EXETER
 

Good news for the far south west.

Half million in first 6 months of financial year

Exeter International Airport passenger figures for the first six months of this financial year (2005/06) show a 31% increase compared with the same period last year. The passengers passing through the airport from 1 April until 30 September totalled 524,266. The airport’s growth has been substantial in the past few years and the current passenger numbers compared to those of the first six months of 2003/04 reveal an increase of 121%.

Exeter is one of the fastest growing regional airports in the UK and the greater number of scheduled routes is the main reason for the increase in passengers. Flybe’s service to Edinburgh has seen a huge rise of 76% and is the busiest of all the scheduled routes on offer from the airport. Paris has been the second most popular of the scheduled services for the first half of this financial year but as the route started in March there are no comparisons to the previous year. The third most popular of the scheduled flights is to Alicante with an increase of 56%.

Of the domestic and UK route usage during the period, Edinburgh is followed by Newcastle in second place then Jersey and Glasgow. These services are considerably benefiting the inbound tourism industry in the region.

Charter services on behalf of tour operators have continued in popularity with Palma in top place for passenger numbers since April followed by Dalaman in Turkey, then Tenerife. Travellers to Crete were up by 44% and those to Faro up by 32% compared to the same period last year.

The airport also handled nearly 3,000 passengers that were not intending to land at Exeter International Airport. Exeter is the highest ranked airport in the UK for inbound diversions from other airports with Plymouth and Newquay-bound aircraft regularly using the airport. Flights for Cardiff, Bristol and Southampton also use Exeter International Airport as an alternative when they are unable to land at those Airports due to bad weather.

With the news this week that double daily flights to Manchester will be starting in February, Exeter International Airport should reach the landmark figure of one million passengers in financial year 2005/06.

OFT apparently takes 24 weeks to investigate and report on such matters and the report on EXT is due by end of March 2006!

Meanwhile, it's well done to flybe and EXT on the latest traffic figures.

Flybe have asked the proposed airport bidder to gracefully withdraw from the bid. May be an indication of their frustration in the deal being delayed until March 2006 at least, on present passenger figures EXT will need of a new terminal building sooner rather than later.

Westcountry airline Flybe has dealt a Bristol-based consortium's controversial plans to buy Exeter Airport another blow by calling for the group to "gracefully withdraw" its bid.

The low-cost airline - the biggest operator at the airport - believes it would be in the region's best economic and consumer interests if South West Airports Consortium (SWAC) pulled out.

The move continues a difficult week for SWAC and the airport's owner Devon Country Council, and comes just days after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) announced it was referring the issue to the Competition Commission.

The commission will address fears that SWAC - the council's preferred bidder and a major shareholder in Bristol Airport - will mean Exeter is treated as a secondary flight centre attracting less lucrative routes and offering a poorer all-round service than its neighbour.

Now Flybe's chief commercial officer Mike Rutter has said that it is time for a fresh start for both SWAC and the council. "We believe that it is against the consumer interests for airports of broadly similar catchment areas to be owned by the same body," he said.

"If they are owned by the same group, inevitably what will take place is a reduction in competition between the two areas. Therefore there will be an increase in costs and an increase in consumer prices and consumer choice of destinations.

"We believe that it should be a matter of Government policy, in the best interests of UK PLC economy, that they seek to have competing airports within adjacent catchment areas."

He said SWAC - a partnership between Macquarie Airports Group (MAG) and Ferrovial - was a "fine organisation" which has done many positive things in the region.

He said: "We have expressed our interests to SWAC over many months. In the interests of the South West economy and the best interests of everybody in the South West, they should gracefully withdraw.

"Devon County Council also have the complete ability to be able to now withdraw from the process and to reopen it to other players.

"In the best interests of the South West economy we believe they should seek to do that."

Mr Rutter said that a Competition Commission inquiry in 1995 into the proposed purchase of Belfast City Airport by Belfast International Airport, saw the body taking the view that competing airports should have different owners.

"We believe that is a fairly important precedent and one that is likely to be followed in this particular case," he said.

In referring the issue earlier this week, the OFT said the deal "raised concerns" about the loss of competition, which could "adversely effect" passenger choice.

