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VLM Airlines

Old 24th Jul 2018, 18:59
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Antwerp - Birmingham binned from 10 August. #nosurprise
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Old 24th Jul 2018, 19:06
  #322 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by Steviec9
Antwerp - Birmingham binned from 10 August. #nosurprise
VLM is also not doing well at MUC operations in May.
Loadfactor
Munich - Antwerp 32%
Munich - Maribor 17%
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Old 7th Aug 2018, 10:11
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History repeating

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Old 7th Aug 2018, 14:43
  #324 (permalink)  
 
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I don't understand why they don't try going back to what made them a successful carrier in the first place - niche routes from LCY.

Some of their old routes have BA on them now but others are available.
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Old 7th Aug 2018, 15:21
  #325 (permalink)  
 
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I don't understand why they don't try going back to what made them a successful carrier in the first place - niche routes from LCY.
Some of their old routes have BA on them now but others are available.
Worth looking at the competition at LCY you'd be going against with a now ancient Fokker 50
AMS - KLM ERJ190
EIN - not currently served from LCY
RTM - BA ERJ170
ORY - BA ERJ170
BRU - uncompetitive against Eurotunnel
MAN/LPL died a death as soon as the West Coast Mainline was upgraded
LUX - strong competition from LG
JER - local competition from SI
IOM - now operated by Eastern for BA
The rest of the routes I have were from the CityJet days which were French focussed and sold via Air France. They got squeezed out when BA moved in, the market moved onto bigger and faster jets and they don't have the funds for the equipment let alone the rewards to make a dent in the brand loyalty of the frequent flier programmes of BA or KLM.
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Old 7th Aug 2018, 15:30
  #326 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by BA318
I don't understand why they don't try going back to what made them a successful carrier in the first place - niche routes from LCY.

Some of their old routes have BA on them now but others are available.
There weren't very many profitable VLM niche routes from LCY, though. Antwerp and Rotterdam were the main ones. Brussels worked until Eurostar moved to St Pancras and speeded up; Manchester worked while the train service was poor; Luxembourg just about worked up against Luxair, but ANR and RTM were the heart of the network. Key requirements for success: high proportion of business passengers, highly schedule-sensitive (so frequency and timing was important), high demand for day return flights. See for example here.

What's changed since those days? Far more competition, not least from BA in LCY. Much higher landing fees in LCY as the owners attempt to get a return on their investment, not least by discouraging smaller aircraft from using scarce slots, Higher fuel prices. Higher maintenance costs for the ageing F50s. And the same challenge that every other regional airline has: how to get and retain pilots?

I wish them well but unfortunately I believe the notion that there is some El Dorado of unserved lucrative routes out there, just waiting for VLM's return, just doesn't stack up.
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Old 7th Aug 2018, 16:22
  #327 (permalink)  
 
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There is a place/need for random niche routes around Europe but the problem is they are so dispersed unless you’ve got guaranteed income like PSOs or they’re a true goldmine the costs of servicing them start outweighing the economies of scale achieved from having a single HQ, multiple frames etc. You’re better off getting into white label flying and getting some local entrepreneur to charter you, which does look a bit like the way they’re trying to go.
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Old 7th Aug 2018, 21:28
  #328 (permalink)  
 
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Link to company announcement:

https://pr.flyvlm.com/vlm-to-focus-o...ter-activities

Last edited by CKT789; 7th Aug 2018 at 22:07.
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Old 7th Aug 2018, 23:05
  #329 (permalink)  
 
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It has been cash out for them ever since they are back.

LCY might be close to break even but ZRH cant be making money.

So with no money in the bank, fleet reductions and “new” aircraft coming in 2019..

Might it be the Superjet... those guys will need a new EASA carrier soon...


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Old 7th Aug 2018, 23:09
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If there were suitable routes from LCY then CityJet would have found them ; they tried hard enough.
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Old 8th Aug 2018, 06:24
  #331 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by harriewillem
LCY might be close to break even but ZRH cant be making money.
I thought it had been said ZRH flights were doing OK? Certainly can’t be that bad if it’s been retained.
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Old 8th Aug 2018, 12:25
  #332 (permalink)  
 
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They would do better without Stobart's SEN-ANR route. While it its unlikely to attract high yielding pax, the ANR-passenger volume diverted to SEN would certainly be helpful if it ended up at LCY instead of SEN. Let's hope that Stobart is in for the long run so that ANR will still have a London link should VLM bite the dust sooner or later partly because of that unhelpful competition. I really don't see who could give LCY-ANR a try in the future.
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Old 8th Aug 2018, 13:01
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Originally Posted by virginblue
I really don't see who could give LCY-ANR a try in the future.
If we believe everything we are told in terms of it being a profitable route - then why wouldn't LCY-ANR be of interest to either BA brands at LCY: BACF either with E170 or additional leased-in S20 or Sun-Air with D38 (appreciating they, too, have to lease in a D38prop to cover their current LCY ops)?
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Old 8th Aug 2018, 13:12
  #334 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by virginblue
They would do better without Stobart's SEN-ANR route. While it its unlikely to attract high yielding pax, the ANR-passenger volume diverted to SEN would certainly be helpful if it ended up at LCY instead of SEN. Let's hope that Stobart is in for the long run so that ANR will still have a London link should VLM bite the dust sooner or later partly because of that unhelpful competition. I really don't see who could give LCY-ANR a try in the future.
Isn't all competition, by it's very nature, unhelpful? I expect the pax going into SEN for a decent price (and some would say a better product) from ANR are glad of the choice.
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Old 8th Aug 2018, 13:13
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Originally Posted by globetrotter79
If we believe everything we are told in terms of it being a profitable route - then why wouldn't LCY-ANR be of interest to either BA brands at LCY: BACF either with E170 or additional leased-in S20 or Sun-Air with D38 (appreciating they, too, have to lease in a D38prop to cover their current LCY ops)?
Would be an interesting circular return to history - I flew LGW-ANR with Air Europe Express, morphed into Euroworld then again into CityFlyer Express, franchise to BA then complete assimilation as BACF. We switched to VLM in 93 and BACF/CFE dropped the LGW route not much later due in part to competition from VLM!
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Old 31st Aug 2018, 18:46
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VLM have gone bust again.
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Old 31st Aug 2018, 18:48
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Old 31st Aug 2018, 19:03
  #338 (permalink)  
 
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Absolutely gutted.

I took my family to Antwerp this week with VLM and they were fantastic.
I hope the staff who tried to make it a success, are able to find alternative work soon.
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Old 1st Sep 2018, 20:09
  #339 (permalink)  
 
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Hopefully an opportunity for FlyBe to take on London City to Antwerp?
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Old 2nd Sep 2018, 04:27
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Stobart Air are flying to Antwerp from SEN as Flybe so I doubt they’ll compete against themselves.
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