Route Development & Rumours

[58terminus]

What's the latest rumour on the rumoured BA City Jet summer flights? Seems a bit late for any announcement now.

 

[Ray Finkle]

The latest rumour is that it isn't going to happen.

 

[ethanegcc]

That's a shame for BHX - even though they aren't a lot of routes, at least it would have represented BA giving them some love.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there ray, if the rumours are true what you say about BA, that is a shame, because those summer routes, if planned well could have come off nicely and grown and expanded well... Andyc

 

[IanFarquharson]

Not going to happen at BHX

 

[Ray Finkle]

This is the second article in which I've read that Turkmenabashi Airport, in Turkmenistan, is due to become 'a major transit point between Europe and Asia'.

Along with the international airport in Ashgabat, the international airport of Turkmenbashi is meant to become a major transit point on the route from Europe to South and Southeast Asia.

http://en.trend.az/casia/turkmenistan/2714548.html

Looking at Wiki they have one airline (Turkmenistan) with just five routes. Only one of those is international, to Istanbul. Their cargo seems quite impressive with Cargolux having ten destinations but if they really are to be a major transit point then there looks to be a lot of work to be done.

Even the main airport in Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, has just 7 airlines with only 7 routes outside of the T5 network.

I applaud the ambition but I won't hold my breath.

 

[Ashley]

Mr Kehoe's tweet to questioned asked on any new direct flights to Canada.

"working on it but much competition from across Europe for the services to Canada".

 

[elmdon74]

Interesting article about BA`s new MAN routes that we were rumored to be getting.Not such a great loss!

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel...manchester-thomas-cook-airlines-a7558431.html

 

[ethanegcc]

No, not such a great loss but it is significant as BA are showing presence in Manchester, something lacking in the past view years. I am sure if it would have been the other way around e.g. BHX had got the services it would have been a different story.

There is strong rumour that a second aircraft will also operate to Florence and Geneva, bookable from 21st February so it is possible that even the opening statement of the piece is wrong.

 

[richard winterbourn]

Ethanegcc, what is it about you people upt' north. elmdon74 posting was a reflection on the fact that BHX has not lost a great deal by not gaining BA summer flights as outlined by an article in the Independent.

Why do you have to respond by saying that it shows BA values MAN more than BHX. That is a trivial and banal comment best kept on the MAN thread.

Get a life man...

 

[IanFarquharson]

BA at BHX always made money this was not the same at MAN !
True

 

[thunderchild]

Interesting article about BA`s new MAN routes that we were rumored to be getting.Not such a great loss!

I share the same opinion as Simon Calder and that view would be no different had the flights been operating from BHX.

As for MAN/BHX debate being stirred up again - I thought those days were behind us. Perhaps a moderator should be setting a better example.

Moving on....

 

[Ray Finkle]

Interesting article and I agree that BACF is no loss (not that it is a loss as from what I hear BHX were never actually in for them in the first place). To put it in to context, just keeping Easyjet to BFS this summer could bring in roughly four times as many pax as a weekend BACF Embraer.

As for the pettiness, well what can I say? I agree with thunderchild and all I can do is apologise on behalf of the Mod team.

Once again, lets now leave it behind and get back to Birmingham.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there ray, I totally agree with what you are saying ray about the BA situation, yes its a shame that they won't be operating or using birmingham airport at all. So we have to move on and forget about it, remember there are other bigger fish out there, so that's where Birmingham has to attract it's growth from current and new carriers... Andyc

 

[Paulsstrange]

No big loss at all.

If BA were serious about any of the regions ....( don't make me laugh !! ) ....they would not use a London based aircraft to op summer only routes over weekends only to suit them when London city is on down time....it's logical they start with the biggest airport outside London...

If they were serious ( im laughing ) they would base aircraft permanently....oh hold on we have been there before haven't we didn't bhx build them a terminal?? ....alas they moved out to make more profit in London.

BHX RD team are correctly focusing elsewhere.

MAN fair play but don't get carried away it suits them more than you..

 

[DaveBham]

BA is not a national airline and hasn't been for 10 years. They offer a good product to London and the South East of England, and they do it successfully.
For the rest of us, the world has moved on. The hole left by BA pulling out has been filled by a variety of operators offering as good or a better product than BA ever did.
We customers who don't wish to add 2 hours each side of a plane journey to drive to Manchester or Heathrow learned to use hubs that were enroute to our final destination.

I would sooner spend an hour or two relaxing at Schiphol, Zurich or Rekjavik than treck down the M40 just because a former national carrier thinks it's worthy of our business.

 

[Jerry]

BA is not a national airline and hasn't been for 10 years. They offer a good product to London and the South East of England, and they do it successfully.
For the rest of us, the world has moved on. The hole left by BA pulling out has been filled by a variety of operators offering as good or a better product than BA ever did.
We customers who don't wish to add 2 hours each side of a plane journey to drive to Manchester or Heathrow learned to use hubs that were enroute to our final destination.

I would sooner spend an hour or two relaxing at Schiphol, Zurich or Rekjavik than treck down the M40 just because a former national carrier thinks it's worthy of our business.

I always find it ironic that the national airline of the Netherlands and it's partners in Skyteam provide me with a better service than my own 'national' airline! But that is BAs decision and in doing so they surrendered a pretty big part of the UK market to other non UK airlines and even if they are realising that mistake to gain it back would be incredibly hard for them.

 

[Coathanger16]

I always find it ironic that the national airline of the Netherlands and it's partners in Skyteam provide me with a better service than my own 'national' airline! But that is BAs decision and in doing so they surrendered a pretty big part of the UK market to other non UK airlines and even if they are realising that mistake to gain it back would be incredibly hard for them.

To be honest, the same is true for much of Europe travelling to America. BA offers a far better N.American network than any of its European competitors.

BA had their reasons for pulling out of the regions - whether or not you feel they are justified is besides the point as it has already happened. Even if they had stayed, it would have been unlikely that they'd have been able to compete with the rise of the LCC so would likely have pulled out anyway.

If you look to France and Spain, their national carriers have only a limited presence at airports other than Paris and Madrid. Italy and Alitalia have their main hub at Rome with only a limited presence at Milan. Lufthansa is the only national airline in Europe that has a substantial presence at an airport (Munich) that isn't their main base (Frankfurt). Even then, besides those two airport, the Lufthansa brand has only a limited (if any) presence at other German airports.

The days of national airlines operating from the regions is long gone. The rise of LCC has meant that it isn't needed (nor is it easy for the national airline to operate such bases). In recent times, national airlines have chosen to use subsidiaries to serve the regions (i.e. Vueling, Hop, Eurowings, etc).

Yes, BA doesn't have much if any presence in the regions. However BA is now part of the International Airlines Group (effectively the London brand of IAG). Before judging BA, I'd recommend looking at IAG's presence in the regions.

 

[Jerry]

BA Cityflyer will operate Florence, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga and Ibiza from Birmingham starting in May. The flights are on sale now.

 

[paul]

Great news