MPs and business leaders had voiced concerns that economic growth, new flight routes and development could all be stunted as a result of the takeover - claims which SWAC denies.

The commission does not have to report back until March 27, almost a year after SWAC was first announced as the preferred bidder for the airport.

Following Flybe's comments, a SWAC spokesman said: "We are considering our next steps but do not wish to make any further comment at this stage."

A spokesman for Devon County Council said: "The county council notes the announcement by the OFT.

"Exeter International Airport is a terrific success story with the biggest rise in number of aircraft handled by a regional airport last year - up 45 per cent and passenger numbers up by nearly a third in the first half of 2005.

"The county council will continue to support the airport's success while pursuing the aim of securing the right kind of strategic investment in the company.

"We will take appropriate steps to ensure that aim is achieved."

Flybe axing LPL
 

Looks like LPL is being axed the day the double daily MAN services commence. I cannot book LPL-EXT flights past Feb 16th and the timetable has been amended. I would like to see a middle of the day service to the North West so I hope that MAN proves successful enough to make it three times daily. Would also like to see double daily services to GLA, NCL and LBA, all of these services seem to be performing well.

Double daily to DUB would also be a big help, as it would make a "short" trip much easier, at present, there's no easy way to get over later in the day, so that means extra time off work if it's a leisure trip, or a 2 day trip if it's business, which makes for serious expense additions.

Today's Exeter Excess & Error newspaper reports that the South West Airports Consortium/Macquarie have withdrawn their bid to purchase Exeter.

:ooh:

Bloombergs confirm the above post saying that the bid has been withdrawn because the regulatory review process was taking too long.

A Macquarie spokewoman was quoted, "There's been no decision against it, but the process just kept dragging on and it's a very small acquisition from our perspective."

I suspect that SWAC have bowed to the inevitable in that the proposed sale would probably have been blocked following the enquiry.

I think it is a great shame because I could see Macquarie/Ferrovial doing great things for EXT. Let’s hope that whoever does buy the airport is of a similarly proven stature.

Anyone know if Brest is coming back as a route next year? It never seemed overly popular so I'm guessing not....

no, the BES will not be returning in S06, but i guess it may return in S07 when the EMBs are in service as their seating capacity is less making it more viable than running a 73 out there with 30 pax on!
**anyone know which route flybe are planning to introduce with the new a/c at EXT??***

Will be good to see the based FCA 320 back for the winter to keep EXT ticking over nicely, its again the CWL summer a/c but FCA are using Skyservice nxt summer in CWL, could this be an indication of a year round base for FCA? Maybe to late for S06 but S07 may look promising to FCA, who knows????

Exeter Excess & Error newspaper reports that £4.2million is to be spent upgrading the infrastructure at Exeter shortly. The money is to be spent on extending the arrivals area, fuel storage and additional aircraft stands.

I'm told that the additional stands are to be built on the current grass parking area between the tower and the "D" hardstanding i.e.opposite the Exeter Flying Club.

The Exeter Flying Club aircraft will have to go northside as the disused 13/31 is to be used for biz-jet parking. Exeter is busy with biz-jets from October to December with the demand for sport shooting in SW England.

I've just read on another thread about Air Wales coming into EXT anyone shed some light? From what I was reading seems that they're likely to pull out of Plymouth.

I think Air Wales are pulling their Irish services from PLH. ORK is moving to EXT and DUB looks as though its being scrapped as you can't book it after January 2nd. However, they appear to be maintaining services to ABZ and NCL via CWL.

Class D airspace for EGTE
 

There are proposals for Class "D" airspace around Exeter.

See this link Devon Strut newsletter (near the bottom) for some details.

I'm surprised Air Wales have stayed in Plymouth as long as they have looking at the prices they charge, they aren't exactly cheap. I see the ORK services are £29 each way which is a Flybe kinda price. Wouldn't suprise me if they start ORK from EXT soon....

Devon guy, Air Wales are starting EXT-ORK in January... As detailed in earlier postings.
Would like to see flybe look at Germany. Bearing in mind Devon's & Cornwall's appeal in the German holiday market. Also AMS would be a winner and I feel attract more inbound pax than the CDG service has to date.

