Originally Posted by
Expressflight
I totally agree with mik3bravo and was caught up in these delays on the DUB route twice last week, although perhaps I as lucky to experience delays of only 2 hours each time. The first was particularly annoying because the delay was shown on the SEN website departure board from early morning so it was planned at least 10 hours ahead, yet I couldn't risk delaying my bag drop beyond normal check-in time. I know as well as anyone how difficult it can be to obtain a replacement aircraft from someone like Jota or Titan at this time of year but they did bring in an Air Bulgaria E190 for an extended period recently and I'm not convinced they couldn't have either extended that or brought in a permanent replacement. As far as the cause of these delays is concerned I couldn't obtain any firm information but it was certainly partly due to the late arrival on fleet of E195 G-FBEN which is still at EXT. I also had the feeling that crewing may have contributed to some of the delays. As an insider I blame Stobart but Joe Public will blame Flybe of course.
I suppose the question to ask is "when was this aircraft due to arrive at SEN and why is it still at Exeter?". I know there is a worldwide shortage of pilots (and ATCOs) . It must be a real headache.