SOUTHEND 5
Join Date: Jul 2002
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They will gain more control of their destiny without having to ask others and will have some of their constraints removed if others had concerns about the future direction of the company.
What it means for Southend is that Stobart has no plans to sell Southend and are fully committed to the airport as it sees its aviation division as an area of growth but everything has a price and if another company was really interested they would no doubt sell if the price was right.
What it means for Southend is that Stobart has no plans to sell Southend and are fully committed to the airport as it sees its aviation division as an area of growth but everything has a price and if another company was really interested they would no doubt sell if the price was right.
Last edited by LTNman; 25th Feb 2017 at 08:30.
Join Date: Apr 2016
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Join Date: Jul 2002
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What is needed is a proven track record of successful routes and airlines which Southend hasn't achieved yet. Yes there are routes like Amsterdam but there is a long list of routes that haven't survived.
Speaking of which, does any one know how the sales are looking for the new routes ? Some routes look like there doing ok Judging by the prices and the amount of pre booked seats, and others look not good at all.
Last edited by fatmed; 26th Feb 2017 at 16:04.
Join Date: Jan 2008
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I am sure I heard on the local radio today that Flybe were advertising Easter breaks from SEN to Vienna, Venice, etc. Easter is in April, and yet the flights on the airport's website suggests they start not before 1st May. Any news on that?
Plus, with two months to go, any news on crew recruitments, training, and aircraft?
Plus, with two months to go, any news on crew recruitments, training, and aircraft?
Join Date: Jul 2015
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They missed a beat in not laying on a couple of services to EIDW for the weekend of the England v Ireland Six Nations match at Aviva Stadium on Saturday 18th March.
St. Patrick's Day on Friday 17th - the entire weekend is a national holiday over in Ireland. Practically all other carriers that serve the London - Dublin route are stuffed to max loads.
Madness to think they've missed a golden opportunity to stuff a couple of flights with rugger heads looking to get to this big match and also for those who just simply want to hop over to Dublin to enjoy this infamous festive weekend.
Begs the question - where's the foresight to swoop on new business opportunities when they arise, a missed opportunity to make a killing on ticket sales for that weekend.
St. Patrick's Day on Friday 17th - the entire weekend is a national holiday over in Ireland. Practically all other carriers that serve the London - Dublin route are stuffed to max loads.
Madness to think they've missed a golden opportunity to stuff a couple of flights with rugger heads looking to get to this big match and also for those who just simply want to hop over to Dublin to enjoy this infamous festive weekend.
Begs the question - where's the foresight to swoop on new business opportunities when they arise, a missed opportunity to make a killing on ticket sales for that weekend.
Join Date: Jun 2011
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I'm appalled by the absence of SEN on many of the new destinations' websites. A quick search shows:
(1) Prague - Listed, full information provided
(2) Milan-Malpensa - Says Southend (not London-Southend), all other details available
(3) Vienna - No mention (except for press release)
(4) Cologne/Bonn - Listed, not included on route map
(5) Venice - No mention, just Flybe listed as an airline
(6) Lyon - Not updated to include Flybe as additional operator, and also still missing some EZY route info
(7) Zadar - Appears on route map, not listed on destination list
(8) Budapest - No mention
(9) Dubrovnik - Listed on Summer timeable
(10) Figari - No mention
(11) Perpignan - No mention
(12) Reus - No mention
I'm sorry, but how on earth are people supposed to know about SEN as a London arrival point when many airports haven't even updated their websites? Surely this is a basic thing that should have been done within days of the announcement happening. Very poor.
(1) Prague - Listed, full information provided
(2) Milan-Malpensa - Says Southend (not London-Southend), all other details available
(3) Vienna - No mention (except for press release)
(4) Cologne/Bonn - Listed, not included on route map
(5) Venice - No mention, just Flybe listed as an airline
(6) Lyon - Not updated to include Flybe as additional operator, and also still missing some EZY route info
(7) Zadar - Appears on route map, not listed on destination list
(8) Budapest - No mention
(9) Dubrovnik - Listed on Summer timeable
(10) Figari - No mention
(11) Perpignan - No mention
(12) Reus - No mention
I'm sorry, but how on earth are people supposed to know about SEN as a London arrival point when many airports haven't even updated their websites? Surely this is a basic thing that should have been done within days of the announcement happening. Very poor.
Last edited by tws123; 27th Feb 2017 at 16:42. Reason: Updated info
Join Date: Jan 2008
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In the past Stobart had refused to advertise some proposed new routes from SEN because "contracts had not been exchanged". Often this had worked out quite sensible because the airline in the end never actually started operations. Are we sure all bilateral contracts have been signed with these airports, and if yes, it's surely somebody's job in Stobart to kick ass abroad to achieve some sort of publicity?
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I think this is all going to end in tears. Looking at some of the prices in July are unrealistic. Seven pounds from Cologne and only 24 pounds from Perpignan on all the dates for the month. What with very little publicity (no TV adverts etc) plus Jet2 seems to have to got off to a flying start just up the road (no pun intended) with bookings, I really do fear the worst.
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I think this is all going to end in tears. Looking at some of the prices in July are unrealistic. Seven pounds from Cologne and only 24 pounds from Perpignan on all the dates for the month. What with very little publicity (no TV adverts etc) plus Jet2 seems to have to got off to a flying start just up the road (no pun intended) with bookings, I really do fear the worst.
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Does this start to feel like there will be no E195s when the routes start?
Join Date: Nov 1999
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I think this is all going to end in tears. Looking at some of the prices in July are unrealistic. Seven pounds from Cologne and only 24 pounds from Perpignan on all the dates for the month. What with very little publicity (no TV adverts etc) plus Jet2 seems to have to got off to a flying start just up the road (no pun intended) with bookings, I really do fear the worst.
I went on to the Southend Airport website.
First, I couldn't find these destinations under "Destinations and Airlines" - I had to look under "New Routes". Fair enough, I suppose, but it's making life just a little harder for the punter and reducing the look-to-book ratio just a little.
Under "New Routes" I find Perpignan and click on "Book a flight", which brings me to a Southend-Airport-branded "Airport Direct Travel" booking engine that'll sell me a basic return trip to Perpignan (2-16 July) for £84.
But if instead I go to the flybe website and search for the same flights they only cost me £60.49.
What's going on here? Is the airport trying to recover some revenue by surcharging passengers who are fool enough to book with the airport-recommended travel agent? In a world where every hotel chain website (for example) is proclaiming "we guarantee the lowest prices for our rooms on our website", it seems remarkably short-sighted to be facilitating the ripping off of visitors to your airport website and thus encouraging them to look on other (less SEN-focused) websites for lower-priced flights.
Or is there some ingeniously counterintuitive big-picture scheme going on here that I'm too obtuse to appreciate?
