SOUTHAMPTON
Join Date: Dec 2011
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The F70s are being replaced with E175s. Expect the route to continue on E175 and upgrade eventually to E190. KLM are strong in Asia and must be making a killing with all the Asian students that study in Southampton.
In terms of BMI, I flew the Munich route in July and I counted 29 odd people. This was before BE started on the route so not sure how that is affecting them. On the way back most of the other passengers in Munich had Lufthansa tickets so they must be benefiting from that. The lady in front of me was routing from Greece. It shows how much of an advantage code sharing with a big carrier can be. Personally I hope BE stop serving the route and all this teritorial nonsense. They have a history of pushing other operators out of SOU and then stop serving the route a few months later. Brussels anyone?
In terms of BMI, I flew the Munich route in July and I counted 29 odd people. This was before BE started on the route so not sure how that is affecting them. On the way back most of the other passengers in Munich had Lufthansa tickets so they must be benefiting from that. The lady in front of me was routing from Greece. It shows how much of an advantage code sharing with a big carrier can be. Personally I hope BE stop serving the route and all this teritorial nonsense. They have a history of pushing other operators out of SOU and then stop serving the route a few months later. Brussels anyone?
Join Date: Apr 2005
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KLM Cityhopper is set to retire the FK70 on 29 October 2017 - albeit a dutch spotter site claims the last retirement is as late as February 2018 (standby aircraft maybe?) - so you've got a while yet for the FK70 at Southampton.
Re: Munich, In defence to Flybe, didn't they apply for funding for a Munich (and Lyon) route before bmi ever announced it was launching it? I may be wrong?
Re: Munich, In defence to Flybe, didn't they apply for funding for a Munich (and Lyon) route before bmi ever announced it was launching it? I may be wrong?
Re: Munich, In defence to Flybe, didn't they apply for funding for a Munich (and Lyon) route before bmi ever announced it was launching it? I may be wrong?
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Brighton uk
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A quick glance at the Flybe routes to the Med which have gone on sale today show the following
Alicante EMB 195
Tue 0830 1405
Fri 0830 1405
Malaga EMB 195
Mon 0830 1435
Wed 0830 1435
Sat 1450 2055
Faro EMB 195
Sun 1535 2130
Palma DHC8
Sun 0800 1445
The EMB 195 operates down from Manchester first thing and then back up in the early afternoon although that aircraft is showing as the EMB175 at the moment , bit strange and I suspect there will be some definite tinkering of the flights later on as this is well down on last summer
Alicante EMB 195
Tue 0830 1405
Fri 0830 1405
Malaga EMB 195
Mon 0830 1435
Wed 0830 1435
Sat 1450 2055
Faro EMB 195
Sun 1535 2130
Palma DHC8
Sun 0800 1445
The EMB 195 operates down from Manchester first thing and then back up in the early afternoon although that aircraft is showing as the EMB175 at the moment , bit strange and I suspect there will be some definite tinkering of the flights later on as this is well down on last summer
Join Date: Apr 2008
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Big reduction at present in Flybe S17 routes on last year:
Palma reduced to x 1 weekly although been absorbed by Volotea
Malaga down to x 3 weekly from 4
Faro has been cut from x 3 to 1-2 weekly
Alicante culled from daily to x 2 weekly
E195 may pick up extra capacity on those flown by Q400 last summer but any chance of Volotea operating another route or two (in particular ALC that really stands out)?
Palma reduced to x 1 weekly although been absorbed by Volotea
Malaga down to x 3 weekly from 4
Faro has been cut from x 3 to 1-2 weekly
Alicante culled from daily to x 2 weekly
E195 may pick up extra capacity on those flown by Q400 last summer but any chance of Volotea operating another route or two (in particular ALC that really stands out)?
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Southampton
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It's a good opportunity for Volotea to add further routes from SOU especially to Alicante along with other routes, it's a crying shame that the sun routes have not been expanded and other airlines including Volotea have not exploited this as the demand is there.
