Jet2.com

[Kevin Farnell]

Jet2 do seem very keen on keeping aircraft around for standby, in which case I could see it being 3 MAN (2 flying, 1 standby) and 2 STN (1 flying, 1 standby).

That doesn't make econominc sense to me, having 40% of the fleet sat on the ground paying parking fees.
Most modern airliners have a 97%+ dispatch reliability rate, so buying (or leasing) 2 aircraft to cover for 3 doesn't add up. It would also require more flight and cabin crew on standby (imagine if an aircraft went tech at a destination 8 to 10 hours away and all of the reserve aircraft and crew are at home bases).
Far cheaper to lease in cover for the rare occasion that an aircraft goes tech.
It's a different case if an airline has a 100 aircraft fleet and 3 are on standby (97% of the fleet operating and 3 reserves - that covers the <3% dispatch unreliability).

MAN already has a lot of the (Western) leisure long haul routes covered, so either Jet2 would look to other airports (cue BHX) or go into MAN and try to outmaneuver the competition there. Is there enough demand for Jet2 to fly long haul from MAN as well?

I would like to think that BHX would see Jet2 operations with A330's (if Jet2 are getting them), even if we don't get a based aircraft. This could be with 'W' rotations on short haul routes or positioning flights from other UK airports for a one or two weekly long haul.
MAN is not a bottomless pit for pax numbers and I suspect that many westbound leisure routes must be approaching saturation.
Would another airline try and muscle in on these routes amongst stiff competion? If so, would this result in a price war until one of them blinked?
There is a very large market from the West Midlands to US leisure destinations. Would a new entrant be better to start services from BHX with no competition (other than via long surface journeys to other UK airports), with the prospect of clawing back these lost PAX to BHX? I beleive this will eventually happen (I have cousins who live in Wolverhampton who have flown several times from MAN to Orlando - they would much prefer to use BHX). Monarch seemed to be on the verge of this (although I do wonder if it was a management ploy to keep staff until the fateful day). Could Jet2 be the airline to deliver?

Kevin

 

[Coathanger16]

That doesn't make econominc sense to me, having 40% of the fleet sat on the ground paying parking fees.
Most modern airliners have a 97%+ dispatch reliability rate, so buying (or leasing) 2 aircraft to cover for 3 doesn't add up. It would also require more flight and cabin crew on standby (imagine if an aircraft went tech at a destination 8 to 10 hours away and all of the reserve aircraft and crew are at home bases).
Far cheaper to lease in cover for the rare occasion that an aircraft goes tech.
It's a different case if an airline has a 100 aircraft fleet and 3 are on standby (97% of the fleet operating and 3 reserves - that covers the <3% dispatch unreliability).

Whilst yes that makes sense and most airlines do that I've noticed from discussions on these forums that Jet2 tend to say keep at least 1 757 on standby at each of MAN and LBA. Having only 11 757's in the fleet means only using 82% of the fleet (not as high as other airlines). Perhaps that is more to do with reliability as the 757's are getting pretty old now, and with the A330's potentially being new from Airbus they won't feel the need to.

 

[Ray Finkle]

The Vienna Christmas flights are now on sale for next winter. There will be six in total as opposed to the two that we saw this year.

Flights operate on 22nd, 25th and 29th of Nov and 2nd, 6th and 9th of Dec.

 

[Ray Finkle]

No new info but Jet2 have a press release about the four new ski routes.

Inaugural flights are taking off throughout the week, giving skiers and snowboarders access to the best slopes in the French, Swiss, Austrian and Italian Alps. Lucky snowsports fans have almost 600 resorts to choose from across the four destinations.

Our ski programme from Birmingham Airport means over 40,000 ski seats are on sale, including:

• Geneva – first flight departed on Saturday 16th December with up to three weekly services and over 14,000 seats on sale, giving access to 270 resorts including Tignes, Flaine and Verbier.
• Turin – first flight departed on Thursday 21st December, with twice weekly services (Saturday and Sunday) meaning almost 12,000 seats on sale, providing access to 214 ski resorts including Pila, Vars and Le Corbier.
• Salzburg – first flight departing on Saturday 23rd December, with weekly Saturday services representing 4,500 seats on sale, giving access to 130 ski resorts including Alpbach, Kaprun, Mayrhofen and Obertauern.
• Grenoble – first flight departing on Sunday 24th December meaning that Jet2.com will operate weekend services (Saturday only until February when a Sunday service is added) with almost 10,000 seats on sale and access to 178 resorts including Morzine, Chamonix and Avoriaz.

https://www.jet2.com/News/Head_FOUR_the_slopes_with_new_routes_from_Birmingham_Airport/

 

[nancledre]

Don't understand Turin - departed Thursday with a Sat/Sun service or Grenoble - departing Sunday with a Sat only service. Hey ho, trust everyone enjoys Christmas.

 

[Ray Finkle]

They're additional flights for the holiday period.

Turin, for example, also has flights on Wed 27th and Tue 2nd. The regular schedule then kicks in.

