I seem to remember them saying something similar about Eastern Europe and Scandinavia a year or two ago and about their BHX base about four years ago, absolutely nothing happened.......not sure why BE produce these strange media alerts as the rest of their business seems to be very soundly and sensibly run
Good news for Leeds and Yorkshire. Maybe a springboard for additional routes to Frankfurt and Copenhagen.
Everyone is doing their part to promote needed services into Leeds, new terminal expansion by the owners, the airlines, apart from Bmi continue to provide a range of destinations so now Leeds City Council need to get on with approving the expansion before the Planning Comm and get the rail link sorted, if not direct into the airport then a shuttle bus from Horsforth. It is time Leeds moved on.
Call me cynical but LBA-LGW has failed before, it doesn't offer the connections that a LHR route does, I am not as enthusiastic or as hopeful as the above.
Okay. You're cynical. Flybe seem to be making a habit of taking routes into LGW that others walked away from (ABZ and BA, NCL and Jet2 spring to mind). No reason why they shouldn't do the same with LBA.
Quote:
it doesn't offer the connections that a LHR route does, I am not as enthusiastic or as hopeful as the above.
It (LGW) also doesn't involve a regular 20 minute hold, 15 minute taxi to stand or 20 minute walk to the tube before finally arriving in Paddington. One or two plus points over LHR even if there aren't the fabled connections LHR (sometimes) offers......
Last edited by Drink Up Thee Cider : 20th April 2009 at 22:16.
Possibly.... but was this when there was a competing LHR service?
With the lack of any LHR service and no alternative from LBA, then maybe the LGW service will survive.
If anyone can make money on this Flybe will. The Q400 is the best capacity aircraft for this route and with the lowest operating costs out there.
At least one weekend in the year Network Rail have to carry out maintenance work on the heavily used East Coast Main Line which means rail journeys between Leeds and Kings Cross are disrupted. They don't do this work during the week which would inconvenience business travellers (because they pay the highest fares) but it is an alternative for travellers between the two cities. Regular railway maintenance is criticial if accidents are to be avoided. Remember when journey times from Leeds were extended to about four hours due to speed restrictions?
Gatwick is only 30 minutes by train to London Bridge and City Thameslink and 30 minutes to London Victoria. Its also useful for those travelling right down to the south coast. When the redevelopment of Blackfriars starts there will not be a through service from Kings Cross Thameslink to the South Coast.
When the redevelopment of Blackfriars starts there will not be a through service from Kings Cross Thameslink to the South Coast
Erm..no. Blackfriars mainline station stays open. Through trains continue to run during the week, but there is frequent disruption at weekends. The underground station however is closed until 2011
Jusr re-read the FlyBe press release, and looking at the timetable and the comment about 20 jobs created at LGW it would seem that this will be the second aircraft to be based at LGW.
The first flight from Leeds doesn't arrive in LGW till 1010. Not very good for morning meetings after all the disembarking formalites and the admittedly good train service to London. Good if meetings are in Croydon though.
Other way, good arrival time in Leeds, especially if you live quite south of the river, but generally it just seems so much easier to take the train.
BMI pulled the LHR route for reasons that have been dissected on this site, but I do wonder how many of the passengers on their flights were indeed transfer passengers, which would give them a much greater incentive to fly than go by train. I've no idea, I just wonder. Are Flybe codesharing this route, and if so, what connections do they have in mind?
No code-share but plenty of interline partners from LGW, including BA, BD, VS, EK, SQ plus many other non-UK carriers. There is nothing stopping people from using the BE onward connections although granted the majority of these you could probably fly direct from LBA to.
Some passengers choose to travel into LGW and hop over to LHR. If the route can work in places like NCL where they still have another (current) London connection I am sure it will work for LBA.....just a little bit of faith??
Times should be for LBA based aircraft, there is much more demand north to south than the other way, southbound it will still be better for people to get the train to be in time for morning meetings. At least Q4 costs are v low, so may have a chance of working.
Linear Mode
