Aer Arann's initial loadings to BLK are quite low, though I suppose this is to be expected on a new service.
The fall in the £ relative to the € means that it is attractive to Irish passengers to fly to the UK, and I suppose BLK has the stag and hen market, as well as towers and roller coasters. Donny does have an excellent night life, believe it or not, but is no better than Dublin, so I doubt it would attract inbound passengers except for race meetings.
The loads for the first two years were good, and judging by the price I paid twice, I don't think the yields would have been terrible. However, I think the decline has been because of:
1) Change from a convenient standard time for the flight each day to all-over-the place.
2) Initial high loadings due to novelty; I know TOM started this route, but their flight out was at 0600, and FR forced them out. See 1.
3) This is speculation, but a very local catchment area, considering all the other flights to DUB available from Leeds, MAN, EMA with better choice of times.
Now the credit crunch:
4) Decline in spending power, especially in this area where it's traditionally been knife-edge, and caution about taking short breaks.
5) Finally, the exchange rate. Even when the £ was OK against the €, IRL was a very expensive destination - one of the few places where you'd buy wine in the UK duty free on the way out - so even if FR are offering 1p flights, they're no good if you can't afford anything when you get there.
Still, a sad day. When FR first announced their flight to DUB it was as if DSA was moving out from just being a TOM-only terminal.
Last edited by johnnychips; 18th Mar 2009 at 22:43.
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