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Blue Islands

Old 17th Jan 2020, 19:16
  #121 (permalink)  
 
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That leaves just JER & SOU served direct from GCI soI wouldn't be surprised to see a downsizing of the fleet before too long.
I don't think a daily SEN was viable year round, however it seemed to do ok in the summer with an average load of about 75% I was told,
LPL was a non starter from the beginning I think - full marks to them for trying tho.


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Old 17th Jan 2020, 20:22
  #122 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by Albert Hall
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.
A fair point, but Blue Island are in a bad way. Moreover, their owner is ill & not , apparently, showing any real interest in keeping the company going. This decision on the Southend & Liverpool routes just goes to prove this - they can’t afford to keep them going. This was a point I made in this forum at the time that the company announced the inauguration of these routes. I regret having been proved right, but it was obvious that neither route was a money earner. There are very few, if any, routes from Guernsey, in particular, which any airline can make a profit on. This should be borne in mind when the States take their decision regarding extending the runway ; to attract low cost carriers. It is almost certain that there will be no LCCs interested, regardless of an extended runway. Hope I am wrong on all of this !
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Old 17th Jan 2020, 20:50
  #123 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by Jerbourg
That leaves just JER & SOU served direct from GCI soI wouldn't be surprised to see a downsizing of the fleet before too long.
I don't think a daily SEN was viable year round, however it seemed to do ok in the summer with an average load of about 75% I was told,
LPL was a non starter from the beginning I think - full marks to them for trying tho.
I agree, i was delighted to hear last year when GCI-SEN flights were announced, especially as i live very close to Southend airport and i have been visiting Guernsey for 30 years to see friends there. However i did think that a daily service even in the Summer was to much capacity and certainly not in the winter months, it should have been about 3-4 flights a week and only April to October, then it might have worked.
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Old 17th Jan 2020, 21:57
  #124 (permalink)  
 
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I’m a bit lost of LON-GCI now. Last year there was a flurry of activity with the new LHR and SEN routes, but then rumours of the end of STN.

So SEN has gone. Is STN staying, or has that been dropped? If it’s been dropped, might that now be reconsidered? Has LHR gone?
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Old 17th Jan 2020, 22:14
  #125 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by Jerbourg
That leaves just JER & SOU served direct from GCI soI wouldn't be surprised to see a downsizing of the fleet before too long.
I don't think a daily SEN was viable year round, however it seemed to do ok in the summer with an average load of about 75% I was told,
LPL was a non starter from the beginning I think - full marks to them for trying tho.
Really? Loads in August on LPL -GUE were 86% in August and 75% in September. Not bad for first year of operating.
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Old 17th Jan 2020, 23:18
  #126 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by AndrewH52
Really? Loads in August on LPL -GUE were 86% in August and 75% in September. Not bad for first year of operating.
Now, this is interesting info. If correct, I will have to revise my opinion. I am not averse to doing this in the possible knowledge that your figures are correct. At the moment , I maintain what I have said, but as a Guernseyman I would wish that the island is attractive enough to sustain a viable number & frequency of routes. These figures provide some, possible, hope of that.

Last edited by kcockayne; 17th Jan 2020 at 23:19. Reason: punctuation correction
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 05:09
  #127 (permalink)  
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From what I heard / read Blue Islands were pretty pleased with their first year on GCI to LPL and indicated they wou!d be back for 2020.
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 06:22
  #128 (permalink)  
 
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CAA stats for last summer GCI-LPL - June 644, July 766, Aug 1032, Sept 404.
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 09:52
  #129 (permalink)  
 
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The last three posts do provide support for the case to continue these services. Why then is the airline closing the routes ? Surely, this must be because they can’t run them profitably. Armed with the figures provided above, one has to ask why this should be the case.
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 10:26
  #130 (permalink)  
 
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CAA stats for last year GCI-SEN - May 923, June 1849, July 2292, Aug 2852, Sept 2303, Oct 1793, Nov 844.
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 10:43
  #131 (permalink)  
 
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Looking on FlightRadar last night, G-ISLK has been in MGL since December 7, I know it's a maintenance facility but is it normal for an aircraft to be there so long?

