensive nature of running a brand spanking new terminal.

I'm sure they know more than anyone how painful not having enough airlines is and so will be doing their best to get new ones in. I just hope that in their endeavour to do so they realise they need to reduce prices for the airlines not increase them.

[MARKEYD]

Ryanair have added an extra flight to Faro on a Sunday using a non based a/c taking the service to 4 a week and also added an extra service to Palma on a Tuesday as well taking it to 6 a week now , really good news again !

There is a large gap on Sunday still of about 5 - 30 hrs using the BOH based a/c so maybe an extra service may be fitted in to somewhere in Europe otherwise its a full programme now from BOH

[smithy1995]

I think having gap on sunday would be good idea to open a domestic route either bring back dublin, edinburgh or glasgow route. Or maybe try something new and go for a destination in Germany or in baltics

[frfly]

You wont see any domestics now from Ryanair for a long time, costs involved now are just too high with £24 rtn going straight to the government in tax - the aircraft are simply too big and the demand isn't there to fill them....flybe are struggling to fill a Dash!

BCN would be a good addition from BOH, we've seen a lot of UK bases get GRO switched to BCN in recent months.

[pottwiddler]

BCN from BOH would be in direct competition with Vueling from SOU, surely be interesting if it did switch. Possibly the first direct competition flight for a while.

[adfly]

If you exclude JER, GCI, PMI, IBZ, MAH, AGP, FAO and ALC then maybe!!

[smithy1995]

well domestic routes wouldn't work as i can see ! so i feel maybe trying to speak to ryanair about a route to the siberian region or somewhere like norway or sweeden

[Rivet Joint]

Smithy1995 - Such routes would largely only attract business pax and as far as I know Bournemouth has no local business with connections there. Secondly outbound pax from these destinations are more likely to fly to Spain or Greece then Bournemouth beach. Bournemouth needs to focus on bucket and spade routes and it looks like they are doing just that.

[smithy1995]

yes very true ! have to agree there maybe a mistake pointing that out :) i feel the heraklion route has to come back from either another airline or thomson start it

[MARKEYD]

Figures for Dec 2011 show that the Easy Jet service to Geneva had a 83 % increase in passengers over Dec last year with 4423 passengers on the service roughly a 111 pax per flight , very good news

The new Blue Islands service to Jersey carried 340 passengers in Dec , roughly 12 pax per flight on a J31

[smithy1995]

yeah thats great figures so things on the up then hopefully ! 111 pax thats quite a full place seeming the service is daily, great news and thats good for blue islands seeming a J31 max. is 19 passengers so going well to, lets hope these new routes from ryanair can produce as good numbers as these routes are curently doing :D

[superspur]

Air Lingus Regional to operate ATR 42 6 days a week to DUB starting April 2012. ;)

[Siggyboy]

If that is true...cracking news!!

[pottwiddler]

I've heard that rumour too...bloody good news, if true. I'm sure it'll have good load factors and a good passenger return too.

[adfly]

I am watching closely!

[bob1810]

Never count your chickens till you see the Aircraft on the apron,but i hope the rumour is true.

[Flightrider]

1 May start, mid afternoon timings with an ATR72, daily except Saturday.

[PPRuNeUser0176]

1 May start, mid afternoon timings with an ATR72, daily except Saturday

16.00 departure from DUB and 17.30 from BOH. DUB-BRS have being reduced to make way for it.

[Bournemouth Air]

Will the Dublin be operated by Aer Arann Aircraft.

There has recenly been a Atr 42 painted

Aer Arann paints its first ATR 42 in the Aer Lingus Regional colors | World Airline News (http://worldairlinenews.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/aer-arann-paints-its-first-atr-42-in-the-aer-lingus-regional-colors/)

Nothing online and bookable as yet

[MARKEYD]

If this is true about Dublin returning then its a major coup for Bournemouth to bring in Aer Lingus . The aircraft used is just the right size for the route and will bring back a very popular service that has been sadly missing for a few years now .

Its been a very slow and disappointing last few years at Bournemouth but this year certainly seems to be starting off very well with Jersey / Guernsey with Blue Islands 4 new routes starting with Ryanair plus additional flights to existing destinations and Aer Lingus with Dublin its great to see the terminal finally being used

Well done Bournemouth !!

[PPRuNeUser0176]

Yes an Aer Arann ATR72.

[Nakata77]

When will it be on sale?

I can see this route rising to twice daily if they manage to sell connections on to the States and other regional Irish points.

[Bournemouth Air]

Ryanair to start operation from today with flight to Arriceffe.

[shamrock7seal]

if this route is happening, how come it aint yet on sale?

[Le Tirer]

Dublin route announced today in the Bournemouth Echo

Bournemouth Airport to add Dublin route to schedule (From Bournemouth Echo) (http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/9505488.Bournemouth_Airport_to_add_Dublin_route_to_schedule/)

LT

[MARKEYD]

New Dublin route now on sale on Aer Lingus web site and official announcement from Bournemouth Airport next few days no doubt

Services as expected is operated by Aer Arran ATR72 500 daily except Saturdays

Dept DUB 1430 Arrive BOH 1555
Dept BOH 1620 Arrive DUB 1740

Fantastic news , well done Bournemouth

[Groundloop]

I can see this route rising to twice daily if they manage to sell connections on to the States

Won't be many onward connections to the States with an arrival time in DUB of 17.40!

[BOU_PAX]

Official press release from the airport is here:-
http://www.bournemouthairport.com/bohweb.nsf/Content/aerlingus

I agree with Nakata77, if (and it's a big if) it becomes viable to travel to the US via DUB as a connected flight rather than battle through LHR/LGW then this route may be a big success but with most of the US departures gone by 11:00 from DUB I can't see how getting BOH passengers to DUB by 08:00 would work without the plane and crew night stopping in BOH and leaving at 06:30 and I'm pretty sure Aer Lingus Regional's fleet of 6 planes won't be able to cover it. Still it's a route with plenty of potential and £29 inc taxes each way opens up the leisure market for city breaks.

PS - Is Penneys in O'Connell Street still 2Euro per shirt? :ok:

[smithy1995]

This is great news bournemout, its going a busy summer compared to last years with olympic and new route traffic. I can see the dublin route becoming more than 6x weekly, plus maybe Aer Lingus will get involved and use a A320 oe A321, becuase of demand. Also opens the opportunity to other irish destinations aer lingus regional offer such as cork and shannon, which i feel we may see in the distnt future :D

[Heathhurn]

Good news indeed. Possible itenary, Dep Bournemouth 1620 arr Dublin 1740, night stop airport hotel, depart Dublin 1045 arrive JFK 1320. Return Dep JFK 2045 arr Dublin 0825, Dep Dublin 1430 arrive Bournemouth 1555. With 2 hour checkins 1 hour baggage recovery and a 3 hour+ journey to London airports the Bournemouth option could be attractive. Consider, car parking charges, APD difference, traffic congestion the overall costs may be less or similar but the less intense transit through Dublin could be worth considering.

[pottwiddler]

But you fail to forget about the night in Dublin (costly!) and flying with the hangover the day after...:E

[Jack1985]

But you fail to forget about the night in Dublin (costly!) and flying with the hangover the day after...http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/evil.gifI would of thought anyone who is going to connect on to an Aer Lingus US Destination (Boston, Chicago, New York/JFK or Orlando) via Dublin would stay at an Airport Hotel. The Clarion at Dublin Airport offers rooms from €69/£57 per night, I myself think that's very reasonable. :ok:

Flight Option's to New York for One Adult single on May 4th 2012

Flight Option 1 / Aer Lingus:
BOH to DUB (Plus Fare) | £47.99
Clarion Hotel (One Night) | £57.00
DUB to JFK (Economy) | £378.00

Total: £482.99

Flight Option 2 / British Airways:
LHR to JFK (Economy) | £892

Flight Option 3 / Virgin Atlantic:
LHR to EWR (Economy) | £754

Other Advantage via Dublin, US Preclearance. The Choice is clear, and going via Dublin gives you a night in Dublin City with over £400 extra in your Pocket.

[StevieW]

How are you saving £400 going via Dublin? Flights from London to New York are around £400 return (if not cheaper, depending on season).

Somehow, I don't think Aer Lingus are starting this route to feed US connections!

[Jack1985]

Try BA or VS for the 4th of May single adult to JFK from LHR and tell me if your get a different price :ok:

[AircraftOperations]

I'm assuming that the bigwigs at BOH and RE looked at connectivity through DUB but it couldn't be sorted for one reason or another. I guess RE's current a/c scheduling, or DUB's slots would be the reasons why the service doesn't operate at a time to connect with the EI USA-bound services.
Otherwise it would be a major feather in the cap for BOH.

[StevieW]

Try BA or VS for the 4th of May single adult to JFK from LHR and tell me if your get a different price

£434 with BA, and you even get a return flight a week later thrown in.

[Jack1985]

£434 with BA, and you even get a return flight a week later thrown in.

Well then why am i getting this for a single fare from LHR to JFK on May 4th 2012?

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9837/eg1d.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/18/eg1d.png/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[Aero Mad]

Because you're looking at one-way flights. Don't know if this link will work... if not then select return and see what happens.

