Flybe-9
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Join Date: Mar 2011
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Whatever happens, do the Flybe and flybmi models actually work any more? There seem to be simple economics at play. If you can fill the aircraft with the lowest seat/mile costs, then the route is viable. The tiny sub-market of small aircraft and higher fares for business users is marginal and likely to be swamped by a lo-co the minute the route shows any sign of volume demand. Do either bidders for Flybe aim to change the model to Lo-co or keep it staggering on as is?
I REALLY SHOULDN'T BE HERE
Mesa's business model is to fly regional services on behalf of US mainline carriers. They may see some mileage in the model in Europe. Flybe has too many aircraft in the UK it would appear. Perhaps a fleet redistribution would be on the cards in the event of a successful bid.
It is harder to sell onboard to business people on 40 minute flight to another UK city than when you have people sitting down the back for 2+ hours. Additionally their baggage requirements are less. Priority boarding is not such an issue when a lot of the passengers are business pax with maybe only a laptop case - embarkation and disembarkation on the Dash eight never take particularly long. If BE is to make money it needs to be on the fare. It is hard to do this when your fleet size is so large that basically you are diluting your own yield through having an excessive number of rotations between airports. The company needs to shrink the fleet or diversify the business model. The company does not have enough cash to renew the fleet which means that they are basically stuck with the current fleet of Dash + ERJ. The Dash is (in my opinion) not fit for anything much further than 1hr 15mins due to comfort issues so there is not much scope to change length of sector so as I see it, BE's path back to profitability is through capacity management and/or flying for someone else. The Embraers offer a bit more flexibilty in terms of sector length but the problem is that they are not cost competitive on longer routes vs a full 737 or 320. I think the Virgin feeder thing will be of limited scope - I cant see LHR allowing any serious number of Dash 8 or 175 rotations into the airport due to wasted capacity. Regrettably there is no easy option for BE.
What they have always struggled with to make money on unlike their LCC competitors, is their reluctance to push and increase ancillary revenue spends.
Last edited by speedrestriction; 20th Feb 2019 at 10:43.
Mesa's business model is to fly regional services on behalf of US mainline carriers. They may see some mileage in the model in Europe. Flybe has too many aircraft in the UK it would appear. Perhaps a fleet redistribution would be on the cards in the event of a successful bid.
It is harder to sell onboard to business people on 40 minute flight to another UK city than when you have people sitting down the back for 2+ hours. Additionally their baggage requirements are less. Priority boarding is not such an issue when a lot of the passengers are business pax with maybe only a laptop case - embarkation and disembarkation on the Dash eight never take particularly long. If BE is to make money it needs to be on the fare. It is hard to do this when your fleet size is so large that basically you are diluting your own yield through having an excessive number of rotations between airports. The company needs to shrink the fleet or diversify the business model. The company does not have enough cash to renew the fleet which means that they are basically stuck with the current fleet of Dash + ERJ. The Dash is (in my opinion) not fit for anything much further than 1hr 15mins due to comfort issues so there is not much scope to change length of sector so as I see it, BE's path back to profitability is through capacity management and/or flying for someone else. The Embraers offer a bit more flexibilty in terms of sector length but the problem is that they are not cost competitive on longer routes vs a full 737 or 320. I think the Virgin feeder thing will be of limited scope - I cant see LHR allowing any serious number of Dash 8 or 175 rotations into the airport due to wasted capacity. Regrettably there is no easy option for BE.
It is harder to sell onboard to business people on 40 minute flight to another UK city than when you have people sitting down the back for 2+ hours. Additionally their baggage requirements are less. Priority boarding is not such an issue when a lot of the passengers are business pax with maybe only a laptop case - embarkation and disembarkation on the Dash eight never take particularly long. If BE is to make money it needs to be on the fare. It is hard to do this when your fleet size is so large that basically you are diluting your own yield through having an excessive number of rotations between airports. The company needs to shrink the fleet or diversify the business model. The company does not have enough cash to renew the fleet which means that they are basically stuck with the current fleet of Dash + ERJ. The Dash is (in my opinion) not fit for anything much further than 1hr 15mins due to comfort issues so there is not much scope to change length of sector so as I see it, BE's path back to profitability is through capacity management and/or flying for someone else. The Embraers offer a bit more flexibilty in terms of sector length but the problem is that they are not cost competitive on longer routes vs a full 737 or 320. I think the Virgin feeder thing will be of limited scope - I cant see LHR allowing any serious number of Dash 8 or 175 rotations into the airport due to wasted capacity. Regrettably there is no easy option for BE.
