SOUTHAMPTON

[ORTAC22]

VLM

I flew to ANR a few months ago on a promotional fare of £102 Return! Perhaps those fares do not exist now?

[insuindi]

BE to MUC

From 28JUN BE is also planning to serve SOU-MUC.

[RW20]

Flybe to munich

It's a shame that Flybe are proposing flights to Munich from Southampton,as surely British Midland will not be able to complete?
Southampton surely needs more Airlines,but with Flybe dominating how will this ever happen?

[Capt. Ron Swanson]

Flybe Munich

I agree that it's a shame to see BMI regional facing competition on their first route from SOU already. However, they'll have a two month head start and will hopefully begin to build up a customer base in that time. Their flights appear to be selling ok, particularly the MUC-SOU sector, and their double daily times should be more attractive to business passengers.
I'd like to see them adopt an LH codeshare on the route which would give them the additional advantage of connecting passengers on to the LH long haul network ex-MUC.
Flybe may appeal more to the leisure market who perhaps won't have the same knowledge of BMI at this stage. Hopefully there will be room for both companies.
Regardless, even more flights and passengers must surely be a good thing for SOU. It's shaping up to be a busy summer there.

[TartinTon]

It's a shame that Flybe are proposing flights to Munich from Southampton,as surely British Midland will not be able to complete?

Hmm...2h20 on a dash with BE vs 1h45 on a jet with BM?
LH partnership through one of their main hubs and using T2 at MUC?
LH sales force in Germany vs no BE German sales presence?
Double daily flights vs a single daily BE operation?

I know who'll be getting my money.....

[insuindi]

Originally Posted by Capt. Ron Swanson

I agree that it's a shame to see BMI regional facing competition on their first route from SOU already. However, they'll have a two month head start and will hopefully begin to build up a customer base in that time. Their flights appear to be selling ok, particularly the MUC-SOU sector, and their double daily times should be more attractive to business passengers.
I'd like to see them adopt an LH codeshare on the route which would give them the additional advantage of connecting passengers on to the LH long haul network ex-MUC.
Flybe may appeal more to the leisure market who perhaps won't have the same knowledge of BMI at this stage. Hopefully there will be room for both companies.
Regardless, even more flights and passengers must surely be a good thing for SOU. It's shaping up to be a busy summer there.

The LH codeshare is fully planned for this, LH systems are just a little bit slow.

[Capt. Ron Swanson]

Originally Posted by insuindi

The LH codeshare is fully planned for this, LH systems are just a little bit slow.

That's good to know, thanks! Any idea when they'll catch up?

[adfly]

The CAA stats for January show passenger numbers to be down 1.9%, although this trend will hopefully soon be reversed as we approach the summer. VLM carried about 7 passengers per flight (14%) to HAM, still no data for ANR, but with such low load factors the reduction in frequency from 5 to 3 weekly is understandable. DUS is improving, 28 passengers per flight (36%) but still pretty weak, either service does not seem to be very heavily advertised...

Hopefully Flybe and BMI will be able to operate side by side on the MUC route, with the former appealing to leisure travellers and the latter business travellers plus those connecting onwards.

SOU has gone from having no links to Germany about a year ago after Flybe dropped HAJ to the following.

DUS - Daily BE Q400
HAM - 3 weekly VLM F50 (via ANR)
MUC - 12 weekly BM ER4, daily BE Q400

Impressive growth, lets hope that it is sustainable.

[Rivet Joint]

Spiteful behaviour from BE. I know they had already applied for funding for the route but why the delay in announcing it when LYS was announced ages ago? Convient that its announced not long after BM confirmed they were operating. It's not like MUC is one of BE's premier routes. The spare rotation could have been used for many new destinations. Poor form. Get your airside in order SOU management and then get the orange lot in!

[JobsaGoodun]

Spiteful? I don't think so.

bmi have launched on a route that they knew full well had been proposed by Flybe so one can only assume that they believe that both can operate side by side. It would be naive to be in any way surprised that Flybe have announced (as expected).

Hopefully both can survive however I think that will rather depend on the volume of high yield passengers that bmi can find. For the cost conscious traveller, I doubt they'll be able to compete with Flybe on price or volume.

