Birmingham-7

[canberra97]

Perhaps he is aware of that fact and wrote it in his article to draw attention to the idea!

[Plane.Silly]

How about Brummie International? still relevant and more catchy that other renamed airports around

[EastMids]

Perhaps he is aware of that fact and wrote it in his article to draw attention to the idea!

Well to me the words read like he's had an idea and is suggesting it - if he was aware the name had already been proposed, why did he not say words to the effect that the airport should adopt a name that was initially mooted two years ago? In any case, the idea was put forward two years ago but not adopted, and I doubt the ramblings of a travel journalist is going to make it happen now.

[canberra97]

Journalists don't work like that do they as they usually tend to take the credits for themselves!

I'm not a big fan of renaming airports as they don't make any real impact on the fortunes of airports by doing so, passengers will use that airport regardless of any name change so it should and will remain as it is Birmingham International Airport BHX.

[OK2128]

Sorry to correct you canberra. You mean as it was. It dropped the "International" some years ago

[canberra97]

My mistake I was aware of that and I should have realised but perhaps now is the time to add International again and rebrand back to Birmingham International Airport.

[crewmeal]

Birmingham International refers to the railway station next door.

On a different note, now Carillion have gone what's going to happen to HS2 and the giant plans for expansion at the airport?

[Plane.Silly]

Surely it's only a matter of time before someone takes over. Not gonna miss a big chunk of business like that. Serco or Interserve for example ... Their stocks wents up when the Carillion announcement was made.

Don't worry BHX airport, you'll be saved soon.....surely....

[Hotel Tango]

Incidentally, any further news on Swissport and their performances? We were kept waiting for ground staff (again) the other day.

[OltonPete]

Next winter an extra based aircraft - A320 per one GDS site.

Very early days but up one aircraft in winter to three based.

Monday - Marsa Alam, Fuerteventura (extra) & Arrecife

Tuesday - Tenerife, Banjul, Enfidha (new) & Antalya (new and all winter but expect change or just Thursday)

Wednesday - Tenerife, Hurghada & Fuerteventura

Thursday - Sal, Arrecife & Antalya (new)

Friday - Hurghada, Tenerife & Arrecife (new)

Saturday - Tenerife (new), Banjul (moved from Friday)& Fuerteventura

Sunday - Hurghada, Arrecife & Tenerife (new)

Worth noting that this could change as some flights this winter have ended up on TUI aircraft at times and vice versa.

[nigel osborne]

Birmingham International refers to the railway station next door.

On a different note, now Carillion have gone what's going to happen to HS2 and the giant plans for expansion at the airport?

Difficult to say yet.The Govt could simply hand the contract to the firm who came second in the tendering process.

If there has to be a pretender could cause a delay.

I would say certainly put the Manchester HS2 link back too you would think.

[Navpi]

My ex colleagues "up North" have zero interest in HS2 as they believe it will simply become a feeder line for Heathrow.

If you live in Birmingham it makes flights ex Heathrow much more viable and less reason to use own airport where choice and frequency will always be limited compatible to London.

[crewmeal]

Exactly! Why would customers want to travel from the London area to BHX to catch a flight when everything is on the LHR/LGW door step? It doesn't make sense.

[Navpi]

Apologies but I cannot make sense of your posting Crewmeal.

My reference was to potential BIRMINGHAM passengers heading to London "on price" and indeed "frequency" NOT London passengers heading out of London to use Birmingham ?

[crewmeal]

I was looking at it from the other way round as well as the opportunity for Pax to travel to LHR.

[Navpi]

Do we know what's happening with Primera?

There is a rumour start up ex STN has been put back.

In addition the schedule at Birmingham seems all over over place ?

I "thought" it would be a solid April start with based aircraft in place at both airports but not sure that's actually happening ?

BOSTON looks as thought it has disappeared completely at Birmingham for summer at least. Very odd.

[USERNAME_]

Where’s that rumour come from?
On Primera website BOS flights are operating from June from BHX.
Although would make sense, cabin and flight crew haven’t been given contracts/US Embassy visits yet so I imagine that process which can take up to a couple of months just to get the ball rolling with references etc could delay the start.

[Centre cities]

My guess would be aircraft delivery issues.

From BHX the full schedule is on the website but only 4 New York per week are sensible prices, the other 3 days are so expensive to deter bookings, likewise Boston until the end of September is the same.

There appears no change with the YYZ schedule.

Until late September I am guessing that there may be only one aircraft available for BHX hence 4 New York and 3 Toronto, unless this is a precaution and the delivery date is not certain.

[USERNAME_]

OT: You think will effect the STN ops too?

[ATNotts]

I do hope we're not witnessing another debacle along the lines of Highland Express and the services from BHX to EWR and YYZ.

It will take little time for people booked on the apparently cancelled flights to take to social media and the whole exercise will collapse. News travels faster, and people are far less tolerant these days.

[chaps1954]

" people are far less tolerant these days."
How very true, if it`s not sorted in 30 seconds complain, claim compensation etc

[Navpi]

I'm looking at Amadeus not the Primera site itself.
Can anybody else see same re schedule ?

[LAX_LHR]

The worrying thing about BOS is the Sept start date.

BOS seems to struggle a bit more in the winter, even the likes of LHR and CDG see reductions in the winter, so, I’d be surprised if PY still ploughed ahead with a 4 weekly winter flight, especially now it misses the bulk travel period in the summer. That’s not to say they could launch BOS succesfully next summer after the other 2 routes have bedded in a little?

Suppose it’s a wait and see, but let’s face it, 3 new TATL routes from BHX, the same at STN and then CDG with no previous experience in one go was always a tad ambitious, not to mention they don’t physically have the aircraft yet either.

[Hotel Tango]

BOS seems to struggle a bit more in the winter, even the likes of LHR and CDG see reductions in the winter

Indeed, an odd time to start that route. Unless they plan to offer connecting options onward to warmer climates with a domestic carrier in the US. Not sure that would be financially viable tbh though.

[Adrian68]

In Galileo it is showing Newark as 4 flights per week - Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun?
Boston loaded from 21st September.
Toronto looks as per schedule.

[BHX5DME]

Looks like aircraft delivery dates are the issue
There first 321 was at Hamburg on Monday but still only half a fuselage !

[USERNAME_]

The first aircraft is supposed to be delivered on March 20th surely it'll be done by then?

[OltonPete]

Now that Boston is delayed I hope they bring Toronto forward to operate in May on the days Newark doesn't.

Boston in the Fall should be okay but it must be tempting to write it of for 2018 especially if there isn't an intention to operate it in winter.

I would give Newark and Toronto a go in winter with one aircraft and just forget Boston in April 19 and then base 2.

I suppose it is not unreasonable to assume that this decision has been made due to Stansted is selling better than BHX.

If it is not late aircraft then it is a worry.

[BHX5DME]

Yes I think we can assume both STN & CDG are selling better than BHX.
But I have been very impressed with their advertising in association with BHX

[Navpi]

The problem is that this was touted as last chance saloon for BHX-US services and the initial fanfare promised much.

The reality however suggests a chaotic start to their UK debut !

A will they / won't they, start date for one route, a September start for another, plus a price structure which everyone agrees is somewhat bizarre.

Starting Boston from anywhere in the UK in April would be risky, starting from Birmingham in September is IMHO planning to fail.

[jon01]

Exactly! Why would customers want to travel from the London area to BHX to catch a flight when everything is on the LHR/LGW door step? It doesn't make sense.

The attraction and selling point of HS2 is that, compared to other London airports, Birmingham Airport will be equally and in some cases better connected timewise by rail to central London for inbound visitors.

Average rail journey times - plus any terminal to station transit:

Gatwick Airport to London (Victoria) - 32 min
Luton Airport (Parkway) to London (St Pancras) - 35 mins
Birmingham (Interchange) to London (Euston) - 38 mins (From 2026)
Stansted Airport to London (Liverpool St) - 47 mins

The airport are using these figures to attract airlines, boasting Birmingham as the UK's first high speed connected airport in 2026

[crewmeal]

There first 321 was at Hamburg on Monday but still only half a fuselage

So how long does it take to build a 321. Is 8 weeks long enough to completely build, test and fit a brand new one, along with crew training? I wouldn't be surprised to see sub chartered aircraft for the first few weeks of the operation at both BHX and STN.

[nigel osborne]

The plan is 2 trains an hour from Bham Interchange to Euston on HS2 from 2026/7 .When the next phase is built up north the plan is to run up to 9 an hour.However that's from the 2030s.
So a half hourly service is what we should have from 2026/7

[HH6702]

4 months to build an Airbus A321 roughly

[USERNAME_]

I wouldn't be surprised to see sub chartered aircraft for the first few weeks of the operation at both BHX and STN.

4 months to build an Airbus A321 roughly

There first 321 was at Hamburg on Monday but still only half a fuselage !


I think it's pretty safe to say that Primera won't be starting ops as planned then, such a shame.

[daz211]

In Galileo it is showing Newark as 4 flights per week - Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun?
Boston loaded from 21st September
Toronto looks as per schedule.

If this is the case is it not illegal for them to be selling seats on these routes on dates not loaded ? low fares are available to BOS on their website for June and Newark is able to be booked daily as per launch day, this is the case from BHX and STN.

[GayFriendly]

Really not looking good for BHX. As I stated in a previous post, this was a risky venture from the outset and even more risky to hang your long haul and airport growth ambitions on.....if Primera doesn't happen (for whatever reason but especially if its poor sales), kiss goodbye to any new long haul operations from BHX for the foreseeable as well as any meaningful growth in pax figures in 2018.

I really do hope all works out for all concerned but am increasingly worried that this is an airline with no real plan for growth, they just liked the sound of the idea of doing long haul flights across the pond.

The other more worrying thing is that it looks like STN is selling far better than BHX hence the current push back of launch dates and routes ex - BHX.

[Dobbo_Dobbo]

Apologies if I'm reading between the lines and have got the wrong end of the stick, but I don't think this (STN selling faster than BHX) should be surprising?

Of the three Primera launch bases, CDG is larger than STN (therefore you would expect CDG to sell quicker than STN) and STN is larger than BHX (therefore you would expect STN to sell quicker than BHX).

On this basis, and in the event Primera suffers delays for whatever reason that require service cuts, you'd expect BHX to feel the brunt first because it's cheaper for Primera to resolve.

[nigel osborne]

Friendly

You make it sound like BHX had a choice.The thing is they have been unable to hold onto United AA or Air Transat.

Also seems Thomas Cook long haul and Virgin had been approached and not interested.

So BHX had little choice and rightfully snapped the hand off Primera who were the only airline interested.

I would agree it was a high risk stratergy but there was no one else interested in replacing new york or Toronto.

Hopefully things will turn out ok in the end once all the planes required are delivered.

[LAX_LHR]

I think the issue here is, which way round did things happen?

Did UA and TS (and later FI) inform BHX they were pulling out regardless, and thus BHX scrambled for any replacement service they could get

Or

Did BHX approach Primera to initially boost TATL, and then the other carriers got wind and pulled out on the back of it? It cannot be a coincidence that UA pulled out not long before the PY EWR announcement, and then TS around the same time YYZ was announced (and there was a decent time gap between the 2)? Let’s face it, airline negotiations do often take months, if not years, so there is just as much chance of either scenario being true.

If it is the latter, and PY do have issues, then BHX have potentially done something quite silly in hindsight (letting go of the birds in your hand to get more out of the bush).

But, If it was the former, then it was a risk that BHX had no choice to take and thus they cannot be lambasted for grabbing whoever offered a flight to them. Beggars cannot be choosers and all that.

[nigel osborne]

Well the fact that Primera announced BHX STN and CDG at the same time may suggest Primera started planning well before United announced a pull out.

Icelandair could well be to do Primera likely to eat into their share of the market although there's was not direct.

As for Air Tansat not really a surprise, BHX became their only UK airport with just 1 Canandian destination.All the others having at least 3 destinations with UK crew bases.

In the end we will probably never know the the sequence of events .

[Skipness One Echo]

All the others having at least 3 destinations with UK crew bases.
Air Transat have UK crew bases?

[chinapattern]

LGW seems to be main focus for TS these days. MAN and GLA only have two routes now with YVR being seasonal. When you look TS have cut a heck of a lot from the U.K. - LHR, BHX, CWL, EDI, NCL, EXT.

YUL is apparently on Primera’s radar but I can only assume from CDG as there would be little to zero demand from STN and BHX.

