Isle of Man-3
Join Date: May 2015
Location: London
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OK it seems as though I will have to go into a little more detail as you don't seem to grasp what is going on. Firstly I agree £150 is not bad but not for a once a day service at random times throughout the week I think most people would imagine a low cost provider to be sub £100 especially bearing in mind the prices I am quoting are the base costs BEFORE baggage or seat allocation if you want it.
Then lets look at the next level of detail. My analysis is looking from the point at which there is only one provider i.e 11th August i.e 21days in August. If you look there then IOM to Gatwick there are four days when the lowest fare is £57.99 with most being around £100 one way and some as high as £153.99. Then lets look at the return leg Gatwick to IOM for the 21 days there is one day where the ticket price is £33.99 and thats when it leaves at the very unhelpful hour of 8.05am . The remaining dates again vary and can be as high as £163.99. Combine these together and you end up at return ticket price for most dates between £160.00 and £250.00 before luggage or seating. I don't think that's great sorry.
So sorry no I wont stop suggesting the ticket price for a one a day service from a low cost airline is high the facts are the facts!
Then lets look at the next level of detail. My analysis is looking from the point at which there is only one provider i.e 11th August i.e 21days in August. If you look there then IOM to Gatwick there are four days when the lowest fare is £57.99 with most being around £100 one way and some as high as £153.99. Then lets look at the return leg Gatwick to IOM for the 21 days there is one day where the ticket price is £33.99 and thats when it leaves at the very unhelpful hour of 8.05am . The remaining dates again vary and can be as high as £163.99. Combine these together and you end up at return ticket price for most dates between £160.00 and £250.00 before luggage or seating. I don't think that's great sorry.
So sorry no I wont stop suggesting the ticket price for a one a day service from a low cost airline is high the facts are the facts!
Join Date: Oct 2013
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IOMX, one of your concerns is that easyJet may end up undermining the Loganair service, presumably through lower fares. But you are quoting considerably higher fares than the average easyJet fare so what’s the problem?
Join Date: May 2015
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I am indeed concerned that Easyjet flood the market with cheap seats and take out an operator who is providing a frequent service which is what is most needed on an island. The fact that they are charging more than the average and that has happened since its gone down to only them proves my point exactly that they drive smaller higher frequency operator's out and leave a woefully inadequate badly timed one a day service.
There are quite a lot of people who fly backwards and forwards to London regularly who need an early morning and evening flight for various reasons. Take a look at Guernsey and Jersey who have this arrangement.
There are quite a lot of people who fly backwards and forwards to London regularly who need an early morning and evening flight for various reasons. Take a look at Guernsey and Jersey who have this arrangement.
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: BMA
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and look at how those islands do it. Jersey has a thriving tourist market and Guernsey has a state owned loss making airline. IOM either needs to subsidise or create increased demand.
EasyJet are a business out to make money, not an instrument of Manx economic policy. If the needs of the Manx population are as described, sombody needs to pay for it - passengers or government. If they are, I'm sure Easy would be glad to oblige.
Blame open skys if the market isn't providing what is needed.
Blame open skys if the market isn't providing what is needed.
Join Date: May 2015
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I think you make some fair points re open skies and tourism etc I certainly agree the island could market itself better. And I also agree that Easyjet are a business that needs to make money. Where we disagree is about their commercial behaviour. They were happy when there was two operators to make a return of x set against a set of lower ticket prices the minute its down to one they push up their prices and its a return of x++++. We saw this when flybe collapsed last year and they were happy to charge £600 for a one way ticket from Liverpool. They are an operator that has no pilots or crew on the island and send planes across at random times throughout the day clearly to fit against other more lucrative business they have elsewhere. Also their record in bad weather is very poor quite a lot of their flights get cancelled due to bad weather or diverted back to Gatwick because they cannot land a large jet when smaller operators can. As such the island gets a very poor deal from them in service terms.
Join Date: May 2008
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I can remember that too, as I used it quite a lot. But the business complexion of the IOM has changed, and not for the better. Airlines don't see any profit, and so the service dries up. And Isle of Man Government don't want to see it because it might reflect badly on them.
Join Date: Jan 2008
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That is so true and it is exacerbated by longer-term effects of Covid19. Most businesses and public sector entities have realised the huge financial savings (of the actual costs of travel and of very large amounts of executive time expended by travel) and are instead mandating more permanent use of video and other communications instead of business travel. And many also see their Duty of Care being best implemented in this regard by keeping people away from travelling to best protect them and of course the business itself.
There will always be a lot of business travel but it is not hard to see it never recovering to anything like the same levels as pre Covid19.
