Originally Posted by
PDXCWL45
What else should've they done with the E195s then?
And as for NQY-LON it takes over 6 hours to get there by train. If an air route against a 6 hour train ride isn't profitable especially if its subsidised then I can't see any other intra-England routes being profitable. They might as well stick with Scotland to southern England and Belfast to the rest of the UK and cut the rest!
Well as has been discussed on this thread for years the Jungle jets are probably the largest factor in BE’s transformation from an all conquering regional airline to a basket case (mainly the 175s). I do not necessarily feel the 195s are the wrong size aircraft for BE, but it sounds like the cost of the leases were prohibitive. The 175s deal was even worst by the sounds of it, and certainly not an aircraft that was needed to be added. I do not think people here are as snobby about having a jet aircraft as they are in the states, like all successful airlines building your business around one type seems to be the way to go. BE were unstoppable when they built their business around the q400, and they should retrench to that model in my opinion. I agree that those hiding to nothing bases were partly used as a way to keep the 195s busy but surely they could have leased them out to another operator. Lots of other airlines lease out their unwanted types. Perhaps they tried this, who knows.
In terms of PSOs, I would welcome anyone presenting concrete evidence that any PSO routes in the world make a profit. No government is going to hand out taxpayers money to subsidise a private company’s profits. They do not make money and never will, because a negligible amount of people require the route.
As for the train journey from the West Country of course I appreciate that is long and arduous currently. Which is why investment should be being directed to improve the railway infrastructure rather than being directed to prop up a pointless and environmentally damaging flight in my opinion.