SOUTHEND 5
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Lyon Based
Easyjet is also launching four new services from Lyon in December.
On December 12, once-weekly routes to London Southend and Belfast International will commence. Both will fly on Saturdays.
On December 12, once-weekly routes to London Southend and Belfast International will commence. Both will fly on Saturdays.
Join Date: Aug 2007
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DUB
Stobart messed this one up I think.
With Aer Lingus Regional it maintained a 2/3 daily operation, built passenger numbers and was doing reasonably well month on month. I used the service numerous times and never suffered any serious delays, once an aircraft was subbed for a Lithuanian registered aircraft but still operated on time. It had been upped to an ATR72 towards the end too.
In came the SEN deal with Flybe and it seems to me the route was handed over to them as part of the Stobart/Flybe/SEN operation. Aer Lingus probably saw the advantages of gaining an extra aircraft for their UK expansion elsewhere. With Flybe the frequency wasn't good enough from the start and they then decided to launch a LCY-DUB route as well, shortly after the SEN frequency was reduced further and fares went through the roof, a very strange move and overall it was horribly managed by Flybe and Stobart.
I'd like to see Aer Lingus Regional back on the route, they had a good frequency, great fares, transatlantic connections and strong marketing but it seems unlikely unless they acquire more aircraft.
With Aer Lingus Regional it maintained a 2/3 daily operation, built passenger numbers and was doing reasonably well month on month. I used the service numerous times and never suffered any serious delays, once an aircraft was subbed for a Lithuanian registered aircraft but still operated on time. It had been upped to an ATR72 towards the end too.
In came the SEN deal with Flybe and it seems to me the route was handed over to them as part of the Stobart/Flybe/SEN operation. Aer Lingus probably saw the advantages of gaining an extra aircraft for their UK expansion elsewhere. With Flybe the frequency wasn't good enough from the start and they then decided to launch a LCY-DUB route as well, shortly after the SEN frequency was reduced further and fares went through the roof, a very strange move and overall it was horribly managed by Flybe and Stobart.
I'd like to see Aer Lingus Regional back on the route, they had a good frequency, great fares, transatlantic connections and strong marketing but it seems unlikely unless they acquire more aircraft.
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What about EasyJet? Why don't they fly from SEN to EIDW?
You could say easyJet would be well protected at SEN, Ryanair can't send the 738 and Aer Lingus are unlikely to take them on single handedly but I doubt it would be worth EasyJet's while either way.
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I think the other thing with EZY on routes such as SEN-DUB is that they probably would not interline with any other airline, and O&D traffic may not have been enough to keep the route going. With BE, if I remember correctly, there was a temporary lapse of interlining with EI services, and that may have caused material damage to uptake. Also, the aforementioned theories that BE closed the route by stealth have a few factors supporting them.
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The ironic thing is, BE LCY-DUB ended a month and a half after SEN-DUB did. Now Stobart no longer have an agreement with CityJet they do effectively have an "extra" aircraft for EIR. Dare we hope for a return of EIR SEN-DUB?
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@Barling - I agree. It was hard to see how BE could continue supporting SEN-EIDW when they could maximise their LCY-EIDW service.
The point being, the travelling customers on a SEN-EIDW route are now tossed to the side. As I said, loads were close at at full capacity on the SEN-EIDW early Sat a.m. and lunch hours service and also on return legs on the Sunday.
Granted EasyJet will not have the commercial strength to sustain any attempt to service the SEN-EIDW.
Both BE and CityJet strategy will be LCY-EIDW.
EI Regional (operated by Stobart) abondoned customers on the route.
Leaving an opportunity for Ryanair to cut in and steal business from carrier like BA, CJ, BE all of whom are heavily invested in a LCY-EIDW offering.
Ryanair could easily make a real success of Southend to Dublin service and EasyJet would not be a threat.
Ultimately, SEN need the business and Ryanair are successful are growing pax volumes that could assist SEN and the local economy. For the south east Essex cystomers in the A13,A127/8 catchment area, driving the trip anti clockwise on the M25 onto M11 to Stansted is a head wreck. Particularly if the M11 has an incident you're screwed. Conversely, taking M25 clockwise over Dartford bridge to Gatwick is another headache. So passengers could easily support a FR SEN-EIDW service. Also, Liverpool St to SEN airport by train could help take passengers from London City to SEN in 1 hour. Or, get c2c train from Fenchurch St to Southend Central and a shuttle bus to SEN. Or, perhaps a dedicated luxury bus/coach service from SEN in London, similar to say the coach services from EIDW into Dublin City.
I can't understand why these sort of viable options are not being considered and tested out. The demand is there throughout the year.
The point being, the travelling customers on a SEN-EIDW route are now tossed to the side. As I said, loads were close at at full capacity on the SEN-EIDW early Sat a.m. and lunch hours service and also on return legs on the Sunday.
Granted EasyJet will not have the commercial strength to sustain any attempt to service the SEN-EIDW.
Both BE and CityJet strategy will be LCY-EIDW.
EI Regional (operated by Stobart) abondoned customers on the route.
Leaving an opportunity for Ryanair to cut in and steal business from carrier like BA, CJ, BE all of whom are heavily invested in a LCY-EIDW offering.
Ryanair could easily make a real success of Southend to Dublin service and EasyJet would not be a threat.
