Southampton-2
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stewyb
Got it in one. When the intent to order the E75 was first announced it was hailed (by SOU management) as the aircraft that would push PAX figures through 2 million. A smaller version of the E95 was apparently going to open up many more European and Scandinavian destinations. The term "pocket rocket" was heard on a number of occassions!
All fell flat when Maybe announced that they were going for the de-rated engines, presumably to reduce operating costs. Off a relatively short runway as SOU this knocked the expansion plans on the head due to the impact on take-off weights and thereby payload restrictions.that would result.
Got it in one. When the intent to order the E75 was first announced it was hailed (by SOU management) as the aircraft that would push PAX figures through 2 million. A smaller version of the E95 was apparently going to open up many more European and Scandinavian destinations. The term "pocket rocket" was heard on a number of occassions!
All fell flat when Maybe announced that they were going for the de-rated engines, presumably to reduce operating costs. Off a relatively short runway as SOU this knocked the expansion plans on the head due to the impact on take-off weights and thereby payload restrictions.that would result.
I wonder how the size of Flybe's SOU operation compares between now and then actually. I've always had the impression that every time it has grown said growth has been wiped out in the next round of cuts and restructuring, but perhaps something is happening in the background!
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TCAS FAN
Thanks for the informative info(yet again).regarding the rumour of possible Easy Palma flights in 2019,what are the implications for SOU?.I presume it would be a A320,what are the limitations with the runway restrictions?.
Obviously any expansion at the airport to accommodate Easy would require apron adjustments etc,which brings us back to the old chestnut of airside development or lack of!
Thanks for the informative info(yet again).regarding the rumour of possible Easy Palma flights in 2019,what are the implications for SOU?.I presume it would be a A320,what are the limitations with the runway restrictions?.
Obviously any expansion at the airport to accommodate Easy would require apron adjustments etc,which brings us back to the old chestnut of airside development or lack of!
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If, as suggested, they are operating 4 times weekly I guess they wouldn't have a based aircraft. More than likely use an aircraft based in Palma, or run a W pattern from a UK base. Certainly no need to change anything airside, as they ran their winter Geneva service quite successfully as it is.
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Volotea are operating into SOU under the TUI banner only,they have withdrawn there scheduled services.
I also believe that any Easy operation to PMI would be limited and as stated in earlier posts the airside current apron space would be acceptable.However any other increase in Easy operations or other operators would require airside investment, something that has been needed for many years,so expectations on this happening have to remain low.
I also believe that any Easy operation to PMI would be limited and as stated in earlier posts the airside current apron space would be acceptable.However any other increase in Easy operations or other operators would require airside investment, something that has been needed for many years,so expectations on this happening have to remain low.
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surprise surprise. This is why we need this lot out of SOU. Even in the face of potential serious competition in EZY, they are still acting like they untouchable. This is the only German route, and despite the figures being good (likewise with Munich) SOU is going to be left with no German route for a considerable amount of time. Let’s not forget how hard they tried to fight BMI of the Munich route only to now drop all the German routes. Has happened so many times, Brussels anyone? Look what has happened to Eastern’s long standing operation lately since BE got involved? Aberdeen dropped and Leeds reduced? Didn’t BE truly and force them off those routes previously as well? Maybe BE still know the tight lot at SOU are never going to put their hand in their pockets and allow meaningful competition, either way the airport is going to stagnate with flymaybe calling the shots. Meanwhile at Southend.....
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I do have a lot of hopes for easyJet at Southampton, fantastic little airport! Southampton has a great niche, and as long as it doesn't outgrow that, I think it will remain one of the best airports in the country, in my opinion.
My main hope is that EZY doesn't try and go head to head with BE, domestically. BFS and EDI... Maybe, but no more. I could quite easily see EZY thrash Flybe on routes like NCL, but based on their track record with NCL-STN/LGW, abysmal schedules NCL-BRS and half arsed NCL-BFS rotations... I'll keep the x3 daily Dash 8 please!
