Originally Posted by
rustythumb
RivetJoint…
Whether in a planning application, a trademark/patent application or a points deduction - any company, team, organisation (or other) at times is going to seek to slow down, obstruct or inflict a blow to a rival. BOH’s actions aren’t personal or overly dramatic; it's simply how business operates.
Many understand that a central southern England airport with a runway like Bournemouth’s, equally accessible to both the BCP Conurbation and the Soton/Portsmouth areas, would do very well. It may not match Bristol's traffic or reach, but it could mirror Newcastle's success. Unfortunately, this scenario is not our reality. Instead, we have two airports, BOH and SOU, located reasonably close to each other, serving overlapping areas. Both can continue to offer complementary services and enhance customer choice through healthy competition, akin to the relationship between Belfast International and City airports.
It's also not unrealistic to recognise that Southampton won’t achieve the status of Bristol or Liverpool, given its operational time constraints, runway length, and development limitations. Similarly, Bournemouth might face challenges due to a slightly smaller catchment area, lesser historic/regional significance, and lack of direct rail connections. Yet, I remain optimistic about the future of both airports, hoping they can each grow to handle over 1.5 to 2 million passengers annually in the next decade.
Consider this: if BOH were to close suddenly, Southampton might be able to capture more of the market, but it still wouldn’t be able to serve route lengths beyond say southern Spain. Also, while Southampton is a key southern hub, it's not as if airlines are eagerly lining up to connect Bournemouth with major European cities like Milan, Berlin, or Istanbul.
Returning to my initial point, BOH isn't operating from a place of fear. They have a significant leisure market west of the M27, a growing cargo operation, and capabilities for longer flights — advantages that Southampton doesn't have. It seems BOH's actions are more about gaining an edge over SOU when possible.
Reflecting on Skipness One Foxtrot's recent remarks towards you, there's no need to adopt a mindset where SOU's success means BOH must fail. While everyone has their own opinion, it appears that BOH's right to exist and flourish bothers you somewhat.
But when all is said and done, SOU have built it (runway) so they must come (routes)…
See the recent posts are further demonstration of posting before looking at the context of the original comments. I’ve posted on this forum for years and always try and stop the pointless and much debated BOH v SOU argument. I have also said that my opinion is that they can perfectly co-exist together with SOU being the premier airport in this locality and BOH being what most FR airports are which are those airports that are a bit out of the way but for cheap fairs some people will make the trek. I have also regularly pointed out that BOH is a more diverse business with various revenue streams and that it will not live or die on the success of its commercial passenger business. Hence why them and FR are a perfect fit. As to the cargo, think the bubble has burst again on that with many freighters starting to be parked. I certainly wouldn’t hang my hat on the guy behind European Cargo either, he’s had numerous failed businesses.
Getting back to the context, I was making the point that BOHs recent growth which was becoming another stick to beat SOU on this thread with is nothing to write home about as it’s from existing operators and an educated guess suggests it could be generated out of BOH giving big incentives at a time when the local airport is on the rise. I never said I blamed them for doing it if true but of course its a different story to routes being created out of pure demand from new airlines begging to operate at BOH that some liked to portray on here.
As to the planning letters, I have much experience with such things and I can assure you I have never seen letters of that nature submitted by a business. In reality, there is nothing one business can do to stop a rival investing its own money in its own business. Such letters are merely submitted to highlight their interest in the overall consideration and are low on detail. I am not sure why you are bringing things up like trademarks as that usually has a litigation element to it. You can’t sue a rival business for investing its own money.
there is no reason cannot be a decent base for easyJet. A post recently highlighted a whole list of airports they currently fly from with similar operating hours. You certainly cannot have an airport of the size of Newcastle that isn’t served by a motorway or a train station with a large chunk of its catchment being the sea or on the other side of a national park with single track roads.