Regional Air Connectivity Fund - 19 routes

[virginblue]

Quite surprised to see international routes on the PSO list for government funding

These are not PSO routes. PSO is a different and much more comprehensive concept.

Why should my taxpayer money be used to subsidise a flight I will never use when Flybe are starting a similar route down the road with no such requirement for a hand out of public money?

I am pretty certain that the DSA deal was agreed much later than the deadline for submissions to the Regional Air Connectivity Fund. So it is open to discussion whether BE would have applied for LBA-NQY if the DSA-NQY had already been sealed. Plus BE is under no obligation to start LBA-NQY. Who knows if DSA has some small print in its deal with BE that BE is not allowed to start LBA-NQY as DSA will have been fully aware of the pendung application for that route.

You are missing the point that Flybe can start a route using traditional methods at one airport, but up the road couldn't possibly start the route without a public handout.

Not necessarily. The Regional Air Connectivity Fund rules stipulate that a consortium must apply, i.e. airport + airline together. So if NQY is not interested in a DSA route, there is no way BE could apply for monies from the fund.

[LAX_LHR]

But again, you seem to be missing the point.

Flybe has at some stage, decided that it cannot open LBA-NQY by traditional means (EI, without a government money).

Later on, it has decided that it can open a very similar route without that government money, at an airport not exactly a million miles away from LBA.

The point is, what criteria were looked at for the government to say 'yes, we can clearly see that you cannot operate without money from us', when, looking at the bigger picture, there seems to be no real tangible reason why the LBA route could not have been opened without public money given they have done exactly that down the road?

[virginblue]

Do you honestly believe that basing the largest aircraft in Flybe's fleet - the Embraer 195, for which the airline was unable to find useful employment even at its largest hubs like BHX and SOU - at struggling airports like CWL and DSA without any prior Flybe presence is a purely commercial operation not relying on any subsidies....?

[davidjohnson6]

Out of all the noise, there seems to be just 4 routes which are making use of Regional Air Connectivity Fund money, and 1 route that isn't using RACF cash but might not have existed had the RACF scheme not been announced

Using RACF cash:
Dundee-Amsterdam
Leeds-Newquay
Norwich-Exeter
Southampton-Lyon

Perhaps encouraged by the possibility of RACF cash for a competitor airline:
Southampton-Munich

Seems like the exercise has had relatively little in the way of substantial results. Has the whole exercise really been worthwhile ?

[blackbeard1]

Looks like FlyBe are taking advantage of the fund and moving the Newquay flight from DSA to LBA starting 28th Oct.

[EK77WNCL]

What were the limitations on this? Could it not be useful to prop up routes like BFS/NCL-EWR until they start making a profit, maybe BRS-EWR (although I don't think there would be a struggle there were it to be reinstated). Other potential routes like BFS-DXB, LBA/EMA-NYC/DXB, LBA-Pakistan, MAN-China, EDI-China, EVEN NCL-China

I know some of these are in the +5 mil category but surely the inbound trade is worth the investment, or is it not worth it because its not London?

I feel a lot more could have come of this, even past the fact that 15 routes never happened, some of them were just weird, and even of the 4 that did happen, I only think 1 definitely makes sense on the surface of it, and that's Dundee to Amsterdam, but only with KLM codeshare, which currently isn't in place. Norwich - Exeter might make sense, I'm assuming business ties but I cant think of any massive benefit it brings, what links are there?

Were it subsidised I completely support bmi regional on SOU-MUC, not flybe though.

Southampton - Lyon and Leeds - Newquay though... Why? Are they not leisure routes? By that token why don't the government just plough money into MME/CVT/BLK - ALC/TFS/PMI/AGP?

[SWBKCB]

What were the limitations on this?

Read back through the thread and then Google "State Aid"

[Jamesair]

Unfortunately the problems with Airlink did for several routes i.e.
Norwich - Newcastle....MME -BFS....Oxford - Edinburgh

[virginblue]

Going through the list,

Carlisle - Belfast
Carlisle - Southend
Carlisle - Dublin

...are not really dead. Stobart has announced that they still plan to start them: Passenger flights from Carlisle Airport 'by this time next year'

Edinburgh - Oxford,
Norwich - Newcastle

...were both auggested by Links Air which is now bancrupt, as I understand.

Dundee - Amsterdam
Leeds/Bradford - Newquay
Norwich - Exeter
Southampton - Munich
Southampton - Lyon

...have been launched.

Derry - Dublin

...is the only definite non-starter. We have not heard from Citywings what the reason is.

[Cyrano]

Originally Posted by virginblue

Derry - Dublin

...is the only definite non-starter. We have not heard from Citywings what the reason is.

Perhaps the fact that Citywing is not actually an airline, just a ticket seller which continues to exploit the shameful loophole in the ATOL rules to fool people into thinking they are booking with a real airline. I'd like to hope that the Regional Air Connectivity Fund includes some provision that only actual airlines are eligible.

[virginblue]

Well, they were awarded a grant together with Derry Airport, so obviously you're hoping in vain... But I have not seen the paperwork, maybe the true applicant was Vanair Europe.

[NickBarnes]

Don't think the Links Air routes will go to any other airline so they are a no go from what I've heard.

The ones that have begun if reports and figures are believed have started quite well