British Airways - Plan your journey (http://www.britishairways.com/travel/fx/public/en_gb?eId=111011&timestamp=0204070039&source=original&source=continue)

[pottwiddler]

Other Advantage via Dublin, US Preclearance. The Choice is clear, and going via Dublin gives you a night in Dublin City with over £400 extra in your Pocket.

So how Guinnesses is that? Or if Mrs Pottwiddler was on here 'pairs of Jimmy Choos'
Seriously, it raises the need for more feeder flights to major hubs such as MAN, CDG, MAD or AMS and cheat the APD...

[MARKEYD]

And back to the the thread that says Bournemouth please !

[StevieW]

Well then why am i getting this for a single fare from LHR to JFK on May 4th 2012?

Because you're looking at one way flights. Firstly, (in relative terms) not many people require a one way flight (certainly not the casual leisure travelers you anticipate can spend a day getting there via Dublin), and secondly, most who do require a one-way flight, and aren't paying on company expenses, know that it's cheaper to buy a return and just not turn up for the return leg, as is the case here.

This flight to BOH isn't to serve the 0.001% of travelers that want to spend over 24 hours getting to New York (and most of those will take the QM2), its to serve the market between Dublin and Dorset. The Ryanair flights used to be popular, but it was another case of the 738 being too much aircraft for such a route. The fares were low and they made very little auxiliary revenue onboard and through baggage sales. The ATR-72 is far better suited for the route.

[Rivet Joint]

I have read this right havn't I? :eek:

There are seriously people who think a speculative one rotation a day route arriving at nearly 6 in the evening has been launched to open up international connections :rolleyes:

This thread is the most surreal thing I have read all year!

[airsmiles]

Agree with River Joint on this.

For those of us who have to work for a living and fund the transatlantic flights (i.e. not cheapest economy tickets), the last thing we need is another link in the chain to go wrong. Many of us are connecting to other US airports to end up in out of the way places where businesses are located all over the USA. So the key factor is travel time, availability of connections, availiability of business services at airports etc.

It's not uncommon to rack up a 15-20 hour 'door to door' journey time each way. This generally has to be done at the beginning and end of a working week. No one in this position and in their right mind would add another night or additional connection to the equation.

When planning new USA routes and connections airlines don't even consider the economy revenue and everything is based upon premium traffic. I just can't see Aer Arran laying on flights in the morning specifically to feed into the transatlantic market from Dublin.

[Andrew R]

Great news about Aer Lingus.

What are the chances of a Belfast route say from Easyjet, FlyBe or Aer Lingus? The loads on the BE flights Belfast to Southampton route are always really healthy.

[Rivet Joint]

Yes because many people fly into Southampton as it is the cruise capital of northern Europe, to do business, attend the universities and take advantage of the unrivaled transport infrastructure.

Unfortunateky can't say the same for Bournemouth, well why would you fly to Bournemouth beach when you can fly to spain, France etc.

[Groundloop]

What are the chances of a Belfast route

It was tried by Jet2 and did not work so was pulled. The economy was in a much better position back then as well.

[smithy1995]

I think that bournemouth should now concentrate on keeping ryanair in for winter now, and once they get this. Get more routes, i feel easyjet would be a good area to start ;)

[shamrock7seal]

Jet2 ran a daily service at between 50 and 75% load over the S04 season. They pulled off the route due to insufficient demand and intense competition from Flybe. But to go from a daily 737-300 with not ghastly load factors, to zero frequency I think was too extreme. I believe the route could work at 4x weekly with a 737 sized a/c or daily ex sat with a Dash 8-400 sized a/c.

[Andrew R]

I never realised Jet2 used to operate. Very interesting indeed. Would BMI Baby be a realistic option with say a 737-500?

I fly to Southampton from Belfast City on FlyBe at least once a month to see family. The loads on the Flybe BHD to SOU flight always seem to be really healthy which is surprising considering the average fare single is about £80+ pounds, whereas the average fare single to Bristol on EZY is about £40 pounds.

FlyBe are x3 daily to Southampton from Belfast and x2 daily at the weekends. Surely, as you say, there is a market for at least a 4x weekly to Bournemouth from Belfast on a 737 or a A319?

It annoys me that if I want to go anywhere in the South West of England I have to pay FlyBe's, high and sometimes extortionate fares to Southampton. Bristol isn't a option as realistically it's 2 hours drive to the South Coast or a trek cross country on buses and trains.

I'm really glad Aer Lingus regional are beginning flights from Dublin and I really hope it's successful. Maybe with more daily flights and/or larger aircraft.

[Rivet Joint]

The two big guns of Easyjet and Ryanair are free to move into Bournemouth when they want. Yet still they don't? The key is yeild, not load factors. ;)

[SWBKCB]

I must be getting old or have I read this wrong - £80 to fly from Belfast to Southampton is high and sometimes extortionate ??

No wonder airlines make no money.

[Andrew R]

Not when it's a quarter of that to fly from Belfast to any London airport.

[Heathhurn]

The option to transit to and from New York was only put forward as likelihood for some of the Bournemouth area residents who are time rich but cash poor and have an aversion to London airports. It was never suggested that these opportunist passengers would be other than a tiny minority on the route.

[Le Tirer]

Rivet Joint wrote
The two big guns of Easyjet and Ryanair are free to move into Bournemouth when they want. Yet still they don't?

???????? Ryanair moved into BOH years ago. 16 destinations this summer.
Just need to keep them there for the 3 winter months.

EasyJet have the 8 x weekly from Geneva. It would be great if they would offer a few more routes all year round but at least for the moment they keep coming back every winter.

LT

[Rivet Joint]

Good points Le Tirer. I was refering to a substantial base though. More than one aircraft :}

[airsmiles]

I still don't see why people keep referring to having based aircraft? If I could fly to 20 or 30 destinations from Bournemouth I'd be very happy. I don't care a jot where the aircraft are based. 'W' patterns are fine with me!

[LGS6753]

The 'advantage' to an airport of having based aircraft is that the airline is more committed to the airport. They begin to build up an infrastructure of crews, ground staff, management, offices, equipment, contracts, etc which make withdrawal more costly and therefore less likely.

[StevieW]

They begin to build up an infrastructure of crews, ground staff, management, offices, equipment, contracts, etc

Do they? Ryanair don't employ any ground staff or management at Bournemouth, they have no equipment there and their office comprises a room in a portakabin. Their crew would just be moved to another base, as they do with the rest of their crew.

All it would take for Ryanair to withdraw, and they threatened many times, would be for Servisair to start charging them the same price that they charge Thomson. With Servisair hemorrhaging money at Bournemouth, something has to give.

[LGS6753]

Stevie,

Whilst I am sure you are right, Ryanair play by their own rules. My comment was correct in relation to most airlines, although creating a 'base' is less and less important, as you imply.

[commit aviation]

Not aware of the contractual arrangements between Servisair & Ryanair at BOH but why would a handling agent feel obligated to keep charges low to keep an airline there??? They are not a charity, they are a business - and one which is losing cash as you suggest should do something about the situation pronto.

They should put the charges up to cover costs as a bare minimum. If the airline doesn't like it, then its for the airport to "sweeten the pill " I would suggest.....

[StevieW]

I can't comment on why they let Ryanair walk over them, but they do. FR pay Servisair over three times less than Thomson do to handle an identical aircraft type at BOH. Servisair rely on auxiliary fees charged to Ryanair passengers at the airport (excess baggage etc), of which they receive a (small) cut.

[shamrock7seal]

What is the liklihood of Monarch considering opening scheduled niche routes from BOH? Since they operated out of NQY are they now totally against second tier regional airports?

Open niche routes from BOH with statistical demand according to CAA O&D stats include: Gibralter, Funchal, Innsbruck, Venice, Rome, Almeria, Heraklion, Orlando, Barbados, Cancun, Barcelona (sorry for the mixup, no order of demand)

[yeo valley]

If the routes were viable they would have been taken up some time ago.Afew of the routes you say have been tried and not worked. With the econemy like it is at this time. then none of the lh haul routes would not work. let alone the shorter routes.

[Wycombe]

Some of the longer haul routes listed are almost certain to have been cruise charters, so are not really indicative of demand to those destinations in their own right.

[MARKEYD]

I think the best that could happen now is to encourage existing operators to continue to operate through the 3 winter months

Having done an excellent job bringing 6 new routes this year its now time to secure winter schedules . Easy Jet would be a good example to try Grenoble and Innsbruck again as no one to compete with this time and the demand is there according to local travel agents who have booked a huge amount of passengers from the area to Bristol / Southampton and Gatwick for both ski and sun routes for those 3 missing months

Inghams Ski was a huge loss and one i still dont understand , and nothing from them this winter . With the loss of Las Palmas with Thomson is a mystery as well for this winter ?

Only 2 cruise charters to Barbados again next winter given they have been full up and considering there were more than 10 a few years ago the airport needs to look away from Bath Travel more and go towards P and O / Cunard direct

[commit aviation]

However a few years ago we were not in a recession & there was no APD to add considerable extra cost per head to longhaul destinations!
The market has changed. Look at other UK regionals & you will see they have a reduced offering to these destinations too.
Until the market picks up airlines are likely to stick to what they know makes money. Sadly untried & untested routes are likely to remain so for a few years yet.

