"Given the London market from PIK could no longer support low cost FR" ?
Their STN route performed alright, it's very ignorant to say it didn't. Would it still have performed with a GLA-STN route though?
It's not ignorant at all, behave yourself.....and they have introduced GLA-STN!
Also used STN-PIK many times, however the evidence is that it was a classic bubble, much like PIK's growth in passengers. People fed the bubble up to 8-10 times daily then over time, gravitated back to GLA. This was partly Ryanair's own fault in using too big an aeroplane at a frequency which wasn't ideal once the B737-800 was introduced. Yields were also killed when APD was hiked upwards, remember FR also pulled STN-BLK as well, domestic loco was under intense pressure. Finally, GLA has a much bigger pull for inbound tourism as it's....in Glasgow (-ish).
In terms of supporing a bankers shuttle, the local Ayrshire economy is not a rich and wealthy one, I know, I grew up there.....and Glaswegians don't really want to hike to Ayrshire if they can avoid it, t'was ever thus. So London City....really?
So with Ryanair deciding they're better off at GLA, the notion that flybe, can step in to compete against BA, EZY and FR on a turboprop to LCY has no USP in this market, zero traction. If you want fast access to Canary Wharf use a jet from GLA with BA and claim AVIOs, LCY has a higher Gold Card holder % per flight than even LHR. If you want cheap and cheerful use any of the above and book in advance, if you want to fly for much cheapness in a slower aeroplane into an expensive airport, choose flybe on PIK-LCY. It's suicide, a mere talking shop IMHO.
The usual PIK bashers at there best!!
Cut out the tribal nonsense, I have been a supporter of PIK forever frankly, but there comes a time when one sees the reality and allows head to over-ride heart. So you know what, either get some form of business that works or shut it down. An open ended taxpayers cheque book just to curry political favour is distorting a free market and impacting solvent trading businesses at GLA and EDI.
List of credible airlines
likely to start flying passengers from PIK :
NOBODY
Someone give me a likely candidate and change my mind, serious question, because in all cold honesty, I don't see a future for passenger services out of that facility with a 1964 build long haul terminal draining costs for one or two narrow bodies per day. It's a money pit and it's bottomless, the "report" from last year was predicated on Ryanair
expanding at PIK FFS.