Originally Posted by
Sotonsean
But what would stop easyJet operating to Southampton from their European bases. As the domestic routes have virtually been filled now by Eastern and Loganair I can't see easyJet contemplating competing on those routes.
Although the runway extension is needed at Southampton so that aircraft flying further afield to the Mediterranean airport's can do so without any payload restrictions but those destinations have been flown from Southampton's runway in the past with no real issues except for weather related.
In the past Air Europa B733 and B734, Iberoworld A320's, Spanair A320's, TUI 733/757, Vueling A319 have all used Southampton to fly direct to Alicante, Barcelona, Ibiza, Malaga, Menorca and Palma so why couldn't the likes of easyJet be able to do the same with a A319/A320.
There is obviously the demand within the Southampton catchment area for those destinations.
Obviously in the current climate it would be difficult for airlines to commit to opening up those routes but if it wasn't the case I can't see it being too much of issue. If it wasn't for the current situation I could have least seen a couple of them being resumed from Southampton.
Once everything settles down and there is confidence again amongst the airline's I can see some if not all gradually being reinstated at some point.
Ideally I would like to see easyJet fly to Southampton from Alicante, Barcelona, Faro, Ibiza, Malaga, Menorca, Nice, Palma and they could possibly do that from their respective European bases without the need for a Southampton base, not initially anyway.
As those routes would not be aimed at the business market or those necessarily needing a early departure ex Southampton the timing of the flights and the schedules would be irrelevant.
Hopefully in the next few weeks we will see Dublin reinstated with Aer Lingus Regional and Amsterdam with KLM. With Paris previously being a popular and busy route with Flybe I'm sure that another airline will resume flights at some point and hopefully Air France will make a return.
The French regional routes are probably lost forever which is a shame as Bergerac and Limoges were both popular routes from Southampton.
But all in all we can be pleased with the fact that the likes of Eastern Airways and Loganair have been very quick to backfill the key domestic routes and I have no doubt regardless of the current situation affecting the airline and travel industry that future airlines and routes will be announced from Southampton Airport.
If it wasn't for the current climate I'm sure that we would have had more good news regarding Southampton.
Thanks for your concise reply and yes I agree EZY could operate some more flights into SOU from UK or near-Euro bases (like the GVA now) - I kinda hinted at that ref the BFS.
I gather that EZY has differing SOP's to the likes of Volotea, Air Europa Enter Air Etc and have their own performance data for SOU making MED destinations not currently possible without the obvious and expensive load penalty out of SOU.
The 757 & the 737-300/400 was a different beast, I might add.
The 737-700 works for SOU but they are old and sadly no wants them (KLM is letting go of their fleet)
Volotea tried doing their own schedules from SOU in addition to their TUI charters but they pulled out of those after a year or 2.
KLM pulled out in amazement from SOU on their AMS saying they couldn't make it work - I am therefore pessimistic KLM will come back.
CDG - who will pick this one up - ? AF used to do it using on of their French franchise carriers years before Flybe - was it TAT or Brit Air? (superb dinner on it I recall lol)
Aer Lingus pulled off SOU in a similar vane - Do you think they will come back?
I love SOU and the rail link - works great - Just need some more routes...
BTW all of the holiday routes you mentioned are easily got down the road at BOH
