They will also have a oneworld competitor - BA already operate LCYAMS!

I would like to see them have a go at an ABZ - NCL - LCY route with the S2000, twice daily M - F

Are their Saab 2000s utilised fully at the moment, or is there plenty scope to utilise them more fully? Are they still looking for more?

More SAABs
 

Rumour has it, that there are two more winging their way to Eastern in the very near future...:mad: before the New Year at least..

I dont know but have heard that eastern are in talks on the IOM re IOM-AMS and IOM-LCY. Is there any truth or is this normal hearsay?

So, can anyone at HUY tell us if T3 plan to start AMS LCY services in January with the slots they got from KLM?

AMS-LCY-IOM-LCY-AMS am. AMS LCY IOM LCY AMS pm. SAAB 2000:cool:

I think if you were to assume an 8 x daily LCY-AMS service, with a Saab 2000 based at each end of the route working against each other, you might be rather closer to the plan. There is no sign of Eastern taking on IOM-LCY. The move onto AMS-LCY looks like a last-ditch effort to irritate someone sufficiently so that they buy Eastern.

Flybe seem hell-bent on crushing Eastern and so the prospect of them buying it is remote. If you look at the most recent set of Eastern accounts, they made a profit of £4m and £2.4m of that was paid out in dividends to the directors. This resulted in Eastern having less cash in the bank at the end of its financial year than before, reducing from £2.6m to £1.4m in the bank. To say that this is extravagant in relation to the size of the company would be an understatement akin to saying that Abraham Lincoln didn't enjoy his trip to the theatre.

AMS-LCY has to be the London City route with the most overcapacity already with both KLM and VLM being recently joined by BA Cityflyer. What would Eastern bring to the table except mounting losses?

Is this supposed new AMS-LCY not a contract for KLM? I seem to remember they were supposed to start INV-AMS for KLM so going in direct competition with them from LCY may not be a clever idea?! :hmm:

Well we all know how quick Eastern are to axe failing routes, so we shouldn't have to wait too long to find out if it's been a success or not.

Its nigh on impossible to get hold of slots at peak times now at LCY, unless like T3 you get hold of someone elses - in this case KLM Cityhopper's.

T3 could only do IOM if they use some of the LCYAMS slots instead, unless they want to flew off peak to IOM, which is not much good for most business pax.

Maybe better slightly off peak LCY IOM than not at all? I'm sure Dickie could do a very friendly deal to provide competition (but not too much) on AMS as part of slot swap and keep competition authority off KLM/VLM/AF.:ooh:

Last year Kaupthing, the Icelandic bank nationalised today, provided finance to Eastern. I dont want to scare-monger but have Eastern still got any exposure to them?
Regional airline gets Birmingham investment - Birmingham Post

its not if I'd borrowed money from the Icelandics I'd worry...it's if I'd lent them mine. :{I'm sure Richard's got his millions safely under an english matress not an icelandic one.;)

It doesn't matter if the finance came from an Icelandic Bank or the Clangers, it's not Eastern's problem.
Just as it wouldn't be if your High Street Bank went under with you owing them money - the debt just gets sold on to whoever takes them over or buys the assets.

Another Sir Dickie admitted this morning that Virgin Airlines had most of their liquid day to day operating cash tied up with HBOS, a sum of over £20m, and that when they tried to move it they found the safe door at HBOS firmly closed.
The bearded one freely admitted that had they not been able to rely on getting cash quickly transferred from his own and "other resources" (I assume within the group), they would have probably had to temporarily cease operating a number of profitable services or even shut down all together.

What you say is essentially correct, although the bank acquiring the debt may well have a different view of 'credit risk' and therefore be less willing to continue to advance funds on the same basis.

This comment is not specific to this airline, but is a general fact in such situations.

I agree with Tonyq, but does anyone know what type of 'financing' Kaupthing S&F provided? Was it a loan, sale and leaseback facility, etc.?

