Originally Posted by
Cyrano
And if (hypothetically) flybe has disappeared by then, or become Virgin Eclectic focused on providing feed to LHR and MAN and CDG and AMS, where are slots going to come from for another NQY PSO operator?
There won't be any. Flybe was able to acquire remedy slots for NQY by dint of it having flown to EDI and ABZ for two seasons. If Flybe becomes something else, the slots will no doubt transfer as long as the route is maintained. But if Flybe collapses the remedy slots will not be immediately available to other airlines for NQY and the route could be well and truly stuffed. Any wouldbe replacement PSO operator will likely have to find slots on the open market, which would no doubt mean the route will end up at somewhere like SEN, especially if Flybe's NQY slots at LGW are 'sold'. While we're at it, has anyone questioned how Flybe managed to get such an ideal set of slots for the LHR-NQY service? Isn't it remarkable they just happen to be at the right times? Access to the timings it needed are grounded in the IAG/BMI remedy deal too and it does not follow that a new entrant would get the same slots.