FlyBE - 5

[Facelookbovvered]

Well done Flybe

To go from near to bust in only a few years to become a major player in regional avaition shows what can be done with the right kit, some luck and half decent management.

Full credit to WW for thinking outside the box and no doubt looking forward to the return on BA 15% when sold as it will be or bought out by Flybe (the share holding) it doesn't need to buy bmi regional the dash can nibble away at the 145 routes with more seats for less cost

[revo]

Bee833/834

The inverness flight today is due to be a Titan 737, so you will be on that aircraft not an Embraer 145.

[br8fmr]

Flybe appears to be expanding at Leeds and Aberdeen
http://www.pprune.org/airlines-airpo...eds-5-a-3.html

New flights and jobs on the way for Aberdeen - Press & Journal=

Flybe cuts plans for growth after fall in business passengers | Business | The Guardian

[Porrohman]

FlyBE delays

www.egphforum.com are reporting lots of delays and cancellations at FlyBE;

13:55 BE1130 JERSEY EXPECTED 2100
18:05 BE7228 MANCHESTER CANCELLED
18:10 BE689 BELFAST CITY CANCELLED
21:00 BE586 CARDIFF EXPECTED 2345
21:05 BE691 BELFAST CITY EXPECTED 2235
22:05 BE7255 SOUTHAMPTON EXPECTED 0010

Major tech probs everywhere... 15 aircraft tech in various places apparently, 2 or 3 of which have been at EDI, and it's been the same for the past couple of days too.

I wonder what's caused all the problems?

[OltonPete]

bhx-inv

When I said: -

"Plenty of aircraft subs still at bhx"

In respect of JNP's flight today on BE833, I was thinking more
on the lines of a 145 replaced by a Q400 not a Titan 733!

Going by the previous post this was probably not load driven
more like aircraft tech?

I wonder what JNP will have to say, seems to have been fairly well
on time though.

Pete

[Drink Up Thee Cider]

BBC News at 10 tonight

During the report on XL's sad demise, it was interesting that Tom Symonds pointed to three airlines that were doing okay and referred to BA "for their investment in Business Class", FR for their "money in the bank" and Flybe because they've "cut costs by investing in new aircraft".

Following the positive reporting of Flybe's results announcement on Monday, it looks like the London media are (finally) realising there's life outside the M25.

[JulietNovemberPapa]

Yep, was on G-ZAPZ, a Titan 733. Less than half full. Took 55 mins to INV.

[HZ123]

Is that not the bonus BA passed to them in the first place ?

[Buster the Bear]

"15 aircraft tech" , unless the manufacturer is paying for sub-charters, the costs to an airline would criminal and unsustainable. That figure is truly shocking considering the investment in new airframes!

[aspaceman]

Is that not the bonus BA passed to them in the first place ?

Nope! That's still in the bank

The only bonus BA passed was a pair of scissors to cut BA Connect loose and allow it to thrive in a competitive domestic market place.

[Cloud1]

For clarification (and it is important this is offered in view of the comments raised) there were not 15 aircraft with technical issues, which caused the disruption. I am certain that if this was the case the airline would be in deep sh...well you know what I am saying. There were technical issues (as with all airlines) some of which were corrected and aircraft left with minimal delay if any at all and there were a couple of nasty ones which caused knock-on effects and various changes thus causing delays and several stations.

[Buster the Bear]

If you buy new airframes, you buy into low maintenance and low down time.

If you purchase new airframes on the basis of marketing them as fuel saving, why then the need to sub charter aircraft twice the size with no doubt massive emissions (in comparison), to compensate for poor reliability and on a very regular basis?

[Cloud1]

ALL aircraft have tech issues including new airframes (look at the new A380 as the most recent example) The airline will not just cancel thr affected flights they get a sub in albeit for short term usage - makes the passengers happy as they get to their destination. Its just part of airline operations and is being blown way out of proportion...

[FL370 Officeboy]

One of the reasons flybe are so successful is their high aircraft utilisation. This of course can mean limited spare capacity when the 'bad day' that all airlines have occurs. I think it's natural that the airline takes steps to ensure all its passengers get to where they need to be as opposed to just cancelling the flights and saying 'stuff you'....we all know that can happen with certain carriers. People just seem to like slagging airlines off no matter what they do. If they had just cancelled the flights they'd get bad press for that....if they actually do the right thing and get their passengers to their destination they get abuse for that because Buster thinks the aircraft they are using are too big!! Bless.

[Cloud1]

FL370 Officeboy - agreed

[RVF750]

Spot on.

Occasionally you get good days, every thing on time and fine, and some days you get problems. Happens to every company. Flybe are in a far better position because many services are high frequency, so delays or even cancellations can be minimised, and it's extremely rare not to get all pax where they expect to be at the end of the day.

I call it "same day service", not quite a schedule, but better than most can offer when problems occur. As for reliability, the best way to give that is to stay in business. With Flybe, you know booking ahead that they'll still be here this time next year, a lot of firms you can't trust to be here next month at the current rate!

[Jackdaw]

FL370 Officeboy said:

One of the reasons flybe are so successful is their high aircraft utilisation.

Sorry I disagree. Most of the Flybe bases I fly to/from have countless Flybe aircraft sat around doing nothing for many hours a day (no they are not all tech). It is rare these days to hand an aircraft over to another crew. Personally I believe this factor alone contributes to unserviceabilities and down time - in Bacon days we would nearly always hand a running aircraft over, yet now it hardly ever happens. Turning avionics etc on and off many times a day must be causing higher failure rates...

[jetstreamtechrecords]

What are BE playing at with their BHX IOM. About 2 or 3 days a week for the last month its been 2,3,4 or 5 hours late Presume this is the bottom of the heap flight when everything else is tech.

[Drink Up Thee Cider]

Jackdaw: "in Bacon days we would nearly always hand a running aircraft over"

Were those the same Bacon days where the company was losing £40 million a year?

[Haven't a clue]

Dash&Thump

I call it "same day service", not quite a schedule, but better than most can offer when problems occur

And therein lies the difficulty for the both business and leisure pax:

- booking day trips for business is becoming less of an option; you can't guarantee to be at your meeting on time, worse the outbound may be delayed so that the trip is pointless or your employer is reluctant to pay for overnight accomodation so you don't go

- you can't guarantee making any onward flight connection, and you can't get a through ticket any more so any extra costs caused by delay are down to you. You have to add an overnight on the way out to give yourself some tuck in the event of a delay; that comes at a cost so you don't bother with the city breaks any more, or, if you're a business pax you start to consolidate your trips

- your stress levels rise, as not only do you have to comply with the inconsistant application of security you also worry about whether you will actually fly, and if so when

There is no doubt that domestic air travel has come down significantly in price (I reckon I'm now paying 60% of what I paid two or more years ago) but the extra costs of accomodation more that cancels this out. Coupled with the economic gloom I'm amazed pax numbers are holding up. For now.

(Foot note: while some of my delays with BE have been down to broken airplanes, more seem to be down to lack of available crew....)