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Southampton
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Canberra 97
Would Volotea have the capacity to expand Southampton operations? , Surely it's time to break Flybe stranglehold on the airport and management to seek other airlines to service the sun routes!
Is Munich continuing with Flybe after March 2017?
Would Volotea have the capacity to expand Southampton operations? , Surely it's time to break Flybe stranglehold on the airport and management to seek other airlines to service the sun routes!
Is Munich continuing with Flybe after March 2017?
Join Date: Nov 2006
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I am sure Volotea could find the extra capacity if needed by acquiring more 319s and keeping on some of the 717s for a while longer.
But I agree the management at SOU need to attract another airline that can successfully operate a decent amount of destinations out of the airport including those sun routes operated by Flybe and also the discontinued ones such as MXP and NCE.
But I agree the management at SOU need to attract another airline that can successfully operate a decent amount of destinations out of the airport including those sun routes operated by Flybe and also the discontinued ones such as MXP and NCE.
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Southampton, U.K
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Flybe S16
While its apparently not fully released there are a lot of routes which are rather baffling. If the sun routes stay as they are, then Flybe really are making a mockery of this side of their SOU operation. 1 weekly Q400 to Palma makes me wonder why they bothered serving it at all! Verona is 2 weekly all summer compared to 4 last year and Bordeaux is 1 weekly, despite operating daily during August of this year. Hopefully the later releases will go some way to resolve this, although I shall remain pessimistic.
I echo the comments on this being an excellent opportunity for Volotea/another airline to pick up the slack here. Ryanair must see this as delightful news for their BOH operation.
Elsewhere there are some improvements, Edinburgh and Glasgow both increase to 6 daily flights on weekdays, which is the most frequent they have been in a long time. Manchester has a similar frequency, and Newcastle increase to 4 daily flights on weekdays. Amsterdam stays at 4 daily, losing the extra flight operating over the winter season while Paris CDG increases to 2 daily flights.
Finally, it looks like Munich has been dropped, which is good news for BMI Regional, as 3 daily flights from 2 airlines was probably a little excessive for a recently started route.
I echo the comments on this being an excellent opportunity for Volotea/another airline to pick up the slack here. Ryanair must see this as delightful news for their BOH operation.
Elsewhere there are some improvements, Edinburgh and Glasgow both increase to 6 daily flights on weekdays, which is the most frequent they have been in a long time. Manchester has a similar frequency, and Newcastle increase to 4 daily flights on weekdays. Amsterdam stays at 4 daily, losing the extra flight operating over the winter season while Paris CDG increases to 2 daily flights.
Finally, it looks like Munich has been dropped, which is good news for BMI Regional, as 3 daily flights from 2 airlines was probably a little excessive for a recently started route.
Every time a come to the SOU thread I end up thinking "Careful what you wish for"
This seems to indicate that you think BE are turning their backs on a gold mine - maybe it's the pax making a mockery of the operation?
If the sun routes stay as they are, then Flybe really are making a mockery of this side of their SOU operation.
Join Date: Dec 2011
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The contempt in which BE show SOU is disgusting. The three pillars of their operation were always EXT SOU and BHX and are the reason they even exist. Now their operation at BHX is receiving competition in LS and FR it would be nice for SOU and EXT to welcome some competition.
I think arguably LS and FR are not suited to SOU which is partly why BE have gotten away with it so many years as no one else has a fleet suited for it. It is also a shame that V7 are swapping the 717 for the A319 which has 150 seats and is probably too big. If someone could order some C-series jets then SOU would blossom. Can't see any domestic airlines ordering it though. Maybe U2? A perfect operator for SOU would be WX with their Russian superjets. They are the perfect size and have a great range. They also do not appear to know what to do with them at the moment apart from open a token base at SEN which will never work.
