Birmingham Airport News

Birmingham Welcome World's Largest Airliner

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:00:00 +0000

To commemorate Birmingham Airport's 70th Anniversary,

Emirates flew its Airbus A380 - the world's largest airliner -

into Birmingham on its luchtime service from Dubai on

9th September 2009, marking the first ever A380 flight to

land at a UK regional Airport.

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On arrival, the aircraft parked on the Airport's new £50m

"International Pier" on Terminal One and was welcomed by

500 guests from the travel industry, the Midlands' business

community and media.

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More than 20 vintage aircraft in memory of the early days at

"Elmdon", the Airport’s original 1930s terminal, made a special

appearance and parked at the original site.
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Opening just 14 months after the construction began, the new

International Pier is the single biggest investment that the

Airport has made in over 20 years and provides a state-of-the

-art extension, replacing the former out-dated facility

constructed in 1984 when the current passenger site was

opened after moving from Elmdon.
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The three storey construction is 240 metres long and 24 metres

wide and is in keeping with the bright and modern architecture

seen throughout the airport. It provides air-bridged aircraft

parking for seven wide-bodied aircraft and has enough space to

serve 13 smaller aircraft at any given time. Departing passengers

are accommodated on the top level and arriving passengers on

the middle level. Airlines and handling agents are housed on the

ground floor.

Paul Kehoe, the Airport’s CEO, said, “Our new International

Pier provides a high quality gateway into the Midlands and is

key as we prepare to double our passenger numbers to 18 million

in the next 10 years and meet our aspirations to improve global

connectivity from the Midlands.

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"As demonstrated with the Airbus A380, the Pier is capable

of accommodating the largest of today’s "next generation"

environmentally-efficient aircraft, such as the Airbus A380,

Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 ‘Dreamliner’, as well as the aircraft

types we see at Birmingham today like the Airbus A330,

Boeing 747 and 777.

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“Together with the future runway extension, we’ll have the

infrastructure and facilities to attract new airlines and increase

our regional market by offering new direct long haul destinations

to all corners of the globe, providing a truly International airport

for the region.”

The main sponsors of the 9th September event were Advantage

West Midlands, the Regional Development Agency, and

Laing O’Rourke Construction North Ltd, the main construction

company for the International Pier.

Nigel Russell, Head of Tourism and Culture for Advantage West

Midlands, said: “First impressions often make lasting

impressions and our support for today’s event marks the start

of a closer working relationship with BIA to ensure the

West Midlands region is recognised as the Heart of England

- a global centre where people and businesses choose to connect."

Tony Douglas, COO at Laing O’Rourke, said, “I’m delighted that

Laing O’Rourke has played a significant part in today’s

celebrations and proud that our team’s air sector expertise

has successfully delivered an exceptional building for

Birmingham International Airport. The new Pier will play its

part in the Airport’s future ambitions as an International

airport and I hope that our working partnership continues

in the realisation of future plans.”

The airport would like to also thank all the other partners

that supported the event and made it such a historic occasion.

Second Airbus A380 to visit BHX in September!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Airbus have announced that an company Airbus A380 F-WWOW
will be making an approach and go around fly through at Bimingham
on Saturday 5 September 2009 as part of a UK tour on that date!!
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The aircraft is provisionally scheduled to visit at BHX at 1540!!
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This visit is in addition to the planned visit by an Emirates A380
on Wednesday 9 September 2009 - for more information see -
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http://bhxflightguide-news.blogspot.com/2009/07/emirates-airbus-a380-to-operate.html
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Airbus A380 returning for a UK visit 5 September 2009
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The world’s largest commercial airliner, the 525-seat Airbus A380, is returning
to the UK for a brief flying visit on September 5. The iconic aircraft will make its
first-ever visits to Scotland and Northern Ireland, and brief appearances over
England and Wales, during its time here.
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The A380 is scheduled to first perform approach-and-go fly-throughs at the
airports in the capital city of Edinburgh and Prestwick, Scotland; followed by
a flying display at the Northern Ireland International Airshow at Portrush,
and a fly-through at Belfast City Airport in Northern Ireland. It will also fly
over Airbus’ facility in Broughton, North Wales, where Airbus employees will
be celebrating the company’s founding 40 years ago, and over Birmingham
International Airport in England.
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Tom Willliams, Airbus Executive Vice President of Programmes said: “We
are proud to welcome the A380 back to the UK, and that it will be visiting
Scotland and Northern Ireland for the first time. This visit demonstrates
what Airbus and its UK partners do together—design and build great aircraft.”
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Birmingham-born Jeremy Cieslik, Vice President and Plant Manager for Airbus
in the UK Industrial Operations, is proud to welcome the A380 to his hometown:
“I hope the people of Birmingham are as proud as I am of the A380. It is the
flagship of the 21st century and sets new standards in eco-efficient aviation. And
every one of them is flying with wings designed and manufactured in the UK.”
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The aircraft will also be visiting Edinburgh (1340),
Prestwick (1400), Port Rush for the

