Derry/Londonderry 2
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 536
Likes: 3
From: Derry
Loganair have a fleet of 30 aircraft serving 28 destinations and carried 765K pax last year with a load factor of 62.8%. They will be offering about 17K seats p.a. on GLA-LDY-GLA.
BMI Regional have a fleet of 20 aircraft serving 27 destinations and carried 415K in 2016 with a load factor of 54.1%. They offer 60K seats p.a. on LDY-STN-LDY.
BMI Regional have a fleet of 20 aircraft serving 27 destinations and carried 415K in 2016 with a load factor of 54.1%. They offer 60K seats p.a. on LDY-STN-LDY.
Joined: Apr 2003
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 10,567
Likes: 798
From: Northumberland
bmi Regional's STN route is performing extremely well, with a load factor 20% higher than the airline's average.
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 349
Likes: 0
From: United Kingdom
Despite receiving a Government subsidy to operate the route, bmi Regional's fares on LDY-STN are in line with what they charge on their non PSO routes. That means that the subsidy isn't creating extra demand through lower prices. With or without the subsidy, LDY-STN is still a money-spinner for bmi Regional.
With regards to expansion from LDY, here's an article from December stating that bmi Regional want to expand from LDY in the future. It seems like the lack of spare aircraft to operate these new routes is what's hindering LDY expansion.
https://www.routesonline.com/news/29...-to-the-point/
"Schnadt (bmi Regional CCO) is keen to serve the Northern Irish city from elsewhere and expand frequency to Derry from Stansted"
With regards to expansion from LDY, here's an article from December stating that bmi Regional want to expand from LDY in the future. It seems like the lack of spare aircraft to operate these new routes is what's hindering LDY expansion.
https://www.routesonline.com/news/29...-to-the-point/
"Schnadt (bmi Regional CCO) is keen to serve the Northern Irish city from elsewhere and expand frequency to Derry from Stansted"
Last edited by A320.b744; 6th March 2018 at 15:14.
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 536
Likes: 3
From: Derry
Genuine question. Do you guys in Derry think a twice daily Saab to GLA along with your twice daily ERJ to STN would be a better outcome for the area than the existing handful of flights with FR? Substituting pax numbers for improved connectivity and business appeal?
The threat to the airport is not low passenger numbers nor lack of flights but the annual subvention of £2 million that the local council have to make towards running costs (capital costs being a further £1.5 million). At its peak passenger numbers were over 400,000 so to break even each passenger needs to contribute £5 not 50p.
Other carriers may not have the clout that Ryanair has and so may pay higher fees per passenger but with Loganair only carrying 12K pax p.a. on the GLA route the higher fees may not outweigh the lower passenger numbers.
The question is whether the additional passengers contribute sufficiently indirectly through parking charges etc to offset lower landing fees.
Certainly higher passenger numbers protect the airport's future even if it is loss making as it seems more important to the economy than if the airport had lower numbers so Ryanair is a benefit in that regard.
1 million passengers is often quoted as the break even point for the airport but that is a lot of routes carrying 12K pax per annum! The biggest help would be a reduction in APD for airports with less than 1 million passengers. The loss to the Exchequer would be minimal and there would be no need for any PSO routes.
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 536
Likes: 3
From: Derry
Ryanair axes flights from Newquay Airport in Cornwall - BBC News
Last edited by Amelia Earhart; 7th March 2018 at 16:53.
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 73
Likes: 0
From: uk
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 349
Likes: 0
From: United Kingdom
The news article is making a point - when NQY introduced a £5 surcharge, Ryanair axed all services from the airport. If a similar charge was introduced from LDY, as owenc suggested should happen, it is highly likely that LDY would lose Ryanair and potentially other airlines as well. Ryanair complain that APD is hampering their expansion from UK airports. Adding an additional charge is just making LDY an even less attractive airport from which to operate.
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 349
Likes: 0
From: United Kingdom
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 716
Likes: 5
From: UK
Ryanair chop and change, and throw temper tantrums. But unlike other airlines that chop routes because of poor sales, they never seem to cut a route because of anything that might ever be their fault.
I wouldn't say you can read anything into them or the drivel they come up with.
Separately...
It is starting to seem a shame that BMI got the route :-( Not only does it appear that with the right operator it could have been perfectly commercially viable, but it appears that their unreliability may in time make the route unviable :-(
I wouldn't say you can read anything into them or the drivel they come up with.
Separately...
It is starting to seem a shame that BMI got the route :-( Not only does it appear that with the right operator it could have been perfectly commercially viable, but it appears that their unreliability may in time make the route unviable :-(
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 120
Likes: 0
From: Londonderry
Ryanair chop and change, and throw temper tantrums. But unlike other airlines that chop routes because of poor sales, they never seem to cut a route because of anything that might ever be their fault.
I wouldn't say you can read anything into them or the drivel they come up with.
Separately...
It is starting to seem a shame that BMI got the route :-( Not only does it appear that with the right operator it could have been perfectly commercially viable, but it appears that their unreliability may in time make the route unviable :-(
I wouldn't say you can read anything into them or the drivel they come up with.
Separately...
It is starting to seem a shame that BMI got the route :-( Not only does it appear that with the right operator it could have been perfectly commercially viable, but it appears that their unreliability may in time make the route unviable :-(
XE back in service today
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 120
Likes: 0
From: Londonderry
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 780
Likes: 78
From: Outer London
Using SEN-DUB/GLA/MAN as a guide, the aircraft size and fares would have nicely fitted between FR and BM. Returns from £40-50 to bring in a bit of volume.
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 780
Likes: 78
From: Outer London
Using SEN-DUB/GLA/MAN as a guide, the aircraft size and fares would have nicely fitted between FR and BM. Advance returns from £40-50 to bring in a bit more volume than BM, while offering the double daily needed for business that FR didn’t offer.
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 114
Likes: 0
From: Up There
I think there was perhaps a theory that LDY - MAN / BHX could benefit imaginatively from a historic route support scheme which was operated briefly in NI?
PSO is an entirely different issue. LDY - DUB had a PSO designation for a while, under a raft of such routes supported under Irish Government policy. The route to London has been similarly designated and supported as a monopoly by the U.K. Government, connecting the ‘remote’ community in the north west into the U.K. capital for key economic reasons. Having decided on that PSO it would make a return to a similar designation on LDY - DUB much less logical under the broad idea of EU PSO rules.
The idea of having PSO status applied to other less well connected cities in GB from LDY - like MAN and BHX - would simply not follow the same economic logic as supporting and preserving the ‘lifeline’ connection into London.
PSO is an entirely different issue. LDY - DUB had a PSO designation for a while, under a raft of such routes supported under Irish Government policy. The route to London has been similarly designated and supported as a monopoly by the U.K. Government, connecting the ‘remote’ community in the north west into the U.K. capital for key economic reasons. Having decided on that PSO it would make a return to a similar designation on LDY - DUB much less logical under the broad idea of EU PSO rules.
The idea of having PSO status applied to other less well connected cities in GB from LDY - like MAN and BHX - would simply not follow the same economic logic as supporting and preserving the ‘lifeline’ connection into London.