No more Cyprus Turkish (KTHY)
Cyprus Turkish Airlines (KTHY) on 21st June 2010 cancelled all flights and suspended operations until further notice.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 07/07/10


Lufthansa changes
Lufthansa have again been making some changes to their schedules into Birmingham including the first morning arrival from Frankfurt which is currently operated by an Avro RJ-85, this will switch to an Embraer ERJ-190 from 28th August 2010 which is expected to operate through til the end of the Summer 2010 season.

Further changes include the morning service to Dusseldorf, from the 1st November 2010 this flight will be operated by Contact Air with Fokker 100's (with most aircraft in Star Alliance colours!) - in place of the usual CRJ-700/900's. All other Dusseldorf flights will remain operated by Eurowings. Remember that things can change!



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 07/07/10


Aer Lingus Regional to Shannon
Aer Lingus Regional this morning have announced a new 6 times weekly service to Shannon from Birmingham with flights being operated by Aer Arann with ATR-72's. With the new franchise agreement, Aer Arann will be flying the route in full Aer Lingus Regional colours. Flights starts on the 1st July 2010. Schedules coming soon!



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 31/05/10


Iceland Express have new ideas...
After reviewing their Summer schedules and announcing the cancellation of their proposed new service to Keflavik from Birmingham, Iceland Express have recently announced that they will be basing a 737-700(W) at the airport every weekend during the school holidays/peak summer season. The aircraft will provide extra capacity for Thomas Cook Holidays with additional weekly IT flights to Larnaca, Mahon, Palma and Tenerife with the flights being operated under Astraeus (AEU) flight codes and the aircraft in Iceland Express colours.

The aircraft will position from/to Keflavik each week and it is hoped that Iceland Express will sell these sectors and therefore reinstate their previously planned weekly service to Iceland which they recently advised would no longer be operating this summer.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 30/05/10


NO Spanair OR Iceland Express
Unfortunately both Spanair and Iceland Express have suspended their plans into Birmingham this Summer 2010.

Spanair are blaming the lack of bookings and also the 'Volcanic ash cloud' for the cancellations and say that they may review the situation and look at starting at the beginning of the winter schedule.

Just days later, Iceland Express also recently reviewed their Summer 2010 programme. Due to the continued challenging market along with the recent volcanic activity in the country, their planned new routes including Birmingham to Keflavik and Gatwick to Akureyri have been dropped.

Both services were meant to commence on the 6th June 2010. Lets hope they both announce plans again in the future...



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 25/05/10


Viking upgrades flights to Iraq
After only launching flights from Birmingham in December 2009, Viking Airlines are upgrading their weekly Erbil/Sulaymaniyah service to the 737-800(W) from the 10th May 2010. Flights are to operate via Malmo instead of Stockholm as originally operated.

Information on the service.
The flights are organised by travel agent Aer Olympic, they are a Swedish company that initially specialized in Greece before moving into the ethnic market - and more recently the UK market. When they launched their flights from Gatwick they found a large proportion of bookings coming from the Midlands so they moved one of the weekly flights to Birmingham at only a few weeks notice. With strong forward bookings, the service is already planning to continue through summer 2010!

Outbound flights:
VIK052P/523 Arr 06:00 - Dep 08:00 - Monday (from Gatwick*/ to Malmo).

Inbound flights:
VIK524/053P Arr 03:20 - Dep 04:20 - Tuesday (from Malmo/ to Gatwick*).

* positioning flights between Birmingham and Gatwick.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 11/05/10


Thomson bookings up!
Last week TUI Travel, parent company of Thomson, announced that their Summer 2010 holiday bookings are up 13% on 2009. Birmingham is one of their best performing UK airports and as a result it has now been confirmed that from the 20th May 2010, the airline will be upgrading one of the based 757-200(W)'s to the 767-300(W) which will be operating many short-haul services along with flights to Turkey. This is additional to the already based 767-300(W) operating all the long-haul services to Cancun and Orlando-Sanford etc.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 31/03/10


Pegasus flights from Birmingham (update)
Pegasus are now planning on operating 2 weekly IT Charters from Birmingham this Summer 2010, flying to Antalya and Dalaman for Olympic Holidays - these being extra flights due to high Thomson bookings!
All flights will be operated by 737-800(W)'s.

(based on the news story above).