Your Alicantes, Palma's, Malaga's... Fire away EZY!
My main hope is that EZY doesn't try and go head to head with BE, domestically. BFS and EDI... Maybe, but no more. I could quite easily see EZY thrash Flybe on routes like NCL, but based on their track record with NCL-STN/LGW, abysmal schedules NCL-BRS and half arsed NCL-BFS rotations... I'll keep the x3 daily Dash 8 please!
Your Alicantes, Palma's, Malaga's... Fire away EZY!
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no offence, but are you mad? Why on earth would you not want EZY to serve domestic routes? The fares alone would be halved. Do you like paying twice the money to fly on a smaller and slower plane? We are talking 200k odd annual passengers on the Scottish routes alone, you would hope EZY would want a slice of that. Would it be wild to imagine them doubling that total with much cheaper fares? Manchester, Newcastle, Dublin and Belfast also could be served. They only drawback is that frequencies might drop but who cares if bigger planes are flying to take up the slack. You ask anyone locally about BE and they all have the same hate filled opinion of them. They are nothing short of a basket case waiting to be put out of their misery. A shame because they had a lot of promise back when they started. Regardless of this, For SOU it is a case that BE are better than nothing. With EZY, they would fit SOU like a glove. Make it happen SOU!
Totally agreed Rivet Joint - it's one of the only airports in the Country which is reliant on Flybe (even Exeter has a TUI based operation) and personally I prefer to drive past the airport to fly on a Jet (hate those turboprops and flybes late record) from LHR but that could be cos i'm airplane geek. SOU is a major city and international port and it surprises me that it is stuck at 2m pax while the likes of NCL, LPL, EMA, ABZ (all comparable cities in my opinion) are at the 4-5m level with multiple carriers.
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Totally agreed Rivet Joint - it's one of the only airports in the Country which is reliant on Flybe (even Exeter has a TUI based operation) and personally I prefer to drive past the airport to fly on a Jet (hate those turboprops and flybes late record) from LHR but that could be cos i'm airplane geek. SOU is a major city and international port and it surprises me that it is stuck at 2m pax while the likes of NCL, LPL, EMA, ABZ (all comparable cities in my opinion) are at the 4-5m level with multiple carriers.
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But those airports don't have the restrictions that Southampton has. I do think SOU needs to be careful not to drive away Flybe as they bring a lot of connections that EZY won't and they'll never have the same scale operation. And as someone who's flown Flybe quite a few times their no worse than any other airline.
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Agreed. BE for all their faults do provide a regular service to the British Isles and near continent and the operation fits SOU very well. However, this is not to say that the airport does not require more competition and EZY would provide this alternative on core routes like EDI, BFS, MAN & JER along with the med routes of course!
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It would be reasonable to expect that any considerable increase in traffic at SOU for EZY would risk cannibalising their LGW operation so if they do anything, they'll need to tread carefully, especially given that BA have considerably increased capacity at LGW this summer with the slots they purchased from Monarch.
I thinks it's also worth considering that whilst SOU might benefit from more European destinations from EZY, domestics would likely lose considerable frequency. You only have to look at IOMLGW which, when competed, went from 3 / 4 frequencies with Flybe to just single daily on some days with EZY. Not much use for business. Now that may not happen at SOU but there is a reason EZY haven't decided to build an operation there already.
If services are to be launched and sustained, you need an airline that wants to do so and an airport willing to support that development. I wouldn't default to the view that the lack of development at SOU is solely the fault of the incumbent airlines, There must be some reason as to why Flybe have reduced the number of based aircraft at SOU between last summer and this summer whilst maintaining or growing their numbers at other bases. If the environment doesn't facilitate growth, that's not necessarily the sole fault of the airline and they shouldn't be blamed for it.
I thinks it's also worth considering that whilst SOU might benefit from more European destinations from EZY, domestics would likely lose considerable frequency. You only have to look at IOMLGW which, when competed, went from 3 / 4 frequencies with Flybe to just single daily on some days with EZY. Not much use for business. Now that may not happen at SOU but there is a reason EZY haven't decided to build an operation there already.
