SOUTHAMPTON
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Eastern Airways didn't wait long after last night's flybe announcement. They now have a Leeds - Southampton route on sale operating 3x daily using a 2nd Leeds based Jetstream 41 aircraft.
Good for them. I see they're running the SOU-LBA-ABZ pattern again, which should strengthen the whole base and make it a viable proposition. I'm surprised that Flybe have pulled it, but equally given the poor reliability achieved - it always seemed to be the LBA route which was chopped when anything was cancelled or running late - then it became a self-fulfilling conclusion to a large degree.
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Southampton, U.K
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More changes
Apparently Flybe are to also stop Nice, Palma, Malaga, Alicante and Faro earlier next summer, all around the 30th September, I imagine there will a few many unhappy people as I would've thought that there would be reasonable demand for Alicante and Malaga at the least past this date.
(Edited due to change of circumstances).
(Edited due to change of circumstances).
Last edited by adfly; 6th Dec 2013 at 18:04.
Bad news if true, I suspect SOU will find it very hard to get another carrier into operate these routes, what with the operational limitations of the airfield.
At least they have until the end of next Summer's season to try to sort something out.
I wonder what has happened to the talk that Flybe were rumoured to be (re)opening trunk routes from SOU, to the likes of FRA?....that all seems to have gone quiet.
At least they have until the end of next Summer's season to try to sort something out.
I wonder what has happened to the talk that Flybe were rumoured to be (re)opening trunk routes from SOU, to the likes of FRA?....that all seems to have gone quiet.
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I don't think we'll see Flybe launching many (if any) new routes in the near term.
The current focus is very much on consolidating on what is currently profitable and trimming/scrapping what is not. Only when that is complete and the company is on a much better financial footing will growth become a major objective again.
For Southampton I think it will signal the end of E195s flying to the Med after summer 2014 and the grounding if the E195 fleet. I also wouldn't be too surprised to see a reduction in summer seasonal regional France flights after 2014.
I guess the main problem is the seasonality of the routes... They may well be profitable routes, but the problem is there's not much use for the aircraft for the rest of the year. It's no good making £5m in the summer, just to lose £6m in the winter.
The current focus is very much on consolidating on what is currently profitable and trimming/scrapping what is not. Only when that is complete and the company is on a much better financial footing will growth become a major objective again.
For Southampton I think it will signal the end of E195s flying to the Med after summer 2014 and the grounding if the E195 fleet. I also wouldn't be too surprised to see a reduction in summer seasonal regional France flights after 2014.
I guess the main problem is the seasonality of the routes... They may well be profitable routes, but the problem is there's not much use for the aircraft for the rest of the year. It's no good making £5m in the summer, just to lose £6m in the winter.
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Interesting development but also rather surprising that it has come to this.
Can someone tell me what would prevent easyJet (A319 not A320) from launching a base at SOU and re-instating some of those lost routes?
I think SEN and SOU have many similarities so not sure why they wouldn't consider SOU.
Bad news for BOH of course if that was ever to happen.
Can someone tell me what would prevent easyJet (A319 not A320) from launching a base at SOU and re-instating some of those lost routes?
I think SEN and SOU have many similarities so not sure why they wouldn't consider SOU.
Bad news for BOH of course if that was ever to happen.
Join Date: Nov 2007
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EZY
Nakatta, Southampton's runway is too short for a significant year round operation by EZY or other similar operators with based Airbus or Boeing.
Southend is not the best comparison, look to Belfast which has two airports, the smaller of which Belfast city has a runway of 1829m, this is 100m longer than SOU.
EZY fly from the much longer runway at Belfast International, not city, because they can fly longer routes without payload restrictions. A319 are used at city but predominantly on the domestic routes to London.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Southampton faces two big challenges in 2014. The first is Flybe, but there are plenty of airlines to take up the slack left by any change of Flybe routes: KLM, Aer lingus, Loganair, Eastern & Blue Islands for example. We have already seen Eastern leap in following the Leeds route cut by Flybe.
The second challenge for SOU in 2014 is ownership. Based on what I see and hear, it is extremely likely that Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports will be put up for sale next year. I know there are already buyers in the wings for Aberdeen and Glasgow but what will happen at SOU is much less clear, but it certainly is not a viable additional runway for LHR, that role has been taken by AMS, DUB and DXB.
FF
Southend is not the best comparison, look to Belfast which has two airports, the smaller of which Belfast city has a runway of 1829m, this is 100m longer than SOU.
EZY fly from the much longer runway at Belfast International, not city, because they can fly longer routes without payload restrictions. A319 are used at city but predominantly on the domestic routes to London.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Southampton faces two big challenges in 2014. The first is Flybe, but there are plenty of airlines to take up the slack left by any change of Flybe routes: KLM, Aer lingus, Loganair, Eastern & Blue Islands for example. We have already seen Eastern leap in following the Leeds route cut by Flybe.