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 31/03/10


Mahan Air to use the A340!
Mahan Air have today (18th February) announced that they are planning on boosting capacity on the Birmingham service shortly with the introduction of A340-300's on the route - subject to final Government approval!!

The airline is currently in the process of acquiring the aircraft (the first A340 for the airline) and is being prepared for service. The aircraft type will initially only be operating flights to Birmingham along with Bangkok. Full details along with dates will be available soon! Please remember that things change, just look what happened with the 747-400...



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 18/02/10


January figures are down
Birmingham International Airport handled 521,566 passengers during January 2010 - a fall of 7.2% on the previous year.

During January significant growth was achieved on scheduled flights to destinations such as - Larnaca (+584.2%), Bratislava (+152.8%), Arrecife (+81.1%), Gerona (+67.7%), Tenerife (+60.3%), Ashkhabad (+50.5%), Hanover (+44.6%), Gothenburg (+29%), Hamburg (+28.2%), Istanbul (+25.2%), Dubai (+16.9%), Islamabad (+14.8%), Chambery (+13.4%), Rzeszow (+9.7%), Zurich (+8.2%) and Krakow (+2.7%).

Charter traffic which experienced growth included - Cyprus (+570.2%), Tunisia (+208.1%), Spain (+126.8%), Italy (+65.5%), Dominican Republic (+53.6%), Barbados (+49.7%), Mexico (+37.2%), Egypt (+36.7%), France (+7.2%) and Portugal (+3.1%).

Scheduled traffic accounted for 81.5% of the total passenger traffic in January whilst charter passengers made up the remaining 18.5%.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 18/02/10


More flights to Turkey
With Turkey now proving to be a popular destination this year from Birmingham, yet another Turkish airline has announced additional charter flights this Summer 2010. Sky Airlines (SHY) will be operating weekly flights to/from Bodrum every Saturday from May 2010 (up until the 30th October) with 737-800's. Keep checking back for the latest schedules.

These flights will operate along side 5 other Turkish carriers already serving the airport this Summer 2010 with Cyprus Turkish, Onur Air, Pegasus, Saga and Turkish Airlines. Lots of Turkish delight this Summer!



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 13/02/10


Koral Blue returns!
Koral Blue Airlines will be back in Birmingham this Summer 2010. The airline will be operating weekly Thursday flights to Sharm El Sheikh between May and October 2010. All flights will be operated by A320's. Schedules are posted below.

Koral Blue schedules:
KBR4488/4489 Arr 11:50 - Dep 12:40 - Thursdays.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 03/02/10


2 Terminals to become 1 with new plans
Birmingham Airport is about to embark on a £13m investment to merge its two terminals into a single facility.

Work starts in late January 2010 on the "One Terminal Project" that will merge the airport's two terminals into a single facility to improve its passenger flows and operational efficiency. A new and larger centralised passenger security search area is to be constructed on the extended upper level of the Millennium Link building while a new arrivals area will be located on the lower level so that passengers from both the existing T1 and T2 baggage claim areas will exit into the same "meeting and greeting" area.

The various projects - which are planned to be completed in May 2011 - will also include an improved shopping and catering offer in both landside and airside areas. Paul Kehoe, the Airport's CEO, said, "Our goal for 2010 is to improve the passenger experience and these projects will create a smoother journey through the terminal and improve our overall efficiently. Over the next 10 years we will invest £200 million on our facilities, which will help us achieve our vision of doubling our passenger numbers by 2018".

In the spring of this year, passengers will also see the opening of a new £1.3 million Emirates lounge, exclusively for its premium passengers and a new tourist information centre to help with passengers' onward travel needs.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 26/01/10


December 2009 figures
The December 2009 figures are down 7.9% at 551,273 - as a result the annual total came in at 9,109,189 a fall of 5.5% on 2008.

Overall, it handled 9,109,189 in 2009, a fall of 5.5% compared to the previous year. This was a trend seen throughout the industry due to the current economic downturn. Some 7,025,369 people used scheduled flights in 2009, 77.1% of the total figure. The top three scheduled destinations were Dublin, Dubai and Amsterdam. Charter traffic accounted for 22.9% of the total figure with 2,083,820 people using these services last year. The top three charter destinations were Palma, Dalaman and Tenerife.

The year ended with 551,273 passengers travelling through Birmingham in December, either jetting off to warmer climes or spending the Christmas period with loved ones. Despite the overall fall of 7.9% in December, there were a number of destinations which saw growth.