Northern Ireland International Air Show (1420),
Belfast City (1440) and Broughton (1508)

before return to Toulouse via Birmingham (1540)

Winter schedule changes at BHX!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 09:58:00 +0000

Ryanair will be basing two more Boeing 737-800 at

BHX from the start of their winter schedules
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The start of the winter 2008 schedules tomorrow, Sunday 26 October

2008, sees a number changes at BHX in the coming months -

Air India - service now suspended until summer 2009

with Toronto flights routing via Heathrow for the winter

Air Slovakia - weekly service to Amritsar via Bratislava

resumed for the winter

easyJet - service suspended until the start of the skiing season

when both Geneva and Grenoble return

Lufthansa - CR7's continue to be used on Dusseldorf service but

should in future be an Eurowings aircraft

Monarch Scheduled - an Airbus A320 is back for the winter

in addition to the based Airbus A321's

PIA - service is reduced to three per week during Hajj season

but Boeing 777-300's will operate on Tuesday and Thursday with

the fourth weekly service planned to resume on 17 January 2009

Ryanair - two further Boeing 737-800's from based from next

week - total now 4 aircraft - and lots more new routes!!

SAS - Canadair CRJ 900's to be introduced onto evening service

to Copenhagen from 15 January 2009

Swiss - Fokker 100's replace the Swiss AR1's on lunchtime

service so all BHX flights now operated by Helvetic

Turkish - start 5 times weekly Airbus 320/Boeing 737-800

service to Istanbul on 15 December 2008

Please note all schedules subject to change!

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Coming in May 2009 - new US Airways service to Philadelphia!!

Work will continue apace on the new "International Pier"

during the winter months

"Bilga Air"/Monarch cancel Amritsar programme!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:10:00 +0000

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It comes as a great disappointment that Bilga Air has decided

not to start operations from Birmingham to India following the

recent announcement.

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We understand that this reflects an internal decision by Bilga Air

and in the current financial situation the company has reviewed

its plans.
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The Airport continues to talk to other carries about filling this

market but stresses that the following flights are still available

from Birmingham to India:

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• Air France via Paris to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore

and Chennai

• Brussels Airlines/Jet Airways via Brussels to Delhi,

Mumbai and Chennai

• Emirates via Dubai to Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad,

Bangalore, Kozhikode, Cochin, Hyderabad, Kolkata,

Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram

• KLM via Schipol to Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad

• Lufthansa via Frankfurt and Munich to Delhi, Mumbai,

Bangalore, Cochin, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune

• SAS via Copenhagen to Delhi

• Swiss via Zurich to Delhi and Mumbai

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• Turkmenistan via to Amritsar and Delhi

All passengers who have booked with Bilga Air will be given

a full refund and should contact the operator directly

"Bilga Air"/Monarch schedule to Amritsar

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:35:00 +0000

Monarch Boeing 767-300 G-DIMB is planned to operate

the inaurgural "Bilga Air" service to Amritsar
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The inaurgural Monarch/"Bilga Air" service to Amritsar

is planned to be operated by Boeing 767-300 G-DIMB

and depart BHX on Thursday 9 October 2008

The outline schedule is then as follows -

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The Boeing 767-300 will then operates weekly -

departing BHX Monday pm returning Tuesday pm -

until the end of October 2008

A Monarch Airbus A330-200 then operates weekly during

November - departing BHX Tuesday returning Wednesday

During early December a Monarch Airbus A300-600R takes

over for three weeks operating (weekly) via Bahrain

- all 332/763 flights operate non stop

From Sunday 21 December 2008 the Airbus A330-200

returns and will then operate twice weekly (non stop) from

BHX to Amritsar for the rest of the winter season

Please note all schedule details subject to change!

