Southampton-2

[RW20]

What is happening at Southampton?, simply not a lot!
southend who up to recently were using SOU as an example of regional airport progression,is now after much airside investment flourishing with Ryanair the latest to announce routes,what is SOU news?: Once a week Skiathos route which will have use BOU if it's to hot!!!. Really Southampton will be lucky to reach the 2m pax number ever again!.SOU is a floundering airport with every chance of slipping further into the also run league. What was once a shining prospect is now a rapidly fading star.

[stewyb]

Originally Posted by RW20

What is happening at Southampton?, simply not a lot!
southend who up to recently were using SOU as an example of regional airport progression,is now after much airside investment flourishing with Ryanair the latest to announce routes,what is SOU news?: Once a week Skiathos route which will have use BOU if it's to hot!!!. Really Southampton will be lucky to reach the 2m pax number ever again!.SOU is a floundering airport with every chance of slipping further into the also run league. What was once a shining prospect is now a rapidly fading star.

Have to agree with you RW20. The airport bang on about continuous improvement and expanding passenger choice with route additions yet July 2017 was the last time a new route announcement was made. I can only assume that SOU are happy with their lot and don't want to expand further. As I mentioned some time ago, there have been talks regarding EZY for next summer but doubt this will come to fruition what with the lack of drive the airport and its owners demonstrate. In the meantime we will continue to see other airports that maybe don't have the USP's that SOU has continue to be pro-active and widen their route appeal to its customers. It comes to something when perhaps SOU are hanging their hat on Flylolo offering a charter package next summer to satisfy demand!

[MARKEYD]

An article today on the Southampton airport news page explains how the new Skiathos route is performing so far . Depends how you read it really

As expected and commented on at the beginning when Fly Lolo launched the route there is a weight restriction on it , of only 97 passengers per flight , blaming the short runway at Skiathos as the issue , using a 118 seat Flybe 195

The first flight is 80 % sold making it about 78 passengers on the the first flight which starts on the 3 rd July but obviously could go up a bit more

I would have thought rather than bin the Palma route which the aircraft was initially on , they should have kept this route and looked for another operator , if indeed there was one . Fly Lolo must be paying Flybe a lot of money to use there aircraft in the face of not operating there Palma service

[adfly]

CAA / Flylolo

CAA stats for April/May are as follows:

April - 168,899 passengers, +2% on last year
May - 187,987 passengers, +4% on last year

Surprising but good to still see some growth despite fewer flights this summer, will be interesting to see how the airport performs over the peak season, where the capacity difference is most noticeable. Much of that growth seems down to having more capacity on the sun routes earlier in the summer this year as they all show considerable growth in both months. Early loads on the Ibiza and Mahon flights suggest both were pretty much full, when you consider that the first inbound flight for each was presumably empty.

Flylolo are due to start this afternoon. Does anybody know anything more about their plans for next summer, beyond what has been discussed on here previously? I notice some destination pages have been added to their website which has improved it a little, although it still needs a tidy up.

[stewyb]

During this upcoming week last year EZY announced new winter routes inc. SOU-GVA, any chance of an additional SOU route this year?

[canberra97]

Originally Posted by stewyb

During this upcoming week last year EZY announced new winter routes inc. SOU-GVA, any chance of an additional SOU route this year?

All of us on Pprune know just as much as you do regarding the possibility of any new route announcements at SOU and I'm sure if there was any news it would soon be posted.

Until that time I suggest that you wait in anticipation for any press release but to be honest if EasyJet were to add an additional destination from SOU for summer 2019 it would more than likely to have happened by now.

But I do share your frustration regarding a lack of new route/airline announcements at SOU.

[stewyb]

Just trying to keep this thread alive as sod all else is happening!

[Planespeaking]

Originally Posted by stewyb

Just trying to keep this thread alive as sod all else is happening!

I felt like that about the SEN thread for years, but after £150 million of investment things are changing quite rapidly. SEN has gone from intensive care to a rapid recovery, with Air Malta, EZY, Stobart, Flybe, and next year Ryanair operating .
So never give up hope!

[stewyb]

Investment in SOU speak means a revamped priority lounge and face-lifted WH Smith 😀

[MerchantVenturer]

Originally Posted by stewyb

Just trying to keep this thread alive as sod all else is happening!

The SOU thread is quite healthy compared with some. The current thread began in September 2017 and has 668 posts and over 189,000 views. Compare this with something like the current BRS thread that opened in August 2017 but only has 254 posts and 117,000 views. Lots going on at BRS in terms of future airport development and new routes come along regularly. It's over 8 mppa and projecting 10 mppa by 2021 but none of this guarantees a vibrant thread on PPRuNe.

I've learned a lot about SOU from PPRuNe with its complement of regular, knowledgeable posters, with healthy debate at times too.

[Planespeaking]

Originally Posted by MerchantVenturer

The SOU thread is quite healthy compared with some. The current thread began in September 2017 and has 668 posts and over 189,000 views. Compare this with something like the current BRS thread that opened in August 2017 but only has 254 posts and 117,000 views. Lots going on at BRS in terms of future airport development and new routes come along regularly. It's over 8 mppa and projecting 10 mppa by 2021 but none of this guarantees a vibrant thread on PPRuNe.

I've learned a lot about SOU from PPRuNe with its complement of regular, knowledgeable posters, with healthy debate at times too.

You are very right. BRS and EMA are busy airports but don't generate much energy on pprune, however Blackpool and Manston, both closed to commercial traffic are still kicked on here once in a while to see if they are still breathing!!