EXT-AMS would certainly be a winner with my Cornish in-laws! A wild guess would suggest that AMS slots would be the inhibiting factor if they don't start the route in the next 12 months.

Oops, realised after I posted that my ramble sounded ambiguous, I meant I don't think it will be too long before Flybe introduce an ORK service from EXT to push Air Wales out.

From Blackpool Today
Blackpool International Airport owners City Hopper are thought to be closing in on the sale of the South West's (far) largest regional airport.
Exeter Airport – which is home to fast growing no-frills airline Flybe – is at the centre of a £100m takeover bid.
Paul Whelan, executive chairman of City Hopper, said: "We are very close to a decision on the sale of Exeter Airport. We have been in discussion for several months are we are expecting an announcement very soon."

As rumoured earlier Flybe EXT-GLA officially now going twice daily (except Sat) from the 16th Feb, bookable online. Anyone know when the domestic services go on sale for summer 06 with Flybe?

BAE146-300 VH-EWR
 

This aircraft has now arrived at Exeter does any one know the reason for comming to EXETER??

We have heard a rumour that it may be for Fly Be can anyone confirm this.

If this is correct why wpild they be getting another BAE146 when they are due to recieve more Dash8s shortly and in the near future the Embraer.

I too have heard it is heading to Flybe!

mmeteesside

possibly to provide backup for the Dash 8's? They do seem to be having some "issues" with them at the moment. I'm still trying to find out what went wrong with the DUB flight last weekend, and it's gone very quiet on that subject.

This thread relates to EWR:
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...hreadid=199095

There just isn't enough back up at the moment when something goes wrong so if this a/c is bound for flybe then it will be a stby a/c i expect.

BAE 146 VH-EWR
 

With reference this Bae 146 we believe there is a second aircraft around in the form of VH-EWN would this be another back up for Fly-Be?????

With the problems with the Dash fleet they need some back up

With the announcement of new routes for next year they will be stretching them selves??

Am i correct in saying the aircraft based at Exeter are 2 Dash, 1 Bae 146 and a B737??.

Another Dash 400 Problem
 

This mornings early EXT-CDG flight departed near enough on time but 10 to 15 minutes into the flight the aircraft returned to EXT.

Was this another Dash 8 type tech problem???

The flight was due to go again approx one hour thirty minutes later but i do not know if the flight operated this morning before i left work.

can anyone explain the rationale behind the new EXT to BERGERAC route with flybe?!??! Surely other routes would be much better served - presuming slots could be found - eg AMS, NCE, BCN, RME etc etc - if they are using the 737 then range isn't an argument, but i'm sure even the Q400 could work on NCE or AMS??
AMS = major hub = connections = extra pax
Bergerac = ??? = few pax

146'S
 

A latest rumour was that European (EAAC) had pruchased two also from Australia, are these not the acft for them ? (Flybe carrying out the maint?)

fly20,

The likes of NCE, BCN and AMS are destinations already served ex BRS. Flybe have demonstrated that they are committed to the regions in the UK and the same is apparent in France. Not everyone wants the big city destinations.

Flybe is catering primarily for repeat business and for UK travellers heading to France this means taking them to the regions where they have their second homes, places like Limoges, Bergerac, Brest etc. The added benefit is that for those that have already made the move out to France you pick up the VFR (visiting friends/relations) traffic heading out to see them.

This type of destination creates the repeat business that all airlines need and not the type of travellers that will necessarily just nip off for a weekend break. It is also well within the reach of the Q400 which is ideal for this sort of route.

Flybe have said countless times that they are not out to compete directly with FR or EZY. With this being the case, why fly to the same places making it look like you are?

Just for the record....Flybe are not getting anymore 146's! Not sure where that came from. They are getting rid of them prior to the new EMB's coming in. Why get more!

MV,

Thanks for your response. I'm not sure that Flybe want to reduce services at BRS, rather that it may be difficult to expand services further without setting up an actual crew and aircraft base at the airport, something that may be impractical given the closeness of EXT.

The BOD/EGC routes are facilitated via the BHD route, the aircraft being based at BHD and flying down from BHD and then out to EGC/BOD. I think that last year the EGC route was operated as a W pattern ex SOU, much like the TLS service is ex BHX.