If services are to be launched and sustained, you need an airline that wants to do so and an airport willing to support that development. I wouldn't default to the view that the lack of development at SOU is solely the fault of the incumbent airlines, There must be some reason as to why Flybe have reduced the number of based aircraft at SOU between last summer and this summer whilst maintaining or growing their numbers at other bases. If the environment doesn't facilitate growth, that's not necessarily the sole fault of the airline and they shouldn't be blamed for it.
Last edited by JobsaGoodun; 7th May 2018 at 21:24.
They only drawback is that frequencies might drop but who cares if bigger planes are flying to take up the slack. You ask anyone locally about BE and they all have the same hate filled opinion of them. They are nothing short of a basket case waiting to be put out of their misery. A shame because they had a lot of promise back when they started. Regardless of this, For SOU it is a case that BE are better than nothing. With EZY, they would fit SOU like a glove. Make it happen SOU!
If BE are so ripe for picking makes you wonder why EZY hasn't moved in already....
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If EZY open a base then I'd have thought it would be 2 to 3 aircraft minimum. If they operate routes like PMI AGP and ALC with non based aircraft then that could suggest a strategy change towards non based UK regional airports.
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EasyJet
Could we possibly stop this IF and WHEN EasyJet start operations from Southampton to all the destinations that others have mentioned until they as in EasyJet actually confirm their intentions of expanding on their lone single seasonal flight from Geneva we can actually be more serious as it's getting a bit tiresome.
It's either lack of bad airport management, lack of airside improvements, a need for an extended taxiway and EasyJet setting up a base until all of those are confirmed can we discuss other things relating to SOU!
I as much as anyone else on this thread very much welcome the day that EasyJet make an official announcement regarding any further plans regarding Southampton but all this will they won't they, fly here or there is getting rather tiresome.
Rant over I'll blame it on the heat :-)
It's either lack of bad airport management, lack of airside improvements, a need for an extended taxiway and EasyJet setting up a base until all of those are confirmed can we discuss other things relating to SOU!
I as much as anyone else on this thread very much welcome the day that EasyJet make an official announcement regarding any further plans regarding Southampton but all this will they won't they, fly here or there is getting rather tiresome.
Rant over I'll blame it on the heat :-)
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Could we possibly stop this IF and WHEN EasyJet start operations from Southampton to all the destinations that others have mentioned until they as in EasyJet actually confirm their intentions of expanding on their lone single seasonal flight from Geneva we can actually be more serious as it's getting a bit tiresome.
It's either lack of bad airport management, lack of airside improvements, a need for an extended taxiway and EasyJet setting up a base until all of those are confirmed can we discuss other things relating to SOU!
I as much as anyone else on this thread very much welcome the day that EasyJet make an official announcement regarding any further plans regarding Southampton but all this will they won't they, fly here or there is getting rather tiresome.
Rant over I'll blame it on the heat :-)
It's either lack of bad airport management, lack of airside improvements, a need for an extended taxiway and EasyJet setting up a base until all of those are confirmed can we discuss other things relating to SOU!
I as much as anyone else on this thread very much welcome the day that EasyJet make an official announcement regarding any further plans regarding Southampton but all this will they won't they, fly here or there is getting rather tiresome.
Rant over I'll blame it on the heat :-)
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Easy jet figures for March saw 5106 passengers use the Geneva route
Don't have the Flybe figures but say Flybe operated 14 flights with a load of 65 pax then Easy jet saw 137 pax ( 1 cancelled flight included ) or if Flybe loads were 75 pax per flight then Easy jet had 125 pax on mix of 319/ 320 aircraft
Don't have the Flybe figures but say Flybe operated 14 flights with a load of 65 pax then Easy jet saw 137 pax ( 1 cancelled flight included ) or if Flybe loads were 75 pax per flight then Easy jet had 125 pax on mix of 319/ 320 aircraft