The second challenge for SOU in 2014 is ownership. Based on what I see and hear, it is extremely likely that Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports will be put up for sale next year. I know there are already buyers in the wings for Aberdeen and Glasgow but what will happen at SOU is much less clear, but it certainly is not a viable additional runway for LHR, that role has been taken by AMS, DUB and DXB.
FF
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MAG are interested in adding Glasgow to their portfolio. Like ABZ it makes Money. GIP wants ABZ. Neither BOH or SOU offer the kinds of returns that infrastructure investors like GIP and now MAG with its Australian investors, seek. There is nothing to suggest that MAG has any interest in SOU. I doubt they would Keep BOH now either if they could find a buyer at a sensible price. Neither of the south coast airports is big enough to warrant much value these days.
Ferrovial is a different situation. Their interest is in all three airports that will be up for sale, Glasgow, Aberdeen and SOU, which may be a more attractive bulk buy proposition to the seller HAH, than dealing with three buyers, one for each airport.
As individual airports only GLA and ABZ have interest apparently - as per my earlier post.
FF
Ferrovial is a different situation. Their interest is in all three airports that will be up for sale, Glasgow, Aberdeen and SOU, which may be a more attractive bulk buy proposition to the seller HAH, than dealing with three buyers, one for each airport.
As individual airports only GLA and ABZ have interest apparently - as per my earlier post.
FF
All quiet on the SOU front at the moment, is that a sign of terminal decline with the BEE cut backs and the apparent demise of their Spanish routes?
Something for the parent company to ponder, look at what Southend have done with a 37 metre wide runway, with a TORA 1739metres/TODA 1799metres and an LDA 1604metres (less than SOU). Achieve that, finally resolve the close-in obstacle problems (mainly trees near Mansbridge), after 20 years of procrastination, the future could be Easy!!
Something for the parent company to ponder, look at what Southend have done with a 37 metre wide runway, with a TORA 1739metres/TODA 1799metres and an LDA 1604metres (less than SOU). Achieve that, finally resolve the close-in obstacle problems (mainly trees near Mansbridge), after 20 years of procrastination, the future could be Easy!!
If Easyjet come to SOU, what do you think would happen to Flybe on some of the fatter routes like Jersey or to Edinburgh / Glasgow ? Presumably these are of particular importance to Flybe's cashflow being year round and attracting plenty of people travelling on business who will pay higher fares than leisure travellers and other non discretional passengers.
Last edited by davidjohnson6; 28th Jan 2014 at 14:27.
davidjohnson6
Anything less than 60-90 mins sector length with a Q400 I would speculate that Flybe have nothing to worry about. Growth has been flat for years, the need is routes farther into Europe and even the Canaries, I see that Easy are operating an A320 to Tenerife out of Southend, that must be around a 4 hour sector (ie around 2000NM), look where you could go to Europe with that available at SOU.
Anything less than 60-90 mins sector length with a Q400 I would speculate that Flybe have nothing to worry about. Growth has been flat for years, the need is routes farther into Europe and even the Canaries, I see that Easy are operating an A320 to Tenerife out of Southend, that must be around a 4 hour sector (ie around 2000NM), look where you could go to Europe with that available at SOU.
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Will be interesting to see if Easy Jet or Ryanair move in more at Bournemouth from next summer if the Med programme is cancelled , its a large programme that Flybe have from SOU with good loads
Historically its been a bit hit and miss at Southampton regarding IT flights with a small programme back in the early 90 s using Palmair 146 a/c then a big expansion late 90 / 20 s using Air Europa 737 / Iberworld A320 and even Britannia 757 s before slowly the traffic went off to Bournemouth
Prehaps a Vuelling operation similar to Cardiff may be the answer using A319 ?
Interesting times ahead
Historically its been a bit hit and miss at Southampton regarding IT flights with a small programme back in the early 90 s using Palmair 146 a/c then a big expansion late 90 / 20 s using Air Europa 737 / Iberworld A320 and even Britannia 757 s before slowly the traffic went off to Bournemouth
Prehaps a Vuelling operation similar to Cardiff may be the answer using A319 ?
Interesting times ahead
Problem with SOU is the size of the stands. The largest ones, 2-5 only fit up to an E195.
When an A320 or larger arrives it takes up two stands.
So a maximum of two at any time can turn round.
Hence no larger airline is interested and why Ryanair, Thomson and occasionally Monarch operate out of BOH which has no such problems.
When an A320 or larger arrives it takes up two stands.
So a maximum of two at any time can turn round.
Hence no larger airline is interested and why Ryanair, Thomson and occasionally Monarch operate out of BOH which has no such problems.