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Old 21st Dec 2023, 16:02
  #2641 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by MARKEYD
Having dealt with Blue Islands in Jersey for a few years they are in no position to base an aircraft In Southampton and the associated costs that go with it

They can barely crew their own flights out of Jersey with local based cabin crew on minimum wage

The turn over of staff is high and the cost of multiple sectors from Jersey to Southampton and onto Manchester that was proposed never even got off the ground
Thank you for the insight, I suppose I guessed there must be much more to it behind the scenes. For me, an armchair observer and occasional SOU 'Joe Bloggs' passenger it all appears so easy to dream-up ideas and solutions, but of course in reality it is so much more difficult with so many factors coming into play, with of course the bottom line being profit and sustainability.

With any of the potential routes from SOU, unless the figures add-up and a profit can be made they will remain unserved.
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Old 22nd Dec 2023, 06:27
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Easyjet has announced another big order for the A320 Neo meaning the days of the A319 are coming to a gradual end. This reminds me of Britannia Airways very successful Luton - Belfast schedule service operated by 737-200’s. That lasted until their 737-200’s we were replaced with larger aircraft and the service was ended as the replacements were deemed to be too big for the route.
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Old 22nd Dec 2023, 12:32
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Originally Posted by Spanish eyes
Easyjet has announced another big order for the A320 Neo meaning the days of the A319 are coming to a gradual end. This reminds me of Britannia Airways very successful Luton - Belfast schedule service operated by 737-200’s. That lasted until their 737-200’s we were replaced with larger aircraft and the service was ended as the replacements were deemed to be too big for the route.
Aircraft size is always going to be a problem for small airports like Southampton. The situation of airport provision for this region is very problematic. The South Hampshire Metropolitan area has the eighth biggest concentration of population in the UK, and that's excluding the New Forest, Salisbury, and the very large Christchurch/Bournemouth/Poole conurbation.
Although it is technically in the South East, much of the area is roughly as far from London as Leicester is. Train travel in the South East is relatively slow in comparison, the fastest trains heading to London are not up to Inter-City standards and much of the area's roads are often at capacity or gridlock.

The area definitely needs a decent airport with a comprehensive range of services both for leisure and business but we have the situation where the business is split between Bournemouth and Southampton. Bournemouth is quite some distance to be truly 'local' for Southampton, and quite a journey from the Portsmouth area. It also lacks surface connections and infrastructure. In its favour, it has a decent length runway, and plenty of room to expand.

Southampton of course is incredibly well-served with connections by train, motorway, bus and coach but is situated on a seriously cramped location in an urban area.

The ideal situation would be to build a completely new airport, somewhere south of Winchester and north of Eastleigh where there is still scope for fantastic connections and it would be very accessible. There are many square miles of relatively flat, level ground in this area - I know because it's where I live! However, this is never going to happen, the costs would be prohibitive, but also all of this land lies within the boundary of the South Downs National Park - so it's completely 'out of bounds' for development. The rules are very strict, and my neighbours often joke that you need planning permission to hang the washing out here!

What I am saying with my ramblings is that SOU is likely to always be a bit of mini London City with a sprinkling of holiday flights and Bournemouth looks likely to continue as a mini Gatwick with a useful range of leisure flight opportunities. If we could somehow combine this traffic at one airport, A320s to many destinations, both domestic and European, would be a viable option. It's a great pity that so much of SOU's land was sold-off for separate commercial use when the airport was redeveloped in the 1990s.
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Old 22nd Dec 2023, 13:16
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"The ideal situation would be to build a completely new airport, somewhere south of Winchester and north of Eastleigh "

As you say - there'd be a riot. I don't think you can now build a new airport ANYWHERE in the UK

Well you could always demolish the refinery at Fawley as we're not going to need petroleum products going forward and replace it with a new airport................. with a tunnel under the Solent...........
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Old 22nd Dec 2023, 13:22
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Yay, just got our SOU-PMI with EZY next SEPT for just £85 RTN. Bosh!

Nice times - A319 morning out, A320 evening home.

To reserve seats was priced from £6 each way.
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Old 22nd Dec 2023, 13:45
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Originally Posted by rog747
Yay, just got our SOU-PMI with EZY next SEPT for just £85 RTN. Bosh!

Nice times - A319 morning out, A320 evening home.

