Originally Posted by
VickersVicount
Reductions in frequency and already? How long has the service been going?
Suppose a sensible reduction to see if theres any chance of it growing is better than canning it so early in the day.
Think QR did something similar to build the route and try and make it work. We're already on the third Hainan aircraft type for the route.
The odd triangle routing and customs /immigration faff is not something I would personally choose.
As we know the tourist inbound rates in winter to Scotland (and presumably Ireland) tend to plummet, but I would have thought Hainan would have known that from the ourset.
Ive a feeling its not the last of the changes to this double-drop service, in infact Hainan in general what with their financial woes and aircraft delivery issues.
It's not entirely surprising that frequency is being reduced for the winter season, demand is always going to drop off. At least it's a cut and not a complete cancellation. Given that the market is probably mainly inbound tourism, the fact it is PEK-DUB-EDI that has been reduced suggests that it may be Dublin that is struggling, rather than EDI. Although having said that, unless loads are less than 50%, there's going to be issues getting everyone home again :-)
I wouldn't worry about the double drop too much - most people will just book their flights on days that operate the way they wish to fly, I bet few are booking PEK-EDI-DUB for example, unless it's offered pretty cheaply, or they really need to travel on that particular date.