Bournemouth, UK new owner

For years Bournemouth, UK's owner at the time Manchester Airport Group (MAG) wanted to sell Bournemouth airport for specific reason. Before I go into the details I give you a back story & talk about some of it's airport facilities in Bournemouth.

Bournemouth, UK is one of Dorset's closed airports in the UK for passengers who live around Dorset county, Isle of Wight, parts of Hampshire in Southampton and Portsmouth (depending on airline, fares and destinations) Now I'm not sure back during World War Two who owned Bournemouth, UK at the time I might have been the local council till the 21st Century so lets carry on the gap. During the 1950's in 1958 Palmair was the first airline airline to operate Bournemouth Airport to Palma, Spain with the aircraft type Viking then in the 1970's flights from Bournemouth operated with Dan Air and Silver City as scheduled flight. From what I heard in 1969 it was part of Bournemouth Corporation and Dorset County Council and rename the airport "Bournemouth Airport" later become Bournemouth International Airport.

In 1996, Bournemouth, UK upgraded the runway with the arrival of Concorde by British Airways & started a charter flight across the Bay of Biscay with champagne during the short flight. Then in the late 90's Irish carrier Ryanair started their main flight with their Boeing 737-200 from Bournemouth, UK - Dublin, Ireland where the hub was starting to be born in today standard. However Ryanair wasn't the first hub for Bournemouth in the first place it all!

But first Bournemouth joined in the Manchester Airport Group in March 2001 was the UK's second-largest owner at the time. So when it comes with hub MAG need promises new airliners & new destinations. So in 2005 a former TUI brand Thomsonfly (Now called TUI Airways) became the first low-cost British carrier to establish a hub for Bournemouth with their two Boeing 737-300 at the time to operate within the European Union. British carrier EasyJet announced it will operate Bournemouth with a winter flight to Geneva, Switzerland with their Airbus A319 & still operating today. There have been some trial & errors with Bournemouth for example Blue Islands a British/Channel Island carrier operated & failed in 2009 then Hungarian carrier Wizzair tried & failed for flights to Poland Gdansk, Katowice and Krakow in 2006-2007.

As the airport was suffering for lack of flights, in 2007 Ryanair starts to increase Bournemouth starting with Marseille in France, Alicante in Span and Milan in Italy. The following year Palmair operated dozens of charter flights with their Boeing 737-200 & some 300 series flying to Tunis in Tunisia, Fuerteventura in Spain, Naples in Italy, Rhodes in Greece and Malta. In 2008 Ryanair added more routes to Spain and two domestic flights from Bournemouth to either Glasgow Prestwick and Edinburgh however domestic flights in Bournemouth didn't last long for Ryanair. In 2009 a British carrier BMI Baby (BMI Parent company) operated to Jersey with their Boeing 737-3500 sadly it did not last long. Bournemouth wanted to challenge any airliner to travel long haul so Thomsonfly was the chosen one as a charter cruise flight from Bournemouth, UK - Bridgetown, Barbados with the airline's Boeing 767. As the years went on in late 2000's Ryanair increased 18 more flights as Thomsonfly increases more European flights & long haul range like I mention Bridgetown, Barbados (still flying today with either Boeing 767 or Boeing 787 Dreamliner) and Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt with Thomsonfly's brand new Boeing 737-800 Winglets it was Bournemouth's only long haul schedules flight before Metrojet Flight 9268 to St. Petersburg,  Russia exploded by terrorist bomb in October 31st 2015. Since then Thomson Airways & all UK airliners suspended Sharm El Sheikh.

Thomson Airways G-FZDT new to Thomson Airways in 2011 seen at Bournemouth, UK taken 21st September 2017.

As Bournemouth opened a brand new terminal in 2011 it promised more flights as Ryanair added few such as Malta and Spain then Thomson Airways added more themselves.

Flybe operated Bournemouth in the past in May 2010 as a new service for Channel Islands (UK) after failure of BMI Baby and Blue Islands but discontinued in November that year, Then Flybe tried again in 2015 this time flights within the UK CTA flights to Channel Islands and Republic of Ireland and international flights in The Netherlands, France etc but failed again in March 2016 due to competitions with Southampton, UK and to expensive the airport to run by MAG.

As Bournemouth was struggling by MAG in recent years it's time to sell the airport because it couldn't reach the demand of improving Bournemouth as it was the lowest airport rank own by MAG it wants to focus on East Midlands, London Stansted and Manchester as they operated more profit airports in Britain. So today 5th December 2017 Bournemouth is now owned by Regional & City Airports (RCA)

Bournemouth, UK Arrivals taken 21st September 2017.

So what are the promise for Bournemouth's new future from RCA? Their have been rumours from the owner of RCA that more flights will be introduce possibly adding Flybe because RCA is home of Flybe in Exeter and Norwich for domestic & International flights. These plans will include:

• Increase number of passengers compare to it's previous owner MAG
• Adding more flights for existing airline & new airliners in Bournemouth
• Introduce connections between Bournemouth to Africa, Asia and the America
• Currently planning flights Paris, France and Amsterdam, The Netherlands

As mentioned about connections between Bournemouth to the rest of the world, rumours by the owner of RCA might suggest KLM should work depends on Bournemouth Airport's neighbour Southampton Airport because KLM connects from Southampton to different continent or depending how friendly the environment Bournemouth and the airport it self. Maybe Frankfurt, Germany could be possible I hear online might work with German carrier Lufthansa for connection reasons for Frankfurt possible Lufthansa's parenting airlines (Eurowings). RCA have added some airliners could be possible for Bournemouth's future, however the list the owner interviewed is classified. 

Bournemouth. UK International Arrivals baggage reclaim taken 28th September 2017.

What you see taken recently is the baggage reclaim for international arrivals at Bournemouth. Every time I arrive in Bournemouth before going through customs after my flight from Malta, next flight to land is always the only flight every 2, 3 or even 4 hours before next flight arrives "Are we the only flight in Bournemouth?" that's what imagined. So it has 3 baggage reclaims two for international and one for domestic where you can see the white barrier. What's confusing for this area because when I was waiting for my luggage I wondered around the area finding where do domestic arrivals come through they can't go through international arrivals so is their passage to walk right the back of the domestic section next to the baggage reclaim? I find it odd for domestic arrivals because when I looked the area there is no way out for domestic flights after collecting your luggage so you will walk through customs "Arrivals from the EU" no custom officers don't have the right for that unless it's something odd. What about Common Travel Area do they walk through UK Border? "it is international from Republic of Ireland and Channel Islands without immigration but require customs" Most times flying from Ireland do not need customs arriving within the EU (My recent flight from Malta their were customs officers at the Blue Channel) but arriving from the Channel Islands in Bournemouth you will see  customs officers by requiring to walk to Nothing to Declare because Channel Islands is outside the EU because of tax.   

So that's all I have to say about Bournemouth Airport's new ownership lets hope it makes a great success of it's future than Manchester Airport Group.