Blue Islands
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Was told today by someone who works for the other local airline that G-ISLK and G-ISLL will be getting the ful livery as per the Flybe fleet.
G-ISLH/M/N will remain in white but the engine cowlings will be painted Virgin Red
G-ISLH/M/N will remain in white but the engine cowlings will be painted Virgin Red
Last edited by KindaUnstuck; 4th Jan 2020 at 16:38.
Join Date: Feb 2006
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I would expect them to say, as flybe has, that they will be transitioning over the next few months to Virgin Connect and give customers something to look forward to and a new reason to book. But for some reason, they have chosen not to, or are not permitted to.
What flybe say:In 2020 Flybe will become Virgin Connect,
As Flybe, we have been connecting passengers across the UK and Europe for 40 years and as we embark on an ambitious transformation, Virgin Connect will continue our work as Europe’s Largest Regional Airline.
As part of the extended Virgin family, Virgin Connect will reflect the innovation and entrepreneurship of Virgin's wider brands, putting our customers first and offering better value.
To continue flying with us please book your flights through Flybe.
What flybe say:
In 2020 Flybe will become Virgin Connect,
your new go-to name in regional flying.
As Flybe, we have been connecting passengers across the UK and Europe for 40 years and as we embark on an ambitious transformation, Virgin Connect will continue our work as Europe’s Largest Regional Airline.As part of the extended Virgin family, Virgin Connect will reflect the innovation and entrepreneurship of Virgin's wider brands, putting our customers first and offering better value.
To continue flying with us please book your flights through Flybe.
Join Date: Nov 2011
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Blue Islands - The future
In July last year I posted on this forum that BI were up for sale - as confirmed in todays news.
https://www.bailiwickexpress.com/jsy.../#.XhOW3G52vIU
I also have mentioned that it has been rumoured from with in BI that the airline is close to being wound up and with BI currently trying to recruit new staff and ground crew as so many are jumping ship no doubt this rumour will soon come to true.
Does anyone think Flybe/Virgin Connect may take them over and all their routes ?
https://www.bailiwickexpress.com/jsy.../#.XhOW3G52vIU
I also have mentioned that it has been rumoured from with in BI that the airline is close to being wound up and with BI currently trying to recruit new staff and ground crew as so many are jumping ship no doubt this rumour will soon come to true.
Does anyone think Flybe/Virgin Connect may take them over and all their routes ?
Last edited by SWBKCB; 7th Jan 2020 at 08:57.
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Think it’s likely that the franchise just continues under the new branding.
blue islands have just taken over the flybe jersey - East Midlands and rumours of more to follow so doesn’t look like a relationship ending any time soon.
“Flybe greatly values the franchise relationship we have with Blue Islands and we look forward to continuing to work with them when we start operating as Virgin Connect,’ the spokesman said. Blue Islands CEO Rob Veron said it wanted to congratulate Flybe on the new arrangement.
‘Blue Islands remains independently owned and wholly committed to serving our Channel Islands communities with reliable and convenient year-round, high-frequency regional connectivity, while delivering value for money and a great customer experience,’ he said.
‘We look forward to working closely with the team at Virgin Connect as wider plans evolve.’”
blue islands have just taken over the flybe jersey - East Midlands and rumours of more to follow so doesn’t look like a relationship ending any time soon.
“Flybe greatly values the franchise relationship we have with Blue Islands and we look forward to continuing to work with them when we start operating as Virgin Connect,’ the spokesman said. Blue Islands CEO Rob Veron said it wanted to congratulate Flybe on the new arrangement.
‘Blue Islands remains independently owned and wholly committed to serving our Channel Islands communities with reliable and convenient year-round, high-frequency regional connectivity, while delivering value for money and a great customer experience,’ he said.
‘We look forward to working closely with the team at Virgin Connect as wider plans evolve.’”
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Join Date: Nov 2011
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Virgin are very proud of their "Brand" I can't see them being happy to continue with BI planes being white with just red engine cowls. I also can't see BI being happy having to pay to have their planes painted every time they buy and old shed or lease another one. Average age of their fleet current 18.5 years with G-ILSH over 30 years old now.
https://www.planespotters.net/airline/Blue-Islands
BI are advertising more and more their charter routes how would Virgin feel about aircraft in their colours being flown on charter routes?
Looking at the court papers yesterday when BI failed to pay up to Barons Capital when they produced documents for the proposed sale of Blue Islands it appears documents were produced for Aurigny and Stobart air to look at as no one else interested - I've stated before and I will again, now that Guernsey have open skies why would anyone want to buy BI when they could just start the routes on their own just as Aurigny have on the Jersey and Southampton routes.