On the topic of IOM - London routes, I have been nodding in agreement to at least some extent with all the very good points that have been made above. The island of course ideally needs daily connectivity with London and at desirable times that allow both day trips and easy same day connections. That requires two daily rotations with an early morning and early evening both outbound and inbound. This will surely not happen with easyJet so the best we can hope for is someone re-starting a service to London City Airport. But without something like 'underwritten revenue guarantees' from IOMG or the private sector this is not likely to happen. With the former BA service which was wet-lease operated by Eastern, I always thought that having to make profits for both BA & Eastern was in itself inherently unstable. And so it proved.
There will always be a lot of business travel but it is not hard to see it never recovering to anything like the same levels as pre Covid19.
On the topic of IOM - London routes, I have been nodding in agreement to at least some extent with all the very good points that have been made above. The island of course ideally needs daily connectivity with London and at desirable times that allow both day trips and easy same day connections. That requires two daily rotations with an early morning and early evening both outbound and inbound. This will surely not happen with easyJet so the best we can hope for is someone re-starting a service to London City Airport. But without something like 'underwritten revenue guarantees' from IOMG or the private sector this is not likely to happen. With the former BA service which was wet-lease operated by Eastern, I always thought that having to make profits for both BA & Eastern was in itself inherently unstable. And so it proved.
Join Date: Jan 2008
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A great question and a tough one as you imply. I'd speculate that the answer includes:
1. Re-locate the island to be nearer the bigger and richer populations of London, all of southern England and western France
2. Implement a similar superior climate?
3. Create an economy with a comparable size and make-up to Jersey's - e.g. their very much larger Banking, Corporate Services, Insurance, Investment & Tourism sectors?
All quite challenging asks!
1. Re-locate the island to be nearer the bigger and richer populations of London, all of southern England and western France
2. Implement a similar superior climate?
3. Create an economy with a comparable size and make-up to Jersey's - e.g. their very much larger Banking, Corporate Services, Insurance, Investment & Tourism sectors?
All quite challenging asks!
Join Date: Aug 2009
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Just advertising the island would help. I’ve seen Jersey adverts in business magazines and travel magazines for years. Never once have I seen anything about IOM.
I don’t even think the climate is much of a push factor. There is plenty of demand for the wild outdoors and adventure type holidays in the wet.
To me it seems the IOM has dined off the TT races and done nothing else tourism wise.
I don’t even think the climate is much of a push factor. There is plenty of demand for the wild outdoors and adventure type holidays in the wet.
To me it seems the IOM has dined off the TT races and done nothing else tourism wise.
To be honest the TT, taking place when it does actually puts me off going. The cost of the crossing by the Steam Packet is another factor.
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Agree fully. The figures are stark: The tourist accommodation sector only accounted for 0.3% of the Gross National Income (GNI), and employed 629 people in 2016. In that year an estimated 135,000 tourists stayed in paid accommodation on the island; in addition, almost 100,000 stayed with friends or family, and there were almost 60,000 business visitors including some day trippers.
The 2019 TT races attracted about 46,174 visitors to the Isle of Man for the TT, of which 64.9% had visited the TT previously. Most came by ferry not flights. On average visitors stayed for an estimated 6.8 nights and spent a total of £801 on their trip. This resulted in an estimated spend of £37.5 million, up from £37.1 million in 2018, allegedly contributing an estimated £27.1 million to the local economy.
The 2019 TT races attracted about 46,174 visitors to the Isle of Man for the TT, of which 64.9% had visited the TT previously. Most came by ferry not flights. On average visitors stayed for an estimated 6.8 nights and spent a total of £801 on their trip. This resulted in an estimated spend of £37.5 million, up from £37.1 million in 2018, allegedly contributing an estimated £27.1 million to the local economy.
Join Date: May 2015
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I fully agree with all these points if the island had better marketing it could strengthen its tourist industry and that would certainly boost the demand for air travel. Its beyond me that an island that has so much to offer and in my opinion far more than Jersey does so little to attract visitors. There is Snaefell, the mountain railway, the electric tram, the steam railways, fantastic seaside towns like Peel and Port Erin the island is steeped in heritage everywhere. Plenty to market. And then the government should be aiming to attract inward strategic investment for business and encouraging more people to locate here.
However it will never achieve any of this with one flight a day to London and the South East! With a little bit of thought and creativity the whole situation could be transformed and there would be room for Easyjet and Heathrow flights making everyone happy. Not difficult really just needs some strategic vision!
However it will never achieve any of this with one flight a day to London and the South East! With a little bit of thought and creativity the whole situation could be transformed and there would be room for Easyjet and Heathrow flights making everyone happy. Not difficult really just needs some strategic vision!
I remember Mr T V Kelly being the contact on the post-Christmas TV advertising campaigns back in the 1970s! When did he retire, and what a coincidence that Mr Douglas had the same initials?