Birmingham has a solid network of UK domestic flights, but there is much less competition between airlines than at many other UK regional airports. This is partly because Birmingham is sandwiched roughly halfway between Manchester and London, cutting out the prospects of either of these cities being a destination for flights. Birmingham and Manchester might be similarly sized cities, but the latter's distance from, and huge range of flights to, London also gives it the critical mass needed to play host to two major "legacy" airlines (British Airways and BMI), and two major no-frills players (BMI Baby and Jet2), whereas Birmingham only has room for one of each, although the regional airline Flybe do have a significantly greater presence at Birmingham than they do at Manchester. This means that within the British Isles at least, there is only serious competition (three or more airlines) on flights from Birmingham to Edinburgh, compared to four cities which have such competition on flights from Manchester. There are still two airlines competing for business on flights to Belfast (despite the recent withdrawal of BA Connect), and also on routes to Glasgow and to Cork and Dublin in the Irish Republic. Next year, Flybe will bring some long overdue competition on the Aberdeen route. Nearby East Midlands airport provides some levels of competition on flights to Scotland and Ireland, but we would also suggest checking train fares as an alternative to flights from Brum to Edinburgh or Glasgow.
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