 

[Glenn Eldridge]

Jet2 have started advertising vacancies for there ground operations team at bhx

I was succesful in applying, I have a start date of January 22nd, looking forward to it

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I was succesful in applying, I have a start date of January 22nd, looking forward to it

Well done. I hope that you have a great time working for them.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

I was succesful in applying, I have a start date of January 22nd, looking forward to it

Well done, Good luck, and enjoy Summer! It's madness yet SO much fun at the same time.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I was succesful in applying, I have a start date of January 22nd, looking forward to it

Congratulations mate

 

[Ianbutty]

Many congratulations Glenn. I wish you every success.

 

[BHXsupporter]

Enjoy it Glenn. Please seek permission to tip a wing occasionally for the spotters below as you depart.

 

[Glenn Eldridge]

Not sure if its been posted here yet, if it has please delete this post, here is an upto date list of destinations and start dates if they have yet to begin, less than 12 months after operations began, we have 37 destinations from Jet2, this doesn't include the EWR shopping charters

Faro 01/05/2017
Fuerteventura 01/05/2017
Funchal 01/05/2017
Geneva 01/05/2017 Seasonal
Girona 01/05/2017 Seasonal
Gran Canaria 01/05/2017
Grenoble 01/05/2017 Seasonal
Heraklion 01/05/2017 Seasonal
Ibiza 01/05/2017 Seasonal
Krakow 01/05/2017
Lanzarote 01/05/2017
Malaga 01/05/2017
Menorca 01/05/2017 Seasonal
Palma de Mallorca 01/05/2017 Seasonal
Paphos 01/05/2017
Prague 01/05/2017 Seasonal
Reus 01/05/2017 Seasonal
Rhodes 01/05/2017 Seasonal
Rome FCO 01/05/2017
Salzburg 01/05/2017 Seasonal
Tenerife-South 01/05/2017
Turin 01/05/2017 Seasonal
Alicante 30/03/2018 Seasonal
Antalya 30/03/2018
Larnaca 31/03/2018 Seasonal
Malta 01/04/2018
Naples 02/05/2018 Seasonal
Almeria 03/05/2018
Kos 03/05/2018 Seasonal
Thessaloniki 03/05/2018 Seasonal
Dalaman 04/05/2018 Seasonal
Zakynthos 05/05/2018 Seasonal
Pisa 06/05/2018 Seasonal
Split 06/05/2018 Seasonal
Venice 25/05/2018 Seasonal
Dubrovnik 26/05/2018 Seasonal
Bodrum 29/05/2018 Seasonal

 

[Brummiegem]

A321 YL-LCV will join the based BHX fleet from 15th May on a damp lease from Smart Lynx.
The lease is till 31st October.
Info from World Airline News.

 

[Ray Finkle]

A321 YL-LCV will join the based BHX fleet from 15th May on a damp lease from Smart Lynx.
The lease is till 31st October.
Info from World Airline News.

http://www.smartlynx.aero/corporate/media-centre/news/656

 

[Kevin Farnell]

A321 YL-LCV will join the based BHX fleet from 15th May on a damp lease from Smart Lynx.
The lease is till 31st October.
Info from World Airline News.

There is a short article on this on the Birmingham Airport Photo Blog site. There is also an artists impression of an A321 in Jet2 colours. It looks very good, but would they go to the trouble of a repaint for a five and a half month contract?

Kevin

 

[Coathanger16]

There is a short article on this on the Birmingham Airport Photo Blog site. There is also an artists impression of an A321 in Jet2 colours. It looks very good, but would they go to the trouble of a repaint for a five and a half month contract?

Kevin

Do we know if this A321 is coming in just for this summer? Or will it be replaced with a Jet2 own 737 for the year after (assuming BHX remains at least with 8 based)?

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Do we know if this A321 is coming in just for this summer? Or will it be replaced with a Jet2 own 737 for the year after (assuming BHX remains at least with 8 based)?

That's a good question, Coathanger16!

My thoughts (and they are just 'my thoughts') are that on launching BHX services, Jet2 have been pleasantly surprised by the base's success (the same can be said for STN). Add to this the collapse of Monarch and Jet2 have found themselves in a 'once in a lifetime' opportuninty. The need to add routes and expand for 2018 required aircraft that they don't currently have, hence the lease.
It seems that Jet2 like to have everything 'in house', even down to ground handling so the A321 lease is likely to be short term. Having said that, the growth opportunity may still be above aircraft availability into 2019, thus the Smartlynx A321 may still be required for that season.
The current plan is for the lease to finish on 31 Oct 2018, so if required again in 2019 Smartlynx would need to find work for the aircraft for the winter period. If the aircraft is painted in Jet2 colours, this would require at the least, the removal of Jet2 titling and logos.

Regards

Kevin

 

[Ray Finkle]

I'm not sure that the A321 will be in the full Jet2 scheme, the one that was leased from Titan last summer was all white with red Jet2 titles.

 

[mullion]

Lease in aircraft tend to be summer only May to October and white with red titles