Originally Posted by
Expressflight
Like you I had expected Stobart to now identify a second tranche of routes and this could still happen next summer if one of the E195s remains SEN-based, which I'm hearing is the current plan. Also I would have expected the ATR routes to continue in 2019. Both of these things really need the BE/STK franchise deal to be continued beyond June 2019 to achieve maximum effect; the brand could change to, say, Loganair but that would entail expensive awareness marketing and short term traffic loss perhaps so would not be ideal. As you suggest I think there must be negotiations going on with perhaps more than one potential partner and this is the cause of the delay in releasing the Spring 2019 timetable.
It's certainly no surprise that there is speculation regarding the outcome of all this and that is surely inevitable so the sooner something concrete is announced the better for all parties concerned.
Pardon my ignorance but on what basis is Stobart's Aer Lingus operation? Is all economic risk with EI, so white label-style flying?
The most straightforward solution to keep the SEN operation alive would be to simply use the Aer Lingus brand with Stobard taking the commercial risk/franchising it. At least on the continent it would make relatively little difference if Aer Lingus or Flybe flies from, say, Groningen to Southend. Not sure how it would be see in the London catchment area, but IIRC, EI has offered flights from the UK to third countries in the past (from LGW?), so apparently not a big no no. Aer Lingus would be, if you ask me, a more helpful brand on the continent than Loganair. Theoretically, it could even be used - if SEN-DUB is kept and suitably timed - to offer some one-stop connections to/from DUB that otherwise are inaccessible by air (e.g. Groningen, Caen, Antwerp).