To reserve seats was priced from £6 each way.
Very good and think the EZY summer med routes will be popular, just don’t know why FAO/ALC are only one weekly!
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Old 22nd Dec 2023, 14:18
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Originally Posted by SKOJB
Very good and think the EZY summer med routes will be popular, just don’t know why FAO/ALC are only one weekly!
Perhaps they 're dipping there toe in SOU,If they are having good loads then they will expand,the airport needs many more Summer routes to be profitable ,let's hope Easy expand,as there is very few alternatives for SOU.
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Old 22nd Dec 2023, 14:40
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If they were having good loads the fares wouldn't be so low.
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Old 22nd Dec 2023, 15:04
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Originally Posted by inOban
If they were having good loads the fares wouldn't be so low.
It's a long time until September. Give it time to fill up and the fares will go up accordingly.
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Old 23rd Dec 2023, 06:26
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Originally Posted by SKOJB
Very good and think the EZY summer med routes will be popular, just don’t know why FAO/ALC are only one weekly!
Could be that TUI can market one and two week Package Holidays >?

The EZY Faro operates weekly on a THURS which is historically the ''FARO'' day that package holiday companies have always used (Along also with SUNS)
The weekly ALC is also a standard package holiday day being a SUN flight.

Baby steps....Big planes....New routes....Wish it well for both EZY and SOU.
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Old 24th Dec 2023, 13:38
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Originally Posted by SouthernAlliance
Don’t think realistic and certain members on here actually exist. Seems the most toxic thread on this forum
It would be easily dealt with ideally with mods imposing bans on people with a long history of only making negative posts about SOU. Yes as part of a debate we need to discuss the good and the bad but it’s quite clear that there are people on here whose only aim is to antagonise people. It’s called trolling.

failing that, it can also be dealt with by the genuine people who post on here ignoring the posts from the trolls. Remember, for the last few weeks the narrative has been steered in the direction of EZY opening routes at SOU is a negative. Let that sink in for a second. This sums up the issue with this thread. No logic to be found it’s all about how can we derail the thread and stop the genuine people from being positive.
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Old 24th Dec 2023, 14:42
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Originally Posted by Rivet Joint
It would be easily dealt with ideally with mods imposing bans on people with a long history of only making negative posts about SOU. Yes as part of a debate we need to discuss the good and the bad but it’s quite clear that there are people on here whose only aim is to antagonise people. It’s called trolling.

failing that, it can also be dealt with by the genuine people who post on here ignoring the posts from the trolls. Remember, for the last few weeks the narrative has been steered in the direction of EZY opening routes at SOU is a negative. Let that sink in for a second. This sums up the issue with this thread. No logic to be found it’s all about how can we derail the thread and stop the genuine people from being positive.
I hope the mods look at the thread,and include you as one of the biggest antagonists ,some of your posts have been totally unacceptable !
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Old 24th Dec 2023, 14:56
  #2653 (permalink)  
 
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I agree and feel he is toxic. I myself have been accused by him of being a troll as I questioned a post. Rivet Joint does not like any posts that doesn’t share his narrow narrative. It’s quite sad really that he has issues and is constantly seeking mod bans, as he wants to turn this thread into fan posts only and wants to stifle debate.

Last edited by Pain in the R's; 24th Dec 2023 at 17:35.
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Old 24th Dec 2023, 15:32
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Originally Posted by willy wombat
Here’s a question for you. Why do you think no one has tried a Flybe type operation?
A/ because airline executives are stupid and can’t see what a golden opportunity this is?
B/ because Dash 8 - 400s are so popular that there aren’t any available?
C because the Flybe business model lost a shed load of money (twice)?
See this is the issue with people. The context or facts are not delved into. It’s simply a success or not a success and if the latter it’s because it was a bad idea that should never be repeated again. Perhaps the market wasn’t ready? Perhaps other external factors hindered them? Perhaps if someone else came along and did it different it would work? Would the failure of selling air conditioning in Iceland mean that selling it in Arizona would also be a failure? Really simple stuff.

Let me answer all 3 of the above.

A) It’s probably too early in the recovery from covid to consider it. I’m not implying there will definitely be another BE but the signs from the industry are that we will all be flying around in air taxis one day so flying as a mode of transport is the future. Unless you want to pretend you are in Victorian times and get everywhere on a bike, horse or train?

B) Well pretty much all of the ones BE had have since been snapped up. Now that the factories are back open and parts are starting to be readily available the q400s that were stored can be returned to service. Perhaps BE mark 2 should have waited a bit longer. Late deliveries of planes and serviceability were a big issue for them. Again, an external factor you and others conveniently overlook.

C) Again, I have listed out a number of reasons previously BE mark 1 failed and just given you one above for Mark 2. Let me condense it for you. Mark 1 failed because of bad management. Their bad decisions are there for everyone to see. Mark 2 failed because it started too early in the recovery from covid and couldn’t get the planes and serviceability required.

