Thomsonfly to make Bournemouth a major base?
 

You'll all tell me this is old hat, but I haven't seen it elsewhere.

Source: An overheard conversation on a train from Southampton Parkway to Waterloo. Employees of Big Four accounting firms really should check to see if the carriage is empty before airing their client's plans.

Thunderball,

This is a rumour network, so isn't that what we're here to discuss?

I don't know if the catchment area would be big enough to base 4 or 5 a/c, but I can see some logic in having a smaller presence there:

SOU has capacity constraints & a strong existing presence from Flybe
Ryanair have never expanded on their presence at BOH
BOH has a wealthy population in the surrounding area, who might appreciate those little differences over Ryanair, such as allocated seats.
Reasonable presence of charter flights, but little in the scheduled department beyond the Channel Islands and 3 Ryanair routes

Bournemouth has just spent some money on some new signs.

Sadly they dont direct the public to the cash machines.

Also think they need some TV Moniters at the Arrivals (Car Park)
so people can watch which flights land whilst stood in the cold.

hiya

yeah BOH will be the 3rd TOM base, hehe, only jokin !!!!!

well i've heard all around work BOH or MME so probably some truth in the rumour, but u know how galley FM is lol. anyways i think it will be way after Doncaster opens before they think about announcing/deciding a 3rd base!!

BOH will be a T-Fly based from next Spring.

I have heard that T'flys new base will be opening two months before their Doncaster base and will be annonced next week! - Again that was from galley fm!!

IanJ

It would be refreshing to see some more aircraft movement at Bournemouth. I've just spent a fortnight down there and frankly, it was downright depressing at times. Apart from the European thunderballs and the odd Ryanair flight, it's just so quiet. And the sight of the old 747s looking out over the runway in geriatric contemplation just adds to the gloom. They didn't move at all while I was there ! It just seems a shame for a relatively large airfield with a decent size runway and good road access to be languishing so. I hope Jet2 move in there before too long and give nearby FlyBe some competition.

Southampton, on the other hand, was thriving yesterday with a variety of machines from Eastern, BACX, Spanair and FlyBe. It's just a bit boxed in physically. I suggest a BOH/SOU merger to solve all the problems ! (That's meant in jest BTW ;) ).

Well it could be that persistance pays off for BOH which has waited far to long for new routes and airlines to give it a go !

A report in the Travel Trade Gazette dated Sept 24

THOMSONFLY TARGETS BOURNEMOUTH

Thomsonfly has set its sights on starting operations at Bournemouth airport. The TUI UK no - frills brand is thought to be in advanced talks about opening a base there next year . A spokesman said the airline was in discussions with several potential new bases . Ryanair operates three routes from Bournemouth , while Bath Travel runs the Palmair charter operation from there . end

Lets wait and see but i would imagine any announcement would be made soon in order to get bookings etc up and away

Fingers crossed

Are you sure that this talk of Thomsonfly is not just getting confused with the impending TUI announcement that they are going to withdraw IT charters from Southampton and increase capacity at Bournemouth next summer?

Flightrider: Nope, T-Fly will open a new base at BOH next Spring. Whether or not Britannia (Thomson) will operate charter flights from there is another matter...

Will be interesting to see what FR's reaction to this will be.

Will FR bother to compete on routes like Malaga, which is almost certain to be offered if the TOM base goes ahead.

Anyone know when an announcement is likely to be made if this is going to happen. Excuse my caution, but the Buzz fiasco was only 18 months ago. Don't think anyone will truly believe it until they witness the first flight departing BOH.

Fingers crossed for BOH. Lets hope this is the one they've been waiting for.:ok:

The circumstances surrounding the Buzz fiasco were unique, to the best of my knowledge. Thomson cannot and will not go down the same track. If they launch and take bookings they'll fly, and I can't see "guilt-by-association" being a problem simply because they've chosen Bournemouth.

