Breaking News - Easyjet to serve BHX!
Yes it's true! Easyjet have today announced that they will be launching operations from Birmingham. Starting on the 14th December 2007 the airline will be flying daily services to Geneva and twice weekly flights to Grenoble with a mixture of both A319's and 737-700's (73G's). Aircraft types have yet to be confirmed on these flights which I have listed below. All of course subject to change. Saturday flights are down as being operated by Easyjet Switzerland A319's. Check out all the schedules below:

Geneva schedules (from 14th December 2007):
EZY3476/3477 Arr 11:15 - Dep 11:45 - A319 - Mon-Fri.
EZY3476/3477 Arr 11:15 - Dep 11:50 - A319 - Sat.
EZY3476/3477 Arr 11:50 - Dep 12:20 - A319 - Sun.
EZY3478/3479 Arr 17:50 - Dep 18:25 - B73G - Sat (from 22nd Dec).

Grenoble schedules (from 22nd December 2007):
EZY2542/2543 Arr 11:15 - Dep 11:45 - B73G - Sun.
EZY2544/2545 Arr 18:00 - Dep 18:30 - B73G - Sat.

All flights operating as 'W' patterns with aircraft based at Stansted and Luton. Along with Easyjet Switzerland operations also operating as 'W' patterns.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 12/07/07


Whoosh adds Newquay!
Well after the launch of the Dundee service, Whoosh have announced that Newquay will be the next route from Birmingham which is expected to start on the 28th July 2007. The flights will be operated 3 times weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Services will operate between the current Dundee services in the morning departing Birmingham at 09:05 and returning at 12:15.

All flights operated by their ATR-42 (of White Eagle Aviation). View their web site for more information.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 12/07/07


PIA increases frequency again
PIA. Pakistan International finally decided to upgrade their Islamabad service to the Boeing 777-200ER/LR on Sunday 1st July 2007 after 4 months of A310's operated by Saga Airlines. After dropping down from 5 to 3 weekly flights, the airline has already announced that they are increasing the frequency to 4 times weekly with an additional Saturday service. View the updated schedules below. The Saturday, Sunday & Tuesday service will be operated by 777-200ER's, with the Thursday service operated by 777-200LR's. The airline plans to revert back to a 5 times weekly service from the Winter 2007/2008 timetable. The new schedules are posted below...

Revised 777 schedules:
PK791/792 Arr 18:45 - Dep 21:15 - B772ER - Tuesday.
PK791/792 Arr 15:30 - Dep 18:00 - B772LR - Thursday.
PK791/792 Arr 19:45 - Dep 21:45 - B772ER - Saturday. (additional flight)
PK791/792 Arr 19:45 - Dep 22:00 - B772ER - Sunday.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 12/07/07


Ryanair expands further
Ryanair are finally planning to increase the frequency of their Dublin service from the Winter 2007/2008 timetable. The schedules will increase to 3 daily services (4 daily Friday to Sunday) with the mid-morning service now operating daily except Sunday. These extra services will operate on top of the new Shannon service which is also due to start during the Winter. View past news below for Shannon schedules.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 12/07/07


FlyGlobespan schedule change
FlyGlobespan has reverted back to 'Plan A' schedules with the aircraft making 2 visits during the day on Thursday routing Hamilton-BHX-Stansted-BHX-Hamilton. The revised schedules are posted below, these flights operate through to 25th October 2007.

Revised flight schedules:
GSM172/172 Arr 08:25 - Dep 09:05 - Thur.
GSM171/171 Arr 12:40 - Dep 13:20 - Thur.

Flights are operated by 757-200's with a 3 class configuration.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 30/06/07


Norwegian Air Shuttle moves to T1
Due to 'operational reasons', Norwegian Air Shuttle have moved to Terminal 1 (T1) and are handled by Servisair. Flights remain operated by 737-300's.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 30/06/07


Air France announces new service
Air France on the 1st June announced and confirmed a new twice daily service to Lyon from Birmingham. Flights start on the 3rd September 2007 and operated by one of their franchise carriers - Brit Air with CRJ-200's. The schedules which are posted below are timed to offer many onward connections. The new service of course replaces the BA Connect flight that we lost in March due to the merger with Flybe.

New Lyon schedules:
AF5916/5917 Arr 09:45 - Dep 11:30. - Daily except Sun,
AF5918/5919 Arr 16:10 - Dep 16:40. - Daily except Sat.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 07/06/07


Ryanair expands & adds Shannon!
Did anybody see this coming? Ryanair have today (31st May) confirmed that a new daily service to Shannon from Birmingham will start from the Winter 2007/2008 timetable in November. Flights are now on sale and will operate every evening except Saturdays. All flights operated by 737-800(W)'s. View schedules below:

Shannon schedules:
FR1312/1313 Arr 21:05 - Dep 21:30. - Daily except Sat.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 31/05/07


Adria Airways update
Adria Airways tomorrow (16th May) re-starts their weekly Wednesday Ljubljana service which will operate through to 26th September 2007 with a mix of aircraft. For the first 2 weeks of service, flights will operate during the afternoon via Manchester with an A320 (on the 16th), a 737-400 (on the 23rd) before the airline begins flying direct from the 30th May with their
CRJ-200's up until 20th June when their new CRJ-900's are delivered and begins to operate the route. Sounds confusing I know! and so I have updated the flight details below...

