BA to pull out of Belfast
 

Just announced on local BBC TV news that the BFS/LHR shuttle is to be withdrawn at the end of October. 250 BA employees are said to be in line for redundancy. BA claims to have made a loss of £38 million on the route over the last 5 years.

This will leave no services to LHR from BFS as BMI will be transfering to BHD later in the year.

I always asumed BA saw the route as a valuable feeder service for onward flights out of LHR. If that was/is the case then BA can no longer be looking at the wider picture. :confused:

Quote from BA press release "The withdrawal of this loss-making service will result in the closure of the airline's operating base at Belfast International Airport..."

It appears that ALL flights (those are LHR, ABZ, CWL and MAN) with BA Mainline AND British Regional through BFS will be stopped, though the BRAL flights being consolidated through BHD.

[ 27 September 2001: Message edited by: dwlpl ]

Well, there's always Go Fly from STN to BFS.

Few people perhaps have any concept of the tradegy this truly is for this tiny province. There isn't a lot of decent carriers out of Aldergrove as it is - the low-cost ones are all very well and good but not suitable for many with their bases being so far outside London. Being disabled, I certainly couldn't consider those airlines as an option for heading to the big smoke. Fortunately, in some ways, Belfast City airport is my local, but one has to wonder how long it will be before something gives way there too. This is indeed a dreadful day for aviation in N. Ireland in general, and we can only hope that things don't deteriorate any further. Those unaffected by this cannot just be content that they're okay - we could never have envisaged this happening here, and thus it could snowball through other airports/airlines quite easily in my view.

I'm also wondering what impact all of this is having on the GA scene in general.

Sad day all round.
TR
:(

CrashDive

Yes, and easyJet to LTN. But neither of these two destinations has the onward connections available from LHR.

BMI will now have the monopoly on the LHR route which is due to shift from BFS to BHD very soon. Good news for them in these troubled times. It might even persuade TBI to make a fresh offer to BMI and persuade them to stay put at an airport which, according to many contributors to a recent post, would be far more suited to their aircraft.

Aside from Easyjet and Go what is BFS left with?

So at last BA have been given the excuse they wanted for the last 5 years. Didn't hear of any pull out on the other routes though (ABZ/MAN/BHX).
Perhaps Midland and TBI will be friends again. Would seem the sensible plan as BMI wont be able to cash in on the extra demand down at the City due to shorter opening hours and smaller a/c types. Perhaps the Govt should force BA to release the slots? Somebody would do it from BFS if they had the slots. Maybe even British European instead of BHD-LCY.
One thing is for sure - this is bad bad news for the many airline staff who commute to work at LHR.

dik dastardly

All the other routes are franchise. No mention has been made of these.

Well sad as it may be, pop down the hill to Belfast City and we at British European are waiting to wisk you to LCY and LGW plus loads of other UK airports
www.british-european.com

Although its always sad when airlines discontinue a certain route, in the current climate it is only to be expected that airlines have to look very carefully at the routes on which they make a loss.

For many years, the transatlantic flights have subsidised these loss making routes, but due to the uncertainty surrounding the current situation with the US, BA can no longer take the risk of continuing services where there is ni revenue for them.

Where will BA pull out of next? GLA?

Well, if GLA is a loss making route that they can no longer sustain then maybe. Its up to the powers that be to make those kind of decisions.

People are not making these decisions to be awkward or make other peoples lives difficult.

Its about keeping a company going and unfortunately at the current time that means that sacrifices have to be made.

I think the pullout is very sad for NI residents: no direct connection from the largest and most central NI airport to the main airport of the capital of the UK??

The time this will cost businesses flying personnel on from Heathrow will be very great.

Why is it that BA cannot run this route profitably? I cant remember taking a BA LHR -BFS flight that wasn't full.

It will leave UK citizens of NI feeling further isolated. (I know about Luton/Stansted but Heathrow is vital for onward journeys).