It may be that the cost of setting up a crew base at BRS may put pressure on the viability of services. Maybe Flybe are trialling services from EXT to see if the demand is there. SOU,BHX and BRS have all proved popular with EXT and LBA joining Flybe routes to EGC for Summer 2006.

I very much doubt that a full pull out from BRS is likely. The TLS route does very well with high yield traffic from BAe heading down to Airbus at TLS. I sincerely hope that Flybe do not pull out from BRS but I think it likely that any major expansion will feature at EXT in the short term.

Re: EXETER
 

Looks like the airport is going back on the market this week. Heard today it is likely to go for even more than the SWAC were going to pay.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/4613160.stm

Re: EXETER
 

Who do you think will likly buy the airport?

Re: EXETER
 

Would Manchester Airport Group be interested?

Re: EXETER
 

That implies that it would be worth more to a different buyer than to SWAC - don't really understand why that would be. SWAC would have been removing a competitor to BRS and tying up a regional monopoly in the South West. Another buyer will have to compete with BRS?

In all honesty the money that airports go for when you consider the level of capital expenditure required to maintain and expand them seems crazy to me... but then I haven't got £20m to invest anyway...:)

There was certainly plenty of interest at the last tender stage, I'm sure it will be sold if the council want the money.

Re: EXETER
 

the reason the airport is now worth more is that since the airport was last put up for tender there have been several developments which would lead to an increase in it's value; namely the increase in passenger numbers since the last tender date (over a year ago), subsequent investment in the airport (new baggage belts etc), and new route announcements by flybe and some new charter services. there are now around 40% more daily flights than when the airport was put up for sale the last time, which provides potential for many more passengers to pass through the doors.

Re: EXETER
 

The passenger number increase will have some impact but I would have expected the purchase price to be more based on future potential than current numbers. Any capital expenditure in the last year will increase the purchase price though.

My guess is that the price may be a little (5%?) higher but not much more. We shall see!

This article is from today's Exeter Express & Echo.
http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/displa...entPK=13847826
I just hope it is sold to an airport operator rather than venture capitalists

EXT Summer 07 - any ideas
 

Has anyone heard anything as to new routes for Summer 07? FCA were a hairs width from basing an a/c there for Summer 06 but pulled out - any advance on this for next season?
Looks set to be a busy summer this season with extra flybe routes and RHO,Bourgas and some increased frequencies on the other charters!
Where is the Egypt route??

Flybe. are considerably increasing and swapping route capacity at EXT this summer.
ALC
1645 1_3_5_7 733
1210 ___4___ 143
BHD
1410 1234567 DH4
EGC
0900 ______7 DH4
0950 _____6_ DH4
1055 1_3_5__ 143
BES
0925 ______7 DH4
1315 1_3_5__ DH4
DUB
0955 12345__ DH4
1320 ______7 733
1355 _____6_ 733
EDI
0700 123456_ 143
1010 ______7 DH4
1505 _____6_ DH4
1825 ______7 DH4
1830 12345__ 143
FAO
1635 _2_4___ 733
1655 _____6_ 733
GLA
1010 12345__ DH4
1100 _____6_ 143
1855 12345_7 DH4
GCI
0705 12345__ DH4
1255 _____6_ DH4
1605 12345__ DH4
1610 ______7 DH4
JER
0705 12345__ DH4 via GCI
1020 _____6_ DH4
1605 12345__ DH4 via GCI
1745 ______7 DH4
LBA
0705 _____6_ DH4
1250 ______7 143
1255 _2_4___ DH4
1510 1_3_5__ 143
AGP
0715 1_34_6_ 733
MAN
0645 123456_ DH4
1600 ______7 DH4
1615 12345__ DH4
MJV
1605 _____6_ 143
NCL
1030 123456_ DH4
1910 12345__ DH4
1915 ______7 143
NWI
1230 1234567 DH4
PMI
0720 _2__5_7 733
CDG
0630 123456_ DH4
1730 12345_7 DH4
As you can see the likes of EDI, EGC and DUB amongst others recieve a considerable capacity increase. The base will be 1x733, 1x143 and 3xDH4.
Regards
Mike