HUY Summer 2004

[MD11FAN]

Does anyone have details of all the planned IT holiday flights from Humberside for Summer 2004? There should be @30 flights in total. The Britannia flights are usually operated on a W rotation with LBA. Does this mean the 767(Due to be based at LBA) will be appearing regularly?

[MEFLYBE]

As far as I know, the following is the programme

PALMA BY 762
PALMA BY 762
PALMA AEA 738
PALMA AEA 738
PALMA AEA 738
PALMA AEA 738
PALMA AEA 738
PALMA JKK M83
MAHON MYT 320
MAHON JKK M83
IBIZA AEA 738
IBIZA AEA 738
TENERIFE MYT 320
TENERIFE JKK 320
TENERIFE AEA 738
LAS PALMAS FUA 738
ARRECIFE AEA 738
ALICANTE BY 762
ALICANTE MYT 320
MALAGA FUA 738
FARO LK 320
BODRUM OHY M88
DALAMAN OHY M88
DALAMAN PGT 738
DALAMAN PGT 738
LARNACA HCY 738
CORFU BY 762
RHODES XLA 738
HERAKLION VKG M83
BOURGAS BGH 320
BOURGAS BGH TU5
VARNA BGH TU5
JERSEY VG F50
JERSEY VG F50

Regards

Mike

[bmibaby.com]

I was speaking to a friend of mine who used to work with MyTravel ex-HUY and she was saying that management before Christmas had been in some in depth discussions with a start up low-cost, no-frills airline to launch domestic & European flights.

However, the financial backers chose to pull out stating the Midlands & Yorkshire markets were served well enough by MYTravelLite, EasyJet, bmibaby & Jet2, and the proposed launch of Finningley, so the people behind the outfit shelved plans to launch the airline in January.

Does anyone know more about the proposed start up? Apparently some of them were ex-Go and ex-EasyJet!

[Chillwinston]

While I think A Lo-Co would do well operating from HUY I just cant see A Lo-Co basing themselves there and operating point to point, there is just not a big enough market from the airport, but routes to leisure places such as Amsterdam / Dublin Im sure would attract enough pax to at least breakeven on such flights.

I presume it depends upon the incentives the airport management / owners are willing to offer and with the soon to be opened airport at Finningley It would the ideal time to steal a march on Peel Holdings.

But as I said, I just cant see a market big enough to attract a carrier to base and operate from the airport.

[MD11FAN]

MEFLYBE,

Thanks for the info; RHO looks like a new destination?. Flights to PFO seem to have been dropped and LCA reduced. 34 flights seems very good though especially as 4 are on B767s.

Matt

[MEFLYBE]

Yeah, the Rhodes, Varna and Bodrum flights are new this year. HUY is looking to add more summer flights to Paphos, Funchal, Malta and Fuerteventura.

Interesting to read about the proposed start up LOCO at HUY, although i admit the market is a tad saturated at the moment, i can see some form of market for Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Belfast, Alicante and Malaga.

Regards

Mike

[bmibaby.com]

I do have some small snippets of information from my before mentioned friend, who was even prepared to jump ship to the new airline:

- The company was using the working name "JetsFly"
- The company was in preliminary discussions with Ansett Worldwide leasing to lease three Boeing 737-300s.
- The company planned to use these three B733s to serve; Malaga, Alicante, Murcia, Barcelona, Faro, Prague & Nice (1x daily) Dublin (2x daily)

The company had to suspend proposed public launch because the company was unable to source financing, although I do hope the company tries to re launch its activities because I think it would be benefitial.

[MEFLYBE]

I think that plan sounds a bit ambitious. The 733 is an OK aircraft but I don't think it is ideal, 148 seats is a lot to fill, especially in the Winter season. I would have thought something nearer the 100 seat mark, such as the ARJ, F100 or 717 would have been more appropriate.

Daily to the likes of Nice and Faro would be too much. Something like the following would be more appropriate:

Amsterdam Daily
Paris Daily
Dublin Daily
Belfast BFS Daily
Malaga 5 weekly
Alicante 4 weekly
Palma 3 weekly
Faro 3 weekly
Prague 3 weekly
Barcelona 3 weekly
Murcia 2 weekly
Jersey 1 weekly

Start of smaller and build up with time. The market is already well catered for at EMA and LBA.

Regards

Mike

[Chillwinston]

I think a London route would work, realise Heathrow is a non starter but the old Air UK/Genair route to London through Norwich was a well utilised and popular route, the Citibus (Do.228 operator, think thats what they were called) operated the London City route but stopped when the backers pulled out but I believe the route did show signs of doing well.

