Andrew Doyle/SHEFFIELD
Newly established Sheffield City airport in the UK has received a major boost with the decision by British Airways franchisee British Regional Airlines (BRAL)to launch a hub operation there later this year. The only scheduled flights at the airport, which opened in February 1998, are operated by KLM uk with a twice-daily service to Amsterdam.
BRAL will serve Belfast and Dublin from 14 June, and plans to add thrice-daily flights to London City Airport from the autumn. Paris, Glasgow and Edinburgh should join the network before the end of the year and all of the flights will be operated using British Aerospace Jetstream 41s, with up to four being based at Sheffield.
BRAL commercial director Mike Bathgate says that some of the new routes may be upgraded to a BAe 146, depending on traffic growth, although the airline's priority is to build up frequencies.
"It's a big investment for us," says Bathgate, although Sheffield City Airport is providing "a little bit of risk-sharing in the first year. We're confident that we'll start showing positive results by the end of the first year," he adds.
Sheffield's 1,199m runway is the same length as London City's and, as a result, is not capable of accommodating BRAL's Embraer RJ-145 regional jets. BRAL will also be the first airline to operate the Jetstream 41 into London City, and BAe Regional Aircraft is six weeks into a 27-week certification programme to clear the aircraft for the required steep approach into the airport.
Sheffield City managing director Jon Horne says that Sabena is also interested in launching flights from Brussels in partnership with another airline. The airport aims to build annual passenger traffic from the current 50,000 to around 1 million by 2010.
Source: Flight International
