Southampton-2

[adfly]

Eastern

According to this article, Eastern are planning on selling 1 stop tickets to Aberdeen from 27/04, and intend to base up to 5 aircraft at Southampton.

There's also claim that the new routes are to increase to up to 4 daily over the coming weeks.

https://www.southamptonairport.com/n...-and-bookable/

[Irish Cream]

This is very good news indeed.

I wonder whether this means they will assume the codeshares with KL and AF to fly to CDG and AMS? Or perhaps BHD?

[adfly]

Small news but good news

Eastern are now starting Newcastle tomorrow (11/03) rather than next Monday (16/03).

Loganair are also starting a 4 weekly SOU-NCL-ABZ route (Mon - Thurs) from 23/03 as a part of the Newcastle service. The article suggests that a fair amount of SOU-ABZ traffic used the Flybe domestic hub in Manchester.

https://travelweekly.co.uk/articles/...otland-service

[stewyb]

Originally Posted by adfly

Eastern are now starting Newcastle tomorrow (11/03) rather than next Monday (16/03).

Loganair are also starting a 4 weekly SOU-NCL-ABZ route (Mon - Thurs) from 23/03 as a part of the Newcastle service. The article suggests that a fair amount of SOU-ABZ traffic used the Flybe domestic hub in Manchester.

https://travelweekly.co.uk/articles/...otland-service

The airport has done a good job in backfilling a number of core routes so quickly. Eastern’s E70 re-positioned to SOU this evening ready to commence Manchester in the morning. Tomorrow will look much healthier with 20 departures and hopefully more to follow!

[The Nutts Mutts]

Originally Posted by adfly

Eastern are now starting Newcastle tomorrow (11/03) rather than next Monday (16/03).

Loganair are also starting a 4 weekly SOU-NCL-ABZ route (Mon - Thurs) from 23/03 as a part of the Newcastle service. The article suggests that a fair amount of SOU-ABZ traffic used the Flybe domestic hub in Manchester.

https://travelweekly.co.uk/articles/...otland-service

So this is in addition to the Eastern SOU-NCL-ABZ option?

[SealinkBF]

Originally Posted by The Nutts Mutts

So this is in addition to the Eastern SOU-NCL-ABZ option?

It is. Can't believe Eastern have decided that going into competition on a (failed) Flybe route is the best way forward.

[The Nutts Mutts]

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/182...irliner-flybe/

In the news this morning. Not unexpected, but still desperately sad for all involved. Hopefully the backfilling of routes will happen quickly enough to reinstate a lot of the jobs which have been/are being lost.

[Jetscream 32]

Rushing to backfill routes from failed airlines without correctly marketing them at both ends to raise awareness is a fools game - especially in the current climate...

I would never launch a route without 90 days pre marketing at both ends - it’s an expensive mistake to fly routes you think people will automatically migrate to.

Very brave decision and I wish them well but right now I’d be conserving cash and reducing risk.....

[RW20]

It seems the airport will be making serious cuts shortly
https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/
You can't help but think this is a self inflicted result from all the years of miss management,flybe reliance and now compounded by coronavirus.
The runway extension application must now be put on the back burner as there is no point extending a runway at airport with a uncertain future.

[SWBKCB]

So this is in addition to the Eastern SOU-NCL-ABZ option?

With Eastern it isn't a through plane option but a fourty minute a/c change in NCL

I would never launch a route without 90 days pre marketing at both ends - it’s an expensive mistake to fly routes you think people will automatically migrate to.

But in that time your existing market has found alternatives and might not come back. There must be some benefit in continuity (and generating good will!)

[Jetscream 32]

Originally Posted by SWBKCB

But in that time your existing market has found alternatives and might not come back. There must be some benefit in continuity (and generating good will!)

If there is no other option and or it’s cheaper then I’m pretty sure they will come back - most companies are restricting travel on an increasing daily basis due to the virus and it WILL last at least another 90 days

The second you start heavily marketing the route - you start building trend analysis through bookings of the frequency and timings that allows you to refine the schedule before launch date - rushing to backfill will not give you visibility of what you are missing or what capacity you really need on the route!

