A terrible time for SOU, but let’s look at today’s positives. We have the new Teeside services commencing next week, and over the next few weeks services will recommence multiple times daily to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle.
I’m sure several others will follow in due course, but it must be remembered that some of SOU’s destination airports are slot constricted, and it could well be the case at the moment that trying to re-establish links to the likes of DUB and AMS would probably necessitate ‘night stopping’ an aircraft by the likes of KLM or Aer Lingus Regional to enable them to operate in the slots formerly used by Flybe. This would severely impact the profitability of such services. However, I’m sure that these services and others will return in the fullness of time.
Today has delivered much better news than I anticipated regarding the re-instatement of routes and services by Eastern and Loganair, and I’m sure further good news will materialise over the coming weeks.
One has to be realistic and accept that even if Flybe’s finances had been in the rudest of health, there would still likely have been some retrenchment and consolidation due to the reluctance of people to fly during the current Coronavirus emergency.
We must all hope that the people affected by the collapse of Flybe - their wonderful staff, soon get back on their feet.
But, the tide has already turned at SOU and we must now think ‘onwards and upwards’.