[Centre cities]

With regard to Primera if the New York and Toronto operate at 4 and 3 per week that would not be a disaster for BHX as it puts the two lost destinations on the network. There does need however to be a guarantee that these flights will operate as presently scheduled. The high booking season is approaching.

Looking at the Boston seat maps not many passengers will be displaced by the delay/cancellation to these flights. Will these flights operate from September, at the moment any ones guess but not a good time to start Boston.

The schedule really needs to reflect what is going to operate, The flights at ridiculous expensive amounts should be removed if not operating.

Now Christmas is over and the next pay packet is due to arrive people will be looking to the summer holidays and the schedule really needs to be sorted.

By June 6 aircraft would be needed to operate the full schedule. With the apparent BHX reductions that would be 5. Will they have 5 aircraft suitable for North America by June.

If they do not what else will be cut. I suppose it boils down to Boston from Stansted/Paris or BHX and I know which one my money would be on.

On a separate note was just mulling over some of the destinations that will be missing from the departure boards this year.

Reykjavik, Lisbon, Rotterdam, Luxembourg, Toulouse, Gibraltar, Athens and Valencia to name a few.

On the positive side. Antwerp and that is about it.

[OltonPete]

Obviously no such problems with the 738's - another flight added high season, a second Wednesday Palma for 6 weeks starting August in 12.30 out 16.55 if the flight numbers follow. The based is showing 14.55 - 20.35

Maybe a chance for a base swap with the based aircraft.

8 Palma flights showing high season Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from various airlines.

[OltonPete]

Up 11.5%

https://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/media-information/news/2018/01/birmingham-airport-celebrates-its-busiest-year-in-history/

Just short of 13 million in the calendar year but it was passed earlier on a rolling year basis.

December took a hit at 788000 down 7% but it was a difficult month with December 16 hosting extra Monarch flights which were nowhere near replaced, then take out United, American, Norwegian, some Vueling, Flybe and it is pretty understandable.

Jet2, Thomas Cook and to a lesser extent TUI saved it from a double digit drop.

[GayFriendly]

So I've just been scrolling through my Facebook news feed and Primera pop up with an advert promoting 50,000 seats on sale for Summer 18 from today from BHX to New York, Toronto.....and Boston!

Right hand doesn't seem to know what the left hand is doing. Apparently seats running out fast, so book now. Smacks of being a little desperate and wholly inaccurate in case of Boston.

I'm normally a staunch supporter of new routes and airlines starting at BHX but cannot get excited about this outfit. Whatever the reasons behind it and whether Primera partially caused the withdrawal of UA etc. or were lured in by BHX in response to UA etc. withdrawing, this could be bad news for BHX. They can't be blamed for snapping Primeras hand off for the offer of TATL flights but the fallout from these flights either not operating, delayed in starting and with constant frequency and schedule changes will seriously affect bookings, passenger confidence and the viability of all the planned routes

Shame, a brave move by BHX that could be a masterstroke in gaining a new slice of the TATL market but equally could end up as a PR disaster through no fault of their own. Time will tell.

[OltonPete]

https://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/media-information/news/2018/01/air-india-to-launch-uk-s-only-direct-amritsar-service-in-february-from-birmingham-airport/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialSignIn

Tuesday and Thursday 17.15-18.45 AI117/8.

Delhi appears to be reduced to 5 a week direct flight.

Load factors around 85% but when politics takes over what can you do other than hope eventually extra frequencies will be added.

I am not even going down the yield route as this is Air India and best left there.

[Centre cities]

I expect that 5 flights will route Delhi/Amritsar and 2 flights Amritsar/Delhi

[Navpi]

I think BHX need to get that CEO in place ASAP.
Is there a power battle at board level ?
I'm at a loss as to why there is drift.

[yeo valley]

We have the same at brs with no CEO in the hot seat. Our ceo left to run LCY the middle of last year.

[LGWAlan]

I expect that 5 flights will route Delhi/Amritsar and 2 flights Amritsar/Delhi

spot on! (well listed in Amadeus as such)

[ATNotts]

I think BHX need to get that CEO in place ASAP.
Is there a power battle at board level ?
I'm at a loss as to why there is drift.

A board of directors is a team, and that team is structured to ensure continuity in the event that CEO leaves, dies, is sacked or whatever else.

I don't know who the "deputy CEO" is but you can be sure that the board will be answering to him or her, and the shareholders will be looking to this person to keep the ship on an even keel.

would rather a business took it's time to source the right candidate for any position, rather than choose the least worst from those that apply, or even worse than that choose the least worst candidate based on gender or ethnic quotas.

If you think that appointing a figurehead CEO is the panacea the perceived problems your kidding yourself.

[inOban]

Surely the CEO or deputy answers to the Board, not the other way round.

[ATNotts]

Wherever I have worked the CEO is the person with whom the buck stops. The board answers to the CEO, the CEO to the shareholders.

CEO means Chief Executive Officer which is long hand (American) for the old "Chief Executive", or even more old fashioned "Managing Director".

If you ever got summoned to the MD's office it wasn't so much "tea and no bickies" and "No tea or bickies" and a hefty book stuffed down your trousers!

[Wycombe]

CEO means Chief Executive Officer which is long hand (American) for the old "Chief Executive", or even more old fashioned "Managing Director"

...unless you work for a Bank (and I don't mean the High St ones) where a "Managing Director" can seemingly be any old Tom, Dick or Harry!

Sorry for OT!

[Wolverhampton]

A board of directors can remove a CEO (MD). A CEO (MD) cannot remove a board of directors.

[inOban]

Precisely. Legally it is the Board which sets the policy of the company. The CEO executes it. The fact that the policy was probably written by the CEO doesn't change the position.

In the case, for example, of Carillion, it was the Board's decision to approve the accounts, continue to pay dividends etc, etc.

[TCAS_Alert]

Just had confirmation that both of my Primera BHX flights in June have been cancelled. BHX-BOS on June 22 and EWR-BHX on June 23. People are starting to take to Twitter already but they are giving us no more options :(

[daz211]

Have they offered you different dates or to fly from Stansted I wonder if they are planning on any flights at all from Birmingham and putting everything into Stansted there doesn’t seem to be any negative news for Stansted as yet.

[BDS10]

Taken from another forum: "The website has now been updated, New York is daily until Jun 23rd when it goes 4x weekly and there is nothing available for Boston. Toronto remains unaffected".

[LAX_LHR]

Seems Boston won’t launch in 2018, as someone on Twitter had their October flights cancelled.

[TCAS_Alert]

They sent the email at 1735 and went home for the weekend at 1800! So I guess we have to wait to see what happens. Hopefully they will offer me flights from STN to tie in with my connections the other end.

Dear Passenger,

Unfortunately, Your flight PF 53 2018-06-22 BHX BOS was cancelled for booking XXXXXX. Please, reply to us via [email protected] for further assistance.

Please, accept our sincere apologies for such inconveniences.

Best regards,
Customer Service
Primera Air

[crewmeal]

What a poor and disappointing start for a new airline and indeed BHX. This sort of action results in the trust element being lost. In this case who if booking a ticket from BHX would if offered an altenative, would want to trapes all the way to STN. You might as well use LHR.

Gay Friendly is right, see post #282.

[daz211]

Birmingham to Stansted is not that far if your Birmingham flight is cancelled and you have booked hotels or onward travel it might just be easier all round than to abandon your trip and possibly end up out of pocket I know it’s not ideal but if it’s a free transfer of departure airport it’s better than nothing

[BDS10]

TCAS: What about your New York flight?

[Harry Wayfarers]

BHX to/from STN isn't so bad, better than LHR because it doesn't involve the M25, take the M6/A14/M11

[GayFriendly]

Well I hate to be proved right but it seems I am. I fear that Primera are nothing but a fanciful joke as far as BHX goes. It's all over Twitter and FB that their flights from BHX are cancelled so there is little hope of any success for them now even if they reinstate some sort of schedule. Once you destroy public confidence in today's social media obsessed customer base, you've had it.

BHX needs to stop obsessing over long haul. Apart from the niche routes it has, it simply isnt going to work. They would have been far better doing a deal with FR to court the 3 aircraft they have today added into MAN with a resultant increase in destinations and frequencies to go some of the way to filling the huge void left by ZB at BHX.

The airport is like a rudderless ship heading nowhere whilst LTN, MAN and STN continue to streak ahead enticing even more Midlander's away from BHX with their ever increasing choices of destinations

[Centre cities]

The Primera website has been updated from yesterday and shows 4 New York per week from the 24 June and 3 per week to Toronto from the 23 June.

This would indicate the aircraft present from the 23 June.

The New York flights on the other 3 days have been removed as suspected by the route watchers as they were already changed to a prevent booking fare. I would imagine that the alternate will be a day before or after departure, refund or a flight from Stansted.

Toronto still shows as unchanged.

Boston is removed with no flights listed. A refund, change destination or Stansted seem to be the options.

Also worrying is that the Paris and Stansted flights now show to December but BHX does not. At the moment it is a short season of summer only flights, the end of June to the end of October. .

The flight TCAS had been booked on have been showing preventative high fares for some time and were at risk.

Although Stansted and Paris seem to be the priority the Primera web site allows viewing of the seat maps. I have checked Toronto until the end of August and contrary to some posts saying that Stansted and Paris are selling better that BHX is not born out by the seat maps. Stansted and Birmingham seat maps show similar allocated seat sales and both appear to be better than Paris which has several flights showing no bookings. The Birmingham and Stansted bookings considering the time before the service commences look OK.

I would hope that having changed the web site schedule that they are confident of operating from the end of June, otherwise it would have been changed at this time.

The New York flights prior to the end of June are still showing as before 4 low fares and 3 high fares per week. If I was booked on one of these flights prior to the end of June I would not be surprised to receive an email otherwise the aircraft will be operating 4 flights per week.

Fingers crossed it is sorted.

[Centre cities]

It should be remembered that during the last 2 years there have been high increases in passenger numbers almost second to no other UK airport.

There has been some reverses recently, United, Iceland air, Norwegian and Vueling to name a few. The major issue has been the failure of Monarch which has removed several destinations (Lisbon/Seville) and capacity from the airport, notably the Canary Islands especially Tenerife.

Yes Ryanair have added 3 aircraft to Manchester but do not forget that already announced is 4 additional aircraft from Jet 2 for BHX compared to last year.

[crewmeal]

Fingers crossed it is sorted.

When you book a flight like this you shouldn't have to cross anything. I would be going to the States via DUB or direct from LHR.

Birmingham to Stansted is not that far if your Birmingham flight is cancelled

It would add 4-5 hours on your journey, then you would have all the stress of finding somewhere to park in a strange airport or relying on trains that do not run regularly.

[SWBKCB]

or relying on trains that do not run regularly.

Thought there was a direct train every hour from Birmingham New Street to Stansted?

[FQTLSteve]

It does seem that BHX doesn't market the ease of getting to the airport. In the centre of England and M6, M5, M40, M42 and close to M1 motorways. West coast mainline station, with Virgin lounge, bar and café shop ATM's etc. a terminal like warm environment and far superior connections than any other UK airport station. I've been to some of them and most are in no way remotely comparable to Birmingham International. However it does seem to me, from personal observation only, that the rail feed to the airport is growing. They should push this more especially as young people today seem to be snubbing car ownership.

[Flying Wild]

...but do not forget that already announced is 4 additional aircraft from Jet 2 for BHX compared to last year.

I believe the current rumour is 10 based aircraft, an increase of 6 on last summer. Including a leased A321 from Smartlynx.

[inOban]

1. There is a train every hour, but the first one doesn't reach Stansted until 08.39 which may be too late - I haven't checked Primera's proposed TA schedule.

2. I couldn't agree more that BHX doesn't make nearly enough of it rail access. On another thread people are arguing whether travellers from the SW could be persuaded to use CWL. Surely getting on a train to Birmingham international is much easier.

[LAX_LHR]

I think the issue with rail travel is the hassle and price of it.

Firstly, the luggage space, especially on virgin trains and in the case of the North, TP Express , is abysmal. There have been a few times I’ve traveled on Virgin with a large-ish case, and often there has been a struggle storing the bag unless you are one of the first on the train.

Then there is the price. When train tickets are often higher priced than the flight the person has just taken, no wonder it puts people off. I couldn’t count The amount of times I look at twitter and see people posting ‘my flight from Berlin was £20 but my train home was £45’. Price wise, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the Heathrow Express is one of most expensive cost per mile rail journeys in the U.K. on a standard fare? Says it all.

With issues like that, if you are 2 or more people, no wonder people choose cars and taxis over rail travel. I certainly wouldn’t even contemplate rail travel for my family holiday, not a chance I’m lugging 3-4 cases, 2 hand luggage, 2 small children and possibly a pushchair on a train to get to an airport, with a change en-route too for me, I literally couldn’t think of anything worse.

Then long haul pax, do you really want to be waiting for trains etc when your shattered from a flight with again, likely large cases for such a trip?

Obviously rail is fine if you are travelling hand luggage only on a short break, but outside that, I really do struggle to see the appeal.

[inOban]

People are always comparing pre-booked plane tickets with last-minute rail tickets, when there are also pre-booked rail tickets, often a quite short notice.

And somehow lugging all this luggage, children etc from some remote car park seems not to be a hassle....

And if you're using your car on some holiday Saturday you have to allow hours to spare in case of holdups.

[SWBKCB]

And somehow lugging all this luggage, children etc from some remote car park seems not to be a hassle....

And getting to the train station is a piece of...

And if you're using your car on some holiday Saturday you have to allow hours to spare in case of holdups

And if you're using the train on some holiday Saturday you have to allow hours to spare in case of engineering works or replacement bus service (he says from bitter personal experience.... :ugh:)

[LAX_LHR]

Oban.

One of my last trips to London of 2017. Pre booked rail tickets 3 weeks out and it still came to £122 return. Bargain! Same booking period, could have gone to Dublin for 31.99, or Alicante for £80. Need I say more?

The trains near me are hourly to Manchester and Chester, so it also means I have to work to the rail schedule rather than my own. What about early flights? No option at all really. First train gets me to Manchester City and not even the airport for 9am, great for a 0630 flight.....

Also parking wise, ever heard of meet and great? Try it, you’ll love it!

No argument will convince me the train is a better option than a car for a family holiday.

[Hotel Tango]

Oban, having recently looked into advance rail bookings which I might need after arriving at a UK airport, I noticed that the cheap fares are not only non-refundable but for specific trains (same as airlines with specific flights). Consequently that is not an option because of possible delays to the arrival of my flight, or I have to allow X number transfer hours most likely resulting in having to hang around. If I compare UK unrestricted rail travel costs with the country I live in, UK prices are extortionate.

[crewmeal]

UK prices are extortionate.

Agreed, but when booking a return ticket there is usually an option with some companies for an open return which usually means any train off peak. My next trip to LHR from Birmingham will be a lot cheaper driving and parking for 2 weeks than using rail services. The current fare using the LHR express is £37 return.

[brian_dromey]

I noticed that the cheap fares are not only non-refundable but for specific trains (same as airlines with specific flights). Consequently that is not an option because of possible delays to the arrival of my flight

Just as an FYI, the Airport Advance that TransPennineExpress offers on their journeys commencing at MAN can be retaliated on later trains in the even of a delay, the ticket needs to be revalidated at the booking office.

I know this is the BHX thread.

[SWBKCB]

Useful info - cos if they tell you before you book, they keep it well hidden! Also, doesn't work the other way - if your flight is early, you can't get change to an earlier train.

[brian_dromey]

It's not something thats all that well publicised, I agree. Also limited to 3 hours after your supposed arrival. I suppose after that EU-261 should kick-in.

https://www.tpexpress.co.uk/special-offers/manchester-airport

I suppose its unlikely that your flight would be so early as to make getting an earlier train of much use, other than transatlantic flights in the winter, when tailwinds can be strong?

[SWBKCB]

Guess what I was on :(

[inOban]

The fact that the number of PAX using Manchester airport and Birmingham international stations is growing more quickly than the number of PAX using the airports suggests that more and more people take a different view.

[LAX_LHR]

And good for them. But I will not be one of them...

[ATNotts]

The problem with these sterile arguments about car vs. rail is they hardly ever compare apples with apples.

When people talk about how much it costs them to go by car, they simply calculate the distance, work out how many miles they do per litre (or for some curious reason in UK, a gallon!), then multiply the litres by the cost per litre and - hey presto, that's the cost. Conveniently forgetting depreciation, wear and tear, servicing, insurance etc .etc.

HM Government agrees the cost of operating a car is 45p per mile. Try calculating car vs rail and availing yourself of the best advance fare offers and the gap narrows, and set against the hassles of the UK road network, I'd say it's at best 50 / 50 as to which is the best option travelling to airports like BHX, MAN and LGW - probably, in reality 60 / 40 in favour of rail.

[LAX_LHR]

But, the thing with adding things like wear and tear/insurance etc into the mix with a car, is that you already own the car, so, insurance etc is not factored in as it’s something you would be paying regardless of your trip to the airport.

In fact, one could say that it makes the rail option more expensive, as you are still paying for the dormant parts of the car like insurance, tax etc, but are now using rail so the tax etc isn’t being put to use.

Then there is ‘multiple occupancy’, so to speak. That means a car journey is going to cost broadly the same whether one person, or 4/5 travel in that same car. The same cannot be said for a train whereby every person has to pay the same amount.

Your 60/40 split in favour of the train also includes, as you say, availing yourself to the BEST advance offers, it’s not always that easy to grab these bargain basement fares. I used to commute between Manchester and London by rail quite a lot. I wasn’t a novice, I knew when broadly the best times to book were, but even then, the fats were not always that cheap.

Swings and roundabouts really, and like I say, I’m also taking ease into the equation, which for me, no matter which way you try and swing it, a train from me to the airport is far from easy. In fact, to get to my closest rail station, I have to take........a car! Defeats the point then really, doesn’t it! (And I know just me singularly is very anectodal evidence, but there will be thousands like me in the same situation that don’t have access to a high frequency rail station, nor one without a taxi/car journey to the station to begin with).

[brian_dromey]

My general rule of thumb is that with one, the car is roughly on-par with the train, once parking has been taken into account. But once two or more are travelling the car becomes more attractive. If flights are between 0500 and 0900 though, it can be hard to get to the airport in sufficient time, if travelling with checked in baggage.

I don't think Train Vs Car is a set decision for all journeys. If there are 4/5 of us travelling and I can get a multi-story car park for a good price, then the car is a no-brainer. If its just me, travelling with only hand luggage, coming off a night shift the train is likely to be a more attractive option.

[inOban]

The point is that there are marginal costs for the use of a car over and above the fuel cost. (BTW, 45mpg = 10 miles/litre = at least 12p/mile). Mileage-related maintenance and depreciation, tyre wear, extra insurance for higher mileage; the problem is that because we don't pay them at the time, like purchasing a rail ticket, we underestimate them even if we count them at all.

We've all driven further to buy something cheaper, without working out that it would really have been cheaper to buy it from a local store.

Those of you who drive to the airport or into town should be eternally grateful to those who use the bus or the train and so leave space on the road or in the carpark.

[EIFFS]

All before you see the tears and stress when told that your train operators union is holding a multi day strike for politically motivated reasons behind driver only trains, at least in a car you have some degree of control

[SWBKCB]

The problem with these sterile arguments about car vs. rail is they hardly ever compare apples with apples.

exactly - last car journey I made, it departed when I thought it would, there was nobody sat in my seat, I didn't have to stand for any part of the journey, no screaming kids

There are considerations other than the financial!

[OltonPete]

Similar to other threads Freebird have the TUI third party flying to Turkey in summer 18 and BHX gets 4 despite an extra based TUI aircraft.

Monday FHY644 Bodrum in 20.40 out 21.40 wef 29 MAY - 3 Sept

Tuesday FHY652 Dalaman in 08.25 out 09.25 wef 22 May all season but might subject to change in October

Tuesday FHY636 Antalya in 14.30 out 15.30 wef 29 May all season but might subject to change in October

Friday FHY692 Antalya in 14.30 out 15.30. start of May all season but might subject to change in early May & October

The TUI Malta flight is still Air Malta still showing Tuesday KM174/5 21.45 departure but the KM website shows it a bit earlier and in some websites it shows as two separate flights (KM74/5) which I am sure will be merged at some point.

TUI also use Flybe to Verona on a Saturday BE9170 12.20 - 17.40 and Salzburg Saturday BE9415 15.55 - 20-.45

The only away based flight spotted is Thursday Malaga TOM7484/5 in 12.45 out 14.25.

The 787 is fully based from mid July 7 flights a week although for 2 days (Monday and Tuesday?) it is in Scotland in June and part of July.

All of the above is subject to change.

Thought it would make a change from cars and trains :)

[gilesdavies]

Primera seem to be adjusting their ops for Birmingham...

- Boston scrapped.
- Newark reduced from daily to four weekly from June.
- Toronto remain 2-3 flights a week.

Looks like just one A321neo unit will be required for Brum, not sure how it remains “by far their largest base”

Seem to be adjusting to market demand, but still disappointing for the airport.

www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/business/boston-new-york-flights-birmingham-14215588

[BHX5DME]

I still think the underlying issue is late aircraft deliveries.

In other news ....

New CEO to be unveiled !

[daz211]

So I’m guessing a new longhaul route from Stansted or Paris seeing as there will be a Airbus sitting doing nothing after being taken out of the Birmingham schedule.

I’m sticking to late delivery of aircraft Boston still had almost 5 months of sales before launch bit soon to pull it.

[SWBKCB]

If an airline is going to lie about why they've dropped a route, lack of customers seems a strange choice from the possible list of excuses!

[southside bobby]

Funnily enough that is why most routes are dropped....lack of customers.

[daz211]

Yes once the route has been running bit funny with almost 5 more months to go before the first Boston was due to take off.

[aerotech07]

It's a bit of a slap in the face to BHX from Primera to just come out and publicly declare bookings were poor so it's pulled. Especially after all the advertising support the airport have given in the joint campaigns.

You would have thought that if aircraft availability is also a factor, then the airport and Primera might have been able to come up with a joint PR release to try and save face on all sides.

I might be telephoning that other airline based Reykjavik and inviting them back for a daily 737 service at very favourable terms....

[Plane.Silly]

Wow! Sounds like a good idea....wait....wrong airline...could still work though

[Adrian68]

And Primera is not bookable after October - where you can from Stansted!
On a brighter note Palma up to 8 with a CPH based plane on Wednesdays.

[Navpi]

Posts: 43
It's a bit of a slap in the face to BHX from Primera to just come out and publicly declare bookings were poor so it's pulled. Especially after all the advertising support the airport have given in the joint campaigns.


Totally agree. These things tend to be done in unison but they appear to have hung BHX out to dry.

[daz211]

I wouldn’t say they have hung Birmingham out to dry.
If you look at the bigger picture and from a business point of view London and Paris would have a better chance than Birmingham for passengers booking return flights from Newyork Boston and Toronto and if we are all totally honest and unbiased we would all agree London and Paris would and should be seen as having a better chance of serving over Birmingham.

[Centre cities]

You would think so but this is not supported by the taken seat maps on the website.

When I looked Paris was really poor. Stansted and Birmingham were very similar and better.

[crewmeal]

If that's the case why bother with BHX in the first place? The way people are talking on here you would think that Primark Airlines have given up on BHX completely. Time will tell.

[daz211]

Centre cities

I wouldn’t go by the seat plan as I’m sure a lot of people would have just not bothered paying the extra it’s not like you going to be sat between two isles and I’m not sure personally that the seat plan will be representative of the aircraft that will operate the first lot of flights just my opinion nothing more nothing less.

[daz211]

If that's the case why bother with BHX in the first place? The way people are talking on here you would think that Primark Airlines have given up on BHX completely. Time will tell.

I haven’t seen anything wrote on here to suggest the the airline has given up on Birmingham my point is statistically London and Paris stand a better chance at the beginning as they are capital cities it’s common sense to make cuts for what ever reason at Birmingham over the other two bases nothing personally just business.

[Centre cities]

GrammerCentre cities

I wouldn’t go by the seat plan as I’m sure a lot of people would have just not bothered paying the extra it’s not like you going to be sat between two isles and I’m not sure personally that the seat plan will be representative of the aircraft that will operate the first lot of flights just my opinion nothing more nothing less.

There is no charge for the standard seat unless you book the low fare (hand luggage) I doubt that there will that may of those.

It is still a good comparison of seats taken from each airport as the percentages of those not taking a seat will be similar from each airport.