My concern is both for the airlines in a fragile economic state thinking it can make routes work by backfilling without marketing and also the airport and its local economy

What happens in 90 days time if Eastern / Loganair have both bitten off more than they can chew and need to suspend the routes as they had not correctly forecast the extent of the virus and the timeline before we get to the inflection point and then regain confidence in air travel - domestically or internationally - Airlines should be planning for the whole of 2020 to be written off and plan to only operate enough to survive based on the fixed cost liabilities they have or they will go bust!!

[The Nutts Mutts]

But from what I've seen the routes have been heavily marketed on social media by the airports and airlines themselves. In addition, these are core domestic trunk routes which attract a lot of regular fliers, not a new weekly flight to an obscure holiday destination, so should require less marketing support to sustain.

[Atlantic Explorer]

I guess the cruise passengers will be severely lacking in the coming months. Very difficult time to be launching new routes, anywhere!

[22/04]

Some very interesting discussion on here. Eastern were not healthy - and had a dwindling route structure. it might be worth doing something to stem their decline - and may be they think the government will come in to avoid another regional airline failure.

[Sharklet_321]

So, how many pax were on this mornings Manchester flight out and back?

[stewyb]

Originally Posted by RW20

It seems the airport will be making serious cuts shortly
https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/
You can't help but think this is a self inflicted result from all the years of miss management,flybe reliance and now compounded by coronavirus.
The runway extension application must now be put on the back burner as there is no point extending a runway at airport with a uncertain future.

Historical mis-management maybe but surely the faults of the past must now be righted and the extension is key to a brighter future. Your thoughts on the runway extension being thrown in to the long grass don’t make any sense!

[Sharklet_321]

If it's a choice between a runway extension or the closure of the airport, the obvious answer is a runway extension. BUT - given the apparent success of the backfilling of routes, 'environmentalists' may well question whether the runway extension is actually necessary. Especially if easyJet is already using it successfully for GVA services and potentially could serve BFS/AMS/CDG very easily from SOU if they want to without any runway issues. The runway extension would only benefit outbound package flights to Spain or further afield - in the minds of the environmentalists - how important is a couple of flights a week to Alicante versus the environmental concerns of noise, pollution, carbon targets? I think RW20 raises a good point.

[stewyb]

People have been clambering for years on this thread, including RW20, for infrastructure investment and now the thoughts are the airport doesn’t need it, you couldn’t make it up. Suggest it all stems back to the pathetic BOU-SOU debate of mine is bigger than yours!

[SWBKCB]

Originally Posted by Sharklet_321

So, how many pax were on this mornings Manchester flight out and back?

Given the flybe issues and Eastern having to get their own booking engine up and running I don't think it's really relevant. This quote was given in the context of the MME flights, but I think it's relevent here also (Jetscream 32 is going to love this!! ):

Roger Hage, general manager of Eastern Airways, said: “It’s tremendous to have new flights running today. We thought about it last week but we are an established operator and people know who we are. The flights are not going to be busy this week but we thought it was better than leaving it for three weeks. We were running those flights for free but it was more important to do that because we want to carry on with those flights ourselves. We didn’t want everything to stop because then people think it has stopped for good.

[Rivet Joint]

Originally Posted by stewyb

People have been clambering for years on this thread, including RW20, for infrastructure investment and now the thoughts are the airport doesn’t need it, you couldn’t make it up. Suggest it all stems back to the pathetic BOU-SOU debate of mine is bigger than yours!

Agreed, there are some very sad people on here who are reveling in the fact that they have won a point in their point scoring game whilst 100s (possibly 1000s) of people have lost their jobs. The prospects for these people finding another means to put food on the table is not great in this climate.

It is quite obvious to tell which are the trolls, as they post on both the BOH and SOU threads (often negative news about SOU on the former). Of course you have named the chief culprit in your message, which unfortunately you replied to. Like with all trolls, if you ignore them they will disappear eventually (they survive off bites). If all sensible contributors to this thread can ignore the trolls going forward perhaps we can finally return to sensible debate rather than this medieval tribalism.