EI-BUD - ermm thanks for your reply
However, in the case of Flybe, while they can be hailed great for supporting the IOM, dont be under any illusion, they are a commercial business and do so only because it is providing a return to them. If it wasnt paying they wouldnt be there.
I am not suggesting they are in any way different to any other carrier - money is money and business is business. What I am trying to do is point out that if BE were not on the island it is unlikely the same number of services would be retained at the same frequency by another carrier. Regional airlines in the UK with similar sized, economic aircraft are few and far between really.
A bit of support wouldnt kill anyone would it. I have no doubt that BE will continue its operations succesfully on the rock with or without competition from the big orange bus I just get a little tired of hearing negative comments about an operation which a lot of people work hard to maintain - in some cases lifeline links to the mainland.
Nothing wrong with the E145 that was here, far more reliable than the Q400. Also, there were no over inflated egos on the IOM, quite the opposite in fact
I didnt say it was IOM aircraft or crew did I - although I have to admit I forgot that IOM was E145 based, thought you had one of the old Brymon Dash's! If I recall correctly IOM was one of few places where staff realised the change over was worthwhile in securing their salaries. However it was the operation on a larger scale elsewhere which got bashed and BE had to use the 'working resources' as much as they could ultimately having an impact on every single airport at some stage. As I say above, it gets very tedious reading comments like "Flybe cancel willy nilly" when we know thats a load of rubbish.
Someone has to stand up and defend the company, and the huge number of employees working hard for them who also read this forum.
Anyway changes are on the way so give it 12 months and hopefully the opinions of many will be very different.