I think that they give a pretty accurate idea of how things are going

Centre cities

[Navpi]

I wouldn’t say they have hung Birmingham out to dry.
If you look at the bigger picture and from a business point of view London and Paris would have a better chance than Birmingham for passengers booking return flights from Newyork Boston and Toronto and if we are all totally honest and unbiased we would all agree London and Paris would and should be seen as having a better chance of serving over Birmingham.

True but is this not a failing of market research?
I'm sure Skip could provide some analysis of how these things work but the whole premise just seems odd.

They must surely have had some data to support BOS?

And what of Newark starting daily but then reverting to 4 per week.

Lo Cos are notorious for bending to the best market conditions but these acute changes just seems a wee bit haphazard.

[eggc]

any news is good news, right ?

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/business/boston-new-york-flights-birmingham-14215588

[BDS10]

any news is good news, right ?

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/business/boston-new-york-flights-birmingham-14215588

I don't see the point of your post, the link has already been posted a couple of days ago.

[eggc]

Well pardon me for not spotting it :(

Mixed opinion here, the article wont inspire some, but on the other hand some positives reported on remaining routes. I dont think there is as much doom with these people as I read here, hope not to be proven wrong !

[Plane.Silly]

The way people are talking on here you would think that Primark Airlines have given up on BHX completely.

Primark Airlines? i know they're a LCC, but no need to kick them when they're down

[crewmeal]

Lol!! I wondered when someone might pick up on that. Primark and Primera are both in the low cost market with the former doing quite well. I sincerely hope the latter will do equally well, but as stated numerous times they've got off to a bad start at BHX.

[ATNotts]

True but is this not a failing of market research?

Very possibly, but if you ask people how likely they might be to travel to a particular destination in the next year, the answers available would be something like "very likely", "likely", "neither likely or unlikely", "unlikely" or "very unlikely". Asked in that order the bias is proven to be towards the "likely" end of the spectrum. Asked in reverse order, there will be a greater tendency towards unlikely. Point being that market research isn't necessarily a great tool to use in isolation. Neither, for that matter is social media.

I think if I was trying to flog Boston I'd have been inclined to sign up a package operator, or offer my own packages to the New England area, especially so for the autumn season to help bolster sales as the summer season falls away.

It may well be that Primera will try again in 2019, when they've got a year under their belts, and a fleet that is delivered and working. With the benefit of market experience they may then stand a better chance of making BOS work. Of course it's not just about making BOS work from UK, it's about making Central England work from Boston - probably a harder task.

[chaps1954]

Especially when you have 2 established and well known operators up the road and also
down south with numerous flights

[FQTLSteve]

BHX and Primera should emphasise the central England location of the airport and it's excellent motorway and mainline train connections and for those who have early late start/end an excellent range of airport hotels, which must be amongst the highest number outside of LHR/LGW. It's catchment area is potentially very large, but more needs to be done to promote that imho.

[daz211]

Things can’t be as bad as people are thinking Primera Air have this morning announces a new route from London to Washington DC.

[FQTLSteve]

Using the BHX-BOS aircraft I presume?

[daz211]

Possibly wasn’t Boston 4x weekly Washington is 5x weekly also a Saturday Palma added from Stansted in July.

Stansted Toronto increased to 5x weekly from August 23rd.

[ATNotts]

Using the BHX-BOS aircraft I presume?

Presumably, but BOS didn't provide a quick enough uptake, Washington could just as easily be killed off if it doesn't sell well enough soon enough. Of course any route to a London airport is going to have a better potential since your average American doesn't know where anywhere else in the UK there is, nor what they can do when the get there. That is the fault of an over London centric tourism promotion industry primarily, and an abysmal American education system, where geography is concerned!!

[chaps1954]

Yes Birmingham Alabama and Manchester New Hampshire lol!

[pabely]

Isn't London in Ihio and Paris in Texas? Or for those with USA passports, another Island off Long Island NY! :}

[chaps1954]

Stockport Ohio, Yeah there there had to be one

[OltonPete]

Quite interesting that Champions League matches and Commonwealth Games can create speculation about extra flights which might or might not happen then you get a moderately interesting rugby match albeit in a wonderful city attract 5 charters and bring forward a new service by a couple of weeks.

Small Planet (A321)
Titan (A320)
TUI (UK) - 738
Jet2 x 2 738 & 757 (well 2 x 757's as one went tech)

All to Rome and then the new schedule (which is probably the most important aspect) LS1227/8 which was due to start half term operated today so just the six flights.

I do realise Italy v England is one of the easier 6 Nations games to get a ticket mixed in with a cracking city to visit but welcome passengers for BHX.

[Navpi]

Is Birmingham perhaps paying the price for increased charges with United, Icelandair, and Air Transat pulling out ?

Maybe the Primera loads were good but grounded by more acute fees compared to STN.

Is it possiblly tied in with the runway extention that will have to be paid for ?

[SWBKCB]

So why just BOS? Presumably there would be some sort of start up deal on fees anyway. Sure the airline said pax demand... :suspect:

[TartinTon]

You know for a fact that BHX was charging so much more than STN? My experiences with BHX are that they would happily incentivise to expand their longhaul offering. MAG group of course are still having to find a way to profitably grow STN after massively overpaying for it.

[southside bobby]

Another ill informed comment to fit agendas this time stating "MAG massively overpaying for STN".

...Wrong & wrong again without rehearsing all the facts...Research ALL the info & challenge if you then wish.

It may be more of a monetary factor that much was expounded on here & from the BHX CEO( long since departed) re the "much needed" R/W extension at BHX which has not even begun to pay for itself & sadly almost certainly never will.

[Navpi]

I don't know what the BHX fees are, I'm simply suggesting it might be a factor in the Primera decison.

The purchase cost of Stansted is irrelevant to the Birmingham thread BUT by any reasonable measure the purchase of a runway in the "London area" does appear to have been bought at a bargain price.

[southside bobby]

We might never know the full machinations concerning Primera re BHX at least so far.

Just theories based on individuals perceptions.....

....Or should we just go with the company statement?..

My response was concerning a post here seeking to defray general BHX issues to another business...in this instance STN...That's all.

[BHX5DME]

2017 pax

LHR = 78,012,825 up 3.04%
LGW = 45,556,899 up 5.65%
MAN = 27,826,084 up 8.54%
STN = 25,904,450 up 6.51%
LTN = 15,979,653 up 9.17%
EDI = 13,410,343 up 8.60%
BHX = 12,987,327 up 11.53%
GLA = 9,897,959 up 5.90%
BRS = 8,239,250 up 8.26%

[OltonPete]

Revised commencement date now 26th March Monday-Friday 13.15 in -13.45 out per their own website

[chaps1954]

What market are they aiming at as with those times not the business market

[Hotel Tango]

A very limited one I'd say! I think this is more of a middle of the day filler to keep the aircraft flying. I'm very sceptical that this route will even break even.

[OltonPete]

The 2017 figures are in and for the first time I think the Delhi/Amritsar split is given for the whole year albeit December is provisional from the CAA.

2017 pax 154439 up 10% - 2016 140338.

Amritsar 75733 (49%)
Delhi 78706 (51%)

Based on 730 sectors 212 pax per flight 83% load factor. All inbounds bar one landed I think (one diversion?)but not sure if all outbounds went with passengers as I remember a couple of tech issues and overnight stays However overall very reliable minus the fog delays.

Turkmenistan in 2017 carried 42756 up 20% from 35474 but way more flights in 2017.

Also worth noting that Qatar have moved Doha - Amritsar to the evening ex Doha which connects neatly with QR36/35 on Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday.

[crewmeal]

I'm not a great fan of Willie Walsh, but what he says about APD makes sense.

https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/no-budget-long-haul-from-uk-regions-with-current-apd-rates-says-walsh-13263

[OltonPete]

Oh dear GOT gone again - last flight bookable 2 March per the BMIR website

Not sure how this affects the JLR Graz flights but I assume the aircraft will just position in to operate them on the operating days.

Cheers Nigel - lets hope AI do eventually increase frequencies or dare I say it add the 77W on the days Delhi operates (more new ones arriving).

Jet2 - Base up to 6 operating with 9 flights tomorrow including the return of Krakow, Prague, Palma and the new Rome

[OltonPete]

KLM

Not often an increase in frequency gets past me but KLM increase Amsterdam from today to 5 a day with KL1433/4 E190 service starting.

Okay it is still below the normal summer frequency but it has not been five a day in winter for a while and never when the completion operates seven daily in the week.

Flybe definitely going back to 6 daily from summer and KLM also return to six daily minus the high summer period when it is back to five.

Cityjet RJ85 is back on the Amsterdam Sunday and Tuesday KL1425 but never mind can't have everything.

Reasonable amount of half-term extras the last two days with two Austrian yesterday, three out of four Turkish A321's, Titan yesterday, Air Charter X today and some Flybe extras to Lyon, Knock. Milan and Stuttgart.

Jet2

Nice bit of reactionary action from Jet2 yesterday. Arrecife - BHX diverted to Faro after the FO fell ill (Graphic detail in Aviation Herald report). A replacement 738 flew out from Manchester with crew to pick up the passengers with both aircraft flying back to the UK together (FR24). The replacement aircraft to BHX and the original aircraft to Manchester.

Wishing the FO a speedy recovery - it sounded quite a nasty event.

[ssflyer]

Jet 2 link here
Incident: Jet2 B738 near Faro on Feb 17th 2018, first officer unwell (http://www.avherald.com/h?article=4b50e029&opt=0)

[eggc]

Have BHX released Jan figures yet ? MAN 0.5% down, with MON's loss creating the first negative figure in a long while. Interested to see how BHX did.

[OltonPete]

eggc

Not released yet but believed to be down.

At present I (not BHX) expect the figures to be down slightly for the next couple of months but it could be as late as November before it is significantly up (extra winter based Thomas Cook, more TUI and Jet2).

This is based on what is released although some months could be close and it will really depend on any late additions.

The main surprise (although it shouldn't be) is Ryanair as they are slightly up April - June and September as well but high summer is currently well down.

Last year the 5th based aircraft arrived in July and stayed until the end of August and this year it is just a few extra away based which no way compensates for the loss of the based aircraft.

[eggc]

Thanks Pete. Here's hoping both can return to positive's as soon as possible.

[OltonPete]

Further to my earlier post re BMI Regional Gothenburg, it seems to continue at 6 March on a Monday out and Tuesday in but in conjunction with Bristol.

BHX shows direct and Bristol shows two flights on the same day within minutes, one direct and one with a stop matching the BHX flight number.

Graz still bookable Monday and Friday.

Source: The Airline website

All seems a bit of a mess but nothing compared to what is on the BMIR thread.

[BHX5DME]

New route to Corfu on Sat from July

Zakynthos now 3x weekly (+1 on Mon)
Rhodes now 4x weekly (+2 Sat and Sun)
Menorca now 4x weekly (+1 Sun)
Heraklion now 4x weekly (+1 Fri)

[HH6702]

whos the flights with

[BHX5DME]

Sorry

Jet 2 - 9th based a/c

[nwoody2001]

well... only based fri-mon.....

[Buster the Bear]

https://www.traveldailynews.com/post/air-charter-service-to-exclusively-market-a320-in-europe

[crewmeal]

Won't that eat into Cello's market?

[Hotel Tango]

Won't that eat into Cello's market?

No idea, but from what I've seen, Cello don't rely entirely on BHX or UK related work.

[Rutan16]

That company is just a broker and just happens to be UK based.

That particular 320 seems to spend much of its time flying between Kosovo, Germany, Switzerland and Israel.
Also done a few subs for Transavia and Thomas Cook Scandinavia
Really adding little to Birmingham imho

[davidjohnson6]

Orange2Fly's two A320s have spent much of the last 2-3 months under charter to Reiseburo Pristina - a travel agency based in Germany/Switzerland who sell flights to the Albanian/Kosovo diaspora in Germany/Switzerland and who wish to travel to/from Kosovo and Tirana

Never going to win awards for service, but many of their Kosovo flights have been full and they seem to have found themselves a niche.

[bhx bod]

A number of flights have already been operated.
A least 2 rotations to Athens have been flown during the last week or so.
Also they are using the Elmdon apron,not the main terminal.

[Rutan16]

Those flights to Athens are simply positioning sectors

[jon01]

Birmingham to Reykjavík (KEF) is now showing on the Primera Air webpage from December 2018, but not yet bookable

[tubby linton]

Looking at the notams I see the glidepath on 33 is unservicable again until at least the end of the month. Is this the old drainage problem again?