[ATNotts]

Originally Posted by TartinTon

Hmm...2h20 on a dash with BE vs 1h45 on a jet with BM?
LH partnership through one of their main hubs and using T2 at MUC?
LH sales force in Germany vs no BE German sales presence?
Double daily flights vs a single daily BE operation?

I know who'll be getting my money.....

FlyBe has no sales operation in Germany? Given the large presence they already have in the German market, (DUS, STR, HAJ, TXL) I would expect they certainly will have a GSA looking after their interests - though that said, the main thrust of marketing these days, I would have thought, is going to be web based.

[Wycombe]

An operator to FRA instead of multiple operators to MUC would have made more sense than this petty competitiveness (unless BEE did get the funding for MUC and that hasn't been announced yet).

[SWBKCB]

Back in March 2015, an application for SOU-MUC was submitted to the Regional Air Connectivity Fund - the process involved a joint submission by the airline (BEE) and airport, so it's plain to see who the "Johnny-come-lately" on the route is.

[RW20]

Flybe

To accommodate the additional new routes from Southampton,what will Flybe need in number of aircraft to base?Also will they base a 195 for the Sun routes?

[Flightrider]

Very much like a PSO, there is a stipulation in the regional connectivity fund that if an airline is prepared to start services without RACF funding then any application for the same route by another airline requiring RACF funding becomes null and void. It is a sensible move to ensure that taxpayer funding is not wasted in launching competing air services on a route that one airline is quite happy to provide at its own commercial risk.

If Flybe do press ahead with SOU-MUC, it's therefore without funding and a pure kamikaze retribution mission. I hope it meets with the lack of success it deserves.

[SWBKCB]

If Flybe do press ahead with SOU-MUC, it's therefore without funding and a pure kamikaze retribution mission. I hope it meets with the lack of success it deserves.

or a nice little spoiler from LH/BMIR while doing a spot of slot warming?

[adfly]

S16 Summary

Since everything should be pretty much confirmed I shall try to summarise S16 in this post. Overall it looks to be a very busy summer, possibly the busiest ever. For routes that have extra flights for the short peak season only I will list them next to the frequency they operate at for the majority of the summer. 'New!' routes are new for this year, I am aware a number of them have been flown previously.

Aer Lingus Regional

Cork (New!) - 4-5 weekly AT7 - From 14/03

Aurigny Air Services

Alderny - 19-36 weekly D28

Blue Islands

Guernsey - 25-26 weekly AT7

BMI Regional

Munich (New!) - 12 weekly ER3/4 - From 15/04

Eastern Airways

Aberdeen - 11 weekly S20 (via LBA)
Leeds/Bradford - 21 weekly S20

Flybe

Alicante - 7 weekly E95/Q400 (4x/3x)
Amsterdam - 25 weekly Q400
Avignon - 1-3 weekly Q400
Bastia - 1 weekly Q400
Belfast City - 18-21 weekly Q400
Bergerac - 7-10 weekly Q400
Biarritz (New!) - 3 weekly Q400 - From 03/07
Bordeaux - 2-7 weekly Q400
Brest - 4-5 weekly Q400
Dublin - 25 weekly Q400
Dusseldorf - 7 weekly Q400
Edinburgh - 34 weekly Q400
Faro - 3 weekly E95
Glasgow - 32 weekly Q400
Guernsey - 12 weekly Q400
Jersey - 27-35 weekly Q400
La Rochelle - 6-7 weekly Q400
Limoges - 4-6 weekly Q400
Lyon (New!) - 6-7 weekly Q400
Malaga - 4 weekly E95
Manchester - 30 weekly Q400/E95 (25x/5x)
Munich (New!) - 7 weekly Q400 - From 29/06
Nantes - 5-7 weekly Q400
Newcastle - 18 weekly Q400
Palma - 5-8 weekly Q400/E95 (5x/3x)
Paris CDG (New!) - 7 weekly Q400 - From 27/03
Paris Orly - 12 weekly Q400
Perpignan - 1-3 weekly Q400
Rennes - 5-7 weekly Q400
Toulon (New!) - 3 weekly Q400 - From 02/07
Verona - 2-4 weekly Q400