[RND20]

Originally Posted by Planespeaking

You are very right. BRS and EMA are busy airports but don't generate much energy on pprune, however Blackpool and Manston, both closed to commercial traffic are still kicked on here once in a while to see if they are still breathing!!

Its a shame non UK airport threads arent more active

[adfly]

Flybe Spring 2019

Flybe have released their Summer 2019 flights up to mid June. Looks as if the E195 will stick around for another year as I can see the following bookable on it:

Alicante - 4 weekly
Faro - 3 weekly
Malaga - 4 weekly
Palma - 3 weekly

Manchester has been cut from 6-5 daily on weekdays and Bordeaux, Brest, Limoges and Rodez are not yet on sale. Most of the rest is pretty similar to this year though from what I can see.

[stewyb]

Originally Posted by adfly

Flybe have released their Summer 2019 flights up to mid June. Looks as if the E195 will stick around for another year as I can see the following bookable on it:

Alicante - 4 weekly
Faro - 3 weekly
Malaga - 4 weekly
Palma - 3 weekly

Manchester has been cut from 6-5 daily on weekdays and Bordeaux, Brest, Limoges and Rodez are not yet on sale. Most of the rest is pretty similar to this year though from what I can see.

As you say, looks like the E95 will hang around for one more summer season! Most interesting is PMI x 3 as the rumoured x 4 EZY launch + x 2 TUI (already in the timetable) would make 9 weekly, something SOU I don't think has ever had!

[adfly]

Originally Posted by stewyb

As you say, looks like the E95 will hang around for one more summer season! Most interesting is PMI x 3 as the rumoured x 4 EZY launch + x 2 TUI (already in the timetable) would make 9 weekly, something SOU I don't think has ever had!

It will be very well served if the easyjet rumour turns out to be true! The highest number of flights I can recall on the Palma route was 2/3 years ago when it was served 12 weekly, think it was something like:

Evelop - 1 weekly A320 (for Thomas Cook)
Flybe - 7 weekly E95/Q400
Volotea - 4 weekly 319/712 (two scheduled and the other two for Thomson, as they were then)

In fact, if all works out it would seem with Flybe keeping the E195, TUI maintaining their schedule and the expanded Flylolo operation, next year will be the most diverse in a long time when it comes to 'sun' routes, regardless of if easyjet make an appearance.

[rog747]

seat sales last minute now on JSI with Lolo are very cheap £99-£149 return and cheap one ways

re 2019 do we know who they are using for their uplift - flight numbers showing for 2019 SOU flights are prefixed flylolo.com (airlines)

[stewyb]

Originally Posted by rog747

seat sales last minute now on JSI with Lolo are very cheap £99-£149 return and cheap one ways

re 2019 do we know who they are using for their uplift - flight numbers showing for 2019 SOU flights are prefixed flylolo.com (airlines)

Due to be announced in Sept/Oct according to FlyLoLo. Initial information that it was going to be a F70 operating the schedule although not sure if this has changed. Been told the owner of the aircraft is working through which EU airline will fly the operation (try and work that one out)!

[Rivet Joint]

Originally Posted by adfly

Flybe have released their Summer 2019 flights up to mid June. Looks as if the E195 will stick around for another year as I can see the following bookable on it:

Alicante - 4 weekly
Faro - 3 weekly
Malaga - 4 weekly
Palma - 3 weekly

Manchester has been cut from 6-5 daily on weekdays and Bordeaux, Brest, Limoges and Rodez are not yet on sale. Most of the rest is pretty similar to this year though from what I can see.

Ground hog day as per usual at SOU. Let’s not reignight the investment to attract another airline debate (even though Southend have just attracted Adria airways on top of Ryanair already this year), but how can flymaybe be so stagnant? I mean it’s not like they have announced anything new at any other bases either. Lets not forget all 195s are going, not to mention a bunch of q400s have been handed back with no replacements planned (more to follow as well). How can the definitive number one regional airline in the UK not be showing plans of growth, or have new aircraft on order (no the 175s outstanding do not count as they clearly don’t want them)? It’s a pretty established fact that to survive in aviation you have to be constantly in growth mode or at least taking an innovative approach, and flymaybe have stood still for many years now. Personally it feels like they are just waiting to be put out of their misery, be it by merger or takeover (they certainly seemed disappointed about the stobart thing not going ahead). What a sad state of affairs for an airline that has a complete monopoly on regional flying. The thing that really grates on me is that when they first came on the scene they were ambitious and innovative, and then systematically removed pretty much all the other regional airlines to only drop half their routes shortly afterwards. Unfortunately SOU are completely in their pocket, and there are no signs of them ridden themselves from the cancer that is flymaybe anytime soon.

[RW20]

Rivet Joint
I could not agree with you more. Southampton is surely facing a critical phase with the decline of Flybe. Missed opportunities and lack of investment will hit hard very soon.Although Southend is in the (London catchment area ) , the management team have shown what can be done with limited runway availability. Southend is investing and reaping the rewards. Southampton is at best stagnating,and very possibly will decline if nothing major happens soon. Massive potential has been overlooked at SOU, and the flylolo proposals are unrealistic and not sustainable.Maybe the airport owners are not interested in development,perhaps they will be looking to sell to highest offer from aproperty developer?

[adfly]

Rivet Joint - In fairness, Flybe usually announce new routes a good few weeks later than the 'core' ones first go on sale. You will notice that no new routes from anywhere have been announced with this release. Having said that, as you have also suggested, I'm not expecting to see much in the way of change...