Ultimately, SEN need the business and Ryanair are successful are growing pax volumes that could assist SEN and the local economy. For the south east Essex cystomers in the A13,A127/8 catchment area, driving the trip anti clockwise on the M25 onto M11 to Stansted is a head wreck. Particularly if the M11 has an incident you're screwed. Conversely, taking M25 clockwise over Dartford bridge to Gatwick is another headache. So passengers could easily support a FR SEN-EIDW service. Also, Liverpool St to SEN airport by train could help take passengers from London City to SEN in 1 hour. Or, get c2c train from Fenchurch St to Southend Central and a shuttle bus to SEN. Or, perhaps a dedicated luxury bus/coach service from SEN in London, similar to say the coach services from EIDW into Dublin City.
I can't understand why these sort of viable options are not being considered and tested out. The demand is there throughout the year.
Shamrock 350
I think that is undoubtedly true and the rest of your post accurately portrays the situation regarding SEN-DUB.
What I find staggering is that Stobart threw away a route over which they had complete control which produced a high pax volume for SEN at a time when they seem fixated with passenger numbers at SEN (perhaps quite reasonably) as proof of its success. It also showed that SEN could support a multiple-daily major European route offering interlining to the USA on a national carrier. The value of that when trying to persuade other airlines of SEN's attractiveness must have been considerable.
With BE no longer operating LCY-DUB it seems equally extraordinary that Stobart do not reinstate a route which not so long ago was considered the core route of the Stobart Air SEN operation. Some difficulty in scheduling it within their current fleet capacity can surely be overcome if the will to do so is there, especially when the winter schedule commences.
Stobart messed this one up I think
What I find staggering is that Stobart threw away a route over which they had complete control which produced a high pax volume for SEN at a time when they seem fixated with passenger numbers at SEN (perhaps quite reasonably) as proof of its success. It also showed that SEN could support a multiple-daily major European route offering interlining to the USA on a national carrier. The value of that when trying to persuade other airlines of SEN's attractiveness must have been considerable.
With BE no longer operating LCY-DUB it seems equally extraordinary that Stobart do not reinstate a route which not so long ago was considered the core route of the Stobart Air SEN operation. Some difficulty in scheduling it within their current fleet capacity can surely be overcome if the will to do so is there, especially when the winter schedule commences.
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How many ATRs are BE using these days? Yesterday there was a purple one parked remotely at DUB, is it just the one? It might have been maintenance, but was moved to the terminal along with the Stobart Air livery and another Aer Lingus Regional colours aircraft.
The Stobart fleet, especially the Aer Arann days was always tighter that a ducks backside, the restoration of SEN-DUB would be great, but it's very competitive between LON and DUB these days, with more capacity to LCY especially.
The Stobart fleet, especially the Aer Arann days was always tighter that a ducks backside, the restoration of SEN-DUB would be great, but it's very competitive between LON and DUB these days, with more capacity to LCY especially.
The SEN-based fleet was originally EI-REL and EI-REM and these were painted in BE colours specifically for this. With the reduced SEN network it has generally been REM operating the routes but this was replaced by EI-REI (released by Cityjet from its terminated CWL routes) on 29 June when REM was ferried to DUB and hasn't flown since. REL has been operating on Aer Lingus Regional routes but flew a DUB-JER-DUB for BE on 29 June and also has not flown since that date.
Unless both REL and REM are unserviceable it doesn't seem that the Stobart/Air Lingus Regional ATR fleet is under much capacity pressure at the moment.
Unless both REL and REM are unserviceable it doesn't seem that the Stobart/Air Lingus Regional ATR fleet is under much capacity pressure at the moment.
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Lanzarote (Arrecife) has appeared as a seasonal destination from SEN on the Easyjet website - flights commence 06/11/2015. Jolly good news!!
2 times weekly (Mon + Fri) until the end of February 2016.
2 times weekly (Mon + Fri) until the end of February 2016.
Last edited by EssexMan61; 2nd Jul 2015 at 09:15.
They certainly need to eliminate the Second Segment Climb obstacle clearance problem on 24 departures if they possibly can. This morning the wind was 24009kt thus precluding a 06 departure, although with a temp of only 22C it's a little surprising any offload was necessary. I still feel that a 15deg slew on climb out, as is available at SOU, would be the better bet than trying to crop the offending trees as this problem seems to occur more frequently than is satisfactory and is without resolution so far.
Well, my background involvement with SEN since 2009 has been considerable both directly on their behalf and from the other side of the fence representing European airlines and airports, with some success. I ceased this involvement in January.
Firstly the top management have seemed very open to ideas and suggestions and later middle management likewise. There have been so many management changes over the past couple of years it must be difficult to keep up and build a working relationship and I'm sure that hasn't helped their efforts. If anyone wants my advice they know where I am as they should also know that confidentiality is one of my watchwords, this being an open forum.
Firstly the top management have seemed very open to ideas and suggestions and later middle management likewise. There have been so many management changes over the past couple of years it must be difficult to keep up and build a working relationship and I'm sure that hasn't helped their efforts. If anyone wants my advice they know where I am as they should also know that confidentiality is one of my watchwords, this being an open forum.
Last edited by Expressflight; 2nd Jul 2015 at 18:06.