Winter 08/09 capacity
Who remembers FR promising massive capacity cuts at STN and DUB this Winter? We were told that there would be scores of aircraft parked up doing nothing in view of the outrageous high charges blah blah blah ...
I'm sad enough to have wondered what actually happened this Winter. The stats below are all available from sources such as ACARS. In each case I have compared Nov-Jan 08/09 to the period Nov-Jan 07/08:
STN:
14% capacity reductions at STN
In reality, FR movements at STN are down by about 8.8%. It's a fairly savage hack, but nowhere near as severe as EZY's 20% reduction at STN (Nov 08 vs Nov 07) or the 40% reduction by Air Berlin (also Nov 08 vs Nov 07).
And what about DUB?
18% schedule redctions at DUB
The threat doesn't seem to have materialised: FR movements at DUB are actually down by about 2%. Interestingly, EI short haul at DUB seems to be down by about 3.4%.
What's the story at other UK bases?
EDI, BOH and BHX not surprisingly see large increases as they are all new bases.
BHD is up by 17% (increases vs last year on EMA and PIK making up for the reduction on STN)
LTN is up by 3.4%.
PIK is flat.
EMA is down by 1.7%.
LPL is down by 4.3%.
BRS is down by 7.5% (looks like the different mix of routes has led to a reduction in the number of sectors).