LBIA
And this is why it pays to be a glass half full person!
Well done to the management at SOU who have dealt with the demise of BE amazingly!
Apart from Stobart, who are in a very bad way currently, I make that now all the regional airlines in this country operating routes at SOU, indeed some have even been competing on routes. What other regional airport in the country, let alone during a global pandemic(!), can say that?
This news should not be underestimated, and leaves me with the following thoughts:
1. BACF have traditionally not strayed from their base at LCY, certainly not opening 11 new routes at a time! The fact they have chosen SOU for such an uncharacteristic move speaks volumes for SOU and its catchment. It further builds on the fact Volotea chose SOU as their first airport in the UK. These things speak volumes for SOU's potential.
2. The variety of routes is very encouraging and again speaks volumes of the confidence in SOU's potential. We have bucket and spade routes, regional French routes and even some city break routes like Berlin and Florence.
3. The fact that the frequencies are relatively low at this stage is irrelevant. The industry is obviously at a low point currently, so going all in with a base in these times is not going to happen. The possibility was someone coming along and testing the waters, and guess what, someone has. When times are better, a base could definitely be a possibility.
4. Seeing as pretty much all of the regional operators have now opened routes from SOU, I wonder if the runway extension was being built whether we would see the same urgency to open routes from the low cost carriers? As has long been discussed, their larger aircraft are not the right fit for SOU in its current state. In my opinion, we would see the same urgency, as if regional operators with their higher cost base are all very keen to have a piece of the pie, why would low cost operators with their low cost base not also see an opportunity to make money at SOU?
On the runway planning being delayed, lets hope this is not because of the BACF news, and perhaps what is going on behind the scenes with a new BE. I take comfort from the fact that it was previously delayed whilst SOU produced more reports on noise, so it could very well be true that they just need more time to produce something else to mitigate a particular concern. I suspect they will end up having to go down the appeal route, so the more stuff they collate to support their argument the better.
Lastly, although it is important to never mention anyone by name, and in turn feed the trolls if you like, I hope this latest bit of good new will give this thread some respite from their trolling and relentless negativity, but I will not hold my breath (indeed it looks like the usual suspects have already started). I would implore others to ignore their attempts at trolling though, if this thread is ever going to go back to a place of healthy debate which all other threads seem to be.