SOU is a goldmine waiting to be tapped to its full potential. BM and KL have shown the first signs of this. Great to hear BE are giving up on MUC. They never would have kept it up. Congrats to BM!
I think arguably LS and FR are not suited to SOU which is partly why BE have gotten away with it so many years as no one else has a fleet suited for it. It is also a shame that V7 are swapping the 717 for the A319 which has 150 seats and is probably too big. If someone could order some C-series jets then SOU would blossom. Can't see any domestic airlines ordering it though. Maybe U2? A perfect operator for SOU would be WX with their Russian superjets. They are the perfect size and have a great range. They also do not appear to know what to do with them at the moment apart from open a token base at SEN which will never work.
SOU is a goldmine waiting to be tapped to its full potential. BM and KL have shown the first signs of this. Great to hear BE are giving up on MUC. They never would have kept it up. Congrats to BM!
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Southampton
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River Joint
Can you explain why Volotea A319 is prehaps to big?,is it that Southampton Runway length prohibits a profitable Palma operation,or that the airline won't fill the seats?.Either way if true then Volotea operation from Southampton will be short lived!.
Can you explain why Volotea A319 is prehaps to big?,is it that Southampton Runway length prohibits a profitable Palma operation,or that the airline won't fill the seats?.Either way if true then Volotea operation from Southampton will be short lived!.
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Southampton, U.K
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SWBKCB - I was not inferring that SOU is a never ending goldmine! But I struggle to believe that after many years of sustaining a basically daily service to the likes of ALC, AGP, FAO and PMI that suddenly there is only demand for a couple of flights a week to ALC, or one to PMI on the Q400. Just this year there was a daily flight to each of the latter two and I really doubt Brexit has caused a sudden 80% drop in demand for people wanting to visit said destinations...
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Their summer schedule isn't fully released yet. I think we need to chill out here a minute.
Flybe is refocusing its efforts on shorter frequent hops. Jets are no longer based at SOU, it would only be natural there would be fewer longer sectors. If the operation had made money in its previous form for Flybe then the jets wouldn't have left.
I wouldn't be surprised to see more frequency added on these sunshine routes. At least now people can start booking themselves on the route.
Düsseldorf is a new base and hasn't had its flights all put on sale yet. I'd wait a few more weeks before passing final judgement on next years operation.
Flybe is refocusing its efforts on shorter frequent hops. Jets are no longer based at SOU, it would only be natural there would be fewer longer sectors. If the operation had made money in its previous form for Flybe then the jets wouldn't have left.
I wouldn't be surprised to see more frequency added on these sunshine routes. At least now people can start booking themselves on the route.
Düsseldorf is a new base and hasn't had its flights all put on sale yet. I'd wait a few more weeks before passing final judgement on next years operation.
Join Date: Dec 2011
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Fog
Yet more fog disruption today. Still no flights seem to be departing even now. This is simply not acceptable, can someone tell the management at the airport that we are now in the 21st century? Meanwhile BOH is able to soak up all the diversions and operate adequately. There are planes landing on the side of Mount Everest and at the North Pole and meanwhile SOU can't handle 90% of its flights because some fog. Pathetic. Pull your finger out and invest some money.
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Southampton
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River Joint
It's simply not possible to improve bad weather operations at Southampton with the limitations of the ILS and approach lighting.The airport can't even accomplish cat 1 minima,with a antiquated RVR of 800 mtrs
Minima,I suspect it's the highest minima of regional airports in the UK.
Bournemouth however has full cat3 and can and will take our diversions in the poorest of weather!
It's simply not possible to improve bad weather operations at Southampton with the limitations of the ILS and approach lighting.The airport can't even accomplish cat 1 minima,with a antiquated RVR of 800 mtrs
Minima,I suspect it's the highest minima of regional airports in the UK.
Bournemouth however has full cat3 and can and will take our diversions in the poorest of weather!
Last edited by RW20; 6th Dec 2016 at 14:45.