KLM Cityhopper

Amsterdam (New!) - 12 weekly F70 - From 16/05

Thomas Cook

Alicante*
Faro*
Malaga*
Palma - 1 weekly Evelop A320
Verona*

*Package Holidays using scheduled Flybe flights

Thomson

Palma - 2 weekly Volotea 717 (separate from Volotea's scheduled flights)

VLM

Antwerp - 3 weekly F50
Hamburg - 3 weekly F50 (via ANR)

Volotea

Palma (New!) - 2 weekly 717 - From 29/05

[RW20]

S16 summary

Thanks adfly for the detailed summary.
Would you therefore think passenger numbers for 2016 be approaching 2 million?

[Capt. Ron Swanson]

Thanks Adfly for that. If I'm not mistaken there are also the peak summer Saturday/Sunday charters that were announced several months ago on behalf of a tour operator whose name I've forgotten, but I believe they were one off weekly trips to different destinations operated by Titan 737s and possibly a BA Cityflyer E190 on one of the dates.

[adfly]

Extra stats + Aer Lingus

S16 Summary
Since everything should be pretty much confirmed I shall try to summarise S16 in this post. Overall it looks to be a very busy summer, possibly the busiest ever. For routes that have extra flights for the short peak season only I will list them next to the frequency they operate at for the majority of the summer. 'New!' routes are new for this year, I am aware a number of them have been flown previously.

Aer Lingus Regional

Cork (New!) - 4-5 weekly AT7 - From 14/03

Aurigny Air Services

Alderny - 19-36 weekly D28

Blue Islands

Guernsey - 25-26 weekly AT7

BMI Regional

Munich (New!) - 12 weekly ER3/4 - From 15/04

Eastern Airways

Aberdeen - 11 weekly S20 (via LBA)
Leeds/Bradford - 21 weekly S20

Flybe

Alicante - 7 weekly E95/Q400 (4x/3x)
Amsterdam - 25 weekly Q400
Avignon - 1-3 weekly Q400
Bastia - 1 weekly Q400
Belfast City - 18-21 weekly Q400
Bergerac - 7-10 weekly Q400
Biarritz (New!) - 3 weekly Q400 - From 03/07
Bordeaux - 2-7 weekly Q400
Brest - 4-5 weekly Q400
Dublin - 25 weekly Q400
Dusseldorf - 7 weekly Q400
Edinburgh - 34 weekly Q400
Faro - 3 weekly E95
Glasgow - 32 weekly Q400
Guernsey - 12 weekly Q400
Jersey - 27-35 weekly Q400
La Rochelle - 6-7 weekly Q400
Limoges - 4-6 weekly Q400
Lyon (New!) - 6-7 weekly Q400
Malaga - 4 weekly E95
Manchester - 30 weekly Q400/E95 (25x/5x)
Munich (New!) - 7 weekly Q400 - From 29/06
Nantes - 5-7 weekly Q400
Newcastle - 18 weekly Q400
Palma - 5-8 weekly Q400/E95 (5x/3x)
Paris CDG (New!) - 7 weekly Q400 - From 27/03
Paris Orly - 12 weekly Q400
Perpignan - 1-3 weekly Q400
Rennes - 5-7 weekly Q400
Toulon (New!) - 3 weekly Q400 - From 02/07
Verona - 2-4 weekly Q400

KLM Cityhopper

Amsterdam (New!) - 12 weekly F70 - From 16/05

Thomas Cook

Alicante*
Faro*
Malaga*
Palma - 1 weekly Evelop A320
Verona*

*Package Holidays using scheduled Flybe flights

Thomson

Palma - 2 weekly Volotea 717 (separate from Volotea's scheduled flights)

VLM

Antwerp - 3 weekly F50
Hamburg - 3 weekly F50 (via ANR)

Volotea

Palma (New!) - 2 weekly 717 - From 29/05

Just to add some extra stats to this:

Flybe weekly departures: 328-365
Other airlines weekly departures: 101-120
Overall weekly departures: 429-485
Overall average daily departures: 61-69 *cough* time for some airfield investment *cough*

RW20 - 2M passengers certainly does look achievable this year if all goes well.

Finally, Aer Lingus Regional now have Cork on sale for the winter operating 4 weekly.