It was reported BI apparently still owe Aurigny money over the ground handling contract and with BI now having to sell seats at £11 one way to Southampton to compete they must be losing money hand over fist. The court papers also state that the sale of BI was to take a 12 month hiatus so no doubt the BI management team will soon be investigating a sale again.
https://www.planespotters.net/airline/Blue-Islands
BI are advertising more and more their charter routes how would Virgin feel about aircraft in their colours being flown on charter routes?
Looking at the court papers yesterday when BI failed to pay up to Barons Capital when they produced documents for the proposed sale of Blue Islands it appears documents were produced for Aurigny and Stobart air to look at as no one else interested - I've stated before and I will again, now that Guernsey have open skies why would anyone want to buy BI when they could just start the routes on their own just as Aurigny have on the Jersey and Southampton routes.
It was reported BI apparently still owe Aurigny money over the ground handling contract and with BI now having to sell seats at £11 one way to Southampton to compete they must be losing money hand over fist. The court papers also state that the sale of BI was to take a 12 month hiatus so no doubt the BI management team will soon be investigating a sale again.
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Guern123
Interesting stuff. Do you have a link to the court papers regarding Aurigny and stobart?
the low fares are great for the island at the moment. The Southampton route is up massively in terms of passenger figures from last year looking at the CAA website.
I guess blue islands can offer lower fares due their lower costs of operations. Hard for Aurigny to do that when they have a terribly inefficient fleet mix up and lots of debt to service. Much cheaper to fly to any of the London airports or Southampton now instead of Gatwick, as shown with the big month on month decline with the pax figures to LGW. Must be hurting aurignys bottom line.
Interesting stuff. Do you have a link to the court papers regarding Aurigny and stobart?
the low fares are great for the island at the moment. The Southampton route is up massively in terms of passenger figures from last year looking at the CAA website.
I guess blue islands can offer lower fares due their lower costs of operations. Hard for Aurigny to do that when they have a terribly inefficient fleet mix up and lots of debt to service. Much cheaper to fly to any of the London airports or Southampton now instead of Gatwick, as shown with the big month on month decline with the pax figures to LGW. Must be hurting aurignys bottom line.
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Borntoflywillfly
The link I posted above had a link to the court papers. BI are losing money on the Guernsey Southampton service that's a fact just can't find out how much. Aurigny's loads seem to what would be at about break even levels - not bad for the start up of a route with competition on it. The mix of Aurigny's fleet is getting better they are about to take delivery of their 3rd new ATR72-600 and G-VZON and G-HUET will soon be no more. Dorniers have been scaled back as waiting for PSO on Alderney route before getting them all back up and running. So they should ATR wise have 3 new and one slightly older (G-LERE) more reliable fuel efficient aircraft. Once the fog busting tech is up and running later this year fewer delays and hotel stays for passengers at Aurignys expense too. The month on month decline is more than likely due to passengers using the Heathrow route but at present no plans confirmed of this continuing after March so people will migrate back to the Gatwick service. If I had a choice of booking or working for either of the 2 at the moment it would be Aurigny as they certainly appear to be getting their act together.
The link I posted above had a link to the court papers. BI are losing money on the Guernsey Southampton service that's a fact just can't find out how much. Aurigny's loads seem to what would be at about break even levels - not bad for the start up of a route with competition on it. The mix of Aurigny's fleet is getting better they are about to take delivery of their 3rd new ATR72-600 and G-VZON and G-HUET will soon be no more. Dorniers have been scaled back as waiting for PSO on Alderney route before getting them all back up and running. So they should ATR wise have 3 new and one slightly older (G-LERE) more reliable fuel efficient aircraft. Once the fog busting tech is up and running later this year fewer delays and hotel stays for passengers at Aurignys expense too. The month on month decline is more than likely due to passengers using the Heathrow route but at present no plans confirmed of this continuing after March so people will migrate back to the Gatwick service. If I had a choice of booking or working for either of the 2 at the moment it would be Aurigny as they certainly appear to be getting their act together.