[Matt995]

Looking at the notams I see the glidepath on 33 is unservicable again until at least the end of the month. Is this the old drainage problem again?

It's actually been unservicable since early January, I don't know the reason why, but my guess is that it must be due to the drainage problems again, this saga has gone on so long now, never known any other airports having these problems, Birmingham needs to get their act together fast, for such a safety critcial component.

[All names taken]

it must be due to the drainage problems again,

For those of us that don't understand how these things work or impact on operations, can anyone shed a bit of light on why a 'drainage problem' can cause a navaid problem?
Thanks in advance

[tubby linton]

The area in front of the glidepath shed can get extremely waterlogged. What this does to the power supply or to the beam is unknown by me, but it has led to the withdrawal of the glidepath with great regularity and for some very extended periods.

[BHX5DME]

Alicante twice weekly from 6 December

Keflavik now also on sale

[LGS6753]

Nov/Dec Runway closures:

https://www.acl-uk.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/BHX-Runway-Closures-Winter-2018_23FEB2018.pdf

[nigel osborne]

It's actually been unservicable since early January, I don't know the reason why, but my guess is that it must be due to the drainage problems again, this saga has gone on so long now, never known any other airports having these problems, Birmingham needs to get their act together fast, for such a safety critcial component.

It's probably runway extension related.

We never had all these drainage issues here before all the excavations and the huge bund made from dumped earth from it.

[Centre cities]

Alicante twice weekly from 6 December

Keflavik now also on sale

Reykjavik appears to be a positioning flight that bases the aircraft at BHX from Thursday morning until Sunday afternoon. This is from early December

This fits into the Alicante schedule. The other European routes are only on sale at the moment to early December. Is this an additional aircraft or will all the flying from December onward for the winter period be concentrated from Thursday to Sunday.

Centre cities

[GayFriendly]

This fits into the Alicante schedule. The other European routes are only on sale at the moment to early December. Is this an additional aircraft or will all the flying from December onward for the winter period be concentrated from Thursday to Sunday.

It's Primera. An airline version of a TV soap opera with all the twists and turns so far, quite impressive for an airline that has yet to operate its first flights from the UK.

That seems to be the plan today. Tomorrow - who knows?

Quite why they decided to launch a BHX base with 5 routes, all currently planned to finish within 6 months of starting, to be replaced by 3 new routes for winter, operated by an aircraft flying in from Iceland is beyond me...hopefully what we're seeing is all part of a bigger picture 'work in progress' plan. Sadly I have my doubts.

[chinapattern]

It’s all a bit confusing at the moment but from what I gather;

New York and Toronto are now bookable into December now so fingers crossed they are year round.

Chania ending September but that one would always be summer only.

Palma ends in October, replaced with Barcelona.

Alicante, Tenerife, Las Palmas and Reykjavik all added from December.

Malaga year round?

[GayFriendly]

Chinapattern, that seems a reasonable summary, this is what has appeared on the Primera website since yesterday, all bookable from 9th December:

Alicante: Thurs and Sun from 9th Dec - 7th April

Gran Canaria: Fri from 7th Dec - 5th April

Malaga: daily until 9th December, then Tues/Thurs/Sun until 5th April

Reyjkavik: Sun 9th Dec, Wed 19th Dec, Tues 1st Jan then Sun from 13th Jan - 7th April

Aircraft operates inbound Thursday 6th and 13th December, and from 17th Jan

Tenerife: Sat from 8th Dec

Barcelona is daily from 1st October-9th December, not bookable afterwards - why run a route only for 3 months at this time of the year??

Long Haul:

New York: Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun until 9th Dec

Toronto: Tues/Thurs/Sat until 8th Dec

So it would seem the BHX base uses a KEF based aircraft from 9th Dec with flights only operating from Thurs-Sun until April, apart from AGP which also flies on a Tuesday, totalling 8 flights per week.

I can't see them having an aircraft sat around on a Mon and Wed doing nothing to operate a single Tuesday Malaga flight?

Interestingly, MAN-AGP has now appeared, 4 times per week from 24th October. More routes to come from MAN me thinks.

One assumes EWR, YYZ start again after 9th April along with short haul winter routes hopefully continuing through the summer

The STN schedule is much more robust than BHX over winter, with daily EWR and ALC, 5 times pw IAD and YYZ and 3/4 times pw AGP, TFS, LPA. Goes without saying they are obviously doing much better from STN than BHX, no surprise really.

So many pieces of the Primera jigsaw to still put together. It doesn't make any sense to me unless there is more to come? They have not become 'the saviour' that I think BHX management were hoping they might be.

[ATNotts]

Chinapattern, that seems a reasonable summary, this is what has appeared on the Primera website since yesterday, all bookable from 9th December:

Alicante: Thurs and Sun from 9th Dec - 7th April

Gran Canaria: Fri from 7th Dec - 5th April

Malaga: daily until 9th December, then Tues/Thurs/Sun until 5th April

Reyjkavik: Sun 9th Dec, Wed 19th Dec, Tues 1st Jan then Sun from 13th Jan - 7th April

Aircraft operates inbound Thursday 6th and 13th December, and from 17th Jan

Tenerife: Sat from 8th Dec

Barcelona is daily from 1st October-9th December, not bookable afterwards - why run a route only for 3 months at this time of the year??

Long Haul:

New York: Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun until 9th Dec

Toronto: Tues/Thurs/Sat until 8th Dec

So it would seem the BHX base uses a KEF based aircraft from 9th Dec with flights only operating from Thurs-Sun until April, apart from AGP which also flies on a Tuesday, totalling 8 flights per week.

I can't see them having an aircraft sat around on a Mon and Wed doing nothing to operate a single Tuesday Malaga flight?

Interestingly, MAN-AGP has now appeared, 4 times per week from 24th October. More routes to come from MAN me thinks.

One assumes EWR, YYZ start again after 9th April along with short haul winter routes hopefully continuing through the summer

The STN schedule is much more robust than BHX over winter, with daily EWR and ALC, 5 times pw IAD and YYZ and 3/4 times pw AGP, TFS, LPA. Goes without saying they are obviously doing much better from STN than BHX, no surprise really.

So many pieces of the Primera jigsaw to still put together. It doesn't make any sense to me unless there is more to come? They have not become 'the saviour' that I think BHX management were hoping they might be.

I don't believe BHX management expected Primera to be any sort of "saviour"; BHX doesn't need saving for starters, and second, it's unclear to me whether Primera's arrival on the T/A scene was the catalyst for the departure of UA / TS, or the consequence of the departure of said carriers. YYZ now has on offer more seats per week than it has had for years, and BHX has managed to get reconnected with New York. I am sure Primera is in BHX for the long game, and it's very difficult to judge them until the first summer season is done and dusted. As indication of just how difficult the T/A market is, I heard today on ZDF (Germany) TV news that Lufthansa and cutting their direct service between Berlin and New York, due to poor demand. If Berlin has issues making NY work, it puts BHX into some sort of perspective.

I am surprised however that Primera EWR is only bookable till 9.12.18, that seems a rather arbitrary date, and I would have expected the service to go into hibernation in the first week of January, but I assume they have done their homework.

[chaps1954]

It does seem rather strange that New York is finishing so early however Toronto is no suprise as weather can be a tad cold then but New York has the shopping.

[canberra97]

I don't believe BHX management expected Primera to be any sort of "saviour"; BHX doesn't need saving for starters, and second, it's unclear to me whether Primera's arrival on the T/A scene was the catalyst for the departure of UA / TS, or the consequence of the departure of said carriers. YYZ now has on offer more seats per week than it has had for years, and BHX has managed to get reconnected with New York. I am sure Primera is in BHX for the long game, and it's very difficult to judge them until the first summer season is done and dusted. As indication of just how difficult the T/A market is, I heard today on ZDF (Germany) TV news that Lufthansa and cutting their direct service between Berlin and New York, due to poor demand. If Berlin has issues making NY work, it puts BHX into some sort of perspective.

I am surprised however that Primera EWR is only bookable till 9.12.18, that seems a rather arbitrary date, and I would have expected the service to go into hibernation in the first week of January, but I assume they have done their homework.

It was always Lufthansa plan to operate both DUS to JFK and TXL to JFK temporarily before handing the routes over to Eurowings, as quoted by LH because of slot availablity at JFK the DUS to JFK has been suspended for the summer season and TXL to JFK has suffered due to the late arrival of the five former A343 from Brussels Airlines that are destined for Eurowings.

Lufthansa are concentrating operations at their primary hubs in FRA and MUN with Eurowings operating the former Lufthansa flights originating from BERLIN, COLOGNE, DÜSSELDORF, HAMBURG, HANNOVER, STUTTGART.

[Centre cities]

Just to clarify on Primera from December.

The schedule quoted earlier is correct from the website however:

The 3 per week Malaga services are W flights with a Malaga based aircraft that operates to Birmingham, Manchester and Paris. This is likely to have been the BHX based aircraft.

At present a 738 is based Thursday to Sunday and operates in from Iceland on Thursday and back out on Sunday.

The New York and Toronto now show that same operating dates as Stansted and I would expect this to now be extended at both airports, to stop the service prior to the Christmas break would not make sense.

The website needs to be watched on an almost daily basis but the schedule for the winter period is starting to make more sense. The disappointment is the weekly Canaries flights, 2 per week would give passengers much more flexibility than the 1 per week 7 or 14 day breaks.

Centre cities

[LAX_LHR]

Turkish using an A330 on 29th March. Morning flight.

[nigel osborne]

Chinapattern, that seems a reasonable summary, this is what has appeared on the Primera website since yesterday, all bookable from 9th December:

Alicante: Thurs and Sun from 9th Dec - 7th April

Gran Canaria: Fri from 7th Dec - 5th April

Malaga: daily until 9th December, then Tues/Thurs/Sun until 5th April

Reyjkavik: Sun 9th Dec, Wed 19th Dec, Tues 1st Jan then Sun from 13th Jan - 7th April

Aircraft operates inbound Thursday 6th and 13th December, and from 17th Jan

Tenerife: Sat from 8th Dec

Barcelona is daily from 1st October-9th December, not bookable afterwards - why run a route only for 3 months at this time of the year??

Long Haul:

New York: Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun until 9th Dec

Toronto: Tues/Thurs/Sat until 8th Dec

So it would seem the BHX base uses a KEF based aircraft from 9th Dec with flights only operating from Thurs-Sun until April, apart from AGP which also flies on a Tuesday, totalling 8 flights per week.

I can't see them having an aircraft sat around on a Mon and Wed doing nothing to operate a single Tuesday Malaga flight?

Interestingly, MAN-AGP has now appeared, 4 times per week from 24th October. More routes to come from MAN me thinks.

One assumes EWR, YYZ start again after 9th April along with short haul winter routes hopefully continuing through the summer

The STN schedule is much more robust than BHX over winter, with daily EWR and ALC, 5 times pw IAD and YYZ and 3/4 times pw AGP, TFS, LPA. Goes without saying they are obviously doing much better from STN than BHX, no surprise really.

So many pieces of the Primera jigsaw to still put together. It doesn't make any sense to me unless there is more to come? They have not become 'the saviour' that I think BHX management were hoping they might be.

The start of Manchester flts is a worry for us.

With the MAG group airport of Stansted being their other main focus I hope they don't just switch flts from BHX to Manchester next year ..

[Logohu]

With the MAG group airport of Stansted being their other main focus I hope they don't just switch flts from BHX to Manchester next year ..

I doubt that will happen. I expect one of the reasons Primera chose BHX over MAN is the lesser transatlantic competition from Thomas Cook, Virgin, UA, AC, Icelandair etc. That isn't going to change so if they really wanted to operate from MAN rather than BHX, why go to BHX in the first place ? A common factor between BHX and STN is that they both have limited transatlantic competition.

[daz211]

I doubt that will happen. I expect one of the reasons Primera chose BHX over MAN is the lesser transatlantic competition from Thomas Cook, Virgin, UA, AC, Icelandair etc. That isn't going to change so if they really wanted to operate from MAN rather than BHX, why go to BHX in the first place ? A common factor between BHX and STN is that they both have limited transatlantic competition.