[bob1810]

No threads since the 22nd of Feb. Have they closed the Airport or something. I thought the future looked quite bright, and maybe management have got some new destinations up their sleeves and are just waiting for the right time to announce them. (wishfull thinking):D

[MARKEYD]

Bournemouth handled 31 , 000 in Feb ( bit late with figures this month )

With the start of Ryanair this obviously increased the figures with good loads on Alicante , Malaga , Murcia

Tenerife , Sharm , Arrecife and Turin with Thomson were high in the 180 passenger average on the 737 800

Barbados cruise flight was full with Bath Travel on a First Choice 767 300 and Geneva was 67 % with Easy Jet with approx 105 pax per flight

Blue Islands finally saw a good load of about 15 pax per flight after 3 months on the route to Jersey with the J31

Easy Jet have started to release there winter schedule and the good news is that they are still operating a service from Bournemouth to Geneva but there is no flight scheduled for a Tuesday and Wednesday for the season , however they have kept the 2 x service on a Saturday , after 8 years on the route its still good news in these times of cut backs

[adfly]

Bournemouth will return to looking like an airport on Sunday!! As for this Summers new additions and changes from the main operators...

Aer Lingus Regional:

New Routes

Dublin 6x weekly (Daily ex. Sat) ATR 72 from 1st May

Blue Islands:

Jersy - 3x weekly J31/32 Wasn't operated last summer

Easyjet

Geneva continues 7x weekly until 15th April.

Ryanair:

1 based aircraft as it was last summer, Faro loses a weekly flight (Now 3 weekly) and Murcia gains 2 (Now 5 weekly).

New Routes

Carcassonne - 2x weekly (Mon & Fri) From 26th March
Malta - 2x weekly (Mon & Thurs) From 26th March
Rhodes - 1x weekly (Weds) From 28th March
Wroclaw - 2x weekly (Mon & Fri) From 30th March

Thomson

As last year 1 based 738 Sharm is not operating this summer but will be back for the winter and other than Mahon there are no over major changes to the schedule.

New Routes

Mahon - 1x weekly (Mon) From 7th May

[MARKEYD]

Good post about the schedules Adfly

Only other new route with Thomson is Arrecife on a Sunday as a continue from the winter

Newmarket holidays also have a large programme of flights during the summer to Italy etc ( big demand here as Palmair found with there summer programme years ago !! ) using Small Planet 737 300 on most Sundays / Mondays along with the odd charter with Monarch using A320 to Funchal

[MARKEYD]

Bournemouth has a new Managing Director

Paul Knight who has worked at the airport in various roles for 31 years has been appointed the new MD .

Rob Goldsmith who has been the MD for the last 4 years has been seconded to work on a special project for the MAG group

[Nakata77]

easyJet should base 1 aircraft for the winter season at BOH to operate the following routes that have proved popular in the past and would be perfect for the A319. If the routes prove successful then a bigger S13 programme would be warranted.

INN x2
SZG x2
FNC x2
TLV x2
ATH x2
AMS x7
EDI x6
BHD x4

This could add around 180,000 passengers to BOH's winter total, or around 30,000 per month.

BOH would be desperate for this - incentives would be available!

[Groundloop]

the following routes that have proved popular in the past

Since when has Tel Aviv and Athens been popular from BOH?!!

would be perfect for the A319.

Why would the A319 be more "perfect" than some of the routes which have already been tried with a 737?

[pug]

easyJet should base 1 aircraft for the winter season at BOH to operate the following routes that have proved popular in the past and would be perfect for the A319. If the routes prove successful then a bigger S13 programme would be warranted.

I was under the impression Easyjet need at least three aircraft to make a base viable? Not to mention the apparent shortage of aircraft availability at the moment too.

[MARKEYD]

Think we have been down this road before with a " Wish List " of Easy Jet flights from Bournemouth !

They are not going to do anything at the moment look at the Geneva for next winter , down 2 services but at least they are still operating , the best we could have hoped for next winter was a " W " pattern of prehaps INN / SZG / GNB ( loads were always really high on these routes with various carriers , and popular ! )

Monarch would be the best option now with there new ski routes starting next winter from various UK airport s but again i am sure they have been down the BOH road before with this one just like every other UK carrier , really frustrating i know especially when the demand is there !!

Its amazing to see how how in the summer BOH have 26 arrivals / departures on a Monday yet in the winter months its looking like zero at the moment on this particular day on certain months

[shamrock7seal]

Some good news. BOH saw an increase in passengers of 4.6% in March 2012 versus March 2011. A total of 40,829 passed through the new terminal which compares favourably with other regionals such as Doncaster, Exeter, Prestwick and Cardiff.

Strong performing routes included Geneva which carried 19% more passengers compared to last year. This route carried more passengers than the daily easyJet Belfast-Geneva, and very similar numbers to the daily Newcastle-Geneva service.

Spanish routes saw increases year on year too.

[Siggyboy]

Good news. BOH seems to be slowly developing. There are often some unrealistic aims for the Airport posted on here, but seems to be going in the right direction. Still think further growth will come from FR rather than Easyjet making it a base or European Airlines using it as a destination. Lets hope Air Lingus Regional to Dublin works well.

[MARKEYD]

I agree good figures for March with Ryanair , Thomson and Easy Jet

Looks like Bath Travel are only operating 2 Barbados cruise flights for next winter and then ending the service as advertising " last chance to fly from Bournemouth to Barbados " on there web site ?

I hope i have mis read this but certainly the number of flights have gone down each year from about 12 flights a few years ago to 2 next year ( loads always full though )

Prehaps Thomson Long Haul could be persuaded to take over the odd charter for the winter season

[Bournemouth Air]

Bournemouth airport will have 15 slots for visiting aircraft ( inc those used by scheduled and holiday traffic) per hour over a 24 hour period. some slots have already been allocated.

[possibleconsequences]

'Bournemouth airport will have 15 slots for visiting aircraft ( inc those used by scheduled and holiday traffic) per hour over a 24 hour period. some slots have already been allocated.'

Can you explain exactly what this means? The airport isn't open 24 hours - only a few flights operate at night outside official opening times. What slots have been allocated so far?

[Bournemouth Air]

Why is the airport not open 24 hoursl
Check ut these times

3rd April
17:15 NPT022Y G-BTPH British Aerospace ATP 2015 Atlantic Airlines
18:34 GCTCD G-CTCD Diamond DA42 Twin Star 42.079 Ctc Aviation Group
Plc
20:07 -------- G-LOFE Lockheed L188C Electra 1144 Atlantic Airlines
20:19 NPT022B G-BTPH British Aerospace ATP 2015 Atlantic Airlines
21:05 -------- G-CEGR Beech 200 Super King Air BB-351 Henfield Lodge
Ltd
22:06 NPT031E G-BTPH British Aerospace ATP 2015 Atlantic Airlines
22:30 RYR52ZN EI-ENP Boeing 737-8AS 40304 Ryanair


4th April
01:06 TOM4GD G-TAWB Boeing 737-8K5/W 37242 Thomson Airways
02:12 AWC13R G-ZAPW Boeing 737-3L9 24219 Titan Airways
03:03 NPT022P G-MANH British Aerospace ATP 2017 Atlantic Airlines
05:24 NPT543 G-LOFE Lockheed L188C Electra 1144 Atlantic Airlines
05:53 NPT022G G-MANH British Aerospace ATP 2017 Atlantic Airlines
07:12 FRA67 G-MAFE Dornier 228-202K 8009 Cobham Leasing Ltd
07:20 RYR3351 EI-DCR Boeing 737-8AS 33811 Ryanair
08:01 GCTCD G-CTCD Diamond DA42 Twin Star 42.079 Ctc Aviation Group

[possibleconsequences]

The official airport opening times are 0630 until 2130 every day. Anything flying outside of those times is subject to an extension arrangement or other agreement with the airport, the type of arrangement that has been in place for the mail flights for many years. Seven of the flights listed in the previous post are operating whilst the airport is shut to general aviation. Staffing at night reflects these arrangements.

[TCAS FAN]

BOURNEMOUTH air

Flights do operate late at night/early hours of the morning but most are freight/mail that do not require use of a licensed aerodrome (ie without CAT 7 fire cover and the staff that requires providing), do not require full ATC (ie three or more controllers on duty at a time) and the Terminal Building not open (with all the handling and other staff). Unless there is demand for passenger flights (which there isn't) full 24 hour operation is not going to happen at Bournemouth anytime soon.

[Rivet Joint]

Welcome back everybody to round 5,000,001 of the Surreal world of Bournemouth Airport.

Join us next week when we discuss the possibility of an A380 stand being constructed :ugh:

[Le Tirer]

I don't think anyone has advocated permanent fully staffed 24 hour opening at this time. They are just pointing out that the airport is already open 24 hours a day with limited ATC/Fire Cover for mail flights and regularly fully staffed for scheduled flights beyond the official closing time. There are scheduled Thomson and Ryanair arrivals most nights after 21:30.

If any operator is willing to pay the extension fee for an arrival or departure between 21:30 and 06:30 then presumably the airport will consider accepting the flight. If the demand is there during the Olympics period (and I have no idea whether it will be or not) then surely there could effectively be full 24 hour operations for the period or even just on a few odd days.

