BOH
Shamrock, there is more to the BOH decision.
We know that Flybe was seeking a better deal from Southampton for the large base there. We also know that there had been prior threats by Flybe to relocate the SOU base to BOH in an attempt to leverage a better deal from SOU.
Not surprisingly SOU management did not buy the threat.
So to demonstrate their intent Flybe, who already knew that a significant portion of their traffic at SOU was originating in the Bournemouth area, opened a base which by all accounts did not perform badly. Most of the routes generated loads similar to those seen at SOU.
Step forward Southampton airport, now willing to do the deal for Flybe. An obvious requirement of which was to close the BOH base and I imagine to lock Flybe out of BOH for the duration of the deal - 5 years would be my guess.
The Flybe public statement said that the airline was consolidating its operations at Southampton to save costs, that does not mean that BOH base was not working, it means that Flybe save money by spending less at their larger base. A Win for SOU and Flybe.
In short this is a classic business stalking horse move. The downside risk for Flybe is that they have proved a market at BOH to several destinations, although for smaller aircraft than the near 200 seat types now operated by the LCC. What this means for BOH is another matter - I will post my thoughts on BOH options another time.
FF