[ 27 September 2001: Message edited by: Chicken_hawk ]

The inhabitants of Waterworld are unable to appreciate the knockout blow this will have on the people of NI. Part of its identity as a province of the United Kingdom is the full interconnectivity with the rest of the country, which was provided through Aldergrove ever since BA was an element of the apparatus of state.

I hope Aldergrove has a future, I feel very sad for the hard working BFS crews who have always been a happy and fresh faced throughout the Shuttle experience. BFS used to fill a Tristar at Christmas. The load often required a Shuttle back-up aircraft. BA’s inability to make a profit on this route has nothing to do with a lack of effort on their part. It was a pleasure to work with them and I shall miss them. Once again, the fault lies with BA’s continuing refusal to face up to its massive overheads and burgeoning administrative empire. Even now after 7000 job cuts, Waterworld remains largely untouched. I am beginning to get seriously concerned.

I am deeply saddened by this development. It is a sickening irony that for a part of the World that has suffered so dreadfully from terrorism these last 30 years, this hammer blow is the result of yet more terrorism from another World.

http://www.sausages.demon.co.uk/ian/...bs/roobarb.gif

BA have been trying to get off the LHR-BFS route for years. I remember the rumour going round some 10 years ago.
What you have to remember is that yes the route may be busy, even fill a Tristar at Christmas, but what is important is the ticket yield. Flights to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are low yield and have been for years. Dublin has had Ryan Air on the route for years forcing down fares, hence when BM started LHR-DUB BA pulled off. Now the low costs have started on London-Belfast pushing down fares.
Handling fees at LHR higher than LTN and STN. Theres a point when you have to stop throwing money away.
Its sad to see the route and any staff which go. Times are changing......

It's an ill wind...... But I can't help but think that BA are cancelling routes that run head-long into low cost territory where thay have very little chance of competing. BFS load factors are not being affected by the terrible events of the last few weeks, if anything they are up slightly! BA are running scared of low cost operaters in Euroupe and have had long-haul pax loads severely curtailed - an almost impossible environment to operate profitably within. I wish them and their staff all the best for what could prove to be very difficult times.

[ 27 September 2001: Message edited by: Fly-by-night ]

1.3VStall

BA are unlikely to pull out of GLA as they have just moved all their MAN maintenace up there.
I would be more concerned about the MAN shuttles though, BACE are looking increasingly likely to take over all the remaining routes out of MAN (JFK excepted).

Announcement tommorrow morning!!

Doors....
BFS still has Mearsk with multiple daily rotations to the Second City! Dont know for how long though, who will handle us?
A sad sad loss, a great bunch of people, The Arch-B##stard of BFS (he knows who he is) and the crew deserve better than this. Good luck to all of you, may it lead to greener grass on the other side.

Me, I feel ashamed at the moment to be associated with BA.

Six landing and take off slots were gained by BA today at LHR. Long haul services were also switched to LHR from LGW. Frequency of some affected services have been reduced, so more free slots.

Are Big Airlines starting to consolidate on LHR? If so, watch the other domestic routes such as GLA & MAN, they could provide more free slots for long haul. Heathrow's favourite airline then concentrates on making profit away from the low cost domestic market. Cost savings first at Belfast, then Manchester, then Glasgow, then..... Gatwick????? ;) :confused:

Then sit back and watch the low cost boys get even bigger. Both sectors do well. Time to buy shares in BA, easy, Go & Ryan :D :D

But perhaps not BA, something tells me that a certain Greek person might just purchase a dozen or so brand new 767s :D ;) The "webs favourite ailine", might become the world wide webs favourite :D

BA were talking to CityFlyer about taking this route over (but out of LGW) a couple of years ago, but it never came to anything. Too politically sensitive? But they've been making a huge loss for years, and now there's really no option.

BFS really is going to struggle with such a huge loss of throughput (BA and BMi) overnight. Be interesting to see what they do to try and recoup the loss.