LT

[MARKEYD]

THOMSON SUMMER 2013

Thomson have released there first edition brochure and the only new destination will be the return of Tunisia on a Sunday with a Palma service being dropped to make way for it .

Mahon and Lanzarote new this year are staying for next summer

Mon MAH DLM
Tue PMI TFS
Wed IBZ PFO
Thu PMI AYT ( SSH in Oct )
Fri CFU DLM ( TFS in Oct )
Sat PMI RHO
Sun NBE ACE

[Bournemouth Air]

Looks like the airport is still not popular with the public

Bournemouth Airport Customer Reviews | SKYTRAX (http://www.airlinequality.com/Airports/Airport_forum/boh.htm)

[Siggyboy]

Yes it is not a great idea by BOH, but really reading some of those reviews! Are local people going to boycott the airport and go to Gatwick because of a £2.50 drop off charge??? I mean even if they used Southampton instead will hardly be a cost saving. Seems to me a bit of a wind up by a few anti BOH types!

[Aero Mad]

I'm afraid I don't think it is just anti-BOH types. The charge is extremely bloody-minded and like the debit/credit card charges which both Flybe and Aurigny have dropped today, it leaves a very sour taste in the mouth of the customer and makes them feel ripped off... dropping people off and paying by card don't cost the imposers of the charge anything and yet they charge on the ridiculous basis that it somehow could. Consumers really aren't that stupid (unfortunately it's the management which is, however). They really are disadvantaging themselves against SOU - strikes me as mildly suicidal.

[possibleconsequences]

Given that the airport gets such bad press about this charge they must be making a fair amount of money to persist with it. For an airport financially strapped that would be irresistible. Other airports have imposed charges to pay for development, Bournemouth can't impose any extra tax on passengers directly presumably as Ryanair would stop that. Car parking/ access to drop off is one of the very few ways of getting income.

[mikkie4]

has bournmouth management had anything to say about the parking charges?

[pottwiddler]

£2.50 is hardly a huge amount of money these days. Can you get a pint of beer for that? Is it worth risking you life over for by getting dropped off, crossing parley lane and walking down a busy road just for the price of an M&S sandwich? Those that do are the stupid ones. Most people park up and pay up as they realise like I do, the convenience of a LOCAL airport. These times are hard, look at Coventry, Manston and DTV. Other airports charge for drop off now, so who's stupid aero mad?

[Aero Mad]

£2.50 is hardly a huge amount of money these days

No it isn't, but it is the principal to which people object. If held at knife-point and asked for £0.20, I would still be extremely reluctant to give that money away.

[Janet Spongthrush]

I agree entirely that it's the principle, not the cost, that gets one's goat.

It doesn't help that the service associated with the cost appears poor too. Last year I paid £6 to park in the viewing area for an hour or so but couldn't get out after paying as the barrier wouldn't go up and the intercom didn't work (had to walk to the terminal!). This year, I couldn't get in the same car park, again the intercom button didn't work and the error message was in Spanish.

[shamrock7seal]

It seems that only people averse to change or the way the world is heading are against drop off fees (EMA has them too you know, and other regional airports)

If you are reluctant to hand over 20p with a knife held to your throat then it kind of explains how mad you are!!

The principle of the fee is to keep people in jobs at BOH. simple!

[yorky66]

If 100% of clients are totally pi**ed off with the whole concept of drop off charges and most say they will avoid BOH in future how can that possiby protect peoples jobs.

Although minor by comparison the Viewing Park is closed to vehicles while some work is carried out.....the alternative is a Car Park costing a minimum of £17...even for 15 minutes !! You won't get killed in the rush!

[sky9]

Park a baggage trolley on the magnetic sensors that will keep the barrier up then just drive right through.:ugh:

[Aero Mad]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2QmoNZP_-A

[possibleconsequences]

yorky66

'If 100% of clients are totally pi**ed off with the whole concept of drop off charges and most say they will avoid BOH in future how can that possiby protect peoples jobs.'

There are not many people who will actually avoid Bournemouth in the future, maybe a few dozen, maybe a few hundred and if they are daft enough to pay extra petrol to avoid £2.50 then that's their choice. As has been explained several times on here,the airport HAS to make money to survive. It only has the choice of imposing a departure / development charge on tickets (WHICH AIRLINES WILL NOT TOLERATE) or to make money from the duty free or car parking. The car park charge, unpopular as it is, makes them money. This prevents them from going bust - it's as simple as that. They may not be very good at explaining it but you only have to look at MAG's accounts to see the problem.

Also, as has been pointed out, several other airports charge too, whether it's for drop off or via a development tax (such as at Exeter). Incidentally, the compulsory use of the car park also prevents the situation that used to occur where dozens of cars would sit on yellow lines / taxi ranks etc waiting to pick up passengers and happily blocking access for other users of the airport.

It's just part of the modern aviation business, cheap flights mean airlines do not pay much in landing or other fees to airports therefore airports are forced to charge for other services. Simples.

[yorky66]

It's alright ranting on about car parking charges...BUT....people simply dropping someone off do not wish to use ..or even enter a car park.

I think you will find that Exeter (for eg) costs £1 to park for 30 minutes but also allows 10 mins drop off for free.

It's all about business relationship and these charges...though maybe not a massive amount , create a huge amount of bitterness and ill feeling.

When times are hard they should be going out of their way to welcome people and make them feel appreciated.

The powers that be at BOH couldn't understand that if it was written on the side of a Ryanair 737.

[possibleconsequences]

Not sure who's ranting on. I agree that it is particularly bad PR to charge for drop off but they aren't the only ones and my point was that they are losing money and need every income stream they can get, even if it alienates some users of the airport. People may not wish to use the car park but they do wish to use the airport and it has an absolute right to charge for that. People can freely choose not to use it but as an airport user I hope it survives!

[Expressflight]

At SEN you get 10 minutes free in the Short Stay car park which is adequate for dropping off pax and is, I would suggest, a reasonable expectation to most people.

To charge £2.50 for just dropping someone off smacks of either opportunism or a desperate need for the money. Either way it hardly endears the passenger to the airport.

[Ernest Lanc's]

The £2.50 charge for drop off at BOH is a drop in the Ocean...BLK have a £10 ADF fee offset by free parking up to 14 days. I think there is a free short while without fee for a drop off, not sure though.

The point being that airports like BOH, BLK and other regional airports need extra cash to operate in an economic dip like we are in.

I really can't see why there is such a fuss over a couple of quid - I would gladly pay that, if BOH where my local airport.

[Expressflight]

EL, regardless of your personal view as to the reasonableness of the drop-off charge I would suggest that the Customer Survey which sparked this debate speaks for itself.

[yorky66]

The visual effect is not helpfull either.

The rows of hundreds of bollards,and signs such as "No Pedestrian Access" (when people are continually walking down from and back to the main road anyway) in order to attempt to enforce this rediculous demand makes the entrance to the airport , which has just had over £50 million spent on it, look like a back street alley.

[Ernest Lanc's]

Expressflight
I wonder if those same people who took part in the customer survey, would have been more positive had the question had been.." The revenues raised by the drop of charge, is to help the long term secure the long term future of BOH"

Would the answers have been the same?.

[Nakata77]

Do a quick survey of those who oppose the drop off charges and I'm willing to bet they are mostly over 50 years old.

Times have changed, the airport needs to find ways to survive. I would happily pay this fee if i know its going to a good cause - keeping my local airport open.

SWITCH TO PUBLIC TRANSPORT BY TAKING THE TRAIN/BUS AND/OR SHARE A CAB AND EITHER AVOID OR PAY A LOWER FEE PER HEAD.

[Barling Magna]

Isn't everybody in Bournemouth over 50 years old?

:)

[Expressflight]

Nakata77

I didn't realise that you could take a train to BOH.

If you cannot and you were merely suggesting that pax should catch a train to the nearest station and then hop on a bus to the airport, that should be fun with a couple of suitcases - whether you are over 50 or not.

[GayFriendly]

Expressflight

There is a very good bus dedicated bus service from Bournemouth train/coach station direct to BOH, takes about 20 minutes, its pricey but very easy and convenient. I managed easily travelling alone with two suitcases as there I went straight from the platform to the bus (no steps or stairs) and the bus has loads of suitcase stowage space. Agreed a regular local bus would be a mare but this is so easy as it is designed for airport pax with luggage, only downside is that service is only hourly but given the number of lfights at BOH I guess that's no surprise.

Personally I find the long slog from the Tube station at LHR to T1 or T3 much more stressful as there are staircases and escalators involved and a long underground walkway before more steps into the terminal itself....if I was more patient I suppose I could wait for the lifts!

[Expressflight]

Thanks for the clarification GF.

[ryanair1]

What were the passenger loads like on its first day?

[Nakata77]

No one wants to tell you Ryanair1 in case you come back on the route forcing EI off it and then ditch it again once you have a monopoly.

The way I see it, for domestic and Irish routes, a 70 seater is a perfect match for BOH in competiting with Flybe at SOU and addressing the right demand/supply mix.

