Originally Posted by
Sotonsean
I'm so glad that I'm not the type of person who gets over excited. Especially concerning the number of unsubstantiated rumours over the last year regarding easyjet Sun routes at Southampton for summer 2024.
Hopefully, this announcement isn't part of a certain individuals claim in recent months that "everything will become clearer in October/November" 🤔
If that is the case, we'll I'm sure that I'm alone in commenting on the fact that it's a huge disappointment 😞
The only hope is that EasyJet, during the course of the next few days or so, might add, and I'll say it again, might add some more frequencies or at least two other destinations.
But at least it's a start, and it does show that easyJet obviously has some form of ambition for Southampton. Especially with the recent announcement that BFS and GLA to Southampton are going to be year-round and with increased frequencies.
Although it's not a huge increase in passenger traffic, at least Southampton Airport is now in a better position than before. A few months ago, Southampton Airport had one destination flown by EasyJet. Now, it has five.
If indeed easyJet is going to be at Southampton for the long term, then hopefully, there will be further expansion over the course of the next twelve months involving new destinations.
Obviously, Southampton would like to see more sun routes, but there could be plenty of other opportunities. It'll be nice if easyJet might consider a couple of additional destinations for the winter season 2024/25, such as Chambéry, Innsbruck, Lyon, and Salzburg.
If there is no further news from easyJet in the coming days then hopefully, the next announcement for Southampton Airport will be regarding Loganair and a resumption of a service to Manchester.
Another airline and destination I can forsee for Southampton in the near future is Lufthansa from either Frankfurt or Munich.
Lufthansa are planning on further expanding their regional presence in Europe over the next twelve months with their recently announced City Line subsidiary. Lufthansa are intending on using City Line to feed their hubs at Frankfurt and Munich in a similar way that KLM does at Amsterdam.
Over the last two years or so, Lufthansa have added or resumed service to their UK network such as Belfast City, Glasgow, Liverpool, and London Gatwick and to a certain extent London Stansted.
In my opinion, I'm fairly certain that Leeds and Southampton could well be two possible contenders in the future to see service from Lufthansa.
I have only ever tried to give a little information when I have heard it. Yes I mentioned months ago that easyjet would start a summer programme in 24 (to what extent we don’t know yet) and so it’s seems to be the case. I am also aware that a new airline to the airport is due to announce soon so it is looking more positive for next year. With regards to an EZY base, it seems to have come from within the airline so who knows although it might not be as far fetched as people make out when knowing that EZY are struggling massively at LGW with over capacity and loss of slots. Instead, some could be offloaded to SOU at a relatively short distance between both airports where staffing requirements and travel costs will be less obstructive for internal workers