Air Southwest
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: E London and Plymouth
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report from the Plymouth Herald......
Thousands book tickets for new air service to London
Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 20:25
FIVE thousand people have booked on to Plymouth's new passenger air service to the heart of London, before the first plane has even flown, writes Emma Corlett.
Bosses at Air Southwest say they are "very optimistic" that its new direct Plymouth City – London City Airport service, starting on Monday, will be a success.
Competing against a three-hour train journey from Plymouth, the new route takes just 70 minutes. And with a 20-minute check-in time and the new Docklands Light Railways providing a 20-minute tube ride to the City, it means businesses and shoppers are now less than two hours away from the UK's most important financial centre.
The flights will also operate to and from Newquay, and are expected to prove popular with Londoners looking for a short break to Plymouth and the West Country.
Nigel Godefroy, chief executive of the Sutton Harbour Group, which owns the airline and Plymouth airport, said: "We regard it very much as a home-grown local airline with aspirations. It is becoming a national brand.
"We can witness this by the launch of our new route to London City, which for the first time, gives Plymouth a 70-minute connection to the heart of the capital. It's Plymouth's chance and it's so fundamental to the inherent prosperity of this region."
"We have already sold 5,000 seats and we've not flown yet, so we are very optimistic indeed that the route will go well. Including Gatwick flights, we have six flights a day into London from both Plymouth and Newquay."
Thousands book tickets for new air service to London
Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 20:25
FIVE thousand people have booked on to Plymouth's new passenger air service to the heart of London, before the first plane has even flown, writes Emma Corlett.
Bosses at Air Southwest say they are "very optimistic" that its new direct Plymouth City – London City Airport service, starting on Monday, will be a success.
Competing against a three-hour train journey from Plymouth, the new route takes just 70 minutes. And with a 20-minute check-in time and the new Docklands Light Railways providing a 20-minute tube ride to the City, it means businesses and shoppers are now less than two hours away from the UK's most important financial centre.
The flights will also operate to and from Newquay, and are expected to prove popular with Londoners looking for a short break to Plymouth and the West Country.
Nigel Godefroy, chief executive of the Sutton Harbour Group, which owns the airline and Plymouth airport, said: "We regard it very much as a home-grown local airline with aspirations. It is becoming a national brand.
"We can witness this by the launch of our new route to London City, which for the first time, gives Plymouth a 70-minute connection to the heart of the capital. It's Plymouth's chance and it's so fundamental to the inherent prosperity of this region."
"We have already sold 5,000 seats and we've not flown yet, so we are very optimistic indeed that the route will go well. Including Gatwick flights, we have six flights a day into London from both Plymouth and Newquay."
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Seems like ASW's new LCY service is off to a good start. According to their website, the first flights on both Monday and Tuesday next week are fully booked! Good to see them going head-to-head with the train, which is both slow and expensive from the far South West to London.
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Good to hear of a success story in these otherwise difficult times. Goes to show that a niche airline, with a genuine focus on customer service rather than just screwing every last penny out of the customer for extras etc, can make a good go of it! 
Join Date: Apr 2007
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I must admit I like what Air Southwest do and how they go about their business. However, running some quick figures I suspect this venture into LCY is going to cost a fortune. 5000 forward seats sold is quite worrying as they have over 5000 available each month (and I suspect as in all press releases that figure is slightly exagerrated). Including taxes you can purchase day return seats practically every day for the next two weeks at £150. Most of those 5000 seats were sold at £29 and were snapped up for the next six months by regular city travellers. The economics of LCY don't work on a 50 seater as I think LCY charge for 37 pax irrespective of how many are on board. With the yield, wrong aircraft and thin bookings I worry. I hope I'm wrong but I think this could be anything but a success story!
Join Date: Nov 2004
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The economics of LCY don't work on a 50 seater
Goodness me, what a lot of outdoor and print advertising for the new service here at the London end. There have been some LCY services that have come and gone without a whisper, I've often suspected that was why they have gone.
One thing, ASW's ad agents, there are ads in the Underground/DLR for Plymouth, and similar others for Newquay. Some train carriages have one, some the other. Could you really not have got both destinations onto one card and doubled the value ?
One thing, ASW's ad agents, there are ads in the Underground/DLR for Plymouth, and similar others for Newquay. Some train carriages have one, some the other. Could you really not have got both destinations onto one card and doubled the value ?
Join Date: Dec 2004
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Hey, havent posted on here for a while;
Just wondering are the new London City flights going out with full loads almost every day or was this just the first day?
Are the other routes on WOW's netwrok doing ok, are there any routes struggling to make a profit for the airline?
There is alot of talks on other fourms suggesting that new routes are coming our way again with air southwest. It would be ineterseting to see what would come about! Some say they are looking at LBA/NME to LCY, however is that even possible without a new operations base?
I have a feeling WOW are trying to maximise the use of Plymouth Airport to bogus any " not utlised" cooments that could ultimately close the airport.
wowboy
Just wondering are the new London City flights going out with full loads almost every day or was this just the first day?
Are the other routes on WOW's netwrok doing ok, are there any routes struggling to make a profit for the airline?
There is alot of talks on other fourms suggesting that new routes are coming our way again with air southwest. It would be ineterseting to see what would come about! Some say they are looking at LBA/NME to LCY, however is that even possible without a new operations base?
I have a feeling WOW are trying to maximise the use of Plymouth Airport to bogus any " not utlised" cooments that could ultimately close the airport.
wowboy
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Farewell to WOW?
I'd heard on the grapevine that ASW are dropping the WOW from their flight numbers and replacing it with a two letter IATA compatible code (SZ if I remember correctly).
This will allow them to sell seats on the Galileo GDS.
Its great to see the airline make this development, but to lose WOW is a tragedy!!
I'd heard on the grapevine that ASW are dropping the WOW from their flight numbers and replacing it with a two letter IATA compatible code (SZ if I remember correctly).
This will allow them to sell seats on the Galileo GDS.
Its great to see the airline make this development, but to lose WOW is a tragedy!!
Join Date: Dec 2004
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ah hopefully they do not loose the WOW code from there flights i like that code, i dont like SZ has nothing to do with air southwest. Atleast WOW can stand for West Of Wales !!!
Join Date: Jun 2003
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Good luck but LCY is not so wonderful for West London when the train goes to/from Paddington which has better connections to most of Greater London than Docklands. Also, the train operators will react and, having far more capacity, could crucify the fares. Therefore, will there be enough regular business passengers to sustain this bold venture?
Join Date: Sep 2004
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A nice bit of coverage of ASW's LCY launch on ITV Westcountry:
YouTube - Air Southwest LCY launch - ITV Westcountry 20/4/09
YouTube - Air Southwest LCY launch - ITV Westcountry 20/4/09
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Very unscientific, but looking at a few sample days on their website, they are full ex-LCY tonight, full ex-LCY tomorrow night, and full into LCY on Tues morning. Bank holiday weekend I know, but on the surface of it would seem to be off to a good start.
Prices are moving up a bit, but still loads cheaper than the peak trains!
Prices are moving up a bit, but still loads cheaper than the peak trains!
Join Date: Aug 2001
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Does any one know the reason behind the useage of the s2000's?