[adfly]

Speaking of the Part timers and their big Yellow Harp, does anyone know if they will take their usual 3 month holiday this year? I suppose if Aer Lingus continue DUB as it is for the winter then it should offset the reduction of GVA from 8-6 weekly flights. It also means that there will now only be one day with only 1 flight before EZY get going (Sat, Blue Islands to Jersey)!

Finally does anyone think TOM could try to expand their winter schedule a little, 1 or 2 of INN/SZG/GNG/CMF would cater for the ski market well and I'm sure a flight to ALC or AGP would work, Flybe seem to do fine with them from SOU over the winter. A wild card could be a weekly flight to PMI over the winter, I know PMI is generally not very popular over the winter season, but there are no flights from BOH, SOU or EXT over the winter so I'm fairly sure a weekly flight could be filled!

[Keyvon]

Talking about winter sun destinations, it would be nice to see the reinstatement of charter flights to popular spots such as LPA, FUE and FNC.

Too much competition from FR during the cold months to the Spanish costas/Algarve.

I believe FAO and AGP could do well as a summer only operations.

There is a little chance of seeing a winter service to PMI as very few people tend to jet off to Balearics for a sun break.

[adfly]

Forgot FNC, with a whole 2 flights this year by Atlantic Holidays I think its fair to say it is a little underserved. Would be a good year round route for TOM and it well during the days of Palmair (:{). For ALC and AGP I was thinking mainly for the 3 months in which FR are absent but both along with FAO could work during the Summer.

Coming to think of it TOM seem somewhat restricted by the 14 flights a week their single based 738 is able to operate as they have done a lot of chopping and changing to some fairly succesful routes. Could we ever see a second aircraft even if it were just for the Summer Season? Seen as I have some time on my hands here's some ideas for 2 based aircraft:

Bold = Current Route
Red/Bold = Dropped Route labeled if by another airline

MAH - 1x (Summer Only)
IBZ - 2x (Summer Only - 1 night flight for the ravers!?)
REU - 1x (Summer Only)
AGP - 2x (Year Round)
ALC - 2x (Year Round)
FAO - 2x (Summer Only)
PMI - 4x (Summer Only - 1 night flight for the ravers!)
DLM - 2x (as it is already with 1 flight starting earlier/ending later)
TFS - 2x (possibly 3x in the winter?)
ACE - 1x (2x in the winter?)
LPA - 1x (Year Round)
FUE - 1x (Year Round)
CFU - 1x (Summer Only)
RHO - 1x (Summer Only)
HER - 1x (Summer Only - could this work in the winter?)
PFO - 1x (Year Round)
LCA - 1x (Year Round)
FNC - 1x (Year Round) - Thomson/Palmair
SSH - 1x (Increasing to 2x in the winter)
AYT - 1x (Summer Only)
TRN - 1x (Winter Only)
NBE - 1x (Year Round)
INN - 1x (Winter Only) - Austrian/Inghams
SZG - 1x (Winter Only)

This would be 30 weekly flights in the Summer (28 + 2 overnight) and 20 in the winter, and longshot I know but I could definitley see some of these working maybe when the economy gets better. Of course a reduction in APD would help a lot but that would be an effective way to increase business in the civil aviation industry and passenger numbers helping the economy but that is too logical for our Govt!

And while I'm dreaming lets throw these two into the mix:

BGI - 1x (Winter Only)
SFB - 1x (Summer Only)

I'm guessing if a 440 passenger 742 can make JFK off BOH's runway then these should be doable with a 763 (258 pax) or 788 (291 pax)!

[pamann]

I thought this was a rumours and news forum..? Not school yard dreams. Yawn :ugh:

[adfly]

I realise I may have taken it a little too far but i'll label the current and previous dropped routes to make it a little clearer and less dreamy...

[MARKEYD]

Bath Travel have are using British Airways EMB 190 for a day trip to Venice in Oct , having discontinued these very popular trips a few years ago they are possibly testing the water s again for a return .

Lets hope they use BA next year to test the water again for a re start of Palmair holidays to Palma , Mahon etc with just a niche few routes and a 98 seater that they know they can fill at a weekends when the aircraft has down time at City Airport . These aircraft gave been used very well for charters from GLA / EDI an MAN for the last few years and Palmair i am sure could well capitalise on this ?

[adfly]

Now that could be a great opportunity, small, efficient aircraft with not too many seats and good legroom (Palmair always mentioned how they'd removed a row of seats!) and a well known and recognised brand in the south (Both BA and Bath Travel) The only real limit would be availiability of aircraft as they only really tend to be free at weekends when demand for Business routes ex. LCY is slimmer and also when the airport is closed. However it would be great too see Bath Travel re-introduce some of the Palmair flights as there has always been a market for them it has just been squeezed by TOM and FR, but the smaller E-jets should mean this isn't too much of a problem!

[adfly]

Couple of questions:

Does anyone know yet if Ryanair will take a 3 month break again this year?

and

When can we expect Aer Lingus to release Dublin for the winter, currently its only bookable until the 27th October?

[shamrock7seal]

Dublin first month (May): 65% load factor, assuming all the ATR-72's were 72 seat capacity.

BOH saw a 9.1% increase in pax for May'12. 73,994 pax carried.

Vancouver is listed as a route during May with 1,533 pax carried - anyone know why?!

[MARKEYD]

Really good to see the passenger figures increasing finally after a few very poor years

New routes from Ryanair saw Rhodes at 80 % and Malta at 86 % load factor while Carcassone and Wraclow not available at the moment

Thomson saw good figures on all there services as usual with there new route to Mahon at 91 % load factor

Dublin i think was slightly less than 65 % running at 57 % load factor but a fantastic start to a well established route again

All we need now is Ryanair to fill in the missing 3 months with the Spanish routes but some how i dont think so again making it 3 years now without a winter operation .
Bring in Monarch on a W pattern to have a go the demand is there !

[Rivet Joint]

Do good load factors necessarily mean good yeilds though? Just a question :ok:

[commit aviation]

Bring in Monarch on a W pattern to have a go the demand is there !

MarkeyD: What are you basing this assumption on????

Do you think Palmair have ceased to be due to an excess of demand? Or that Thomson reduce their flying programme in the winter & Ryanair suspend operations for 3 months each year for a similar reason?

What little demand exists in the winter is usually on very low yields which make little or no economic sense for airlines. It is not just BOH but the whole industry that suffers this annually & with the recession at present it's making things worse.
I appreciate it's tough to support your local airport when there isn't much flying out of it in the winter & I'm sure the commercial types will be doing all possible to attract more business, but airlines are not charities.

If & when the upturn comes then things will improve no doubt for the entire industry. Until then be grateful to hang on to what you have as a number of airfields are struggling to manage that.

[shamrock7seal]

MARKEYD - are you sure? are you factoring in the fact that they only fly 6 times per week?

[MARKEYD]

Commit Aviation

I totally agree with your comments and was just a bit frustrated that there looks to be another 3 month gap in the Bournemouth calendar , good valid points you make !

I might be doing load factors completely wrong Shamrock ! my understanding was that Dublin showed 2237 pax in and out which makes an average of 41 pax per flight and a 57 % load factor given it was a 72 seater aircraft

[Rivet Joint]

Thank you Commit, glad to see there is someone else not living in cloud coukoo land. Successful regional airports such as Birmingham, Southampton, Aberdeen are all consoldating their route expansion at the moment yet amazingly people think a backwater airport like bournemouth can sustain a yeild rich flight programme in the winter months :rolleyes:.

[Nakata77]

Compared to its immediate local competitors, BOH carries more INTL pax

CAA MAY 12 INTL PAX

BOH 71,000
SOU 55,000
EXT 47,000

CAA MAY 11 INTL PAX

BOH 67,000
SOU 60,000
EXT 49,000

[bob1810]

Thanks for the Stats, Nakata77 not bad for a Backwater Airport.

[9287Excellent]

The load factor figures for the Dublin route might be a bit tricky to work out, I have seen it operated on a number of days in May with the smaller ATR-42, so I would assume that they didn't need the capacity on those days for the larger 72. The vast majority of times it is the 72 though.
On a slightly separate note, does anyone know what the Monarch A320 was doing at BOH today?? Not sure what time it arrived, but it took off just before us around lunch time.

[Rivet Joint]

Pleased to see you readily live up to the head in the clouds mentality on the Bournemouth thread Nakata77.

What is it with you guys, is the word yeild like cryptonite to you? It doesn't matter if you have a million more passengers than the other regionals, if they are paying 1p a flight on Ryanair as apposed to 60k passengers paying £100 plus at the others then it is irrelevant isn't it :ok:

[MARKEYD]

The Monarch A320 was operating a flight to Maderia on behalf of Atlantic Holidays the 2nd flight operates in September

Small Planet operated to Dubrovnik and Oporto today

A small observation was Bournemouth had 29 arrival / departures today not bad for a " backwater " airport

River Joint i would suggest that you stop reading the Bournemouth thread and commenting on it as its obviously sending you into orbit every time , channel your efforts into other threads

[pug]

Rivet Joint. Whilst you have a point that yields are important, yields clearly arent a problem for Ryanair and Thomson as they have retained a presence at the airport for a number of years.

