Jetstream Express

[IOMspotter]

Jet2 fares

I just looked at May Jet2 fares from BLK to BFS - About half the flights are available for £00.01 each way plus £14.98 taxes and charges. £14.99 total. Is this where they have always been or have they brought them down to compete with BHD?

[fredtheanorak]

small airlines

Comed, BNWA, Emerald, Flykeen, City Star - seen em come and . go at BLK . Doesnt meen theyre' bad just that life is realy tough for small airlines. Its not eazy at the bottom of the heap but why go and take on Jet2??? They are a very smart LOW FARE operator. Like i said, ABZ should work as its' niche. BLK EDI or NWI would have much more chance

[virginblue]

I understand that Manx2 has been offering BLK-BHD via IOM. Have these flights ever been used by the travelling public ? If so, Jetstream might see a chance to lure those wishing to travel to BHD and generate some additional traffic offering a nonstop service.

[MUFC_fan]

Any definate numbers on the JXT flights for Tuesday so far?

Not showing flight numbers on BLK departure board for tomorrow! (21:00)

[MUFC_fan]

Just been looking at the Southern Daily Echo.

'New fast-transit business airline Jetstream Express launches the five-times-a-week service in [July], but aims to increase frequency soon and may also launch other routes.' (SOU route, article says June, but it is actually start of July.)
Looking to increase frequencies and launch other routes - looking good, but lets see how they progress first!

'The firm is planning a series of routes out of a Blackpool base.'
Ditto.

'All the market research we have done in the last six months shows us there is a business and leisure market crying out for something up there more than just Manchester.'
Pop at LPL's lack of business flights?

'We would like to increase the services we're running. "At the moment, It is Monday to Friday because you have to start somewhere. Then we'll go to one on Sunday and then maybe it's on to double daily flights in due course. The team are also looking at other routes that may involve Southampton.'
Just what many of us have been saying. Weekends then double dailys. Surprised about the SOU routes though...

Anyway, only time will tell! Are JXT to be the next M2?!

[Captain Caveman]

Deep Pockets And Sleepless Nights ????

Ummmmmmm, just a quick last minute comparison at -12hrs to go, just in case I needed to fly to Belfast tomorrow and........

Jet 2
0620/0705 out
1715/1800 in
£116.00 all inc

Jetstream Express
0730/0820 out
1810/1900 in
£249.99 all inc

Good luck guys...................

[captainyonder]

Any idea of how the first flights went? Loads etc? I'm trying them out on Thursday, so will report back.

[nav3]

Captain Yonder,

I just checked their website and there are fares at £73 one way ie £146 return available for Thursday. Were you comparing the Jet class ticket or the JetPLUS one ?

Are you flying on the morning flight to Belfast ? I heard from someone at the airport apart from the weather today it was really a professional show, smart people, smart uniform and a smart service.(Must admit Preston was a bit gloomy at 7.30 this morning so I presume BLK was as well).

I think with all this concern about Ryanair now pulling off Stanstead and rumours NOT going away of Jet2 pulling the Blefast anyway, with figures of 7's and 9's going to BFS may actually be positive news for the Jetstream Company being based at Blackpool.

I am using them to Aberdeen in June so we can swop stories

[MUFC_fan]

I heard from someone at the airport apart from the weather today it was really a professional show, smart people, smart uniform and a smart service

Did this 'someone' give pax numbers on the 4 sectors today?

Cheers.

[nav3]

Captain Yonder...Manx2 for Thursday via Fraggle would cost you £219 !!

MUFC Fan ..well done for the premiership.......the Pax were about 9 out and 3 back and 3 out and 3 back I am told so probably not a bad start but from little acorns....................Professionalism and stability is what that route needs.

[captainyonder]

These guys will have the patience to make it work. I know JXT very well and Steve Green and his excellent team will stick with this and make it work.

nav3, I'm probably going to be on the evening flight. I'll let you know how it goes. Oh and it was Captain Caveman who was comparing the fares, not myself.

