Flybe
Ok the lunatics are now well and truly running the asylum.
Bases at BOH and STN are mad, mad as a box of frogs. Southampton has long been to jewel in BE's crown and if i'm not mistaken they have also just opened up bases at LCY and SEN. Why dilute a monopoly in Southampton and two newish bases that are still trying to get off the ground?
Yes reading between the lines they have done a deal with Manchester Airport Group for fixed prices and as a trade off had to open some token routes at the other airports in their portfolio (BOH/STN). A businessman still wet behind the ears would be biting their hand off sure, but anyone with a modicum of sense will look at the bigger picture. Manchester is an open market place and any number of competitor can come along and get the same deal no doubt. Any benefit will soon evaporate. SOU is beyond the reach of EZY and RYR and surely is where the real money is to be made for BE? They are not a low cost airline by any stretch of the imagination and need to squeeze their monopolies dry yet they are renegading on them?
No one wants to fly from BOH, that is fact. I have lost track of the regional airlines that have tested the water (SI, EI, GR, LS even BE previously) and FR and EZY are hardly maxing out the tarmac. It is akin to a morgue and should be closed down for housing but common sense rarely prevails in this country (See LHR still waiting on a 3rd runway for an example).
Unfortunately we are seeing the demise of an airline that for me genuinely shook up the market introducing the revolutionary Q400 which enabled them to conquer all the old dinosaurs (Bacon/BMI etc) and make regional air travel affordable for the masses. I have used them hundreds of times to see family all over the country but I am afraid this will soon be no more as they feed suicide pills to their own cash cows. You only have to look at the nonsensical decision to piss all over their game changer (Q400) in order to get some jungle jets that were not fit for purpose. They are now coming back to the Q400 with their tails between their legs but are getting a bunch of dogs from the US that will prove to be a maintenance nightmare. Their current use will not blend well with what BE will require from them.
It might be a lose analogy but would the likes of Gucci renegade on its prime real estate to do a deal with poundland? The one big lesson aviation needs to learn is to stick to what it knows (see ZB for consequences) and to let the customer dictate where to place its gambles.
RIP BE