FlyBe - 6

[Dontgothere]

Loganair stated that they were expecting delivery of 3x S2000 in 2014, if my memory serves me correctly all are however going to be allocated to Aberdeen, so it is not looking brilliant at the moment. But then again, seeing as it would be 50-60 per flight, would the S2000 not be a bit small?


Still great news that Flybe has decided to remain faithful to NQY for the meantime.

[Skipness One Echo]

If you operate a Saab 340 or 2000 you can't make a decent offer to the leisure traveller though, unless the taxpayer is to partly fund the fare whilst continuing to pay for the losses at the airport??

Am I missing something fundamental here?

[Phileas Fogg]

Before flybe came along the route was served by a maximum 50 seater and when shared with PLH that would have been an allocation of circa 25 seats 3 or 4 times daily.

Something in the SF340, Do328, ATR42 range is what will serve the route viably, to hell with cheap fares for the leisure travellers, a viable air link is essential for the Cornish and some Devonish and if the leisure travellers don't want to pay the fare then there is always the train, the A303, or if they can't afford to go on holiday then they stay at home

[davidjohnson6]

I think I've understood Gatwick's conditions of use 2013/2014 charges document correctly. It looks as if that take-off+landing+passenger handling during summer peak hours for an in-and-out of Gatwick comes to a minimum of about £1,725 or £1,770 for 30 pax. Divide by 30 pax on a almost-full Do328, and you get £59 in charges per pax for accessing Gatwick.

Newquay will want an extra £24 per passenger for an aircraft with 30 pax, APD adds a further £26 and the development fee is another £5

Total for airport charges + APD for a NQY-LGW-NQY round trip in summer = £114
This is of course before we think about fuel, labour, aircraft maintenance, navigation charges, etc...

On an aircraft with 30 pax, if Flybe are to make a reasonable profit, difficult to do a daytrip NQY-LGW-NQY in summer for much less than about £200 per head.

Move from a Do328 with 30 pax to a Q400 with 60 pax, and the various airport charges drops by about £50 per person to about £64 per head. Assuming a Q400 costs less per passenger than a Do328, this presumably permits an entry-level day return to be priced at maybe £110 per head.

[Phileas Fogg]

Move from a Do328 with 30 pax to a Q400 with 60 pax, and the various airport charges drops by about £50 per person to about £64 per head.

But that is costs per fitted seat rather than per fare paying passenger.

The answer is to find an alternative airport to LGW and for the LHR connections (particularly) it would seem that LTN might be the best alternative.

But shouldn't all this be in the NQY thread rather than the flybe thread?

[LNIDA]

Phileas Fogg

On the subject of PSO routes, is it not daft to fund them (in order to sustain the route) then apply APD? if PSO routes were exempt from APD including any connecting through flights (not do it yourself connections) then it would encourage people to use NQY which in turn would lift route volume allowing bigger aircraft and reducing fixed cost per seat costs such as landing fee's.

[Flightrider]

All existing PSOs were exempted from APD in the last change to the UK APD rules - if you refer to the HMRC document, the exclusion is contained towards the back. As a new PSO - i.e. not extant at the date of the exemption coming into force - specific provision would have to be made for a Newquay-London PSO to be exempt from APD, assuming that it's operated by an aircraft on which passengers would normally have to pay it (which is likely).

[Phileas Fogg]

LNIDA,

I never mentioned PSO or APD but I do have insight knowledge of the NQY (and PLH) routes going back more than 30 years.

So if there is so much money to be made on the route utilising larger (than 50 seats) aircraft why are Flybe buggering off?

Are you aware of the population of Cornwall and how many tourists, indeed businessmen, (other than Cornish/Devonish) actually travel there particularly during the winters?

You'll be lucky to fill 35 seats 3 times daily during the winters!

[Barling Magna]

Devonian, not Devonish, I believe. I recall Devenish was rather a good ale from Weymouth, sadly long gone now.........

[Lough neagh monster]

Changing to earlier flight - flexibility?

Any of you flybe lot know if the check in guys are flexible?

If I turn up for an earlier flight with a firm booking for a later flight that evening, will the check in staff be flexible enough and allow me to jump on the earlier flight if there are seats available?

[darkbarly]

Pretty sure you will be refused. There is a flexi ticket option at point of sale which may/should be cheaper than the booking change option at check in. Most check in staff are not Flybe employees(sore point) but if you have airport ID you might blag it free of charge?

[Lough neagh monster]

darkbarly

Thanks. Yes I have airport ID, but for another airport. I'll try the charm factor...

[mad_jock]

I don't think they will change it free of charge.

They can change friends and family tickets but not paying punters because the receipt needs linked to the change. Otherwise the handling company gets it in the ear. Same with sneaking and extra bag on-board.

[Waldo1]

They do charge...an extortionate amount! Its the munber 1 reason i prefer easyjet, going early free of charge, with no awkward questions is a real winner

[LAX_LHR]

Seems the pruning of routes has begun.

Confirmed route closures so far:

EXT-NCL
EXT-NCE
EXT-BCN
GLA-SNN
CWL-GLA
CWL-CDG
SOU-LBA
BFS-CDG
BRS-JER
EMA-CDG
SOU-HAJ
LTN-JER becomes summer only
LTN-IOM becomes summer only

New routes:

NQY-BHX
NQT-LGW continues.

[flybar]

Full route reductions press release here:-

Flybe | Corporate | Media | News archive

[vectisman]

LAX_LHR I think you will find that Luton-Jersey and Luton-Isle of Man are also cancelled. The second list on the corporate news page contains all the summer only routes that are being withdrawn. I do agree the wording is not clear enough though.


V.

[bad bear]

Why so many Scottish redundancies if the total cuts are 2 rotations from Inverness and 3 1/2 rotations from Glasgow?

bb

[BFS BHD]

Is BHD-JER still running as summer only for Flybe???

[LBIA]

Yep looks as though flybe Belfast City - jersey route has gone am afraid along with all the following services.

Cardiff – Glasgow
Cardiff – Paris CDG
Belfast City – Paris CDG
Belfast City – Jersey
Belfast City - London Gatwick
East Midlands – Paris CDG
Edinburgh – Knock
Exeter - Barcelona
Exeter – Newcastle
Exeter – Nice
Glasgow – Shannon
Glasgow – Paris CDG
Guernsey - London Gatwick
Inverness - London Gatwick
Isle of Man - Bristol
Isle of Man - Jersey
Isle of Man - London Gatwick
Isle of Man - London Luton
Isle of Man – Southampton
Jersey - Bristol
Jersey – London Luton
Jersey - London Gatwick
Newcastle - Jersey
Newcastle - Limoges
Newcastle - London Gatwick
Norwich - Newquay
Southampton - Barcelona
Southampton - Beziers
Southampton - Hannover
Southampton - Leeds Bradford