16th May
JP404/405 Arr 13:25 - Dep 14:35 - A320.

23rd May
JP404/405 Arr 13:25 - Dep 14:35 - 737-400.

From 30th May
JP404/405 Arr 08:50 - Dep 09:30 - CRJ-200 (CRJ-900 from 20th June).



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 15/05/07


Whoosh! - a new Airline
'Whoosh' - the new Birmingham based Regional airline has today announced that they are starting a twice daily* service to Dundee from Birmingham. Their website will be going on-line shortly this week and flights are expected to start on Tuesday 28th May 2007. Flight are to be operated on behalf of White Eagle Aviation (WEA) using ATR-42's from Terminal 2 (T2).
*Twice daily on weekdays with a once daily service on Sunday, no Saturday service.

Planned flight schedules:
WEA610/611 Arr 08:35 - Dep 09:05 - Mon-Fri.
WEA612/613 Arr 17:20 - Dep 17:50 - Mon-Fri.
WEA618/619 Arr 18:05 - Dep 18:35 - Sunday.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 26/04/07


Mahan Air ceasing BHX service
Mahan Air will be ceasing its Birmingham - Tehran service with their last flight tomorrow (27th April). While they were successful in gaining limited access to Amritsar they have decided to concentrate on the UK - Iran market - and given the size of the Iranian community in the North West future development will be concentrated at Manchester.

Flights were operated by A310-300's & A320's.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 26/04/07


New airlines & flights this Summer
Well, Summer 2007 has arrived and here is a reminder as to what we have starting in May...

KTHY starts on the 21st May with flights to Ercan, in Northern (Turkish) Cyprus via Dalaman with 737-800's.
Click Here for more.

Adria Airways resumes its weekly service to Ljubljana from 16th May. Flights to be operated by 737-500's to begin with up until 20th June when CRJ-900's operate the route.
Click Here for more.

FlyGlobepan begin their Toronto Hamilton service from 3rd May with their 757-200's. Flight times have been revised. (See below for more).

Air Transat re-starts again with a new Wednesday service from 2nd May which replaces the usual Tuesday service. This flight will again operate via Exeter (Arr 13:30 - Dep 14:45) .

Norwegian Air Shuttle's new morning Summer schedules start on the 4th May with an additional 4th weekly flight.
Click Here for more.

Aer Arann resumes flights to Birmingham with a new Waterford service from 14th May with ATR-72's.
Click Here for more.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 26/04/07


Flybe merger & Terminal 2 updates
As the Summer 2007 seasons rolls in, many changes within Terminal 2 and flybe will take place. Flybe (after its merger with BA Connect) move all operations to Terminal 2 as from Sunday 25th March 2007, the day that BA Connect cease operations. All flights from this date will be operated under 'BE' flight numbers. All former BA Connect routes will code-share with British Airways (BA).

A new BA subsidiary 'BA Cityflyer' will take over it's Avro RJ-100 fleet with operations moving from Birmingham to Edinburgh and with a base at London City Airport. BA Cityflyer are to operate the remaining ski flights this season into Birmingham and will also operate IT charter flights (on 'W' patterns) through out the Summer which were already planned.

BA Connect was handled by BA Regional, who have not merged with flybe and remain part of BA. They will continue to handle Brussels Airlines, Eastern Airways, Sun-Air and BA Cityflyer until their 90 day notice period expires. After this period, Servisair will handle Brussels Airlines and Aviance will handle Eastern Airways. Swissport will be taking over the handling of flybe/former BA Conect flights tomorrow (25th March).

Flybe will now be operating its merged flights with a mix of ERJ-145's, ERJ-195's, BAe 146's & Dash 8-Q400's.

After flybe's decision to move into Terminal 2, other airlines are expected to follow this Summer...



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 24/03/07


Brussels Airlines update
Brussels Airlines (formely known as SN Brussels Airlines) from tomorrow (25th March) will be increasing the frequency of their Brussels service to 6 times daily. The airline will also be introducing the 737-300/400's (ex Virgin Express aircraft following the merger) on 3 of their daily flights along side the Avro RJ-85/100's. The 737 schedules are posted below...

737 schedules
SN2045/2046 Arr 17:25 - Dep 18:05.
SN2047/2048 Arr 20:05 - Dep 20:35.
SN2049/2050 Arr 21:15 - Dep 06:30 (night-stopper).



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 24/03/07


PIA re-starts A310 service
Just days after they revised their schedules for the 777-200, PIA have revised their schedules yet again and flights will again be operated by A310's.

The airline has now leased a Saga Airlines (of Turkey) Airbus A310-300 which will now be used on their Birmingham services until further notice. As a result they have restated the cancelled flights with the result that the service is again being operated 5 times weekly.