I agree but in a way disagree only due to the way flights are searched for now if you were looking for flights from Manchester to the states it’s easier to use say skyscanner at which point you would see the primera flights along side the above mentioned carriers and the fares at the moment are very competitive where as Stansted and Birmingham are less likely to be searched due to the publics knowledge of where transatlantic flights operate if your looking for transatlantic flights you more than likely to search LGW or LHR instead of STN or LON and further up the country you would be searching MAN over LPL
So you would get more bookings through comparison sites due to the amount of searches and the competitive prices.

[chaps1954]

Daz yes I agree with what you are saying it`s like people automatically look at London

Ian

[nwoody2001]

You are indeed correct but that is not how you run and sustain a route. Yes you are more likely to get awareness of your route from MAN over BHX, but with the amount of competition, this will guarantee that yields are limited in order to beat your competitor.


To my eye, the opportunity for Primera at MAN is European sun sector in the void left by Monarch, Vueling and Norwegian, and not the TATL sector which at MAN is saturated.


That's not to say they will get an easy ride at BHX. The true sign will be the summer 19 schedule!

[LAX_LHR]

While PF would have a tough time on the traditional TATL ex MAN (NYC/BOS), there could be a niche to carve in new routes like Washington, and adding capacity on Toronto and possibly PHL.

As far as intense competition goes, it didn’t stop PF adding CDG against AF/D8/XL and so on, and while STN has limited TATL, London-US (when looking at the bigger picture) is hardly devoid of competition, is it?

But saying that, I don’t think BHX should be worried if MAN TATL does happen. PF would be competing with MAN based carriers, not its own services at BHX. The timetable at BHX should be more than capable of standing on its own 2 feet regardless of what happens up the M6.

[FLYAIR10]

On Monday March,26th VLM airlines resumes their flights from BHX to Antwerp.
5 flights a week.
Today they launched a promo-tariff of GBP 39 one way (GBP 79 return)

Sales period: SAT 17 MARCH 2018 up to and including SUN 25 MARCH 2018
Travel period: 26 MARCH 2018 - 27 OCTOBER 2018

Curious to see how many seats they can sell at this bargain price... :)

FlyVLM - English (http://www.flyvlm.com/en)

[LAX_LHR]

Turkish using an A330 on 29th March. Morning flight.



Also using an A330 on the PM flight 14th April.

[ssflyer]

Also using an A330 on the PM flight 14th April.


Easter Hols-start and finish?
SS

[LAX_LHR]

I’d imagine so, TK are masters at matching capacity with demand, it’s a huge benefit of having such a versatile fleet. A319 for low loads with the ability to switch right up to the B77W when the loads are high.

[Matt995]

Runway 33 Glide Path now out of service till 19th June...

C1620/18: Birmingham: Glide path (ILS) unserviceable
Q) EGTT/QIGAS/I/NBO/A/000/999/5227N00145W005
ILS GP RWY 33 OUT OF SER
FROM: 19 Mar 2018 13:46 GMT TO: 19 Jun 2018 17:00 GMT (18:00 BST)

[Centre cities]

Runway 33 Glide Path now out of service till 19th June...

C1620/18: Birmingham: Glide path (ILS) unserviceable
Q) EGTT/QIGAS/I/NBO/A/000/999/5227N00145W005
ILS GP RWY 33 OUT OF SER
FROM: 19 Mar 2018 13:46 GMT TO: 19 Jun 2018 17:00 GMT (18:00 BST)

It must be wet again, that is good is it not, an ILS that only works in good weather.

Centre cities

[eggc]

Januarys pax figures on CAA now, and TBH better than thought they might be at -4%. Considering the number of MON frames missing I think that's quite a result. Seems BHX and MAN will soon fill the void MON left and be back to positives :ok:

[LGS6753]

S18 slot allocations published:

https://www.acl-uk.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/BHX-S18-Start-of-Season-Report.pdf

Overall reduction in seats (due mainly to Monarch): 8.6%
Numerous airlines not operating in S18 including Aegean, Air Transat, BMI Regional (minimal), Cobalt, Evelop, Germanwings, Icelandair, United.
Major increases from TUI, Thomas Cook, Jet2, Primera.

[jfy1999]

Agadir, Izmir, Thessaloniki and Split have all been announced.

Routes which will reportedly see more flights include Antalya, Cape Verde and Naples.

[FLYAIR10]

Today VLM resumed flights between BHX and ANR.
5 Flights a week.

Source:

VLM Airlines reopens Antwerp-Birmingham route - Aviation24.be (http://www.aviation24.be/airlines/vlm-airlines/vlm-airlines-reopens-antwerp-birmingham-route/)

Home - All information about Antwerp International Airport (http://www.antwerp-airport.com/)

FlyVLM - English (http://flyvlm.com/en)

[Hotel Tango]

May I be proved wrong by all means, but I'm not too optimistic about this route, particularly with the timings.

[ssflyer]

No sign of these for 2018 either at BHX or EMA
Any thoughts?
SS

[tubby linton]

EuroControl is reporting Birmingham BHX is closed to inbounds until ~2000UTC due to ATC data processing issues. SAS #SK2535 from Copenhagen (A320 OY-KAM) has diverted to Manchester.

[nuisance79]

No sign of these for 2018 either at BHX or EMA
Any thoughts?
SS

Agreed. It seems very strange that the Cote d Azur is not served by any Midlands airport since the demise of BD, WW and ZB.

It actually serves as an all year round resort with the SKI season in the winter too.

[chinapattern]

Agreed. It seems very strange that the Cote d Azur is not served by any Midlands airport since the demise of BD, WW and ZB.

It actually serves as an all year round resort with the SKI season in the winter too.

Fingers crossed for Nice on Jet2 next summer.

[Plane.Silly]

NCE would be a good addition, and LS already serve it from other bases, a no brainer in my view.

But for a SKI destination? i'm not seeing it...

[Hotel Tango]

But for a SKI destination? i'm not seeing it...

Lots of ski resorts relatively close to Nice 90-120 mins by road. Nice is a popular Winter destination for skiers.

[figgi_gsm]

S18 slot allocations published:

https://www.acl-uk.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/BHX-S18-Start-of-Season-Report.pdf

Overall reduction in seats (due mainly to Monarch): 8.6%
Numerous airlines not operating in S18 including Aegean, Air Transat, BMI Regional (minimal), Cobalt, Evelop, Germanwings, Icelandair, United.
Major increases from TUI, Thomas Cook, Jet2, Primera.

Sorry for the non topic but is there an ACL report for EDI?

[compton3bravo]

Plenty of other airports closer than Nice for skiing Hotel Tango trust me!

[GLAEDI]

Sorry for the non topic but is there an ACL report for EDI?

Both Glasgow & Edinburgh are level 2 airports no reports on ACL.

[OltonPete]

Source: CAA Provisional Figures

February 2018 Passenger figures 764901 compared to 2017 of 809239.

However the bright spot was Emirates although down the average pax per flight was 531 - not many routes in the world that can beat that mainly because there isn't that many 615 seat aircraft.

Air India average 222 or 87% which basically means the messing around of the service by adding two direct Amritsar flights and reducing Delhi to five a week direct hasn't altered the figures hardly at all although March will be the first complete month.

January 2018 Analysis. Load factors estimated based on seat maps and the pax per flight from flight radar 24 and as you can see some routes have missing data. There are a few horrors but generally very good and considering the demise of Monarch, the reduction by Flybe and the loss of the New York flights and third Emirates it is not a bad showing.

Route......................2018........ 2017......AVG........load factor
RAZ.........................430...............0......... 27............55%
INNSBRUCK.................0............661
SALZBURG..............1958...........883......... 75........... 41%
VIENNA..................2289...............0......... 64............44%
BRUSSELS.............12318........10765........ 83............60%
LARNACA................3283.......... 4393.......126............67%
COPENHAGEN..........5117..........5574........ 58............60%
CHAMBERY............... 792...........505
GRENOBLE..............1748.........2087........110.......... ..59%
LYON......................2588.........2886......... 62............70%
NANTES....................337..........817.......... 56............72%
PARIS (CDG)..........34111.......31012........103........... 85%
PARIS (ORLY)........... 264.............56.......132............ 60%
TOULOUSE..............1944.........2356..........61......... ...69%
BERLIN (TXL)...........5141........5325.......... 66............75%
DUSSELDORF.........18406.......19821.........54............ 65%
FRANKFURT...........19521.......20091........103............ 61%
HAMBURG...............1797.........1623..........56......... ...72%
HANOVER...............2291.........3033...........52........ ... 67%
MUNICH...............15538........16510..........91......... ...60%
STUTTGART............4351.........3593.......... 62............71%
CORK.....................5634.......5189.............49..... .....68%
DUBLIN................68502......70580..........117......... ..71%
KNOCK..................1301........1235............50....... ....64%
SHANNON..............2782........2408............45......... ..62%
MILAN (MXP).........3447.........5399............66...........75%
TURIN...................2092.........987............116..... .....61%
VERONA................2892........2832...........161........ ...85%
LUXEMBOURG............0.........1297
MALTA..................4769........4092...........159....... ....84%
AMSTERDAM........53080......46787.............88...........7 9%
ROTTERDAM............. 0..........562
FARO...................3726........7371............169...... .....90%
LISBON.................... 0.........3361
FUNCHAL.............1502.........2061............150........ ...80%
ALICANTE...........15302.......17010............166......... .88%
BARCELONA........11157.......14865............169..........9 0%
MADRID...............8706.........8369............140....... ...76%
MALAGA.............12063.......16473............182......... .97%
MURCIA...............3055.........2618............170....... ...90%
PALMA......................0.........2425
ARRECIFE...........11462........9624
FUERTEVENTURA...7460........6854
LAS PALMAS..........5700.......5320.............150...........79 %
TENERIFE............21047......26427............185......... .. 96%
GOTEBORG............1200........... 0
KEFLAVIK..............1438......3101..............143....... ....76%
GENEVA..............20548.....16141..............135........ ...81%
ZURICH................8339.......8141................74..... .....56%
ISTANBUL...........10063.......7847.............. 114.......... 71%
SOFIA..................5254.......7218.............. 175.......... 93%
PRAGUE...............2328.......3286...............106...... ....77%
BUDAPEST...........3969.......3967............... 198.......... 92%
VILNIUS..............3347.......3287...............167...... .... 89%
BYDGOSZCZ........4444.......4806............... 171.......... 90%
GDANSK..............3307.......3137...............165....... ...88%
KATOWICE...........2763.......3107...............173........ ..91%
KRAKOW.............4528........3768.............. 174.......... 92%
POZNAN..............2675........2647.............. 149.......... 83%
WARSAW.............3457.......3599...............192........ .. 84%
MODLIN..............4553.......4133............... 163.......... 86%
WROCLAW...........2570......2592................ 143.......... 79%
BUCHAREST (OTP)7751......3233................169.......... 86%
CLUJ...................2320...........0................ 129.......... 69%
BRATISLAVA.......4284....... 4765................ 165.......... 87%
ASHKHABAD.......6357....... 2733................ 138.......... 68%
DOHA HAMAD...10883.....11440.................176.......... 69%
DUBAI..............62241....68307................. 494.......... 81%
AMRITSAR.........6772........ 6794
DELHI.............. 6703........7223.................217..........85%
ISLAMABAD...... 6759........6886.................282..........85%
JF KENNEDY)..........0.........1656
NEWARK................0.........5088

ABERDEEN.........7875........8645.................59........ ...75%
BELFAST CITY....16611.....17013.................56...........71%
BELFAST INT..... 19528.....19430................ 131.......... 81%
EDINBURGH...... 18176.....17961..................56...........71%
GLASGOW.........16241.....16541..................50......... .63%
JERSEY............. 2608.........2629..................53..........68%
GUERNSEY........ 2793........ 2659 see Jersey
INVERNESS.......2335........2523..................53........ ...68%
ISLE OF MAN.....2926........2721..................43...........60%
NEWQUAY..........110..............0..................55..... ......71%

Pete

NB. As data is taken from a FR24 (paid subscription) it can have some "data holes" through no fault of their own but this can lead to some errors in the average pax and thus load factor but usually the percentage error is low

[snn20]

thanks for the info

[BAladdy]

LS flights for S19 are now on sale. Below is details of changes compared to planned S18 schedule

New Routes

Bergerac (EGC) - Weekly Saturday service operates 25MAY19 to 21SEP19
Kefalonia (EFL) - Weekly Tuesday service operates 07MAY19 to 24SEP19
Pula (PUY) - Weekly Sunday service operates 12MAY19 to 13OCT19
Verona (VRN) - Weekly Saturday service operates 11MAY19 to 05OCT19

Prague (PRG) - Will operate up to 2 x weekly for S19. Route will not operate S18

Frequency Increased

Alicante (ALC) - frequency increased from up to 11 x weekly to 13 x weekly
Antalya (AYT) - frequency increased from up to 3 x weekly to 5 x weekly
Heraklion (HER) - frequency increased from up to 4 x weekly to 5 x weekly
Faro (FAO) - frequency increased from up to 11 x weekly to 15 x weekly
Fuerteventura (FUE) - frequency increased from up to 2 x weekly to 3 x weekly
Funchal (FNC) - frequency increased from up to 1 x weekly to 2 x weekly
Ibiza (IBZ) - frequency increased from up to Daily to 8 x weekly
Lanzarote (ACE) - frequency increased from up to 5 x weekly to 6 x weekly
Larnaca (LCA) - frequency increased from up to 2 x weekly to 3 x weekly
Las Palmas (LPA) - frequency increased from up to 3 x weekly to 4 x weekly
Mahon (MAH) - frequency increased from up to 4 x weekly to 5 x weekly
Malaga (AGP) - frequency increased from up to 9 x weekly to 13 x weekly
Palma (PMI) - frequency increased from up to 13 x weekly to 20 x weekly
Paphos (PFO) - frequency increased from up to 3 x weekly to 4 x weekly
Reus (REU) - frequency increased from up to 3 x weekly to 4 x weekly
Tenerife (TFS) - frequency increased from up to 6 x weekly to 9 x weekly

Frequency Decreased

Rhodes (RHO) - frequency reduced from up to 4 x weekly to 3 x weekly

[Plane.Silly]

Interesting to see Bergerac added in. With LBA/MAN/STN still to be released, would be interesting to see if any other French Destinations come up

I believe this takes based a/c upto 11, pretty impressive considering they had 0 a/c 3 years prior

[ssflyer]

At first glance prices look attractive for early bookings on my routes,much less than this year.

SSF

[OltonPete]

Jet2

BHX press release states 41 destinations and 11 based at peak.

Only 39 summer destinations showing and 12 based all afternoons at the very least except Tuesday and Wednesday so clearly some changes due but pretty incredible expansion. Nice & Lisbon are notable destinations without competition although I think the latter would be new to Jet2 if they did take the plunge?

TUI 2019

Eight short-haul and one long-haul confirmed by the timings. Two gaps, one Thursday which I presume is Malta P & O and Sunday afternoon and again I assume the "mysterious" Split which gets announced every year and never operates. It is in the TUI press release I believe but I could not find it in the online holiday section, flight only or timetable.

Pete

[chinapattern]

Jet2’s growth at BHX is nothing short of remarkable - 4 to 11 based units in the space of three years is fantastic.

[OltonPete]

Jet2’s growth at BHX is nothing short of remarkable - 4 to 11 based units in the space of three years is fantastic.

I would be amazed if it is 11 based with at least 12 and sometimes 14 afternoon departures and even taking into account away based aircraft I just don't see that this is possible.

TUI

Not quite keeping up with the Jones's but TUI keep on adding but this time winter ski/santa

Kuusamo winter 2018/9 9 December - 17 February Sunday.

More to the point Sunday has three aircraft operating two flights each, plus the extra Boa Vista and the 787 to Bridgetown. Five aircraft required at the moment and the same on a Saturday.

Pete

[jon01]

On Wednesdays and Fridays from 4th June 2018, there will be an additional triangular service: Antwerp-Aberdeen-Birmingham-Antwerp, giving Birmingham two Antwerp services and an additional ABZ-BHX service on Wed and Fri

Three new destinations for VLM Airlines from 4 June onwards: Aberdeen, Cologne/Bonn and Rostock - Aviation24.be (http://www.aviation24.be/airlines/vlm-airlines/three-new-destinations-for-vlm-airlines-from-4-june-onwards-aberdeen-cologne-bonn-and-rostock/)

[Hotel Tango]

I'm curious as to what the VLM loads have been like. Have they operated all flights as planned?

[OltonPete]

I'm curious as to what the VLM loads have been like. Have they operated all flights as planned?

As far as I know all flights have operated but only heard about a few loads which were less than stellar!

easyjet winter 2018/9

Belfast is similar in frequency with the 3rd Sunday service returning but Wednesday is double daily only.

Geneva - Showing a reduction on Monday and Wednesday with just the one flight.

Grenoble - Not bookable but this would not be a surprise with Jet2 operating Saturday and Sunday. Load factors in the past have been very un-easyjet like (well below the network average).

Pete

[jon01]

Showing on Amadeus:

18:15 ATQ AI117 B788 19:45 AI118 ATQ Sat 05May - 27Oct

This is an additional weekly Delhi via Amritsar service, making a total of 8 Air India services per week

[chinapattern]

Showing on Amadeus:

18:15 ATQ AI117 / 19:45 AI118 ATQ Sat 28Apr - 27Oct

This is an additional weekly Delhi via Amritsar service, making a total of 8 Air India services per week

Nice. Two Air India 787s on the ground at the same time.

[BHX5DME]

Yes Air India bookable double daily on Saturady and hopefully this will be expanded to 10pw as demand is high

[chinapattern]

Bourgas (x2 weekly), Chania (x1 weekly) and Izmir (x1 weekly) added for Summer 19.

[Navpi]

Do we know how Primera are doing?

[BHX5DME]

Primera bookings are in line with expectations

[Plane.Silly]

Primera bookings are in line with expectations

Depends what the expectations are. Are they reasonable for a 1st year operations, or are they being too optimistic?

[GrahamK]

KLM will be using a leased Carpatair F100 on the evening AMS service for the forseeable future

[golf yankee one one]

Anyone know the reason for the brief visit of the Azeri A319?

[jfy1999]

Anyone know the reason for the brief visit of the Azeri A319?
Charter flight for Mercedes F1 I believe.

[GayFriendly]

When do they start at BHX? Can't be long....I don't think I've ever been so underwhelmed by the start of new flights by a new operator at BHX.

It doesn't seem like they have got off to a good start at STN in terms of reliability, punctuality or customer service according to a number of posts on that thread. There have been a fair few cancellations of trans-Atlantic flights, leaving pax stranded in the process. I hope they do better at BHX.

I'm still very sceptical about them and will be astounded (but equally delighted) to see them carry on for Summer 2019.

[BHX5DME]

Primera start in two weeks after the first day the flights to PMI and AGP are canx !
New York starts on 18rh
hopefully after this date all flights settle down

[OltonPete]

When do they start at BHX? Can't be long....I don't think I've ever been so underwhelmed by the start of new flights by a new operator at BHX.

It doesn't seem like they have got off to a good start at STN in terms of reliability, punctuality or customer service according to a number of posts on that thread. There have been a fair few cancellations of trans-Atlantic flights, leaving pax stranded in the process. I hope they do better at BHX.

I'm still very sceptical about them and will be astounded (but equally delighted) to see them carry on for Summer 2019.

The current plan is Malaga and Palma start on the 14 May on the A321 NEO, Tuesday the Malaga operates again as the A321 NEO but then doesn't run to Friday 18th on the 738, then skips Saturday before operating daily from Sunday 20th May. Palma does not operate 15, 16, 17 or 19th May and again on the 18th it is on the 738 and daily from 20th May.

The A321 NEO starts daily on the Newark on Friday 18 May until Friday 22 June when Toronto starts Saturday 23 June 3 times a week and Newark goes 4 a week.

Other stuff - The third Oman Boeing 788 arrived today alas for MAEL only but good to see them thriving even if it is at RR expense.

Pete

[Guest 112233]

When do they start at BHX? Can't be long....I don't think I've ever been so underwhelmed by the start of new flights by a new operator at BHX.

It doesn't seem like they have got off to a good start at STN in terms of reliability, punctuality or customer service according to a number of posts on that thread. There have been a fair few cancellations of trans-Atlantic flights, leaving pax stranded in the process. I hope they do better at BHX.

I'm still very sceptical about them and will be astounded (but equally delighted) to see them carry on for Summer 2019.

Very Briefly

Without casting any doubts on the viability or competence of the organisation responsible - Questions that need to be legitimately asked are ? What is the accumulated knowledge base of the organisation; in the context of the operation of the equipment used and operational demands of the route base. What is the accumulated; engineering knowledge of their base organisation ? and resource base available. Certification accepted.? Can they sustain the possible cost consequences associated with the uncertainty associated with; the complexity of establishing [ Edit: a ] New complex commercial enterprise.

Every success to the Company.

CAT III

[OltonPete]

Very Briefly

Without casting any doubts on the viability or competence of the organisation responsible - Questions that need to be legitimately asked are ? What is the accumulated knowledge base of the organisation; in the context of the operation of the equipment used and operational demands of the route base. What is the accumulated; engineering knowledge of their base organisation ? and resource base available. Certification accepted.? Can they sustain the possible cost consequences associated with the uncertainty associated with; the complexity of establishing [ Edit: a ] New complex commercial enterprise.

Every success to the Company.

CAT III

It is a worry after the Boston fiasco and now a few Malaga and Palma flights cancelled soon after starting but it seems some positive news on the Primera thread with the next two aircraft now having engines.

Air India - A first for them at BHX with two scheduled flights from India today with just 25 minutes separating AI113 and AI117 on landing.

Thomas Cook & Condor - Rumour that the 4th A321 (Avion) is permanent in place of the Avion A320 and a surprise visitor today was a Condor 767 diversion on Toronto - Frankfurt due crew duty hours. Seems to have been well organised with the new crew arriving on LH954 from Frankfurt and it appears it was in for just over an hour. In a twist the LH954 was due to land just before the Condor but overshot due to a bird-strike on the preceding Ryanair aircraft, although it all turned out well in the end.

Pete

[BHX5DME]

Air India (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Air-India) will increase the frequency of its flights (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/flights) between Amritsar and Birmingham from two per week to five, owing to high demand from passengers.
The five weekly service is expected to start in the summer. The inaugural non-stop flight between Birmingham and Amritsar had taken off on February 20.

"The recently introduced Birmingham to Amritsar flights will soon be operating five days a week," said British Sikh MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Tanmanjeet-Singh-Dhesi), who spearheaded the idea of connecting the two cities.

"It's been in the pipeline a while but now the Indian Cabinet has given the green light for it," he added. "It started on two days a week, last month they agreed to make it three days and now it will become five days a week. I thank the UK and Punjabi travellers for the enthusiasm with which they have made the flights successful," Dhesi added.

Dhesi had gone to India last summer and met various Union ministers including civil aviation minister Jayant Sinha and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, to push the case of connecting Amritsar to the UK via a direct flight, avoiding the need to transfer in Delhi, saying it would be beneficial to the Punjab and Indian economy.

He spoke to Union minister for social justice and empowerment Vijay Sampla on the phone on Thursday morning and had it confirmed it was now being increased to five days a week.

Dhesi shared the news on Facebook and Sampla wrote on in Hindi above his post "Your words will inspire me with more strength" after sharing Dhesi's post.

Dhesi said he was thrilled that Sampla had launched a direct flight between Adampur and Delhi from 1 May. "I hope that very soon they will give the good news of the introduction of the London Amritsar route," Dhesi added.

Dhesi said that the Cabinet in India had only just reached its decision and Air India would receive its directive soon. Air India in London was unaware of the developments.Latest CommentImpact of privatization, Air India wants to go into profit before privatization. Otherwise who was caring for Amritsar - Birmingham flights. Soon there will be a London - Amritsar flight too.Harjap Singh Aujla
Shakila Lambe, PR and Sales for Air India in the UK, told TOI, that a third flight between Amritsar and Birmingham was being introduced this Saturday, 5 May. But she said she did not know about the increase to five days.

"The twice weekly fights between Birmingham and Amritsar on Tuesday and Thursdays have been operating at 90 to 100 per cent capacity. It takes just 7.5 hours compared to how long it used to take via Delhi so is very popular and we are seeing elderly passengers, youngsters, British and Indian Punjabis making use of it, mainly for leisure," Lambe said. Direct flights between Amritsar and Birmingham had stopped in 2010

[ATNotts]

Air India (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Air-India) will increase the frequency of its flights (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/flights) between Amritsar and Birmingham from two per week to five, owing to high demand from passengers.
The five weekly service is expected to start in the summer. The inaugural non-stop flight between Birmingham and Amritsar had taken off on February 20.

