Originally Posted by
Pain in the R's
Maybe the airline knows SOU would be a loss making airport for them otherwise they would be keen to return.
The potential market now for the 'new flybe' is very different to that experienced by the 'old flybe' a few years ago. General out and back in the day business travel has reduced significantly as so many people are now working from home and use zoom etc. For many colleagues, it's no longer a realistic option to meet-up as without an office base, it would entail meeting other colleagues at their homes - not something everyone would want.
Where such business still exists, this is now ell catered for by other operators. Having this distributed amongst Aer Lingus Regional, Loganair, Blues Islands, Aurigney, Eastern and KLM is a much healthier situation for SOU than the 'all the eggs in one basket' situation with the original flybe of a few years. I'm sure flybe will keep the situation under review, but at a small airport like Southampton there is only a certain amount of business to be had and this is being well-served (albeit with high fares) at the moment. I think when the economy improves the present operators, and maybe flybe too, will introduce a few new routes and increased frequencies to existing destinations. I think the runway extension will bring results too, probably not with a based operator to start with, but I would be very surprised if we don't see I nice small portfolio of leisure/city break routes developing over the next few years, using aircraft from other bases. I still think the longer-term for SOU is bright!