Southampton-3

[The96er]

So back to normal then :-)

[The Nutts Mutts]

According to the Flybe thread, Flybe 2.0 are recruiting for bases in MAN, BHX, BHD and SOU. Assuming their plans come to fruition, it'll be interesting to see what routes they intend to serve and who they decide to compete against.

[Buster the Bear]

This article is rather interesting and very applicable to Southampton which has a large number of domestic flights.

https://www.businesstravelnewseurope...=eltrbtneurope

[adfly]

Blue Islands have delayed their SOU base yet again. Was due to start 31/08, now 28/03/22. MAN 12 weekly and DUB 7 weekly. It does feel like they've left it very late before delaying the launch the last few times. There have been a fair amount of annoyed customers on social media (many who've booked the flights through Loganair to connect to Aberdeen/Inverness).

I suppose it is good news for Eastern, gives them more time to develop their own MAN and DUB routes and hopefully get them up to some more useful frequencies for business travel, or even to be a more useful alternative to flying from London for the DUB route.

[kcockayne]

What's the betting that these routes never happen ? Not a natural fit for Blue Island. The base, too.

[adfly]

I am inclined to agree with you.

However I think the carrot on the stick for causing them to persist is maybe that with the Loganair partnership they can offer a more appealing product to customers - offering connections, and when travel further afield improves interlining onto long haul through MAN/DUB/EDI/GLA which is never something Eastern have done (what happened to their proposed codeshare with Aurigny...) Between the two carriers they would then serve most of Southampton's busiest routes, and be able to book them all via a single website (closer to what Flybe offered).

It is certainly a gamble though.

[kcockayne]

You have made some good points on connections & interlining, &, as you say, that may persuade them to continue with their plans. My feeling is that, as far as Manchester is concerned, they are competing with Easy & Jet 2, who both offer direct jet services from Jersey. I don't think that they can seriously compete on this route operating via Southampton. Dublin is a bit different in that Aer Lingus haven't returned to the route from Jersey, yet. So, no competition there. But, are there enough pax for them to open a base at Southampton: & do they have the aircraft available to operate the routes, especially in competition with Eastern ?

[adfly]

Agree with the comments regarding Jersey. The thought of connection options on my previous post was somewhat Southampton centric - i.e SOU-MAN-ABZ which would probably have a small market with no direct ABZ service available any more (Eastern and Loganair via Teesside/Newcastle were direct, if not non stop). That would give it a bit of a boost alongside having to fight for the local SOU-MAN market and compete with Eastern.

I think there are enough passengers for one carrier to serve those routes. For two carriers each with a fairly niche presence though I am less sure, likewise of Blue Islands having or making sufficient aircraft available.

[rog747]

Looked at booking BA's SOU-JMK-SOU flights in SEPT - fares are very cheap £77 o/w including 23kgs bag, (Club Europe was £182) and I noted some flights routing via Ibiza.

[MARKEYD]

Loads on the Mykonos flight have been pretty low around the 33 / 40 % factor

[Downwind_Left]

I think that may be a website error, now corrected. None planned that I could find.

[gkmeech]

Mykonos

MARKEYD

lots of reasons ... first year, very little marketing, Covid, and 3 hour flight on an E190 from a 5500ft runway restricts payload..

[pamann]

Also 6 or 13 night duration. Not an issue for me I’d just go for 13. But maybe some folk want a full week not 6 nights.

When the flights routed ex Stansted, perhaps it wasn’t such an issue to do 7 night ex STN back to LCY if you are based in London or the local area. Doing SOU-JMK-LCY just to get a 7 night duration probably isn’t such a viable option to most.

[SKOJB]

Looking at BA's current program of flights from the airport utilising x 8 E90's at weekends, this would become almost impossible to mirror if as reported Cityflyer order the E190-E2/A220-100 as a replacement. Their wingspans are 5-6m wider than current E90 and therefore would have a detrimental effect on airfield capacity. SOU stands are configured for current E90 sizing so any replacement aircraft could cause big issues for future flying schedules and guess this is the conundrum the airport faces with lack of apron space!

[RW20]

Is it not true that that stands 1-5 would be adjusted for A320 use if the extension goes ahead ?,also couldn't stands 7-12 be adjusted for 190-e2?
Can TCAS FAN give a informitive answer to this?

[dixi188]

Stands 1-5 can be widened to become 1-4, so you lose a stand. Same sort of thing for the higher no. stands.
There was talk a few years ago of a new stand nose to the road behind stand 1, but I don't think that would suit A320s or B737s.

[Buster the Bear]

Let me get this right, a runway extension to being larger aircraft types into Southampton, but that will mean less stands to park them, due to their size? What are the other options to ensure Southampton does not rapidly reach 'full' should the larger aircraft arrive post runway lengthening?

[stewyb]

Apron space is always going to be a limiting factor at SOU. There just isn’t the room to accommodate a BA schedule of 8 Embraer’s plus the potential for say 3 A320 post extension. The airport also has to hope that BA choose the E90 E2 as the A220 is even longer in length and won’t fit on stands 6-12. A longer runway will certainly be beneficial but will SOU be able to cope with the variety of airlines knowing their planes are only getting bigger in size and dimension?

[willy wombat]

I rather think that struggling to park a large number of airliners actively engaged in revenue flying is the sort of problem that.the majority of airports would currently like to have. I can’t imagine that SOU management are losing sleep worrying that their airport may be too busy.

[stewyb]

Not suggesting the airport is loosing sleep, moreover the need to reconfigure stand capability which will obviously be carried out during extension works and hopefully assist in attracting an additional airline or two. However, it doesn't alleviate the lack of options available with apron space being limited and thoughtful planning will be required