Originally Posted by
DIBO
Indeed, to be taken with a pinch of '
PR salt'. Only in top-season periods, operating 3 out of ANR (sometimes 3 based, sometimes 2 based + 1 incoming from a W-pattern).
Rightsizing is important in the current context. The E190's 112 seats requiring 3 Cabin Crew wasn't ideal, especially out of ANR on high density altitude days with weight-restricted departures, when 1 or 2 seat rows needed to be left empty.
Most important of all, for an environmental sensitive airport, a cleaner/quieter aircraft is a major improvement.
Some facts:
In recent years 2 E190 based in ANR during summer, 1 in winter. During summer 4 weekly W-patterns (3 to OST, 1 to CRL), in winter only 1 to CRL and some extra incoming W-patterns. There were never 3 based at ANR. Full schedule of 2 or 3 daily rotations for each E190, NDR and TNG during the night.
Longer flights does NOT mean less flights. Airport is open from 630 till 2300 LT. Many days the last flight returns around 2000LT. So if they swap a Malaga rotation with a rotation to Heraklion fe they will still be able to land before the airport closes. It will even mean more daily flight hours and better utilisation of the asset.
Reducing from 4 E190 to 3 E295 is indeed reducing number of seats by 9%. And in reality the difference will even be smaller since they were not able to sell all seats on the longer flights (ANR, NDR and TNG). Overall average seats available from/to ANR was around 110.
The minimum number of crew (2+3) needed to operate is the same, crew costs will be reduced by 25% for 9% less seats.
Number of frequencies can be reduced too. AGP and ALC being flown 7 times weekly could be reduced to 6 while still offering more capacity. People will not even notice since AGP is double daily on Thursdays (no flight on Wed) and ALC double daily on Sundays and Tuesdays (no flights on Mo and Fri). They just have to cancel one of the double daily flights to free up a slot. This way they already have some gaps to offer a new destination on Tue, Thu and/or Sun.
If they want to offer more NEW destinations from ANR they will need to cancel the W-patterns or put the 3rd E295 in ANR too. It might be preferential to keep this small E295 fleet in one location anyway. Only problem is when one has an AOG since the 737 cannot be used from ANR as a backup. Then they will need to take pax by bus to BRU which is only a 30 minutes drive.
TUI flights from ANR have been more expensive than from other airports, but still sell out easily. Now they bring their average costs down and have a higher yielding airport where no other low cost airline can operate due to the short runway. They will offer more destinations and at the same time fly one of the quietest aircraft that burns a lot less fuel. Happy airline and better for the people around the airport. What more can you wish for?