At the beginning of March, the UK Department of Transport's (DfT) decided to ban all of PIA's Airbus A310-300's (and Boeing 747's) from UK airports and airspace.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 15/03/07


Norwegian Air Shuttle announces new service
Norwegian Air Shuttle are to launch a new scheduled service to Warsaw from 17th April 2007. The flight will be operated 3 times weekly and increasing to a 4 times weekly service from 4th May 2007. All flights operated by 737-300's and schedules are posted below...

New schedules (17th April - 3rd May 2007):
DY2072/2073 14:55 - Dep 15:25 - Tue, Thur & Sat.

New schedules (from 4th May 2007):
DY2074/2075 Arr 08:15 - Dep 08:45 - Mon, Wed, Fri & Sun.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 28/02/07


bmibaby adds Jersey
bmibaby is expanding again announcing yet another aircraft being based at Birmingham bringing the number of aircraft based this Summer 2007 to 9. With this extra aircraft the airline will be introducing yet another new route to Jersey on top the previously announced routes. (view previous news below)



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 28/02/07


New Summer SkyEurope schedules
SkyEurope is again changing the times and days of its Krakow service from the Summer timetable (26th March 2007). Flights will operate on Mondays and Fridays with later morning and afternoon services. New schedules are posted below. Flights continue to be operated by 737-700(W)'s.

Current schedules (11th January - 25th March 2007):
NE230/231 Arr 07:40 - Dep 08:10 - Thur.
NE230/231 Arr 20:00 - Dep 20:30 - Sun.

New Summer schedules (from 26th March 2007):
NE230/231 Arr 14:00 - Dep 14:30 - Mon.
NE230/231 Arr 08:20 - Dep 08:50 - Fri.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 14/01/07


New Aer Arann schedules
Aer Arann have now announced flights details for its new 6 times weekly service to Waterford. Flights will start on 14th May 2007 and will operate daily except Saturdays with ATR-72's. Flight details are posted below.

Flight schedules:
RE822/823 Arr 12:50 - Dep 13:20 - Daily ex. Sat.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 09/01/07


Brussels Airlines to use 737's
Brussels Airlines (formely known as SN Brussels Airlines) have confirmed that they will be increasing the frequency of their Brussels service to 6 times daily from the beginning of the Summer 2007 timetable. The airline will also be introducing the 737-300/400's (ex Virgin Express aircraft following the merger) on 3 of their daily flights along side the Avro RJ-85/100's and A319's.

Note that Brussels Airlines are currently applying blended winglets to its 737-300 fleet, one of only a few carriers world-wide applying winglets to its classic 737 fleet.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 31/12/06


KTHY to launch weekly service
KTHY Cyprus Turkish Airlines will be launching a new weekly scheduled service from Birmingham to Ercan, in Northern (Turkish) Cyprus via Dalaman. Flights will run throughout the Summer season from 21st May and operated by 737-800's. Flight schedules are posted below.

Flight schedules:
YK2063/2064 Arr 11:30 - Dep 13:00 - Mondays.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 14/12/06


Flybe announces new routes
Flybe has just announced its next phase of their Summer 2007 schedules which includes 3 new routes for Birmingham! These are Hamburg - operating daily (from 25th March), Dubrovnik - operating 3 times weekly (from 1st May) and Split operating weekly (from 5th May). More news will follow slowly as they resolve their operations after the aquisition of BA Connect.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 29/11/06


bmibaby expands with new routes
Bmibaby certainly are expanding from Summer 2007! Bmibaby have just confirmed a further 4 new routes to Barcelona, Lisbon, Marseille and Rome Fiumicino on top of the 4 already announced services launched this Winter 2006/2007 to Aberdeen, Faro, Glasgow and Murcia. Making a total of 8 new routes with 8 based aircraft from Summer 2007!
On top of all that, they are increasing the frequencies to existing flights to Edinburgh and Malaga! I have listed all of the new routes below with frequencies and start dates.

Aberdeen - twice daily.
Barcelona - daily.
Edinburgh - 4 daily (extra daily rotation).
Faro - 3 times weekly.
Glasgow - 3 daily.
Lisbon - 4 times weekly (starts 24th May).
Malaga - 12 times weekly (2 extra flights).
Marseille - 4 times weekly (starts 25th May).
Murcia - 5 times weekly.
Rome - daily (starts 24th May).

All these on top of the existing flights (frequenices remaining the same) to Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast International, Bordeaux, Cork, Knock, Nice, Palma and Prague. Also the return of the Geneva service this Winter which is a seasonal service only.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 23/11/06


Flybe buys BA Connect!
Nobody saw this coming, but Flybe have recently announced that they have acquired BA Connect, this will create an enlarged business with over £600m in revenues and carrying nearly 10 million passengers! The acquisition which does not include BA Connect’s London City or Manchester - JFK routes will significantly increase Flybe’s route network both in the UK (including Birmingham) and continental Europe making Flybe Europe’s largest regional airline.
Flybe are expected to phase out all of the existing BA Connect fleet as soon as possible and plan to operate up to 70 aircraft by the end of 2007!
Keep an eye out for more info on this story.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 08/11/06