Scheduled traffic that grew included - Istanbul (+107%), Arrecife (+62.9%), Tenerife (61.2%), Pisa (+43.7%), Gerona (+42%), Krakow (+29.7%), Hanover (+28.5%) and Faro (+25.3%). Charter passenger growth in December was seen to the Dominican Republic (+344.1%), Cyprus (+223.3%), Barbados (+44%), Egypt (+30.8%), Cape Verde (+23.1%) and Italy (+21.4%).

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 26/01/10


Passenger figures for November
The November 2009 figures are down 8.6% at 567,524.

During November, Birmingham International Airport handled 567,524 travellers through its two terminals, including 486,570 scheduled passengers and 80,954 charter passengers. Paul Kehoe, Birmingham Airport's Chief Executive Officer, commented: "It remains the case that the winter season will be particularly tough for the aviation industry, despite indications that confidence is slowly returning to the market. November's 8.6% downturn is indicative of the difficult conditions facing the industry as a whole, however the airport team continues to discuss a number of possibilities with new airlines."

During November significant growth was achieved on scheduled flights to destinations such as Larnaca, Krakow, Rzeszow and Arrecife – where there is now considerably more capacity than the same month last year. Other routes proving popular include - Hanover (+54.1%), Tenerife (+50.7%), Biarritz (+35.5%), Gerona (+30.8%), Lyon (+20.7%), Hamburg (+19.5%), Islamabad (+18.9%), Cork (+16.3%), Dundee (+10.7%), Belfast City (+10.3%), Inverness (+8.6%), Ashkhabad (+8.3%), Zurich (+7.1%), Dubai (+6.4%), Guernsey (+5.3%), Kaunas (+4.8%), Isle of Man (+3.9%) and Frankfurt (+2.3%).

Charter traffic which experienced growth included - Barbados (+31.6%), Madeira (+24.8%), Greece (+17.2%), Egypt (+14.2%) and Cape Verde Islands (+13.9%). Scheduled traffic accounted for 85.7% of the total passenger traffic in November whilst charter passengers made up the remaining 14.3%.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 26/01/10


First anniversary for Turkish!
Turkish Airlines has celebrated its first anniversary of flying between Birmingham and Istanbul. To mark the occasion, the airline gave two complimentary return tickets to Istanbul to the first passenger to arrive at check-in.

The airline has carried over 40,000 passengers during the first year and offers direct flights five days a week, with onward connections to a possible 150 destinations worldwide, including the Middle East, Africa and the Far East.

Commenting on the anniversary, Mustafa Saglik from the airline said:
"We are delighted with our first year at Birmingham and feedback suggests that 2010 will be another successful year. To meet the demand from passengers that want to travel to the Middle East, Far East and India from Birmingham, Turkish Airlines is considering increasing the frequency from five a week to daily flights to meet passengers overwhelming demand."



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 17/12/09


Saga Airlines return
Turkish charter airline Saga Airlines will be returning to Birmingham next Summer 2010 with additional flights to Turkey (looks set to be a popular destination). The airline will be operating a number of flights with 737-400/800(W)'s to Dalaman during the peak Summer season.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 01/12/09


Celebrations at BHX with the A380
Celebrations were well under way during September 2009 at Birmingham International Airport as they celebrated their 70th Anniversary and the official opening of the new International Pier. Two Airbus A380's visited the airport with Airbuses proto-type (F-WWOW) making a fly-past on Saturday 5th September and the first ever landing of the type with Emirates (A6-EDE) on Wednesday 9th.

Wednesday 9th was also "Retro day" at the airport which attracted many vintage aircraft visitors along with two retro jets from both KLM and Lufthansa. Vintage aircraft included the Classic Flight Fragon Rapide, Piper Super Cub, De Havilland Chipmunk, Auster 5, Miles Whitney Straight, Piper tri-pacer and the Scottish Aviation Bulldog, plus many more...

The Emirates A380 landed at around 12:10 with 339 passengers onboard, this was the first commercial flight of an A380 outside of London Heathrow in the UK! Thousands of spectators were at the airfield to mark her arrival and the weather could not of been any better with glorious sunshine. The aircraft pushed back at around 15:20 and departed with 316 passengers onboard.

A dedicated page on this big day along with the fly-past and all the vintage movements can now be found on my web site by clicking here. The pages include all the information and photos along with a number of videos from viewers.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________posted 15/09/09