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I always use the blue islands service to SOU and 9 times out of 10 it is full. Why would this be losing money and Aurigny be breaking even when I can probably count the amount of times I have watched the Aurigny one board or disembark with more than 20 pax on it. Price wise there is very little difference
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Because of the competition between the companies at the moment.
low fares = poor yield
same for Aurigny too.
just that Aurigny have a much higher cost base so probably are loosing even more money.
however the island benefits in the mean time
low fares = poor yield
same for Aurigny too.
just that Aurigny have a much higher cost base so probably are loosing even more money.
however the island benefits in the mean time
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I always use the blue islands service to SOU and 9 times out of 10 it is full. Why would this be losing money and Aurigny be breaking even when I can probably count the amount of times I have watched the Aurigny one board or disembark with more than 20 pax on it. Price wise there is very little difference
Blue islands are like any other airline they try to make money for their shareholders, they are not a big company and cannot afford to invest in new aircraft all the time which is why they lease them. As the market from Jersey is very small with some big players like Easyjet, Flybe and BA to name a few they need to pick their routes very carefully which is why you see them operate for a while and then maybe drop them if they are not profitable enough. The franchise deal with Flybe also means they have no requirements to maintain their own website or booking engine and eases they advertising budget as they piggy back on Flybe’s. They are basically there to serve the share holders of the company. Yes their flights are normally almost full on the GCI – SOU route but anyone can fill a plane if the fare are rock bottom low.
Aurigny on the other hand are there to serve the Islands of Guernsey, and Alderney and more recently Jersey. Their shareholders are the States of Guernsey who I guess would be more than happy if they just broke even. The focus of Aurigny is to maintain good air links to the Island which is why they are investing in new aircraft as the routes will be here for many years to come.
I had a quick play with their price structure on the GCI-SOU route Blue Islands start very low about £12 one way but as the plane fills up can get to over £100. Aurigny on the other hand start a bit lower around the £26 but never really go much above £80. I guess they average out about the same.
As for the sale of Blue Islands as we know Derek Coates is fairly ill and doesn’t have much to do with any of his businesses any more so should be no surprise really that he’s looking to sell up. His hotels were on the market a few years ago and probably still are and with the constant decline in the airline industry selling now seems a good move.
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Borntoflywillfly
The link I posted above had a link to the court papers. BI are losing money on the Guernsey Southampton service that's a fact just can't find out how much. Aurigny's loads seem to what would be at about break even levels - not bad for the start up of a route with competition on it. The mix of Aurigny's fleet is getting better they are about to take delivery of their 3rd new ATR72-600 and G-VZON and G-HUET will soon be no more. Dorniers have been scaled back as waiting for PSO on Alderney route before getting them all back up and running. So they should ATR wise have 3 new and one slightly older (G-LERE) more reliable fuel efficient aircraft. Once the fog busting tech is up and running later this year fewer delays and hotel stays for passengers at Aurignys expense too. The month on month decline is more than likely due to passengers using the Heathrow route but at present no plans confirmed of this continuing after March so people will migrate back to the Gatwick service. If I had a choice of booking or working for either of the 2 at the moment it would be Aurigny as they certainly appear to be getting their act together.
The link I posted above had a link to the court papers. BI are losing money on the Guernsey Southampton service that's a fact just can't find out how much. Aurigny's loads seem to what would be at about break even levels - not bad for the start up of a route with competition on it. The mix of Aurigny's fleet is getting better they are about to take delivery of their 3rd new ATR72-600 and G-VZON and G-HUET will soon be no more. Dorniers have been scaled back as waiting for PSO on Alderney route before getting them all back up and running. So they should ATR wise have 3 new and one slightly older (G-LERE) more reliable fuel efficient aircraft. Once the fog busting tech is up and running later this year fewer delays and hotel stays for passengers at Aurignys expense too. The month on month decline is more than likely due to passengers using the Heathrow route but at present no plans confirmed of this continuing after March so people will migrate back to the Gatwick service. If I had a choice of booking or working for either of the 2 at the moment it would be Aurigny as they certainly appear to be getting their act together.
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Can they go alone ?
https://news.sky.com/story/regional-...-1s97e2BlNJs-8
With no booking engine and most of their flights being operated on behalf of Flybe how quick will they get up and running under their own steam ?
With no booking engine and most of their flights being operated on behalf of Flybe how quick will they get up and running under their own steam ?
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Blue islands stop Liverpool and Southend
Blue Islands have just announced end of Liverpool and Southend routes. I fear the end of Blue Islands is near. The press release states "unsustainable market conditions" on those markets they are the sole operator.
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If this is correct,then it's further bad news for Southampton!
Can we hope for any good news for this airport?
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I fear the end of Blue Islands is near.
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Really? On the basis of stopping two really peripheral routes which were filling in spare time on the aircraft? Saying the end of BI is nigh based on them shuttering the LPL and SEN routes is like saying the end of BA would be nigh if they stopped flying to Kefalonia. Nonsense.