Flybe-V1
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Wallsend
Posts: 51
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
In pre-COVID times, the routes from SOU to various destinations in northern England and Scotland were frequently very busy, with a large number of business users, together with a fair bit of ‘friends and families’ traffic.
To travel from the south coast to the north by rail involves journey times which are much, much longer than from London. For example, day return travel by rail from London to Manchester, Leeds and even Newcastle is a realistic proposition, and rail is a very viable alternative to flying. The situation from the south coast is very different, with the extended journey times making it virtually impossible.
However, I guess we are now living in very different times and I no longer travel up and down the country for business on a regular business, and it’s very difficult to see the previous level of regional domestic air travel ever returning.
To travel from the south coast to the north by rail involves journey times which are much, much longer than from London. For example, day return travel by rail from London to Manchester, Leeds and even Newcastle is a realistic proposition, and rail is a very viable alternative to flying. The situation from the south coast is very different, with the extended journey times making it virtually impossible.
However, I guess we are now living in very different times and I no longer travel up and down the country for business on a regular business, and it’s very difficult to see the previous level of regional domestic air travel ever returning.
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Outer London
Age: 43
Posts: 606
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Isn’t that the point being made though? Start in Fareham, or Winchester, and your 07:04 means leaving home at 05:00 or earlier and back at 20:00 or later?
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: London
Posts: 724
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
London trains are fine - the issue I have with trains these days is the insane fares charged by the likes of CrossCountry from my neck of the woods to Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle.
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: UK
Posts: 412
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Air: £321 (day return NCL-SOU, an hour each way)
Road: £120 in fuel plus (as it is not possible to do this in a day) another £150 for a hotel and food/drinks. This also means 12 hours driving where I can’t do any work.
Rail: £246 was the cheapest option for the early morning train to Portsmouth and a fixed return coming back (can work on the train but not keen on a fixed return when it’s a work trip). I would not have had enough time in Portsmouth before travelling home so I would have had to spend another £150 on an overnight stay.
Plane was expensive but in this case, not needing an overnight stay meant that it was very much value for money.
Not to mention the time cross country trains take. Norwich to Liverpool on EMR takes so long it almost requires a sleeping car!! OK, I exaggerate a tad!
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Northern Ireland
Posts: 203
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Northern Ireland
Posts: 2,782
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It seems incredible that Flybe would enter BHD-LHR in competition with IAG. I just doesn't add up, the only weapon they'll have is price. Though BHD is the base, BFS would surely be more niche for them offering something different. They could differentiate with a BFS route and I'm sure that airport would support that. The stats from EI being at BFS show that LHR was around 15-20K passengers per month. Might have made more sense to station an aircraft there and share a Belfast crew pool.
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Lower Upham
Posts: 80
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
That's exactly the problem, it's easy to travel quickly and efficiently up and down the country to and from London, but from Southampton it's very different proposition. A journey from Kings Cross to Newcastle in two and three-quarter hours is fine. But from Southampton, it's another hour and a half to Waterloo by train, and around half an hour minimum to cross London, with all the faff of getting off at Waterloo, getting down to the tube, the tube journey etc and getting into Kings Cross. This means an equivalent Journey from Southampton to Newcastle is often around 5-6 hours - too long for a day trip. It was just an hour on Flybe when I used to fly.
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Edinburgh
Posts: 173
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
That's exactly the problem, it's easy to travel quickly and efficiently up and down the country to and from London, but from Southampton it's very different proposition. A journey from Kings Cross to Newcastle in two and three-quarter hours is fine. But from Southampton, it's another hour and a half to Waterloo by train, and around half an hour minimum to cross London, with all the faff of getting off at Waterloo, getting down to the tube, the tube journey etc and getting into Kings Cross. This means an equivalent Journey from Southampton to Newcastle is often around 5-6 hours - too long for a day trip. It was just an hour on Flybe when I used to fly.
It would be great to see Flybe back on south coast routes from NCL such as SOU and EXT.
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Godalming
Posts: 182
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sure they [Flybe] would have 20+ additional seats by using a Dash 8 compared to Loganair's ERJs, however I really can't see how both carriers could possibly survive if they were to start operating on the same route at the same time.
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: South East
Posts: 157
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Wow.
I arrived at BHD on Friday, on the ground were 3 BA190s, 1 BA320 and 2 EI320s. Nothing else. Belfast City used to be a sea of purple, but it’s now dominated by IAG in blue and green.
I don’t think IAG are going to roll over and play dead in Belfast.
