Originally Posted by
virginblue
While I agree with most of what Skipness has said, Stobart had to earn money on its domestic routes with, IIRC, factory-fresh ATR72-600s. The ERJs Loganair will be using are apparently owned by Loganair's mother company and will probalby result in very low capital costs, given their age. So the overall maths could work in favour of Loganair indeed (higher fuel and maintenance costs, lower capital and cabin crew costs).
Nevertheless, I am slightly concerned that Loganair now wants too much too soon and may risk its future well being and thus it core network in the highlands and islands (although I supsect that if push comes to shove, Scottish government will come up with something to guarantee the continuation of Loganair's core business).
I think you're absolutely right. Yes, the capital costs will be lower, but that applied to flybmi too and wasn't enough to save them. Profitable niches for small regional jets are becoming rarer and rarer, and they seem only to survive where there is a relatively "protected" market that has substantial high-yield (business) traffic and doesn't face too much LCC competition. That doesn't describe the broader GLA-LON or ABZ-LON markets - perhaps someone more familiar with the catchment can tell us if it describes GLA-SEN or ABZ-SEN? I'd like to see it work but I am not convinced. Stobart may be throwing large amounts of money at Loganair to induce it to start these routes, but the money will have to run out sooner or later and the routes will have to stand on their own feet.