Originally Posted by
SotonFlightpath
There will always be a certain number of people that need a multiple-times daily schedule for business and will be prepared to pay for it. Other people also need to be able to travel on a particular day, or time of day. As long as these people are happy and able to pay a premium for such a service I think there will continue to be a niche market for Loganair on regional routes.
I'm only a passenger and not an airline expert, but to me it feels that LM have exactly the right equipment in the shape of the ERJ 145 to deliver this service. If they possibly deployed a bigger capacity turboprop on the routes to Scotland, I think it could actually backfire on them. Yes, the seat costs would be lower, but not low enough to match EasyJet, but they would be offering an inferior service to those who can pay more, and these people may possibly desert to Heathrow for the comfort of a jet.
I'm sure EZY will eat into LM's market share, but I think they are offering a different product and there will always be some people prepared to pay for it. Waitrose will never outsell Tesco, but there's a market for both! Incidentally, back in the day, BA regional or whatever they were called then, were quite successful at Southampton using ERJ 135s and 145s to a number of business destinations in mainland Europe, from memory I'm pretty sure there were services to Zurich, Milan and Frankfurt amongst others. I wouldn't be surprised if there's still a potential market for business flights from Southampton if the right aircraft can be found and they were well-publicised. Hampshire/West Sussex/South Wiltshire/East Dorset is a very wealthy area and not everyone is looking for cheap and cheerful.
BACON were so successful the Irish gentleman dumped them are a few quid soonest he could
