Originally Posted by
Cyrano
So you're saying that as a Cambridge business person I should settle for 8 hours in Dublin, as long as they are from 10.35 to 19.10, and that if (heaven forbid) I am trying to fit into someone else's 9-5 schedule it's just the fault of the "Dublin conference industry"? Oddly enough when I look at the prices of flights, for example from Dublin to Heathrow, the flights arriving before 9 tend to be the most expensive. I can't imagine why...
Because there's no good reason for CityJet to compete for that same segment of the business market. I suspect we move in different "business" circles: in mine there is no nine-to-five schedule anymore for anyone doing business, and that business may well involve a meeting or site visit at 11pm as much as 11am.
If they can break even using a 50-seater twice a day and (possibly?) benefit from off-peak landing charges, why risk trying to grab a piece of someone else's pie? We know that rarely works.
Originally Posted by
Cyrano
In the case of Amsterdam, yes, you're right. But Dublin? Please explain to me how this is a "sensible" schedule, with no useful connectivity. That's a genuine question, by the way - have I missed something in this fairly miserable "what-can-we-do-in-the-gaps-between-Amsterdam-flights?" timetable?
As the current incarnation of CityJet is effectively an orphan child, they're hardly in a good position to be negotiating code-shares and operational tie-ups. So propose the route, let passengers make their own decision as to whether they want to rush - or wait - for the direct flights to Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, New York or Toronto. It will be a lot easier for the airline to bring the time
forward in six months time, to improve connectivity, if that's the way passengers use the service, than to push it as a feature right now and then find it doesn't catch on.