Brussels was operated by EuroDirect for a while until their demise (is there a pattern developing here?) and Gill operated to Paris for a while until they went belly up.

So there is potential for a niche operator but I agree with previous posts, filling 140+ seats is a non starter and operating smaller a/c would prevent a low cost model being used.

Once aagin HUY is the poor relation to its local counter parts and with Finningley's planned opening I just wonder what the future holds for this great little regional airport.

ChillWinston

[Jamesair]

HUY has certainly had a chequered history.

I would have thought that EASTERN would be the natural operator to handle any expansion.....they must have built up a good knowledge of the catchment area, new route possibilities and likely demand.

Anyone from Eastern like to comment?

[MEFLYBE]

I would think a programme such as this would be appropriate and well supported from HUY.

ABERDEEN EASTERN AIRWAYS ER3 4 WEEKDAILY
ALICANTE LCC 4 WEEKLY
AMSTERDAM KLM CITYHOPPER F70 3 DAILY
AMSTERDAM LCC 1 DAILY
BARCELONA LCC 3 WEEKLY
BELFAST BFS LCC 1 DAILY
BRUSSELS EASTERN AIRWAYS J41 2 WEEKDAILY
DUBLIN LCC 1 DAILY
ESBJERG EASTERN AIRWAYS J41 1 WEEKDAILY
FARO LCC 2 WEEKLY
JERSEY VLM F50 2 SATURDAYS
LONDON LGW LCC 2 DAILY
MALAGA LCC 5 WEEKLY
MURCIA LCC 2 WEEKLY
NICE LCC 2 WEEKLY
PALMA LCC 3 WEEKLY
PARIS CDG AIR FRANCE ER3 3 DAILY
PRAGUE LCC 3 WEEKLY

Regards

Mike

[niknak]

Jamesair

Perhaps the fact that Eastern have expanded at every other airport they operate from except Humberside, says it all.

Humberside do the charter market very well, but there's little or no capacity within the catchment area to exapand on the few schedule services which they already have.

When Finningly opens, they're doomed. :uhoh:

[MEFLYBE]

All this talk of Finnigley is getting on my t**s!

Firstly, lets have a look at the impact that the similarly located Sheffield had on the likes of HUY and LBA, errrr NONE! Admittedly, the runway capabilites were not there, but you cannot seriously tell me that the runway length and location of Finningley is going to dictate whether HUY survives. The populations of Hull, Grimsby and the surrounding areas are still likely to use HUY over Finningley, and the PAX West of HUY will make their own decisions, but to say that HUY is 'doomed' is (in my eyes) rubbish.

The majority of HUY pax come from the North Bank of the Humber, and therefore, for 99% of these pax, HUY will still be more convenient that Finningley.

I do not for one second doubt that a LCC and IT flights could work at Finningley, but the effect this would have on HUY has been blown way out of proportion. Look at the close proximity of EDI and GLA, BRS and CWL, NCL and MME and EMA and BHX, ALL thrive in their own right and there is no reason that HUY and Finningley should be any different.

And as for this rubbish about long haul flights using 747s to all corners of the globe, because of the runway length at Finningley, is ridiculous, WHY when MAN has been established for years, are the likes of Cathay, JAL, Virgin and Qantas likely to suddenly decide to go in at Finningley, the potential of Finningley(in my eyes) is way overestimated.

Regards

Mike

[MD11FAN]

Meflybe,

I generally agree with your comments. But IMO the IT flights will be slightly affected. I suspect quite alot of passengers come from the East Sheffield, Doncaster and Lincoln areas. Some of these will probably use Finningley(when it opens). Realistically, when Finningley opens I expect the IT flights from HUY to be reduced by @25%. Regards the schedules; the Eastern a/w services to ABZ will continue as today(mostly oil traffic?). The KLM service is the unknown one..3 possibilities here.
1. KLM ignore Finningley(Best for future of HUY service imo).
2. KLM move the service away from HUY(unlikely)
3. KLM start flts from Finningley in addition to HUY. This will draw passengers who currently use MAN/LBA/HUY to various degrees. Hence HUY capacity reduced(return of the dreaded F50)

I think Finningley passenger services will be limited to the following:

Low cost carrier with @3 based a/c
Short/Medium haul IT flights @ 20 per week(no based a/c)
Long haul IT flights @ 3 per week

Regards

Matt