There has been a lot of inside word from BEE though, only a few months ago there was talk of SOU become a base which still hasn't happened.
SOU looks to have a based aircraft from 2 March, though whether it becomes a crew base is anyone's guess. With the aircraft serving MAN, EDI and GLA (none of which are bases) then it would presumably be quite difficult to run that schedule without SOU becoming a base. They managed LBA-LHR on that basis though and look to be intending to run NQY-LHR-NQY-MAN-BHD from the BHD base - although it's not easy to see how a rested crew will be in NQY to fly the morning departure.
Talk of EXT becoming a base? I'd put that alongside the talk that they'd have 20 aircraft by the end of this year and 32 in all. Believe it when you see it!
Originally Posted by
airsouthwest
Whilst some of the winter routes I did expect, on the whole is was rather disappointed! LHR-NQY for example I cannot see working against the competing PSO route to Gatwick. Flybe have also missed out Exeter yet again which did a lot for them previously, alongside Cork in Ireland which only has Aer Lingus (London Heathrow) & Ryanair (Stansted) in terms of flights to the UK. Flights from Birmingham, Edinburgh, Bristol etc have not been resumed by Emerald Airlines despite the fact those routes had a reasonably good passenger loading.
Have another look at Ryanair's Cork network. It's significantly larger than you've mentioned nowadays and explains why Emerald (and presumably Flybe) are going anywhere near it.
Some interesting rumours out of Flybe HQ today. No-one mentioning the unmentionable....