Plus flybe now have easyJet on the London LGW route from BHD, as well as serving LGW, LTN and STN from BFS. Tough market. Good luck.
I arrived at BHD on Friday, on the ground were 3 BA190s, 1 BA320 and 2 EI320s. Nothing else. Belfast City used to be a sea of purple, but it’s now dominated by IAG in blue and green.
I don’t think IAG are going to roll over and play dead in Belfast.
Plus flybe now have easyJet on the London LGW route from BHD, as well as serving LGW, LTN and STN from BFS. Tough market. Good luck.
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Leeds, UK & Cork, Ireland
Posts: 1,080
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
AMS, BHD and LBA from LHR. That will be interesting! AMS could be brilliant or shocking. I would have guessed there were better routes without so much competition - GLA, EDI or SOU spring to mind, but lets see.
What strikes me is that the ramp-up is swift, I hope their crewing and training can sustain it and their network will be quite complex with a lot of W patterns and shuttling of crews all over the UK. As I understand it crews are based at BHD or BHX? While I think the goal is sensible and flyBe certainly do have to achieve a lot in a short window, I hope their operation has the resilience and operational integrity v1.0 was not exactly known for.
What strikes me is that the ramp-up is swift, I hope their crewing and training can sustain it and their network will be quite complex with a lot of W patterns and shuttling of crews all over the UK. As I understand it crews are based at BHD or BHX? While I think the goal is sensible and flyBe certainly do have to achieve a lot in a short window, I hope their operation has the resilience and operational integrity v1.0 was not exactly known for.
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: South
Age: 44
Posts: 774
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Utter madness. Did they learn nothing from the previous incarnation’s scattergun approach?
I have to confess I was a bit annoyed by all the negativity on this thread which I thought was a bit premature giving the fact little was known but I have to say they were all right. This lot are absolutely clueless! A solitary 1 daily route from SOU and two weekly flights? An airport which was one of the biggest bases and has literally no real competition to speak of on nearly all its busy routes and yet the are totally focused on BHD and BHX where there is much competition not to mention a newly launched Emerald opening at the former. I mean AMS to EMA? Really??
Don’t get me started on the LHR routes as well, even a child could tell you 70 odd seaters won’t and never have made money there. I’m lost for words….
I have to confess I was a bit annoyed by all the negativity on this thread which I thought was a bit premature giving the fact little was known but I have to say they were all right. This lot are absolutely clueless! A solitary 1 daily route from SOU and two weekly flights? An airport which was one of the biggest bases and has literally no real competition to speak of on nearly all its busy routes and yet the are totally focused on BHD and BHX where there is much competition not to mention a newly launched Emerald opening at the former. I mean AMS to EMA? Really??
Don’t get me started on the LHR routes as well, even a child could tell you 70 odd seaters won’t and never have made money there. I’m lost for words….
AMS, LBA and BHD to Heathrow. Belfast has BOTH of EI and BA, Amsterdam has BA and KLM!
Might as well set fire to whatever capital they have, this is a dumpster fire of an idea. The charging regime at LHR makes it almost impossible to make money on a Q400 without additional support.
Might as well set fire to whatever capital they have, this is a dumpster fire of an idea. The charging regime at LHR makes it almost impossible to make money on a Q400 without additional support.
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: South East
Posts: 157
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
AMS, LBA and BHD to Heathrow. Belfast has BOTH of EI and BA, Amsterdam has BA and KLM!
Might as well set fire to whatever capital they have, this is a dumpster fire of an idea. The charging regime at LHR makes it almost impossible to make money on a Q400 without additional support.
Might as well set fire to whatever capital they have, this is a dumpster fire of an idea. The charging regime at LHR makes it almost impossible to make money on a Q400 without additional support.
Sadly for them the market has continued to fly. Just not with them. They won’t flock back unless it’s really cheap, in the main.
Wish them the best, but these routes are what Eastern or Loganair could have come up with 2 years ago. And chose not to.
Or a battle with IAG to see who has the deepest pockets (IAG have)
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 239
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It's not complicated. The previous model was unprofitable and the scraps that actually made money were hoovered up by other airlines. Disaster in the making. Even the routes like LBA to LHR where there is probably a gap in the market is nothing without the BA codeshare. Someone has lots of money to lose.
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Not so many places currently
Age: 60
Posts: 3,803
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
EZY will be shaking at the knees with competition from Brum to Scotland, good for the punters but it won't last.
Anyone who has just taken a job offer with the Airline, continue getting your CV out there.
Anyone who has just taken a job offer with the Airline, continue getting your CV out there.