[Captain Caveman]

Fares

On Monday night when I was checking fares for the next day it would only give me the higher fare, a choice was not available.

I presume this is because it was - 12 hours to go and they only sell the higher fare at a certain point prior to STD or all the cheap seats had gone and only this fare was available??? I presume if I then looked for - 72hrs ahead i.e 2-3 days it may of produced the lower fare?

I am not sure how long it will take to prove these routes but to run 10 a week to 3 destinations whilst building up the loads will certainly eat away at Jetstreams cash, plus you have to remember they could not be getting cash from credit card bookings for upto 45 days after transaction which can be the case with card companies.

[baggagebill]

Js31 due in at Dundee later this month on a "Demonstration Flight", anyone know what this could be/mean ? Maybe a new route ?

[nav3]

Captain Caveman

If the Finance director has not got the funds within 72 hours then he should not be doing the job in the first place.

You may get 56 days on your mastercard but it doesn't work like that 'on the other side of the fence'. the systems generally allow payment within the week direct into their bank account so there will be no cash flow implications I am sure.

[Captain Caveman]

Hi Nav 3,

I recall reading something last year about DUO and part of the problem was not getting funds from clearing houses quick enough as I think on average and don't quote me it was approx 30days or so.

Having the money in the system but not getting your hands on it could have a major impact on your business.

It may be different now or depending on what banks you use etc..etc it also may not be applicable to a small operator like Jetstream, but perhaps a minor point anyhow.

Fingers crossed for them!

Regards

[nav3]

Captain Caveman,

That may have been because there were 'Legal Charges' against any assets and the sales ledger being one of the assets, was probably why the bank held back on the Duo money. ie as bookings were made and cash became 'live', funds did not get to the company bank account as the Merchant Services provider held them back and therefore used those against other costs and debts it may have had.

Ultimately the bank too k hold of the purse strings in the latter days I believe. Anyway, back to the matter in hand let's hope JXT can pull some rabbits out and make themselves and Blackpool a place to be proud of.

[Fried_Chicken]

With Ryanair pulling off the Blackpool - Stansted route could JXT look at a potential London/SE service. I say the SE as they'd be very limited in which London airport to choose (LHR, LGW, LCY probably out of the question, LTN, STN too expensive/no slots?)

FC

[nospeedrestriction9]

Generally all debit transactions take approx three working days to reach any merchant account but credit transactions take up to 7 days.

Cash flow shouldn't be a problem if budgets are in place and if there's limited cash flow no doubt the CAA will close them down before they do themselves!!!

For AOC holders such as Jetstream ("Silverstream") express they will hold a significant financial bond with the CAA and also a further bond with their bankers for business accounting. All the merchant banks have been stung beofre and are very savvy when it comes to airline failures.

I think they will get the numbers on ABZ after Citystar built up the route but the volume will not be on BHD or SOU or someone will need very deep pockets to support its development.

[nav3]

NSR9

Just for info, there are no restrictions to a type B (19 seats or less) AOC I believe, so nothing to do financially anyway with the CAA

[Cyrano]

Originally Posted by nav3

If the Finance director has not got the funds within 72 hours then he should not be doing the job in the first place.

I think Captain Caveman has a point (and you are being rather harsh on FDs as a species, and no, I'm not one!). Especially in the case of a startup business, the merchant acquirer (the intermediary between Visa/Mastercard and the seller, in this case the airline) doesn't want to be left with a liability if the business fails (i.e. if it's already handed over the money to the airline but also has to pay out to angry credit-card holders entitled to a refund). So the acquirer will typically delay the release of funds to the airline to ensure that enough is held back to more or less cover forward liabilities. Thus if on average passengers are booking (e.g.) a week ahead of travel, the acquirer is likely to hold payments back a week. And if the business is growing fast (typical of a startup), there are more passengers booking all the time, so the acquirer delays payment for longer in order to cover its growing liability. Unless things have changed radically in the last couple of years, this is a cash flow issue, especially for small and startup airlines.

But now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Brgds
C.