Originally Posted by
GROUNDHOG
With my local taxpayers hat on, why am I paying Flybe a PSO to operate NQY/LHR in the Summer months when BA will do it for free?
Simple question.
The answer that I believe FlyBe would give, and that may even be quite true, is that the amount FlyBe will be getting paid to operate the PSA all year round will reflect overall the peaks and troughs of the commerciality of the route, that therefore you will effectively only be paying them to operate it in winter. Further it may even be that case that under the current arrangement, to some extent, in fact the expected profitability of the route in summer subsidises it in winter in a way that wouldn't be possible under BA's proposal. It could be (and in fact may very well be the case) that if BA operated the route in summer and there was a PSA for winter, the overall cost to the taxpayer would be higher and customers would lose the current certainty and year round consistency of the operation.
Uncomfortable with the overall situation though. What next? Another airline decides to not pay over the PAYE deductions and hold them to ransom? The owners decide not to invest money after all but use the time to organise a prepack (or BMI > Loganair style arrangement), and the government loses out anyway?
If APD needs looked at (and I think it should be, I suspect most people here do) then that is a different matter that should be handled prospectively, openly and even handedly; not retrospectively by one operator holding the government to ransom for favourable treatment. People who regard themselves as competitors to FlyBe (which is most UK airlines) must rightly be hopping mad.