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: EDI, LHR, NQY
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Forgive my cynicism but what do Mesa bring to the table? If it were Air Nostrum riding in I might understand the logic more but other than slightly better buying power for new aircraft I can’t see the benefit for an airline flying under the banner of AA & UA working with different model and fleet thousands of miles away.
Originally Posted by Cazza_fly
What they have always struggled with to make money on unlike their LCC competitors, is their reluctance to push and increase ancillary revenue spends.
Join Date: Mar 2011
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Mesa's business model is to fly regional services on behalf of US mainline carriers. They may see some mileage in the model in Europe. Flybe has too many aircraft in the UK it would appear. Perhaps a fleet redistribution would be on the cards in the event of a successful bid.
It is harder to sell onboard to business people on 40 minute flight to another UK city than when you have people sitting down the back for 2+ hours. Additionally their baggage requirements are less. Priority boarding is not such an issue when a lot of the passengers are business pax with maybe only a laptop case - embarkation and disembarkation on the Dash eight never take particularly long. If BE is to make money it needs to be on the fare.
It is harder to sell onboard to business people on 40 minute flight to another UK city than when you have people sitting down the back for 2+ hours. Additionally their baggage requirements are less. Priority boarding is not such an issue when a lot of the passengers are business pax with maybe only a laptop case - embarkation and disembarkation on the Dash eight never take particularly long. If BE is to make money it needs to be on the fare.
Last edited by Cazza_fly; 20th Feb 2019 at 12:06.
VFR = Visiting Friends and Relatives has always been the Jargon used by the Travel Shipping and Airline industry since mass travel began...
Just saying like lol
Just saying like lol
Join Date: Feb 2016
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'Ryanair Style' cabin bag policy is already in place. With most UK airports now enforcing size checks for cabin bags. Any bag found not to fit occurs a £50 checked bag charge at the gate.
Join Date: Dec 2011
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Apologies if this has already been covered, but any news on the woman at the helm? Not seen a peep out of her in the press, which seems a bit odd given developments.........
Join Date: Mar 2011
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Not quite the same as the small and large policy, but Flybe should have been enforcing this oversized baggage fine from the beginning of their policy change in 2016. Alas they didn't and now receiving a negative backlash for those still breaking their agreed terms.
Join Date: Mar 2011
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New Direct Flybe Guernsey - London Heathrow Link
This new route will operate the following daily service between 31 March - 26 October
Depart Guernsey 1440 - Arrive Heathrow 1545
Depart Heathrow 1720 - Arrive Guernsey 1825
Operated by 78-seat Bombardier Q400 aircraft, seats are available for booking now on the Flybe website.
https://www.visitguernsey.com/magazine/flybe-announces-daily-heathrow-guernsey-airlink/
Depart Guernsey 1440 - Arrive Heathrow 1545
Depart Heathrow 1720 - Arrive Guernsey 1825
Operated by 78-seat Bombardier Q400 aircraft, seats are available for booking now on the Flybe website.
https://www.visitguernsey.com/magazine/flybe-announces-daily-heathrow-guernsey-airlink/
Join Date: Mar 2011
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Another indicator that "Connect Airways" is already a done deal regardless. On a positive note (or not, depending on how you look at it), it seems with all the plans already made in the background, a turnaround plan will swing in to action pretty quick.
Last edited by Cazza_fly; 21st Feb 2019 at 08:54.
Join Date: Jan 2008
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I am waiting to read what Stobart will do to increase pax ops from SEN after this all is finalised.
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