Just wondering as G-ISLI which left the fleet last March is stored there.

Also, I see the weekly Gronngen charter for 2020 is extended to run from end April until mid-August, and they are also down for operating a weekly charter between Vienna and Jersey on Thursdays for 8 weeks May - July
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Old 18th Jan 2020, 10:57
  #132 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by Borntoflywillfly
didn’t guern123 claim to have some inside knowledge awhile back?
yes I did. Last year I said they were for sale which they denied then the recent court case proved they were up for sale. Having contacts at BI helps
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Old 19th Jan 2020, 14:03
  #133 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by AirportPlanner1
I’m a bit lost of LON-GCI now. Last year there was a flurry of activity with the new LHR and SEN routes, but then rumours of the end of STN.

So SEN has gone. Is STN staying, or has that been dropped? If it’s been dropped, might that now be reconsidered? Has LHR gone?
Guernsey - Southend has gone (That was a Blue Islands Route)
Guernsey - Heathrow has gone (That was a Flybe route)

Obviously Guernsey - Gatwick remains (Aurigny route) and will gain from the loss of the Heathrow route.
Guernsey - Stansted remains (Aurigny route) and will gain from the loss of the Southend route


I guess the Guernsey - Manchester (Aurigny route) will also gain from the loss of the Guernsey - Liverpool service (Blue Islands route)
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Old 19th Jan 2020, 15:07
  #134 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by guern123
Guernsey - Heathrow has gone (That was a Flybe route)
Is LHR definitely going?
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Old 19th Jan 2020, 15:44
  #135 (permalink)  
 
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So it’s back to the status quo from prior to last summer. Probably more sustainable, I should have made use of the lowish fares while they were available
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Old 20th Jan 2020, 09:03
  #136 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by AirportPlanner1
So it’s back to the status quo from prior to last summer. Probably more sustainable, I should have made use of the lowish fares while they were available
Seems such a shame all these new routes came in and just destabilised the marketplace. Mr Parkinson was hailing this an 'open skies' success! Yet all he has done is spent tax payers money on bringing new routes in and creating more losses for the states owned Aurigny - BONKERS!
Back to the Status Quo! Ironic they wrote a song called 'paper plane'!
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Old 20th Jan 2020, 10:01
  #137 (permalink)  
 
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As i already stated previously the Southend service could have worked well if Blue Islands had got the schedules right, starting a new route as we all know takes time to get established and in my humble opinion BI were to ambitious in starting a 7 days a week service during the summer and incredibly 5 days a week in the quiet winter months. For its first year 3-4 flights a week in the summer and no winter flights would probably have meant it would have been a viable service and it would have still been on sale for summer 2020.
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Old 20th Jan 2020, 10:40
  #138 (permalink)  
 
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I think the stats show there is demand for a summer SEN-GCI service but not winter. My wife and I did a weekend break in December, flying from Southend and I don’t think there were more than a dozen of us on each flight. Aurigny or Stobart/Connect Could perhaps give it a go.
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Old 20th Jan 2020, 15:56
  #139 (permalink)  
 
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No wonder they were in trouble, they advertised LPL-GCI in Essex newspapers and London routes on Merseyside.Something wrong in management!
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Old 21st Jan 2020, 08:57
  #140 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by Flylocal
Seems such a shame all these new routes came in and just destabilised the marketplace. Mr Parkinson was hailing this an 'open skies' success! Yet all he has done is spent tax payers money on bringing new routes in and creating more losses for the states owned Aurigny - BONKERS!
Back to the Status Quo! Ironic they wrote a song called 'paper plane'!
Sorry... but a load of tosh.... the Heathrow subsidy has not de-stabilised the market. Last night, the Aurigny's Gatwick - Guernsey flights were showing full and then just two days ago were showing 1 seat here and 2 seats there. The Embraer is out of action and just four flights using ATRs obviously showed a lack of capacity. Even so, the Heathrow Flybe service was the busiest I have seen... but still with a dozen seats empty !

If you want to look at what has destabilized the market... look at Aurigny's entry into GCI-SOU and GCI-JER : fares have tumbled and pax numbers have rocketed !
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