BA press release…
Three new routes from Birmingham
British Airways CitiExpress will today, (May 5), launch flights direct from Birmingham International Airport to Lyon, Vienna and Nice and will increase capacity on existing services from Birmingham to Dusseldorf.
The airline will fly daily services to Lyon between May 5 and 16, increasing to twice daily from May 17. Daily flights to Vienna also begin on May 5. Flights to Nice will launch this weekend, with single flights operating each Saturday and Sunday.
The routes are being launched follow the cessation of flights at the weekend by Birmingham based Duo Airways.
Steve Cassidy, British Airways CitiExpress’ general manager – commercial, said: “We were genuinely saddened to hear of Duo’s situation. We immediately implemented some special fares to assist stranded passengers and we also called in extra staff to our ticket desk to help with inquiries and re-route passengers.
“Birmingham is an important base for us, we have been operating here for 65 years and felt it appropriate to respond positively to the gap left in the marketplace.”
Peter Vella, Birmingham International Airport’s business development director, said: “We are very pleased that British Airways CitiExpress has responded so quickly and decisively to this unfortunate situation.”
Fares start from as little as £109 return to Lyon, £129 to Vienna and £99 to Nice.
endsFor further information Roseanne Crossey 0121 767 7628
Notes to Editors
Schedule:Dep Time Arr Time Dep Time Arr Time Notes
BHX 0820 LYS 1105 LYS 1140 BHX 1225 May 5-16
BHX 1745 LYS 2030 LYS 2105 BHX 2150 Sun-Fri
BHX 1140 VIE 1505 VIE 1545 BHX 1715 Sun-Fri
BHX 1140 NCE 1505 NCE 1545 BHX 1715 Sat-Sun· British Airways CitiExpress is a wholly owned subsidiary of British Airways
· The airline has launched 14 new European routes within the last 18 months
· British Airways CitiExpress is the largest scheduled carrier at Birmingham International Airport, operating over 250 flights a week to 17 destinations
It’d obviously be to much to hope that BA would offer any direct flights to Europe from Scotland replacing the duo destinations ex-EDI… :rolleyes:
(although obviously it’s due to the lack of pax in EDI that they failed… GLA would be so much better… 😉 :p)
By: RIPConcorde - 6th May 2004 at 18:22
Ah, I understand you now! 🙂
By: Mark L - 6th May 2004 at 18:17
Yeah you misunderstood, BACX only have 1 flight that actualy operates out of EDI, and even that is a W pattern, all the rest operate out of MAN, SOU, BRS, and BHX.
By: RIPConcorde - 6th May 2004 at 18:11
Ok, here we go, sorry for going briefly off topic. These figures are for MARCH(not a particularly busy month) from
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport_data_prov/200403/March_2004_Provisional_International_Routes.pdf
These were the duo routes:
passengers
EDI-OSL 1446
-GVA 2701(!) looks like most popular to me, although there were more frequencies on that route.
-ZUR 1237
-MXP 1171 😮
A quick comparison on the OSL route shows BHX-OSL as 622. 😮
Although duo might have ditched by March?
By: Bhoy - 6th May 2004 at 17:47
I wouldn’t be surprised if ZRH was the worst… with a 5:50am departure time. :rolleyes:
LH fly EDI-FRA. there was a rumour about a year or two ago that LH were looking at a MUC-GLA flight, but who knows?
By: RIPConcorde - 6th May 2004 at 17:42
Wrong, the OSL and GVA routes frequently had loads of over 20%!!
Zurich was the worst I think.
Lufthansa should start MUC!! Munich are naming a part of the city after Edinburgh after all!!
Source: Evening News
04/05/04
Munich to name new square after Edinburgh
A new civic square in the heart of Munich is to be named after
Edinburgh as part of celebrations to mark 50 years of friendship
between the two cities.
The “Edinburghplatz”, which is currently under construction in
Germany, will be the centrepiece of a whole new quarter gradually
being developed on the site of the former airport.
It will be surrounded by new housing, offices, shops, bars,
restaurants and a public park by the time it is unveiled by
Edinburgh’s Lord Provost Lesley Hinds in September.
The naming of the new public square is expected to be one of the
highlights of months of special events and activities being planned to
commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Capital being twinned with
Munich.
Edinburgh will host visits by a leading German “oompah” band and the
Bayern Munich youth football team as well as a five-strong folk band.
The two cities are to exchange exhibitions this year, athletes from
Munich and Edinburgh will take part in the marathons of the other
cities and school pupils will swap places for a week.
However, it is the honour of the “Edinburghplatz” that is expected to
be a high point of the programme of events.
Councillor Hinds said: “I think it is wonderful that an area of Munich
has been dedicated to Edinburgh, to mark the excellent relationship
that exists between the two cities.”
By: GLAsgow - 6th May 2004 at 17:35
ALL the Duo routs from EDI were flops not 1 flight had a load of over 20%. Do Lufthansa not fly to Munich from EDI?
By: RIPConcorde - 6th May 2004 at 17:09
Mark L, that is one INTERNATIONAL flight. EDI desperately needs it’s MUC flight back. You know that the city is naming a part of it after Edinburgh?! Lots of connections, need a direct link!
OSL was also popular and SAS have already outlined their intention to operate it.
By: Bhoy - 6th May 2004 at 15:03
*sigh* you’re telling me…
viva los 757.
By: Bmused55 - 6th May 2004 at 14:41
should never have gotten rid of their 757’s
By: Mark L - 6th May 2004 at 14:38
BA are having quite a few problems finding aircraft. Currently LYS is being run with a leased 146 from Titan (Goota be expensive) and through some rescheduling they have got VIE onto one of the RJ100s. I am still not quite sure how they are going to juggle the 2nd LYS flight, and the NCE flight when it starts this weekend, and I don’t think they do either!
Also I have heard that they want to start Berlin and Geneva too, but just can’t get any extra aircraft/crew.
As for EDI they currently only have one flight that operates out of there, an ERJ145 that operates on a W pattern from any one of the bases (Not sure which) and due to current aircraft restrictions and scheduling distributions its very difficult to fit another one in for the moment until new aircraft are acquired. BACX seem to be in the process fo closing bases, and so the prospect of a new one opening is slim!!!
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May 6, 2004 at 1:13 pm