[9287Excellent]

Wow 29 arrivals/departures...thats not bad at all! Mondays and Fridays do seem to be the busiest days of the week at the airport.

[Fairdealfrank]

Why is BOH being called a "backward" airport and a "backwater" airport.
Surely it's a small regional airport like many up and down the country.

[Aero Mad]

Why is BOH being called a "backward" airport and a "backwater" airport.

Because there are some people on this forum who apparently take pleasure in slating Bournemouth, and the people who chose to support it. Rivet Joint loves to tell others that they have their 'heads in the clouds', but he can't even spell the word 'yield' correctly (incidentally, the whole yield vs. load factor thing becoming rather clichéd on here as people use it to try and prove they know what they're talking about). Frankly all those who hold their heads high in their perceived superiority are just as bad as the people whom they appear to see themselves as above.

[Rivet Joint]

My post was merely a response to Markeyd's question of why bournemouth has a "3 month down period" in the winter months.

Aeromad, no one is taking joy or exuding superiority over anyone, such things as yield matter when running a business. Don't shoot the messenger :hmm:. I did enjoy you undermining your point by highlighting a simple spelling mistake though :D.

[Aero Mad]

The fact that the same mistake was made twice would lead most to believe it to be rather more than just a typo... my point still stands as such.

[shamrock7seal]

Come on guys, lets all get along.

In my opinion (and purely from the airport perspective) the volume of passengers is more important in these tight economic times than the yield. It doesnt matter if a pax paid 1p or 100quid, the additional volume assists airports in terms of jobs, revenue from ancillary sales in the airport, tourism and local economic prosperity through use of public transport (train and bus), car-hire, taxi, car-parking payments. Every pax counts. And if BOH sees most of its pax going outbound then it assists in terms of gov tax payments! Lol

The point one could raise about BOH carrying more International volumes than its rivals would be related to potential for further growth. Especially when one considers that some main International destinations are not even served and never have been served correctly. e.g AMS (3 daily by KLM would be ideal for the market although BE's new partnership with them from SOU may scupper this)

[commit aviation]

Firstly I will state I have no axe to grind with BOH or any regional airport: I believe they have an important role to play now & increasingly so if / when we get out of our current economic malaise.

However Shamrock to suggest yield is unimportant is I fear a little naive.
If you earned £2000 a month but had bills totalling £2100 a month would you consider that unimportant? Maybe if it was only a month or two because the car had broken down & you normally spent less than you earned then okay but long term you'd have a problem!

It's no different for an airport or an airline. Sure airports can (& do) attract airlines by offering deals but the running costs still need to be paid. Airlines can (& do) lower fares to attract more passengers (especially out of season) but the pilots & cabin crew don't fly for free (although some "Low Cost" folk feel like they do I suspect!) & the fuel to get you there still costs the same.
Apologies if I am teaching you to suck eggs (& to any airline economists who will correctly state its a little more complex than that!)

Lesson over for the day! :8

[shamrock7seal]

Unfortunately the LCC business and second tier airports like BOH can only bank on volume. The yield is for the airline to manage. The airport must be focused on volume, and the only way BOH can survive is to do what they do best: budget airline market.

[MARKEYD]

Does anyone know if Aer Lingus Regional will be operating the Dublin route past Oct ?

Seems rather late in the day to launch a winter programme when all other UK airports are bookable except Blackpool which i understand is a summer only route now

[PPRuNeUser0176]

DUB-BHO
NOC-BHX
WAT-MAN
WAT-LTN
WAT-SEN

All new routes which started in the summer schedule. The current EI regional routes on sale is just form the system being rolled on into the winter. They will all have time changes soon. Would imagine by early July at the latest before they are released but saying that I wouldn't be suprised if BHO was summer only and if it operated in winter I would only expect 3 weekly or 4 weekly.

[smithy1995]

Looking on the Live information their is 31 flights today in and out, well that's one of the busiest i've seen it in a long time !! shame everyday can't be like this !!!

[fareastguy]

Hi to everyone here,
I'm a new face to this forum so please go easy on me as I ease myself into your daily routine..
It's been 5 years since I last passed through BOH so a lot has changed since then & I'd like to catch up bit by bit.

31 flights in total sounds good, but divided roughly by 2 (outbound/inbound) makes it a more manageable figure.. a bit like the last time I passed through so sounds like the projected build up has somewhat stalled, considering it's June & summer season.

My question is one in regards to the security search cone area, how many "cones" operate normally or are available during peak times??
Also is the boarding pass check still a pinch point as it was in the old days with just 1 staff member at a desk to check all pax before entering the search area.

[MARKEYD]

Looks like the much waited new route to Dublin is only on sale until end of Oct as Aer Lingus Regional has released there winter timetable and Bournemouth is not available after this period

Very disappointing if this is the case

[loveJet]

I do hope that isn't true MARKEYD, i've heard the load factors are strong considering it is such a new route.

There is such a huge list of airlines that have tried and failed at BOH, when will someone learn the mistakes of the past to avoid the same fate in the future?

List of airlines & their key routes that were tried at BOH:

Flybe - Manchester
Air Berlin - Paderborn
Wizzair - Gdansk, Katowice, Krakow
Jet2 - Belfast
bmibaby - Jersey
easyJet - Krakow, Grenoble
Ryanair - Glasgow, Edniburgh, Madrid, Reus
Aurigny - Alderney, Jersey, Guernsey
Euro Direct - Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris
Thomsonfly - Amsterdam, Paris, Prague, Salzburg
Lauda air - Innsbruck
Jersey European - Jersey, Guernsey
Dan air - Newcastle, Liverpool
Flyglobespan - was on sale with EDI but never launched
Buzz - was on sale with 7 destinations but never launched
Palmair - announced Glasgow double daily but never went on sale

The reasons for the failures are many and varied but is there a common theme?

[pottwiddler]

Lovejet, trolling?

some of those listed were for when I was in shorts...

you make me laugh!

[loveJet]

hahaha, yes. Remove Dan air and Euro Direct. But still a compelling list? To complete my trolling: Air Sarnia (Alderney), Southern Airlines (Proposed Saab 340 operator to Glasgow, Brussels etc) and Executive Airlines (Manchester)

OH damn! I forgot Gill Airways and Euroscot Express to Glasgow, Edinburgh and a proposed Amsterdam service.

Too many even for me to mention...

[MARKEYD]

Nothing to get to excited about but Bath Travel have added a second day trip to Venice in Oct using BA E 190 jet . The first flight sold out very quickly so the aircraft will night stop now and operate again the next day

There is still obviously a demand for this sort of programme from Bournemouth and Palmair holidays must still be missed by a lot of people who are still prepared to pay a bit extra for quality flights and service

[roverman]

Who remembers Air Wight's twice daily (M-F) BOH-MAN route, operated in the mid-1980s with a C404, I think. Most of the seats were block-booked by Barclays (Boooh!) but the service was available for general booking.

[LEEDS APPROACH]

Eurodirect flew a LBA route too if I remember correctly?

[FLYboh]

Just checked the Aer Lingus website and the DUB route is on sale for this winter. Schedule remains roughly the same. 6 per week, only the time changes very slightly departing BOH at 16.05.:ok:

[adfly]

Great news! Should make BOH more like an airport at least before the Ski routes; 6 weekly GVA (EZY) and 1 weekly TRN (TOM) start. If I am right in saying prior too this there was going to be 0 flights on a Monday in Nov/1st half of DEC, quite ironic when you consider Monday's have comfortably been the busiest days of the week this summer!! :p

[loveJet]

Excellent news, well done BOH securing this for W12.

In my opinion, if developed well enough, this route should be able to support 12 weekly flights with onward connections in the future.

[adfly]

As long as a morning flight offers trans-atlantic connections then I have little doubt that it will work. Remember Ryanair used to offer 189 seats per day on this route as opposed to 144(2x72) and at not particularly great times either!

[9287Excellent]

Great news that the Dublin route is continuing into the winter! I've heard it seems to be doing well, so hopefully it will continue to do so...its certainly nice to see a different tail over at the terminal instead of the usual stream Ryanairs and the Thomson flights.
Whilst I was bored the other day, I was looking at the winter schedules for a few different places and, unless I was reading it wrong, it looked to me like Ryanair may have a few flights scheduled for the winter period...it said the schedule was valid until December or January 2013 on a few of the flights, although these didn't seem to be on BOH based aircraft. Is this correct??

[shamrock7seal]

The airport website is displaying this route as operating until July 2013. Not sure if this is correct or is in anticipation of it happening.

The airport paper edition timetable doesn't even feature Geneva as a route for W13! Typical!

easyJet has the route on sale until 24thMar'13 (a month earlier than normal)

[MARKEYD]

Just looking at the provisional figures for June for the Dublin route , 2nd month of operation and good news is that 2454 passengers used the service making it a 68 % load factor .

Great news it is continuing into the winter season

All the Geneva services are only on sale until March at the moment as the Easy Jet web site is only up until this time at present

Hopefully the timetable will be up dated now to include the Dublin route

[shamrock7seal]

BOH pax numbers up 19.3% compared to last year at 85,188

No data for Wroclaw or Carcassonne (is this included in the total?)

Strangely Vancouver showed again carrying 2,184 pax. Are these private or business pax?

