GSM
 

is GSM flying to Jersey in the summer?

Just saw that the traditional saturday charters from Germany on behalf of TUI/Wolters for 2009 only include Hanover and Frankfurt, opb by Lufthansa. Apparently no charter flight from DUS, which will, however, have a scheduled Lufthansa service and the new airberlin service.

The TUI website says that it "probably" will be possible to just book GCI-JER, but my understanding is that this will have to go through the tour operator as it is a charter flight. Apparently this is still subject to government approval.

Munich has also been dropped by Wolters.

Durham Tees does not appear to be operating either with Globespan. The route had good loads, but as with bmibaby before, it’s a result of the airline closing the base. I suspect it will return as a charter flight but it is yet another loss for the summer, which is bad new for tourism on top of other route closures/reductions.

With the loss of Luton too, will it be third time lucky for Flybe on the route?

Is Luton being lost altogether; I thought it was just for the rest of the Winter season?

LTN
 

i thought it was just for the summer as it's not been doing very well

Luton Jersey
 

I understood that it was to return next summer. In a recent easyjet mag, I think November there was some commentary on Jersey, and that tag said Jersey -Easyjet fly from Luton and Liverpool. So that might suggest that they havent given up on it.

Besides all of that it is likely that a sweet deal was given to get Easyjet into Jersey. So unlikely they will give up on it so soon. Perhaps they will enter the LGW market?

All other routes from Luton are available to book for the summer on the Easyjet website except for Jersey, which is an ominous sign.

Were loads that poor on the route as not to be able to operate the route during the summer? I know that with the current economic woes the Island’s air-links can’t be taken for granted, but if Luton is lost then it’s going to have such a detrimental impact on the tourism numbers next summer along with other reductions. The authorities attached a lot of hype and importance to the route along with Liverpool, so it’s just very disappointing that it couldn't last even a year.

The daily Luton route seemed to carry between 6,000/7,000 pax a month during the summer, so seemed fairly reasonable. It is not coming back with easy, for whatever reason, but Flybe are certainly in the frame again to replace.

That works out to 200 pax per day (on 6000 pax in a 30 day month). I know EZY pack em in but they dont to that capacity!

However I was under the impression it was doing rather well, certainly when I saw the pax figs (which were a few times per week over the summer) it was usually 120+.

But don't forget the JER-LON market is well served. With 11-12 LGW services per day (1300 seats(ish)), plus 2 LHRs (74 seats presently) one has to question how many more services are actually required.

On a separate note does anyone know which aircraft BD/LH will be sending to JER next summer? Currently showing as an E135 in amadeus. Would be nice, if a tad optimistic, to think they would upgrade it to an airbus again?

!

CAA stats show July 6841, Aug 8035, Sept 6118.

9238 seats available per month available assuming a 31 day month and a 149 seat B737.

149 x 2 x 31 = 9238

OK, my mistake! Was working it out one way :ugh:

New Operation for 2009
 

Any ideas on this one?

A company is interested in operating to Jersey with ATR and EMB195
aircraft.:ok:

With Guernsey unable to take the EMB195 there will be some tie up with AURIGNY?:)

From information passed on this could be happening this summer 2009.

The information did say about parking aircraft at Jersey, so could this be for some long term parking?:O

Another route to fall?
 

Today there will be an annoncement on the loss of another major route into and out of Jersey.:*

The operator and the States have known for some time that this will happen, they were just waiting for the day to tell every one.:ugh:

It will be no surprise to some of us that this was going to happen.

Should find out later on in the day or it might have even been released by now.:(

Travel Mole report its bmi's LHR service

It doesn't come as a surprise, the viability of the Jersey - Heathrow has been questionable since day one. Whilst I was pleased to see the route re-installed, it seemed inevitable that it would eventually be dropped with the changes that are occurring at bmi and the economic situation.

I imagine that the airport authorities and ministers are now going to come under criticism for what has happened. I don’t think offering the subsidy to bmi was necessarily a bad thing, overall it's been part of a pro-active attempt at improving Jersey’s air-links which has been quite successful. But the loss of the Island’s “trophy” route is a large blow to those who supported it, considering the concern raised over the undisclosed subsidy that was offered and previous assurance of the route's continuation :hmm:

There was never enough passengers to maintain it long term. If it had stayed on the Embraers then there would have been a chance, but with these being moved out of LHR there was no way it would stay without a significant increase in business.

Despite relatively heavy advertising in the Island, there never has been the local business support that it needed to make the route viable. Even travelers with connections from LHR would take the 7am LGW flight and sit on the M25 for 1 hour+ to get to LHR.

One of the reasons is that with the extremely high number of BA Exec members of here. Although I wonder weather the few extra Exec Club points were worth the bother, when many are flying on long haul anyway (gaining large numbers of points in the process). But as I've said I've before on here - points mean prizes, and those prizes are obviously worth the inconvenience for many.

I don't blame bmi whatsoever. They gave it a good stab, and even with financial backing it was still making a loss. With LH taking over and (one would expect) being pretty ruthless, it was only a matter of time.

BMI LHR service n/a after 28th March
 

Just tried to book LHR-JER return at the end of March on the BMI website & it's saying last available service will be on Saturday 28th March. All dates after that are n/a so assume this confirms previous contributions although checking their media page no official announcement as yet.

Let's all be clear; the BMI service LHR/JER was simply a means of keeping the slot pair warm. It was never, ever going to be a viable operation commerically, even before looking at the opportunity cost of a slot pair wasted on that route.

Those in Jersey who thought otherwise, or professed to, were in fairyland, and were told that many times.

Let's not get into how much Jersey taxpayer's money was thrown away on their self-delusion.

In spite of what Jersey people think, Jersey's interests have no importance whatsoever on the mainland when priorities are being decided.

The Channel Islands need their own, robust airline, and it is a great pity that the short-sighted stupidity of Guernsey's politicians have prevented that being created.

Maybe a triangular GCI-JER-LHR route would be viable?



On another subject I hear GR are about to announce a "new" route from JER