"Bilga Air" to launch BHX to Amritsar service

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:02:00 +0000

"Bilga Air" flights will be operated by Monarch Airlines

From 9th October 2008, holiday-makers and those wishing to visit

friends and family will be able to take advantage of new direct flights

between Birmingham and the golden city of Amritsar in Northern India.

Brand new operator, "Bilga Air", will allow travellers to visit the world

famous ‘Golden Temple’ in Amritsar. The operator is named after the

famous historical village within the Sikh faith, located close to

Amritsar in India’s Punjab region.

Peter Vella, Birmingham Airport’s Business Development Director

said,“It is great news that Bilga Air is starting services to Amritsar

from Birmingham in October. Bilga Air’s operation will help to fill a

very popular market which exists in the Midlands, and following the

disappointing news that Air India will temporarily suspend its flights

between Birmingham and India from the end October, I’m sure it

will be greatly welcomed by the Midlands Asian community.

We wish them every success.”

UK Charter Airline, Monarch, will operate the direct flights for

Bilga Air, departing from Birmingham up to twice a week.

Although the schedule will vary at different times of the year,

flights are mainly planned to operate on Sunday and Monday

evenings from Birmingham. While some flights will have a

technical stop for fuelling en-route, over 90%will operate

non-stop from Birmingham to Amritsar.

The aircraft cabin will be a mixed configuration of economy

and a premium economy product. This enhanced offering

from Bilga Air will see passengers enjoy bigger leather seats

that will boast extra legroom (up to 34 inches compared to

31 in economy) as well as a personal entertainment screen.

In order to service passenger’s needs, Bilga Airhas offices in

Birmingham as well as India.

Surinder Kanwar, Director of Bilga Air said, “We are very

excited about launching our new operation and serving both

those who want to explore the wonders of Northern India as

well as the Asian community who wishto reunite with their

families. Despite threats of an economic slowdown,we believe

that Bilga Air has the ingredients to sustain a successful

operation due to the ethnically diverse region in which

Birmingham Airport sits and first class facility it offers.”

People interested in booking with Bilga Air should visit their

local travelagent or call direct on 0121 525 9100.

Flights start from £575 return

Ryanair to Bologna

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:34:00 +0000

Ryanair have announced that they will be moving their

BHX to Forli service to (nearby) Bologna Airport from

the start of the winter 2008 schedules.

This change is linked to a major expansion - and the

opening of a new Ryanair base - at Bologna Airport.

Air Cairo Tupolev 204 to operate to BHX for Koral Blue

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:08:00 +0000

Koral Blue have today advised that their IT flight from/to

Sharm el Sheikh on Thursday 24 July 2008 will be operated

by Air Cairo Tupolev 204 SU-EAI in place of their usual

Airbus A320 SU-KBA

This will be the second visit of a Tupolev 204 to BHX

- Mahan Air used SU-EAF on their scheduled service

from Tehran on 7 April 2006

The timing are setout below -

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THURSDAY 24 JULY 2008
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1210/1300 KBR4488/4489 T20
from/to Sharm el Sheikh

Lufthansa Regional on strike

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:01:00 +0000

The flightdeck crews of Lufthansa Regional - as operated by

Eurowings and Lufthansa Cityline at BHX - went on strike this

morning at short notice....

... as a result most Lufthansa Regional services have now been

cancelled until Thursday morning when the strike should end.

Lufthansa mainline services are unaffected and passengers are

being transferred to these services or a few Regional flights that

are continuing to operate using management crews.

Welcome to "Birmingham Airport News"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:22:00 +0000

Welcome to Birmingham Airport News from the "BHX Flight Guide"

This new www site is aimed at keeping our readers upto date with

developments at BHX between issues of the "BHX Flight Guide"

and replaces our Yahoo Group.

The summer 2008 issue of the "BHX Flight Guide" is now available

- see below - and regular updates of news and expected movements

will be appearing here in due course!

In the meantime for the latest BHX photos see -

http://bhxflightguide.blogspot.com/