Big growth seen on Murcia (up 80%) to 7,259 and Palma now the busiest ever route from BOH carrying 14,577 in a single month up 14%.

Turkey saw big declines.

SOU-DUB saw a 14% reduction perhaps attributable to BOH-DUB

June was the wettest month on record so perhaps this explains why BOH has done so well this month, most flights are holiday flights to the sun.

[Groundloop]

Turkey saw big declines.

Was to be expected with the loss of Thomas Cook for this year.

[benm345]

Whilst highly unlikely to ever happen, it has been reported in the media recently that aer lingus are looking to expand in the UK domestic market. If this ever did happen, what do people think about the idea of a daily Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast rotation from Aer Lingus regional. Surely if anyone could make it work it could be them?

What do people think?

[Nakata77]

It did enter my mind fleetingly when I heard they were looking for UK bases, or considering them. To be honest I think they will set up SEN as a hub for Scottish services and more Regional Irish routes (like Donegal, Cork, Kerry, Knock, Derry - NI) before they consider doing anything else. I have also heard that they are considering doing something at Carlisle when the airport is properly developed for scheduled services.

Although an 'Aer Lingus' brand may assist with demand from BOH to Scotland and N.I, i'm not sure the fares they will be able to offer (and the frequencies) would be competitive enough with that of Flybe at SOU to achieve the critical mass. Plus ATR-72 would need a 2 hour block to get to either GLA or EDI from BOH compared with the 1hr 20 block for E-Jets at SOU.

It would be a welcome development, but I think easyJet A319's would be better for these routes.

[Gulf Julliet Papa]

Aer Lingus are considering domestic UK operations from HEATHROW. They have applied to get the ex-BMI slots that BA had to give away as part of the merger. If Aer Lingus get these slots then they will start domestic opertions from LHR and not BOH

[Nakata77]

Gulf Julliet Papa, I think we were discussing Aer Lingus Regional and not Aer Lingus itself. I believe Regional has expressed an interest in setting up UK operational bases and both Carlisle and Southend have been mentioned. Of course Aer Lingus itself has bigger fish to fry.

[MARKEYD]

Would be good to see Thomson start or perhaps increase a few more routes now from Bournemouth

Exeter , Norwich , Aberdeen and Leeds have all seen quite large increases in flights for next summer with new destinations launched , larger aircraft used and increase in services to existing destinations

Are Bournemouth allowed night flights ?

The reason i ask is the Exeter based a/c has a few extra flights in the evenings to various places arriving back early enough for the morning departures

Bournemouth based a/c just operates 2 flights each day and nothing more

The loads for most of there services are in the high 180 s using a 737 800 and Exeter is slightly less

[Gulf Julliet Papa]

According to benm345 "it has been reported in the media recently that aer lingus are looking to expand in the UK domestic market"

The only news report I can find is

Aer Lingus to bid for UK slots at Heathrow - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/9384218/Aer-Lingus-to-bid-for-UK-slots-at-Heathrow.html#)

Which is Aer Lingus...not regional. If Regional had the spare aircraft (which they don't), and IF they were to set up a base in the UK surely it would be at a stobart airport (Southend/Carlisle). If this was to happen it would be best be best been Aer Arran, as Aer Lingus has almost 0 name value other than flying to Ireland. Have a look at up the road Aer Lingus's LGW base collapse

[Bournemouth Air]

Bournemouth does not open for schedule traffic during the night only for frieght.

[shamrock7seal]

BOH to TLV would be a strong route in terms of yield

The BOH catchment (including Dorset & Hants) has a significant Jewish community, numbering around 10,000.

On top of this, add inbound VFR and outbound Christian holidays and load factors would be very strong. If only half of the Jewish community used the service twice a year, you have a humming business for 2 weekly flights year-round.

[Groundloop]

If only half of the Jewish community used the service twice a year,

"IF ONLY"?!!! It is VERY unusual to ever capture a market share that large.

[Expressflight]

Not even VERY unusual - it's completely unheard of.

[MARKEYD]

Good news from Thomson / First choice is a new route from Bournemouth this winter to Egypt Hurghada .

This will make 2 flights a week now to Egypt , Sharm on Thursday and Hurghada on a Monday .

Originally Monday was a non flying day as Las Palmas had been dropped for next winter but this is really good news that it has been replaced

MON BOH HRG BOH
TUE BOH TFS BOH
WED BOH PFO BOH Nov , March , April
THU BOH SSH BOH
FRI BOH TFS BOH
SAT ---
SUN BOH TRN BOH ACE BOH

[Groundloop]

Is that Wednesday to PFO ALL winter? BOH website currently shows it does not operate most of December and all January and February.

However, we all know how accurate that website is!:ugh:

[MARKEYD]

Yes sorry , it only operates Nov , March - April

Shame really as loads all winter were very good

[Nakata77]

Thanks MARKEYD

That's terrible aircraft utilization. They must be making a killing on yields if they are able to operate such a light schedule for half the year with a based aircraft and associated crewing/engineering costs.

[MARKEYD]

They have done for years !

There is obviously no way they are going to return to Alicante / Malaga / Faro summer or winter whilst Ryanair are semi operating so just the usual winter routes

Exeter is no different with low a/c utilisation

[MARKEYD]

Bad news is that Thomson / First Choice have printed in error in all new Winter brochures the Hurgahada route on a Monday but it is fact not operating at all so apologies for getting everyones hopes up on something that is not now going to happen

Back to a quite Winter again

[shamrock7seal]

Come on Palmair - give us some decent 2013 holidays using BA ERJ-190 on weekends.

Palma - Saturdays and Sundays
Menorca - Saturdays
Verona - Sundays
Dubrovnik - Sundays
Venice - Saturdays

This is just a start - the local population would jump on these. Anything but Ryanair please!

[possibleconsequences]

The local population may not have an airport the way things are going there.

[MARKEYD]

What have you heard then ?

[pottwiddler]

The airport is moving!

possibleconsequences is merely trolling... but on 'poss' give us a laugh...

[possibleconsequences]

Pottwidler :not sure what you mean by trolling ?
An airport which is losing money, is in debt to its parent group ( MAG) and is laying off its safety team and other staff would appear to be in a fairly poor position. Other airports have failed to recover from such a state. I use Bournemouth a lot and hate to see it strugglingso if you have more positive rumours/ news (you stated it is moving) then please let us know.

[Nakata77]

Possibleconsequences, pottwiddler is merely highlighting the fact that you seem to be scare mongering before knowing all the facts.

The business park delivers 3-4m in profits every year directly to MAG, check their report and accounts. Around 60% of those businesses need the airport attached to make them viable. Hence the business park and the airport need each other to survive.

The commercial aspect of the airport in terms of aviation/aeronautical income is poor because of the loss of Palmair which contributed a significant portion of the airports revenue. But this was not sustainable. The LCC model is now what the airport must serve. This means cutting costs to ensure that it can be a LCC driven airport. The 'safety' team is not really all that essential despite what the name implies. The essential 'safety' jobs can very easily be passed to airport fire service which sit idle 75% of the time. Other cost cutting measures can also be taken to ensure the airport is serving the needs of the LCC's well enough and sustainably.

The airport is performing, it will grow this year from last. It carries a significant number of leisure holiday passengers, more than Exeter, Southampton, Newquay, on par with Cardiff, Doncaster.

[possibleconsequences]

Nakata.

I stated facts in my last post - not rumours and certainly didn't intend scaremongering - however,rumours are around that there is an option to close the terminal and continue as a g/a airfield - i hope they are wrong.. The business park may deliver profits to MAG but it does not deliver profits to Bournemouth (as i understand it ). Profits from the industrial park do not go to Bournemouth's accounts, though presumably the profit from flying activities from the industrial park do.Also,Bournemouth has to pay MAG back the money it borrowed to build the terminal.

Bournemouth made a loss last year because the forecast passenger numbers that justified the terminal have not appeared due to recession so at the moment the LCC model (or any other, for that matter) isn't working as projected, it presumably is the best bet for the future though. Your point on Palmair - i'm not sure how much that changed things so i can't answer that.

I have it on good authority that the safety team will be missed and firemen do not sit round 75% of the time. Clearly, you would hope that the essential safety aspects have been maintained though.

I hope, and presume that it will survive as a viable passenger airport so if Pottwidler and yourself have rumours or facts to back up the statement that 'the airport is moving' and 'it will grow this year from last' then i'd be genuinely delighted to read them.

[pottwiddler]

Possible-Glad you qualified your one liner, my reposte was a (lame) joke at the airport physically moving to a more 'suitable' area- where ever that may be!

The rumours you state about the the airport becoming G/A only are true! They ARE rumours and nothing more. If you think about it commercial operations require a large cost base, firemen, security, terminal staff etc, the same goes for any airport and it doesn't matter whether you have 5 A/C a week or 500, the costs are roughly the same. There's a lot of frustrion with Bournemouth at the moment and the staff are probably not best pleased with the situation but looking at the latest stats bandied about on here, things are on the up...

[Big Tony]

Anyone know what the daily rotterdam flights are doing this week. It seems to be served by a dornier, is it a charter?

