Originally Posted by
davidjohnson6
I'm struggling to understand why people are so negative on Easyjet starting SOU to GLA and BFS. Years ago when FR started routes to Malta, people thought it would be a disaster for connectivity to the island - the number of passengers at MLA doubled. There was concern again with Tel Aviv airport - again traffic increased significantly once the LCCs gained entry. Jersey doesn't seem to have suffered terrible privations because Easyjet fly to London - although it has made the island significantly more affordable to reach.
SOU is not some special llittle island... trains will continue, LGW, LHR, BRS and BOH are still accessible if things go wrong. No, SOU is not sexy (I used to live there), but there's almost certainly plenty of ordinary everyday people who would like to travel between the south coast and Edinburgh/Glasgow at modest prices, maybe to see family at the other end of the UK, but just can't afford Loganair fares and haven't got all day to go by train. If the airfare dramatically falls in price, that air ticket suddenly becomes viable for Joe Bloggs.
FR will happily ruthlessly screw an airport over, but U2 generally seem to be more reasonable and are acceptable to those travelling for work - the kind of LCC an airport would want to deal with.
Airports like Bristol and Leeds have found that embracing LCCs really does significantly boost traffic. Why shouldn't it have the same effect at SOU, and why is a bit of experimentation really so bad ?
Spot on, supporters and critics on this thread have for years moaned that the airport cannot attract a LCC due to airfield limitations and now it’s at last possible, SOU are being slated because EZY have made wrong choices and bad route decisions. I’m afraid you cannot have it both ways, either they come in and start small with future route expansion likely or the airport plods on for years making losses and questions are asked about it’s future. EZY don’t give a toss about Loganair and vice versa, dog eat dog and business viability will win the day. All I will say is that easyjet has been courted by SOU and it’s supporters for years and now they have finally committed, negativity reigns supreme and talk of failure is rife, we shall see but I think I know who the airport will be siding with!