"The recently introduced Birmingham to Amritsar flights will soon be operating five days a week," said British Sikh MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Tanmanjeet-Singh-Dhesi), who spearheaded the idea of connecting the two cities.

"It's been in the pipeline a while but now the Indian Cabinet has given the green light for it," he added. "It started on two days a week, last month they agreed to make it three days and now it will become five days a week. I thank the UK and Punjabi travellers for the enthusiasm with which they have made the flights successful," Dhesi added.

Dhesi had gone to India last summer and met various Union ministers including civil aviation minister Jayant Sinha and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, to push the case of connecting Amritsar to the UK via a direct flight, avoiding the need to transfer in Delhi, saying it would be beneficial to the Punjab and Indian economy.

He spoke to Union minister for social justice and empowerment Vijay Sampla on the phone on Thursday morning and had it confirmed it was now being increased to five days a week.

Dhesi shared the news on Facebook and Sampla wrote on in Hindi above his post "Your words will inspire me with more strength" after sharing Dhesi's post.

Dhesi said he was thrilled that Sampla had launched a direct flight between Adampur and Delhi from 1 May. "I hope that very soon they will give the good news of the introduction of the London Amritsar route," Dhesi added.

Dhesi said that the Cabinet in India had only just reached its decision and Air India would receive its directive soon. Air India in London was unaware of the developments.Latest CommentImpact of privatization, Air India wants to go into profit before privatization. Otherwise who was caring for Amritsar - Birmingham flights. Soon there will be a London - Amritsar flight too.Harjap Singh Aujla
Shakila Lambe, PR and Sales for Air India in the UK, told TOI, that a third flight between Amritsar and Birmingham was being introduced this Saturday, 5 May. But she said she did not know about the increase to five days.

"The twice weekly fights between Birmingham and Amritsar on Tuesday and Thursdays have been operating at 90 to 100 per cent capacity. It takes just 7.5 hours compared to how long it used to take via Delhi so is very popular and we are seeing elderly passengers, youngsters, British and Indian Punjabis making use of it, mainly for leisure," Lambe said. Direct flights between Amritsar and Birmingham had stopped in 2010
One half of me says that politicians should be kept well out of the way when deciding airline policy; the other that very possibly without lobbying by Punjabi MPs, and left to it's own devices AI would have concentrated on London - as virtually all other international airlines do, and kicked BHX into the long grass.

[OltonPete]

One half of me says that politicians should be kept well out of the way when deciding airline policy; the other that very possibly without lobbying by Punjabi MPs, and left to it's own devices AI would have concentrated on London - as virtually all other international airlines do, and kicked BHX into the long grass.

Quite possibly but difficult to ignore 14444 passengers (March 2018) - even without AI surely one airline somewhere could make money on BHX- India?

March 2018 Passenger figures - very creditable down just 3% per the CAA stats at 879517. I suggest you look away when April is published but May seems to be ticking along although I believe still down.

The problem with April 18 other than the blinking obviously (loss of Monarch) was the timing of Easter and Jet2 compensating as much as they could was nowhere near what Monarch used to offer. However looking at their booking engine if they had the aircraft they could have offered more and this is continuing on some routes such as Malaga with 10 out of the next 11 days sold out.

Emirates in March was staggering averaging 543 per flight at 88% (based on 615), signs of life on Doha (74%) and Turkmenistan nearly doubling their passengers.

Pete

[FQTLSteve]

Pete, I've just read your post and then scrolled down to Manchester. I know you'll have the answer, but given the loss of very similar scale of ops by Monarch at BHX and MAN why does BHX have a -3 figure for March whereas MAN has +3? So MAN have been able to not only make the loss up but grow as well.

[ATNotts]

Pete, I've just read your post and then scrolled down to Manchester. I know you'll have the answer, but given the loss of very similar scale of ops by Monarch at BHX and MAN why does BHX have a -3 figure for March whereas MAN has +3? So MAN have been able to not only make the loss up but grow as well.

As a percentage of total business Monarch formed a much smaller slice of Manchester's business than they did at BHX, so there was far less a shortfall to pick up; and Manchester is a bigger, more powerful player. And percentages can be misleading. You could earn £100,000- and take a 3% pay cut. You'd be down £3,000. I could earn £10,000 and take a 3% pay cut and only lose £300. I seem to have come out better, losing far less, but I had less to lose but you're still better off!!! That's statistics for you.

[nwoody2001]

Pete, I've just read your post and then scrolled down to Manchester. I know you'll have the answer, but given the loss of very similar scale of ops by Monarch at BHX and MAN why does BHX have a -3 figure for March whereas MAN has +3? So MAN have been able to not only make the loss up but grow as well.

To put Petes message in perspective, we can look at the numbers for the summer 2017 season for perspective.

At BHX, in Summer 2017, Monarch provided 1,525,896 seats out of the 11,414,655 seats available. This results in a 13.7% share of the seats which BHX will loose in Summer 2018.
At MAN, in Summer 2017, Monarch provided 1,484,440 seats out of the 23,358,022 seats available. This results in a 6.4% share of the seats which MAN will loose in Summer 2018.

In short, BHX will have lost 13.7% of its summer passengers with the collapse of Monarch, whilst MAN will only have lost 6.4% its passengers.

if BHX is only down -3% and MAN is up only +3%, in the scenario that no longer consider Monarch, then BHX will have actually have grown +10.7% and MAN will have actually have grown +9.4%. Based on this very simple scenario (which is of course a lot more complex than just monarch) it shows that both airports have recovered to a similar scale following the loss of Monarch....

[GayFriendly]

According to the STN thread, Primera are using the National 757 to launch BHX-EWR from 18th May until 29th July. It will only operate 6 x weekly until launch of YYZ when both services will be 3 x weekly. From 30th July I assume the A321 takes over as the 4 x EWR and 3 x YYZ weekly schedule seemingly starts. A's this is the aircraft that has gone tech so often at STN this does not bode well, although it looks like they've allowed a day in the week non op to help catch up with potential delays. As you can imagine STN posters are pleased to be rid of this unreliable beast.

The only was is up for Primera after such an abysmal start?

[daz211]

According to the STN thread, Primera are using the National 757 to launch BHX-EWR from 18th May until 29th July. It will only operate 6 x weekly until launch of YYZ when both services will be 3 x weekly. From 30th July I assume the A321 takes over as the 4 x EWR and 3 x YYZ weekly schedule seemingly starts. A's this is the aircraft that has gone tech so often at STN this does not bode well, although it looks like they've allowed a day in the week non op to help catch up with potential delays. As you can imagine STN posters are pleased to be rid of this unreliable beast.

The only was is up for Primera after such an abysmal start?

cant confirm but I just heard it might not be National at all, heard a rumour it’s a much nicer B757 operated by Titan Airways.

[GayFriendly]

Daz, let's hope that's one rumour that does come true! Here's hoping!

[chinapattern]

Looks like DEL goes back to daily from June.

[ATNotts]

Looks like DEL goes back to daily from June.

Not surprising given that high summer is the monsoon season.

[BHXEDGG]

Looks like DEL goes back to daily from June.

So days with the ATQ AI118, is it going double daily like the Saturday rotations?

[BHX5DME]

Looks like DEL goes back to daily from June.

The latest rumour is 10pw
Delhi daily
Amritsar 3 pw with Tue & Thu added from June

[OltonPete]

According to the STN thread, Primera are using the National 757 to launch BHX-EWR from 18th May until 29th July. It will only operate 6 x weekly until launch of YYZ when both services will be 3 x weekly. From 30th July I assume the A321 takes over as the 4 x EWR and 3 x YYZ weekly schedule seemingly starts. A's this is the aircraft that has gone tech so often at STN this does not bode well, although it looks like they've allowed a day in the week non op to help catch up with potential delays. As you can imagine STN posters are pleased to be rid of this unreliable beast.

The only was is up for Primera after such an abysmal start?

The plot thickens,

A Primera flight arrived today in the guise of a Cello B733 empty from Dublin which is believed to be operating the Tuesday Malaga.

Tomorrow which is the start of the base is due to be operated by a Primera B738 which is due in the morning. The aircraft is currently flying Zagreb - KEF.

Tuesday - Thursday & Saturday Palma remains non-ops as does the Wednesday, Thursday & Saturday Malaga.

Still the 757 on Newark Friday?

Pete

[jon01]

Primera update

B738 YL-PSH is operating Monday's flights

B733 G-MISG is operating Tuesday's flights

[Plane.Silly]

B733 = 148 seats, vs a B738 = 189 seats.
Me thinks the loads for Primera as a whole might not be as high as they'd like?

[crewmeal]

Looks like Primera have cut back on flights before they've even started. Perhaps the public have other ideas about travelling to the States.

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/278670/primera-air-revises-trans-atlantic-service-may-aug-2018/

[Centre cities]

Looks like Primera have cut back on flights before they've even started. Perhaps the public have other ideas about travelling to the States.

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/278670/primera-air-revises-trans-atlantic-service-may-aug-2018/

Apart from the delayed Stansted Toronto start the rest is as previously reported on the forums.

More to do with aircraft that the travelling public.

Centre cities

[OltonPete]

Looks like Primera have cut back on flights before they've even started. Perhaps the public have other ideas about travelling to the States.

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/278670/primera-air-revises-trans-atlantic-service-may-aug-2018/

Well what a start - BHX -EWR delayed until 20.15 at the moment.

There were reports of issues yesterday after it arrived from the US yesterday.

I assume this airline hasn't any money to use a reliable airline or perhaps find one with available aircraft but in the mean-time OY-PAA is over the Atlantic on Stansted - Boston 15 minutes late and CS-TKR Euroatlantic 763 has departed CDG just 24 minutes behind departure time.

Just what BHX needs after suffering many transatlantic setbacks, an airline that starts on the back-foot although I realise the engine manufacturer is mainly to blame.

On a positive note Primera operated both the Malaga and Palma with their own aircraft. Shame the 738 could not have been used via KEF but I suppose they are not ETOPS.

BA are back in the early hours 03.30 from Palma then operates Florence, Palma and Malaga tomorrow.

Flybe start Verona tomorrow for TUI and EFL as per 2017.

TUI now 8 based. Next up Jet2 with aircraft 8 in a few days.

Pete

[crewmeal]

Quelle suprise!!! This is not what BHX want or deserve. You would have thought that Primera would have pulled out all the stops to see the first flight depart on time and charter a decent carrier. So we have this outfit until the end of July? I hope they come up with a plan C during this period.

When customers find that this carrier is so unreliable then I wouldn't be surprised to see further cuts.

[daz211]

Quelle suprise!!! This is not what BHX want or deserve. You would have thought that Primera would have pulled out all the stops to see the first flight depart on time and charter a decent carrier. So we have this outfit until the end of July? I hope they come up with a plan C during this period.

When customers find that this carrier is so unreliable then I wouldn't be surprised to see further cuts.

Is it the old unreliable National 752 ?
I had heard it was going to be Titan, although it was unconfirmed.
if it’s any consolation the 321 is going down well with customers and not only are the flights departing and arriving pretty much on time I’m also hearing it’s alot more comfortable than the traditional airlines over the Atlantic.

[OltonPete]

Is it the old unreliable National 752 ?
I had heard it was going to be Titan, although it was unconfirmed.
if it’s any consolation the 321 is going down well with customers and not only are the flights departing and arriving pretty much on time I’m also hearing it’s alot more comfortable than the traditional airlines over the Atlantic.


Daz

Confirmed it is National and it is the same one, Delayed now until at least 22.30.

Shame they couldn't use the Virgin A332 that has just landed for MAEL :oh: now there is an excellent aircraft for transatlantic ;)

Pete

Airborne around 4 1/2 hours late

[daz211]

This is disgusting, how on earth can primera carry on with National after all the cancellations and delays at Stansted.
i would not be surprised if tonight’s flight is cancelled.
im absolutely shocked it’s the same aircraft.

at least all on board will get loads of competition which will be more than they payed for the flight.

[PDXCWL45]

This is disgusting, how on earth can primera carry on with National after all the cancellations and delays at Stansted.
i would not be surprised if tonight’s flight is cancelled.
im absolutely shocked it’s the same aircraft.

at least all on board will get loads of competition which will be more than they payed for the flight.
Maybe they aren't the ones paying for them so don't have a choice ?