Originally Posted by Skipness One Foxtrot
You blame Loganair for SOU not being where it "should be"? You really do have a chip on your shoulder with LM. Your inability to get your head round the fact that flybe failed exactly because of the reasons highlighted above is worrying. That business model isn't profitable, it never, ever was. Let it go and move on.
Now we have another example of jumping straight in without thinking and looking at the detail. This suggests you are the one with the chip on the shoulder by the way. Posting whilst blinded with anger. If you had read my posts you would have seen I said I hoped LM stayed around. Would I say such a thing if I had a chip on my shoulder about them? Bizarre. Also, where did I actually blame LM for being the issue? The point I made was that SOU cannot hang their hat on LM like some daft people were suggesting on here. Oh, and that’s not my opinion it’s FACT. Direct from the management at SOU themselves. Let me repeat the gist of it for you, the airport cannot survive at the current annual passenger levels (circa 700k). Has that sunk in? Right, so on the basis LM are not going to increase the size of their aircraft, under the current status quo SOU is going to continue to have circa 700k passengers and be loss making. Now we have discussed the FACTS, let’s tackle the solution. Well, there is no sign of another BE type large regional operator on the horizon and we cannot currently accommodate the next step up which is the low cost operators and their a320/737 sized aircraft. Shareholders, can we have circa £20m to extend the runway otherwise we might have to close and you lose your investment. Sure go for it. Runway extended and EZY now serving 6 routes.

I honestly cannot dumb it down any further but I hope the above simple breakdown completely grounded in FACTS will move the argument on for people. EZY coming in had to happen and if LM etc throw their toys out of the pram so be it. Oh, and if EZY do pull out in the future then anyone that has to leave can come back. And no they wouldn't not come back to teach SOU a lesson and ignore the opportunity to make money.
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Old 24th Dec 2023, 15:41
  #2655 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by Pain in the R's
I agree and feel he is toxic. I myself have been accused by him of him of being a troll as I questioned a post. Rivet Joint does not like any posts that doesn’t share his narrow narrative. It’s quite sad really that he has issues and is constantly seeking mod bans, as he wants to turn this thread into fan posts only and wants to stifle debate.
You can be toxic by being positive about the subject matter of a thread? Interesting logic. Some of my posts in reply to attempts to derail this thread might be robust but in the absence or mods that’s what it has come to. By the way you have just taken the bait from the worse troll on the thread. Click on his username and look at his posts for the last few years to get a flavour of what his agenda is. No one is that ‘glass half empty’.
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Old 24th Dec 2023, 15:51
  #2656 (permalink)  
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Merry Xmas to you all. The airport has had a productive year with the runway extension being completed and new stands reconfigured and now suitable for larger aircraft. With regards to expansion, easyJet has made a start with the much anticipated domestic/sun routes although another LCC has not materialised as i had heard, fingers crossed there will be further additions during 2024! Best wishes

Last edited by stewyb; 24th Dec 2023 at 16:19.
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Old 24th Dec 2023, 15:59
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Originally Posted by Rivet Joint
You can be toxic by being positive about the subject matter of a thread? Interesting logic. Some of my posts in reply to attempts to derail this thread might be robust but in the absence or mods that’s what it has come to. By the way you have just taken the bait from the worse troll on the thread. Click on his username and look at his posts for the last few years to get a flavour of what his agenda is. No one is that ‘glass half empty’.
Classic Rivet Joint,no bait,just a alternative to your narrow minded view
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Old 24th Dec 2023, 16:12
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Oh be nice, he's giving us "daft people" "blinded by anger", the "FACTS", and he has to be right 'cos he's writing it in caps.
Rivet Joint might actually work in Business Dev for AGS come to think of it. It's like John the Baptist but with a flybe obsession.
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Old 24th Dec 2023, 16:22
  #2659 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by Skipness One Foxtrot
Oh be nice, he's giving us "daft people" "blinded by anger", the "FACTS", and he has to be right 'cos he's writing it in caps.
Rivet Joint might actually work in Business Dev for AGS come to think of it. It's like John the Baptist but with a flybe obsession.
The irony. Make a post criticising someone else without posting any facts to substantiate your claims. This is too easy
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Old 24th Dec 2023, 16:35
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Originally Posted by Rivet Joint
The irony. Make a post criticising someone else without posting any facts to substantiate your claims. This is too easy
Happy Christmas Rivet Joint,look forward to your seeing your interesting SOU posts
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