Airport’s like Bournemouth can only do so much to encourage route development. It takes an airline to put on a route and they will only do it if they think they can make a profit.
The truth is that Bournemouth compared to Southampton is not an attractive airport to operative from with a lack of any proper public transport being a major issue. You only have to see what has happened to Southend to see how a railway station has transformed that airport in the last year.
So what does Southampton offer?
Fastest journey times by rail from Southampton Airport Parkway station
- London Waterloo: 69 minutes
- Southampton City Centre: 7 minutes
- Bournemouth: 37 minutes
- Poole: 53 minutes
- Fareham: 34 minutes
- Portsmouth: 60 minutes
- Winchester: 10 minutes
- Basingstoke: 24 minutes
- Woking: 42 minutes
- Reading: 49 minutes
- Oxford: 74 minutes
With Bournemouth airport only able to offer an hourly bus service to the town and its railway station at a cost of £8 return for an open ticket will not encourage many passengers.
It says a lot when passengers can also get to Bournemouth town centre quicker from Southampton airport than from their own airport by public transport if a bus is not due.