Route Development & Rumours

[Ray Finkle]

Well Mr Pearson did say that they were close with at least one Middle Eastern or African airline, hopefully the deal will be completed in Durban and we'll hear something in the next few weeks.

It would be nice if there were one or two surprises also :smile:

 

[nwoody2001]

well I have no idea how this compares to other airport stands but Birmingham airports stand at the world routes congress is looking good!!!

lets hope it does the job!!!

 

[DaveBham]

That looks good

 

[jfy1999]

Well Mr Pearson did say that they were close with at least one Middle Eastern or African airline, hopefully the deal will be completed in Durban and we'll hear something in the next few weeks.

Qatar or Etihad pleeeeze...

 

[Brum X]

Well Mr Pearson did say that they were close with at least one Middle Eastern or African airline, hopefully the deal will be completed in Durban and we'll hear something in the next few weeks.

Qatar or Etihad pleeeeze...

Id also like to see Delta to ATL

 

[thunderchild]

TAP and Finnair for me.

 

[andyc941]

TAP and Finnair for me.

BHX are on a roll with European airlines lately so who knows

 

[Ray Finkle]

TAP - Lisbon

Finnair - Helsinki

Ryanair - Porto and Valencia

Vueling - Ibiza, Palma, Florence, Seville

Czech Airlines - Prague

Wizz - Vilnius, Riga, Katowice, Kosice, Sofia, Lublin, Bucharest, Wroclaw

Norwegian - Alicante, Arrecife, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gothenburg, Larnaca, Nice, Oslo, Rome, Palma, Stockholm, Dubrovnik, Ibiza, Split

Austrian - Vienna

VLM - Derry

Flybe - Perpignan, Toulouse

For Europe that'll do, for now. Unless Easyjet want to come and join the party

 

[Brum X]

Id be well chuffed if we got half of that Ray. Fingers crossed for some of that.

 

[Ray Finkle]

On the face of it the list looks ambitious but I don't think there is anything there unachievable?

Funnily enough I think Ryanair would be the most difficult, they've stagnated at BHX and already have Valencia from EMA. In the past Vienna has proven to be a tough nut to crack but recently quite a few UK airports have gained a service there. It's not a top priority for me though as Bratislava is an adequate alternative. Vueling should steadily grow over the next few years but I'm not expecting too much too soon.

For me TAP and Czech Airlines would be top of the list. Lisbon and Prague are big misses.

As for Norwegian, all the rumours suggest we'll see an announcement in October but if they want maximum exposure then why not announce a base at World Routes? :good:

 

[thunderchild]

IF Emirates start sending the whale to BHX are QR and EY just going to sit back and watch? I could be wrong but are LGW and BHX the only destinations in the EK network that have x3 daily flights with no competition to the gulf?

 

[nwoody2001]

Well with regard to emirates routes, this is the list of busiest routes in 2014. With our 3x daily 773, BHX should make that list in either 2015/16. In that regard, then yes, it would appear that BHX and LGW, are not only the only airports on the EK destination list to only have EK, but all other airports in their top 20 routes have BOTH EY and QR...

Come on either QR and/or EY, come join the party.

1 (LHR) EY, QR
2 (BKK) EY, QR
3 (BOM) EY, QR
4 (KHI) EY, QR
5 (KWI) EY, QR
6 (JED) EY, QR
7 (CDG) EY, QR
8 (DEL) EY, QR
9 (LGW) None
10 (MAN) EY, QR
11 (MNL) EY, QR
12 (SIN) EY, QR
13 (KUL) EY, QR
14 (DOH) EY, QR
15 (JNB) EY, QR
16 (MXP) EY, QR
17 (CGK) EY, QR
18 (IKA) EY, QR
19 (FCO) EY, QR
20 (JFK) EY, QR

Having also looked at that list and giving the changing political landscape in the area, but I would also like to see Tehran back at BHX....

 

[User001]

delete post

 

[nwoody2001]

that's the exact list I uses.... and MAN is at 10 isn't it???

 

[User001]

Sorry, baby had me up all night again so banging headache and eyes didn't follow the line properly.

 

[Brum X]

Also with regards Qatar/Etihad at BHX, im thinking more along the lines that atm the airport team may not be attempting to get either of these just yet maybe to keep Air India on board. Lets not forget it took alot of hard woprk to get Air India back at BHX and apparently there was a rift between the two earlier this year when all the fanfare of a MAN route was proposed.

Funnily enough Air India have not announced MAN which has all the other ME3 airlines which BHX doesnt, so it may be a case of BHX wanting to suck up to Air India a little and if this is the case i dont think its a bad thing.

Obviously i would hope that Air India could be confident enough in the future to survive on there own merits (Which i belive they have) and not have to play these games with either BHX or MAN and that another ME3 airline could arrive and be successful at BHX.

Just my thoughts though.

 

[Ray Finkle]

With our 3x daily 773, BHX should make that list in either 2015/16.

Riyadh, at number 20 on that list, carried 598,268 pax in 2014. According to the CAA Stats BHX saw 527 859 so with another 77W and possibly an A380 on the way we should easily cruise into the top 20.

I could be wrong but are LGW and BHX the only destinations in the EK network that have x3 daily flights with no competition to the gulf?

Not sure mate but if that's true then you could say Birmingham is the only city with 3x EK and no EY or QR as technically London has them both from Heathrow.

Sorry, baby had me up all night again so banging headache and eyes didn't follow the line properly.

I feel your pain, been there many times before.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Also with regards Qatar/Etihad at BHX, im thinking more along the lines that atm the airport team may not be attempting to get either of these just yet maybe to keep Air India on board.

A good point. It was suggested at the time that Air India had a bit of a wobbly at the prospect of Biman arriving, Qatar or Etihad would be much more of a threat.

 

[nwoody2001]

there may be some element of that, but as you say, BHX is not a charity, and whilst it can help and support other businesses/airlines, equally, the airport is a commercial entity itself, and the question is, which is going to be more beneficial to the airport? I can only assume the airport has reached that conclusion, but I too agree that if BHX wants to grown and become the major European airport it hopes to be, it should do so with confidence. the rapid growth of EK does not appear to have hindered AI loads, so why do we think another airline would...

 

[Ray Finkle]

Qatar have one thing that Emirates don't and that is a direct link to Amritsar, which as we know is very popular from BHX. I'd bet BHX alone could fill that A321.

Etihad now have Jet Airways almost as a kind of subsidiary airline, they have frequencies and a huge network across India from Abu Dhabi.

That said I totally agree that BHX is not a charity and it's number one priority is itself. If Air India are worried about the potential competition then they need to up their game. If Qatar do arrive I'd like to see AI fighting back by going double daily, another 4x weekly to Delhi and 3x weekly to BOM. That's just dreamland though :smile: