SOUTHEND - 3 The new beginning
On what are you basing that assumption C3B ?
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Think he's being ironic, but it is a strange one. Normandy is a place one usually explores by car; or high-yield day trips to posh places like Le Touquet. Manchester would be interesting, as it can't support flights to LCY and now Gatwick. AMS competes with Easy. Perhaps there's petrochemical potential with Groningen? No idea about Cologne.
Last edited by johnnychips; 21st Nov 2012 at 20:58.
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Join!
On the later route map destinations are shown as Groningen, Manchester, Caen, Cologne-Bonn, Munster-Osnabruck (other base) and Liege. No Amsterdam for obvious reasons but to be honest Join! have been in contact with many different airports so the eventual routes are anyones guess. At least we have a rough start date which is good.
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Liege is a reasonably nice city (not a tourist trap, but excellent Sunday market by the River Meuse), but very accessible from central London via Eurostar then Thalys/ICE/NMBS. Seeing as routes to the very nearby Maastricht never seem to work, I don't know where this is coming from.
I think in needs to be borne in mind that the JOIN website routemap is now completely out of date, for reasons which will become obvious when the Press Release is issued. Their search for investment has been a very long one and has resulted in a natural refocusing of their operational aims over time. The initial equipment which will be announced will also make some routes more suitable than others at start-up.
SEN-CFR is an interesting option and one that at least three airlines have looked at over the past two years. Indeed, it was one of Aer Arann's planned launch routes a year ago when they came extremely close to announcing a SEN-based European network. It was only a Board decision to concentrate on the Aer Lingus Regional branding instead that resulted in those plans being dropped entirely. An external consultant's audit of those planned SEN routes also came out strongly in support of CFR. Aer Arann were certainly seeing a good potential for inbound traffic from CFR with a 420k population within its 30 minute catchment and I would assume JOIN would also anticipate this. When Buzz operated STN-CFR from April to September 2002 they carried 23,000 pax, nearly all of whom were of UK origin. Their take over by Ryanair resulted in the route being dropped. Obviously that's really too long ago to necessarily have any relevance today, but an interesting background figure nonetheless.
As far as the Echo story is concerned, I think they have got a sniff that something is about to happen so have cobbled together a story from the old JOIN website plus possibly what tws123 posted on here etc.. I don't expect their story to match much of what is to be announced in the next couple of weeks.
SEN-CFR is an interesting option and one that at least three airlines have looked at over the past two years. Indeed, it was one of Aer Arann's planned launch routes a year ago when they came extremely close to announcing a SEN-based European network. It was only a Board decision to concentrate on the Aer Lingus Regional branding instead that resulted in those plans being dropped entirely. An external consultant's audit of those planned SEN routes also came out strongly in support of CFR. Aer Arann were certainly seeing a good potential for inbound traffic from CFR with a 420k population within its 30 minute catchment and I would assume JOIN would also anticipate this. When Buzz operated STN-CFR from April to September 2002 they carried 23,000 pax, nearly all of whom were of UK origin. Their take over by Ryanair resulted in the route being dropped. Obviously that's really too long ago to necessarily have any relevance today, but an interesting background figure nonetheless.
As far as the Echo story is concerned, I think they have got a sniff that something is about to happen so have cobbled together a story from the old JOIN website plus possibly what tws123 posted on here etc.. I don't expect their story to match much of what is to be announced in the next couple of weeks.
Also forgot to mention that the SEN website now has OLT listed as an airline that the airport serves. Only has Dresden listed as a route 7xweekly service in spring summer. No mention of saarbruken yet.
more good news
Thomson and First Choice are pleased to confirm that their first route from London Southend Airport will go on sale from Friday 23November 2012in store, and online from Tuesday 27th.
Holiday makers will now be able to travel to Palma, Majorca - already a popular destination for Essex’s sun seekers - throughout the summer from their local airport.
Flights start in May 2013 and run through to October.
The move to introduce the route is part of the UK’s largest tour operator’s strategy to ensure customers across the UK can fly from their local airport and stay at the best hotels in Majorca.
Customers living near to London Southend Airport will now have access to some of Thomson and First Choice’s most highly scoring flagship hotels including;*Thomson Couple’s Hotel Luabay Galatzo, a peaceful adults only hotel offering stylish accommodation; First Choice’s SplashWorld Majorca, a Travelife Gold awarded hotel with unlimited water park access and, opening in summer 2013 a brand new Holiday Village, also from First Choice, offering swim up rooms and six swimming pools.
Paul Cooper, Airport Negotiations Manager for Thomson and First Choice, said of the move “Increasing our capacity and introducing our first route from LondonSouthend Airport demonstrates our continued commitment to providing convenient flights locally for our customers, and we are confident the destination will prove popular.”
He added “Modernising our operations across the UK is a key part of our overall strategy and this move is definitely a step in the right direction towards creating an enhanced holiday experience for our customers.”
London Southend Airport Managing Director Alastair Welch says “Thomson and First Choice operate very successful connections from regional airports across the country and the announcement that their first flight from London Southend is now on sale showcases the growing popularity of the airport as a gateway for leisure travel.”
Holiday makers will now be able to travel to Palma, Majorca - already a popular destination for Essex’s sun seekers - throughout the summer from their local airport.
Flights start in May 2013 and run through to October.
The move to introduce the route is part of the UK’s largest tour operator’s strategy to ensure customers across the UK can fly from their local airport and stay at the best hotels in Majorca.
Customers living near to London Southend Airport will now have access to some of Thomson and First Choice’s most highly scoring flagship hotels including;*Thomson Couple’s Hotel Luabay Galatzo, a peaceful adults only hotel offering stylish accommodation; First Choice’s SplashWorld Majorca, a Travelife Gold awarded hotel with unlimited water park access and, opening in summer 2013 a brand new Holiday Village, also from First Choice, offering swim up rooms and six swimming pools.
Paul Cooper, Airport Negotiations Manager for Thomson and First Choice, said of the move “Increasing our capacity and introducing our first route from LondonSouthend Airport demonstrates our continued commitment to providing convenient flights locally for our customers, and we are confident the destination will prove popular.”
He added “Modernising our operations across the UK is a key part of our overall strategy and this move is definitely a step in the right direction towards creating an enhanced holiday experience for our customers.”
London Southend Airport Managing Director Alastair Welch says “Thomson and First Choice operate very successful connections from regional airports across the country and the announcement that their first flight from London Southend is now on sale showcases the growing popularity of the airport as a gateway for leisure travel.”
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Thomson and First Choice are pleased to confirm that their first route from
London Southend Airport will go on sale from Friday 23November 2012in store, and
online from Tuesday 27th.
Holiday makers will now be able to travel to
Palma, Majorca - already a popular destination for Essex’s sun seekers -
throughout the summer from their local airport.
That route is served by Easy, are thay not going to clash?.
Alicante is popular from BLK, and even before the downturn, Thompson took that route in the winter alongside Jet2, did not last very long. A route not served by Easy, would have made more sense IMO.
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Thomson/First Choice
I don't think there is anything wrong with a bit of competition - and to be honest what doesn't work for Blackpool may work well for Southend. Ideally a different destination would have been nice but only time will tell. Clearly TUI believe there is surplus demand on that route during the summer period. Also there is now the potential for Thomson/First Choice to add further routes over the coming years if this proves successful.
Last edited by tws123; 23rd Nov 2012 at 15:44.
I can't really see any conflict with the EZY SEN-PMI programme as it isn't itself very extensive and if you check prices for random dates next summer the route seems to be selling very well. The Thomson flights will probably only be twice weeky I should imagine.
It'll be nice to see the 717 at SEN next year - another addition to the mix.
It'll be nice to see the 717 at SEN next year - another addition to the mix.
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Expressflight
SEN is doing nicely..I myself if I lived in Southend would not be pleased by Stobart inviting Thompson to fly an Easy route.
At BLK, Thompson slung their hook, just glad it was not LS..To be honest SEN has just been reborn, I would rather consolidate with Easy, rather than risk taking routes.
Had the route been Corfu or GIB, would have been good.just my point of view.
SEN is doing nicely..I myself if I lived in Southend would not be pleased by Stobart inviting Thompson to fly an Easy route.
At BLK, Thompson slung their hook, just glad it was not LS..To be honest SEN has just been reborn, I would rather consolidate with Easy, rather than risk taking routes.
Had the route been Corfu or GIB, would have been good.just my point of view.
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Thomson/First Choice
But by the same token we don't want to put all our eggs in the same basket! Anyway if the Thomson route does out perform the Easy one then all Easy will do is replace it with either a new route or up the frequency on an existing one in all likelihood - I can only see this as being a positive move for SEN 
JonEMA
All I do is select 'All London Airports' for a given destination and compare the one-way fares from/to each departure point on various dates. If SEN prices are above those for the other airports I assume it is selling better per flight, if the prices are the same that SEN is selling equally well and, finally, if SEN prices are lower that its flights are not selling as well as elsewhere.
Am I drawing the wrong conclusions from this exercise do you think?
All I do is select 'All London Airports' for a given destination and compare the one-way fares from/to each departure point on various dates. If SEN prices are above those for the other airports I assume it is selling better per flight, if the prices are the same that SEN is selling equally well and, finally, if SEN prices are lower that its flights are not selling as well as elsewhere.
Am I drawing the wrong conclusions from this exercise do you think?