Originally Posted by
EI-BUD
Just reading some of the come
commentary about the Dublin route and lack thereof and the remarks about Flybe putting up some competition for the London City - Dublin route.
The topic of the Dublin route had been debated to death on here. AerLingus Regional have a great track record of developing the Dublin routes from all over the UK, most in direct competition worth Ryanair. Southend didn't work, just as Edinburgh didn't work (easyJet). These routes may have been profitable ( few will know the precise facts), but clearly they were not profitable enough on a commercial basis. London Dublin is one of the most hourly contested and busy European routes and Southend didn't prove attractive to the travelling public.
The demand to destinations on the East side of England have always been marginal from The Island of Ireland, notably Manston, Southend, Norwich, Humberside..... All tried and tested. Southern are relying on a catchment of 600k locally, which is significant, though they need to develop the airport as an inbound route to London. That's not an easy ( pardon the pun) task.
As for seriously suggesting that premium paying business passengers who like the trimmings and their executive club and convenience of LCY switching to Southend, that is plain nonsense.
I wish Southend Airport well, I've flown there a bunch of times when easyJet did BFS and it was great, but it always felt like I was very far from London when I arrived, though it was only 50 mins.... If the Dublin route is to work easyJet would need to come onto the route at reasonable frequency and stock at it, but as it's to the Irish Republic, highly unlikely they'll touch it...
Easy fear Ryanair competitive control on the Dublin route. It won't happen. Easy do not have the stomach for that amount of competitive commercial pain.