But what about Palmair? This is a wonderful operation, a real quality product steeped in traditional values. It should have a Preservation Order put on it. But Thomson are bound to go for some of the Palmair routes, and although the IT element loyal to Bath will (presumably) still be strong, the seat-only punters will go for price and price alone. It would be suicide for Bath to take on a loco like Thomsonfly and try to play them at their own game, so what can they do - downsize to 70 seat aircraft and cede the seat-only market to Thomsonfly? Not that there are exactly dozens of 70 seat aircraft available to be branded for the summer, and of course those that are - 146-100 for example - won't get down to the Canaries without three tech stops (slight exaggeration).

And where does this leave the rather beleagured European - isn't the three-ship(?) Palmair operation the backbone of the B737-200 operation?

Answers on a postcard please to "Bath Travel, Bournemouth":oh:

Not sure if Palmair will be hit too badly if the TOM base goes ahead. Palmair have dropped seat only prices from £230ish to as low as £99 return, this I presume is to compete with Flybe at Southampton and Easy at Gatwick.

I personally know of a lot of people who deserted Palmair when the lo-co's got going at Gatwick. Our neighbours have just flown to Palma from Bristol with Easy even though there are 4 flights a week from BOH with flight only from £99.

On the positive side for Palmair though, a lot of people in the area will only ever book Palmair/Bath Travel. Its almost a local tradition down here.

Re European. Who knows? I have no idea how things are going for them.

IDC thats exactly my point. Palmair already is under pressure from the locos at Gatwick, Southampton and Bristol. So if TOM start at BOH then I don't really see it being too much of an issue for Palmair.

Hopefully you'll be able to make use of BOH next year if this comes off:ok:

Palmair

FLYboh, I think your observations about Palmair already competing with locos merely reinforce the very questions about them that were in my mind. To drop from £230 to £99 may be an impressive competitive response, but;

a) Your experience is that people are still migrating to still lower fares from BRS/SOU/LGW etc
b) Unless you're making truly massive profits in the first place you can't suffer a yield reduction like that without sustaining serious damage.

The only hope an operator would normally have when faced with these pressures is to change their business model (i.e.abandon seat only, or become a loco themselves). Bigger equipment with the attendant economies of scale would be one antidote, especially they've got a loyal client base, but the risks would be enormous.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Palmair might be like the family grocer on the corner of the High Street faced with a Tesco Superstore opening just out of town...

This sounds like Good news.

Just ask any passengers that fly from bournemouth and most will say its a shame the flight are the same old destinations.

Roll on the new flights.

Thunderball 2, I would agree with you except that Palmair PAX numbers this summer have been equal to that of previous years and as IDC points out and myself. Lots of people have already switched to the loco market. My suggestion is that the market here at BOH has settled down to those who will purchase flight only so they can get to their/ friends villas in Spain or those who need a package holiday. It is still much cheaper to take a 7 night IT holiday with Palmair than fly to Spain at £50 return and book a 6 night hotel stay.

Loco flights are great if you have a cheap place to stay when you get there, but if not a package holiday is always going to be the cheaper option.

Bournemouths daily local newspaper is reporting that a loco will announce BOH as its new base on wednesday after 10 a.m.

Judging by what has been reported on here it would appear to be Thomsonfly.

If this comes off it must have been a deal with the whole Thomson group as they've returned to BOH on the charter side as of this winter for the first time since 2000.

Fingers crossed for BOH. Could this finally be their turn????

:ok:

Thomesonfly and BOH
 

Cant wait for the Ryanair reaction.

I'm sure Ryanair would love to keep BOH under their thumb adding new routes slowly and making as much dosh as poss. This will speed up the route addition process i'm sure.

I reckon 2006 BOH will overtake SOU in terms of pax. Watch this space

thomsonfly at Bournemouth, but what about NEMA?
 

this is talking about services to Salzburg airport

"TUI’s new low cost carrier ThomsonFly is getting ready to add
new services from Bournemouth, UK to complement flights from Coventry effective 26 November. FlyBE. is
reducing its flights to weekends only from Birmingham and Southampton, UK. ThompsonFly may also serve the
airport from Nottingham East Midlands in the UK, the airport believed."


from http://www.eraa.org/ERANews011004.pdf