Based on albeit limited direct and indirect experience, I have to say that Mr Hinkles is a very astute businessman. He knows what he's doing, he knows how to do it and he's happy to share his knowledge and expertise - be that positive or brutally honest constructive feedback.
The high fares being charged on certain routes are what is keeping them afloat and as has been said, their is no reason to reduce those fares. They're lifeline routes and the people that use them as a lifeline are afforded discounts. The rest of the passengers can choose to pay the premium.
Just to re-post the quote in full, I think it's clear that he has a pretty damning view on easyJet and their recent practices.
“We have a number of competitors who are doing things which are bizarre - piling aircraft into the UK domestic market, flying 180 person planes with 20 to 30 passengers on board - and that is having some impact on Loganair.
“There will be questions when we will eventually get an outbreak in sanity from some of the more outlandish things that we are seeing from one carrier in particular.
“In terms of the three big low cost airlines operating out of the UK, one of them is acting in a very measured and controlled way, one of them has come close to losing control and taken some pretty judicious steps to get back there, and the third one has lost control of its business and unfortunately just haven’t realised it yet."
Loganair really do know what they're doing, they're a good balance of optimistic and risk averse. I think they could possibly have done more to gain traction after the demise of Flybe and take on some of the key routes that worked for them, but other than that they seem to be doing all the right things and plus, we had a pandemic that put paid to most growth opportunities.
I hope to see Logan and British Airways work together in the future. I do believe Cityflyer and Loganair in particular could be a very good partnership in certain niche areas. I wish their foray into Teesside the best as well, there were only 7 of us on MME-LHR on Friday (16 on MME-BRS, and a decent amount seemed to get off ABZ-MME) but I was told things are picking up - "sometimes we have double figures." I hope there's more to come from Loganair at Newcastle too, there are a few gaps they could fill quite nicely and I'm sure their Scottish work will remain as strong as ever.
Very pleased to see that service has returned to Loganair as well and I must say Teesside is one of the best UK airport experiences I think I've ever had.