[Nakata77]

Olympic related

[9287Excellent]

Whilst taxying out to the runway the other day, I heard a Turkmenistan callsign call up for departure clearance, was one of the Rotterdam flights going early morning. Made a change to hear something "exotic" at Bournemouth, instead of the normal Ryanair, Thomson, Blackadders and Proflights! :)

[Wycombe]

Turkeministan was probably the Merlin (rotary variety) that's been about.

[MARKEYD]

Load s on the 4 new Ryanair routes for June are as follows , some a bit late as only just put on CAA stats page

Wroclaw 2797 155 pax
Carcassone 2184 121 pax
Malta 2611 163 pax
Rhodes 1341 168 pax

[adfly]

Can't see Malta or Wroclaw going anytime soon. However I believe as of this winter Ryanair are pulling out of Greece so Rhodes will probably be dropped after the summer (TOM still fly it though!). And we'll have to hope Carcassone picks up during July-Oct otherwise it may also be dropped next summer. How have the loads been for the rest of BOH's routes?

[9287Excellent]

Turkeministan was probably the Merlin (rotary variety) that's been about.

Yes it was, I know someone who saw it and said it was even painted in the Turkmenistan livery.

[Siggyboy]

Flew to Rhodes with Thomson recently from BOH. Only 1 or 2 empty seats both ways. Hope Carcassone loads improve for FR !!

[anna_list]

Hello,

FR's BOH June numbers look pretty good: Palma, Malaga, Rhodes, Faro, Alicante, Ibiza, Murcia, Tenerife, Malta, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria were all in the range 85-90% full (flown load factor), with Lanzarote, Wroclaw and Girona not far behind. Compared to last June the figures are all well up, although capacity has been reduced to Alicante (but increased to Palma and Murcia). The top two in terms of loads for the year so far are Alicante and Malaga by some distance.

The two routes that look a bit worrying are Pisa, which has been operated since 2006, but has seen loads consistently down from April to June this year, and Carcassonne which is only averaging just over half full so far this year.

Malta looks stronger than when it was first flown in 2010 and Wroclaw looks better than it did in 2008-9, when it operated 3 times a week initially (now twice a week). Carcassonne was also pretty weak when it was first flown back in 2009 although it did get to 83% in August 2009.

As usual, I have no idea about the all important yields...

Ryanair's list of dropped routes from Bournemouth is pretty impressive: Hahn, Shannon, Madrid, Nantes, Prestwick, Beauvais, Turin, Edinburgh, Marseille, Limoges, Reus, Bergamo, Valencia and Dublin. Looking back at the old statistics, very few of these routes were producing the kind of loads that we're seeing from the current batch of routes. This begs the question: If Ryanair feel like expanding the operation next summer, or replacing Carcassone, which routes might they add?

Personally, I would suggest Krakow (which was tried by Easyjet in the past, as was Katowice by Wizzair) - it could easily do as well as Wroclaw. Rome Ciampino might work, but the shortage of slots there makes it unlikely. If Greece and Ryanair remain on speaking terms next summer, I wouldn't rule out a weekly route or two to some of Ryanair's other favourite islands like Kos, Corfu or Chania.

[adfly]

I thought Ryanair were pulling out of Greece? I could see 2-3 per week to Warsaw-Modlin catering for the large Polish population in the area (mainly in and around Southampton though) Rome/Milan are not currently served from any of the south coast's ariports so they could be a good bet 3-4 per week and maybe Venice or even Porto a couple of times per week (Nermarket Hols and Palmair have shown theres some good demand to those destinations). The Greek routes would be worth considering is Ryanair are going to stay there too!

However its good to see almost all of their current routes doing very well especially considering the economy and an anti-aviation Government. I would imagine Thomson are doing well as they have kept all of this years routes for S13 plus re-added Tunisia but how have Aer Lingus and Blue Islands been loads wise?

[Nakata77]

adfly, June loads for Aer Lingus were 68% and Blue Islands was similar.

I am awaiting the July stats that should be released any day now. Hopefully this should show that momentum is maintained or improved.

[yorky66]

IT's reported that Aer Lingus are considering doubling their flights to twice daily...with Dublin connection timed for USA link.

BOH deserves some good news.....always plenty of rumours.

[adfly]

Now that would be fantastic!

[pottwiddler]

IT's reported that Aer Lingus are considering doubling their flights to twice daily...with Dublin connection timed for USA link.

BOH deserves some good news.....always plenty of rumours. Which is in itself a rumour, unless you can say where it's reported!:ok:

But agreed, it would be good news for the airport especially IF there was an early flight.

[shamrock7seal]

Some good news

BOH carried more passengers in July'12 than Southend, Exeter, Doncaster and more International passengers than Southampton.

Load factors also improved. Flights were up 17.6%, passengers up 18.1%

12 months to date 641,699 which is already higher than 2011 if it keeps up - we should see 675,000 this year (2012) a good improvement on 2011, despite no FR flying during Nov-Jan.

Palma was a stunner - 15,894 passengers in a single month, best ever for this route, and highest number the airport has seen on a single route. This route definitely needs a winter service in my opinion as there would be second home owners and VFR traffic.

Murcia also performing strongly, carrying 7,086 pax.

DUB seems strong, with a 70% load factor (assuming all flights were an ATR-72 with 68 seats, but some were ATR-42, so the load factor might be higher in actuality.

Strangely Vancouver is featured for a third month in a row with 2,621 passengers. I have a feeling this is a mistake and perhaps is actually either Carcassonne or Wroclaw, one of the new FR routes for which data is not available yet.

On the down-side, Turkey routes are lower than last year, some Greek island routes also down.

SOU: interestingly their DUB route was down 14.5%, their monthly passenger totals were down 9.5% with a worsening load factor as flights were only down 7.4%. SOU are really feeling Flybe's pain as has been reported in the press recently. They are too exposed to Flybe.

[Nakata77]

Great news, about time! Hopefully this will encourage other airlines like KLM to consider Bournemouth. Bournemouth was the fastest growing airport in July (apart from London Southend - but this was from a next to zero baseline) in the whole of the UK.

[bohpilot]

I work as flight deck for KLM Cityhopper and on numerous occasions I have pointed out to the CEO that Bournemouth has a good catchment area.

However the last time they made contact with the airport the discussions were not good, (ground costs apparently) and so they went with a code share with FlyBE out of Southampton.

A big shame but i think there was not enough incentive to start operations....

[pottwiddler]

Bohpilot, no harm in trying again, and sound like your negotiation team didn't try hard enough. I'm sure KLM or anyone flying to AMS will get a great yield as well as good load factors using a F70 or E-190.

[bohpilot]

Maybe, but in these times i think it is the airports that need to bid for business from the airlines..

[9287Excellent]

It would be nice to see a global carrier with a regular service into Bournemouth, be it KLM or maybe even Lufthansa cityline or someone like that! Although, I do agree with the above statement about the airports having to bid to the airlines, particularly in Bournemouth's case, they have had a lot of airlines start up there in recent years, sadly with very few success stories. It be nice if Aer Lingus Regional start the rumoured second daily flight into BOH, its nice to see a different Irish airline over at the terminal!

[Nakata77]

Bournemouth has had more than its fair share of failures, but Bournemouth has never really had a global airline. The closest to this is actually the current Aer Lingus service. before that it was Pan Am, American and QANTAS but that was a long time ago!

I think Bournemouth's potential can be realised with the right mix of airlines. We have seen the success of Ryanair, for example. KLM offers something that Bournemouth has never had before - feed on to global network of destinations. Considering the 000's of people who flock to Bournemouth via LHR from Korea, Europe, Taiwan and China for the local language schools there should be a good foundation on which to build a successful connecting traffic demand.

BOHPILOT - It would shock me if it was true that the airport hadn't bent over backwards to try and get KLM in if they were ever talking.

[shamrock7seal]

KLM City Hopper would be a good fit. I would use the service every month.

[MARKEYD]

I think KLM or Easy Jet would have already tried the Amsterdam route if they thought is was going to bring in the yield .
Thomson had great loads on both the Amsterdam and Paris but probably made little money and was never advertised about onward connections

Its going to take a long and frustrating time still to encourage airlines to use Bournemouth . Everything is in place now ready to go ie . new terminal , improved runway and apron but still terrible transport access to the airport and poor relations about the on going car park charges

Lets hope the airport can pull in Aer Lingus to operate another flight , its only been 3 months since they started and good loads are begining to appear . Hopefully Thomson may increase there work here ( great shame no more Carribean flghts after next year ) and as for Ryanair who knows !

Does anyone know when they are putting any flights on sale for Feb onwards i know this time last year they had already announced the summer schedule and put it on sale ( hence a good summer for them from here this year )

[shamrock7seal]

None of Ryanair's 50 or so bases for summer 13 are on sale yet.

Expect them to go up in the next 1 - 2 months. They are fixing some technical glitches apparently with their booking system before they release.

[Nakata77]

Newmarket holidays have added 4 departures in May'13 and 2 in Jun'13 so far. Seems like a big increase in monthly departures compared to this May. I have a feeling more will be loaded since they tend to do a lot more in Autumn, Sep and Oct in particular. They are also offering TFS during the Winter season. BOH is apparently their largest departure point outside London.