Inkjet,
Thats good gen, cheers for that. Good to see the company is moving in the right direction with fleet numbers anyway.
Loco,
VLM have done fantastically well. I remember on many occaisions the load factors on the MAN-LCY were 25%-30%, however this was on the midday sectors. First thing in the morning they were almost always 90%, and they had to start a second rotation in order to satisfy demand. I was always interested to find if people minded the 'prop' service to the capital, and many didn't mind, or even enjoyed the experience.
I always thought there was a distinct lack of a London service from LPL; I used the easyJet service from there to LTN, and found it was fantastic, except for the fact of using the train at the other end to get into central London. Unfortunately that stopped due to fees at LTN, and left a huge gap in the market.
When VLM rose to the challenge people thought traffic would be taken away from MAN, but that proved not to be the case. The service is first class, with very reliable aircraft.
I suppose on the LBA-LCY route, the level of service on the Atlantique aircraft should be the normal bmi, but it's unfortunate the service is not in bmi livery. I would say with constant 'in your face' style advertising at both ends, the route will do well.
HS