Today Emirates has announced they will upgrade DXB-BHX EK39/40 from 77W to A380 from the 29 October 2017 due to popular demand. This will take BHX to double daily A380's.

Both services will be operated by 2 class 615 seater A380's

https://www.emirates.com/media-centre/e ... irmingham#

Didn't EK pull the A380 out of BHX at one point? When did it come back if so?

MrHMSH wrote:

Didn't EK pull the A380 out of BHX at one point? When did it come back if so?

No they pulled a B77W but not a A388

TheGeordielad wrote:

MrHMSH wrote:

Didn't EK pull the A380 out of BHX at one point? When did it come back if so?

No they pulled a B77W but not a A388

EK41/42 (77W) was the flight pulled in the past

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/air ... Birmingham

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/air ... birmingham

Isn't Birmingham quite a short and challenging runway for A380s?

[photoid][/photoid]

makozi wrote:

Isn't Birmingham quite a short and challenging runway for A380s?

No, this is quite the misconception. Since the runway extension BHX actually has a marginally longer runway than MAN.

Is Emirates able to fill two 380s regularly? What makes BHX so popular a destination?

Ah, ok.

380s always look impressive coming over the M42

First bit of common sense on the fleet for a while, a perfect mission for the airframe.

I've had a friend run the performance numbers for GP 7200 A380 for current METAR (1600z) at BHX. To make it more challenging, I asked him for runway 15 intersection departure from taxiway B which would yield a TODA of 2500m similar to the old runway length:

Elevation 300ft, isa+7, slope +0.5%, rwy dry, qnh 1013, opt derate, Flaps 3, Packs on

V1 119 kts
Vr 131 kts
V2 138 kts

Takeoff performance available 455t with a 74m stop margin. Takeoff weight limitation is vmcg.

Emirates could carry max payload without issue even from the old runway. Whilst the business case for the A380 is doubtful, you can't deny she's an engineering marvel with boots of performance.

JAAlbert wrote:

Is Emirates able to fill two 380s regularly? What makes BHX so popular a destination?

They are going from 2xB77W and 1xA388 to 2xA388 and dropping the morning flight, hence the need for this A380.

JAAlbert wrote:

Is Emirates able to fill two 380s regularly? What makes BHX so popular a destination?

Birmingham is the UK's second biggest city with a population of 1.1 million.

As the extended runway is 3,000 metres in length, the airport can compete with Manchester and, arguably, with Heathrow and Gatwick. After all, if you live in the Midlands, why not use BHX if possible?

JAAlbert wrote:

Is Emirates able to fill two 380s regularly? What makes BHX so popular a destination?

Lots of diaspora from Pakistan and India I would guess.

gunnerman wrote:

Birmingham is the UK's second biggest city with a population of 1.1 million.

You trouble maker!

^JAAlbert

BHX is in the Midlands which is home to a large Pakistani (Mirpuri) and Indian (Punjabi and Gujarati) population which would probably supply enough demand alone to fill a 380. Not to mention a largish catchment area creeping into Wales. With that said, I don't think it approaches anywhere near MAN's catchment area which is the entire North West and parts of the North East.

Chaostheory wrote:

gunnerman wrote:

Birmingham is the UK's second biggest city with a population of 1.1 million.

You trouble maker!

^JAAlbert

BHX is in the Midlands which is home to a large Pakistani (Mirpuri) and Indian (Punjabi and Gujarati) population which would probably supply enough demand alone to fill a 380. Not to mention a largish catchment area creeping into Wales. With that said, I don't think it approaches anywhere near MAN's catchment area which is the entire North West and parts of the North East.

Within a 2-hour drive, BHX has the biggest catchment of any UK airport, being 35 million including the Midlands, west London and the Thames Valley. In contrast, MAN has 21.5m, lower even than STN (25m).

gunnerman wrote:

Within a 2-hour drive, BHX has the biggest catchment of any UK airport, being 35 million including the Midlands, west London and the Thames Valley. In contrast, MAN has 21.5m, lower even than STN (25m).

And the issue with having 'the largest catchment' is that it means there are some serious catchment overlaps writhing that 25m.

You have the mega hub of LHR to the south, as well as an ever growing Luton and Stansted, East Midlands to the east (which until recently actually carried more pax on some key sun routes than BHX) and then you have Manchester to the North.

This means that while BHX has 'the biggest catchment', it means that large catchment has more choice and hence LTN has more pax than BHX, STN is twice has big and Manchester over twice the size.

Ergo, catchments mean little when you are in a super competative market.

User001 wrote:

gunnerman wrote:

Within a 2-hour drive, BHX has the biggest catchment of any UK airport, being 35 million including the Midlands, west London and the Thames Valley. In contrast, MAN has 21.5m, lower even than STN (25m).

And the issue with having 'the largest catchment' is that it means there are some serious catchment overlaps writhing that 25m.

You have the mega hub of LHR to the south, as well as an ever growing Luton and Stansted, East Midlands to the east (which until recently actually carried more pax on some key sun routes than BHX) and then you have Manchester to the North.

This means that while BHX has 'the biggest catchment', it means that large catchment has more choice and hence LTN has more pax than BHX, STN is twice has big and Manchester over twice the size.

Ergo, catchments mean little when you are in a super competative market.

While Birmingham has a population of well over a million, it has the cities of Wolverhampton & Coventry
in close proximity, making it one of the largest conurbations in the UK. I`m not au fait with numbers but
I`d guess you`d be looking at 2.5-3.0 million. There`s a lot going in the region industrially, with a major
multicultural population, & I`m sure Emirates has & is finding this route successful to the point of needing
more capacity. In the past the regions airport has suffered due to it`s closeness to London, but it`s fortune
over the last couple of decades has vastly improved. Why this has come about exactly I don`t know, but
I `m happy for said population that they don`t now have to travel too far by car or train to get to their worldwide
destinations. This extra A380 is great news for the Midlands & Emirates.

No surprise at all and the only slightly disappointing aspect is that the announcement of removing of EK41/2 wasn't at the same time as the increase to EK39/40. The local media got hold of the reduction quite quickly.

CAA April Figures are out and BHX - DXB was 70214 which was the second highest ever I believe on the route (70426 August 2016) and at present next April there will only be 73800 seats available assuming EK41/2 doesn't return.

The cancellation of EK41/2 comes at the end of record figures for the first 4 months of the year again proving it is all about yields.

Source: CAA for the passenger figures and my estimates for load factor based on the aircraft that operated.

January 2017 68307 average 367 per flight 82% load factor
February 2017 67142 average 403 per flight 84% load factor
March 2017 69700 average 375 per flight load factor 79%quite a few three class 77W's and 5 x three class A338's
April 2017 70214 average 390 per flight 82% load factor just 3 x 3 class 77W's and 2 low density A388's

428 seats on the morning service was clearly a step too far but in general the services are well patronised other the low season of May and June when the figures go into freefall. Looking at the first four months of 2017 some might say it is a harsh decision to cut the morning flight.