MAN Hub for Virgin if they buy BE?
All the speculation about a potential VS/Flybe tie-up has got me thinking about the potential for a Manchester hub. VS's main problem at Heathrow has always been a lack of slots to effectively compete with BA/AA. Delta help with this to some extent but can only provide feed from the US side. Even if they buy Flybe, there won't be any slots to build a significant feeder network apart from the ABZ/EDI flights already operated. Manchester meanwhile has no shortage of slots and alreaduy sustains a few US routes with minimal feed.
Could a split strategy work for VS, where they have a smaller LHR operation focused on Delta's hubs and key O/D markets and a small hub at MAN linking major US cities with European secondary cities?
So, the plan:
- Scale back parts of Flybe's network which are less suited to VS (domestic France, thinner domestic routes, BHX european routes etc)
- Use the spare aircraft to increase flights from MAN to secondary European cities (HAM, DUS, LYS, LUX, maybe Scandanavia?). Flybe's Dash-8's are ideal for these thin routes to feed long haul flights.
- Focus their LHR operation on London O/D with some US feed. Drop their remaining Asian routes, reduce some frequencies back to 1 daily (SFO etc) as the A35Ks arrive and/or transfer others to Delta.
- Redeploy the VS spare aircraft to MAN. Initially it would make sense to make their existing destinations year round and increased frequency, Then start looking at launching a few other select US cities (SEA, MIA, ORD spring to mind).
Could it work?