Singer and Friedlander have (or at least used to have before the merger with Kaupthing) a sizeable asset management division. My only real worry would be if Eastern use assets leased from Kaupthing; do Eastern own the SAABs?

waterpau

Anyone know the reason behind Eastern using the Saab from Norwich on all the afternoon flights from Durham Tees to Aberdeen today? KB positioned in from NWI and flew the 586/7/8/9 (66L/67L/68L/69L) before positioning back to NWI this evening! Short of J41 crew :} or big loads :ok: ???

Eastern Airways
 

LCY here we come :ok: The airline the city has been waiting for :)

http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/Mergers_home/consultations/air-france

That's right SNAEFELL - an airline with consistently high fares and a history of ditching LCY within months of starting ops. (NCL LCY)

Good luck!

Thats certainly an ambitious proposal - LCY/AMS up to 8 times a day - against AFKLM.
It remains to be seen if they operate all the flights, but they will be operating the first flight out and last flight back to and from AMS, both of which will be nearly an hour earlier and later than AFKLM, which is bound to appeal to the business traveller.
I don't suppose that all that many folk going to AMS from LCY really need to interline, or if they want to they will for the most part, only be carrying light luggage for a few nights in Europe, so if Eastern can't get that facility in AMS it won't be the end of the world.
Given their much lower operating costs v the monolith that is AFKLM, they can easily match the fares,even if they were discounted by the opposition.

Hope it goes well for them.

Price war on AMS LCY? If you were AF would you sell to someone who'd cut prices? Nope, nice cosy high fare route itll be but with Eastern's good looking trolley dollys :Dand free champers. Theyll all do very nicely thankyou:ok:

Good news for Eastern that! Seems a very clever move from AF/KL too.

Anyone know the reason behind Eastern using Saabs on all Durham Tees-Aberdeen's today? While a J41 sat spare all day, joined by a 2nd when it arrived from Haugesund at lunchtime (well, 1150) - are they short of J41 crew or are the loads just too big for the J41's to cope with? Surely they don't oversell by that many?! :confused:

Just short of J41 captains at the moment

Have any been short listed to fly Thunderbird Three parked outside the Sim Hangar? Hope it gets painted in Eastern Colours.

Thunderbird 3
 

I am a sci-fi fan so hopefully they will choose me. I might need to lose some weight though to look good in the uniform. And I want a ray gun.

Is that where T3 comes from?

How are they going to operate 8 daily flights between LCY and AMS if the proposed new route gets off the ground? They will need at least 2 Saab 2000s for that route, with one each being based at LCY and AMS according to the proposed schedule. If I am not mistaken, they only have 6 on strength.

The Thunderbird 3 at HUY arrived a couple of months ago from Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Dont think its anything to do with the origin of the T3 code

Hi Virginblue

I would be supprised if planning a new route from point A to point B that the question has not been asked. Can we do it with the planes we have or do we need some more?

Thunderbird 3 will be for the ABZ SCS service:E

2 more SAABs arrive next month

Its just been announced in Shetland that Eastern have gotten the IAC contract at Scatsta with SAAB 2000's - Let the fun begin :rolleyes:

That's funny, I remember exactly the same comments when Flightline took over from BWA. Who knows, maybe the IAC do know what they're doing:ooh:

Just goes to show you not to listen to rumours - I heard it was FLYBE who'd won it. DOH!

T3 Scatsta
 

So whats the probability that Eastern will move their Ops to ABZ, which will be its busiest hub by far?

It's the interim contract they've won, taking them to Jul 2010. Wonder if that puts them in pole position for the contract "proper" when it's put out to tender at the end of this month.

As for moving from HUY, cannot see that, all their main infrastructure is there, they would have to build at ABZ I would have thought if they wanted to move HQ.

Wasn't it the same position with Flightline - did they not pick up an interim contract when BWA folded which then led to them being awarded the main contract?

UKpaxman

Yeah, that's how I remember it as well. Still couldn't beat the whine of the BAF Viscounts though! :ok:

UKpaxman RT

You guys are correct. Flightline took it almost overnight in Dec 01 after BWA went pear shape, then awarded interim contract and subsequently main contract which was to run until July 2010. Thence they've lost it in the current fiasco, to the "modern, quieter more comfortable SAAB 2000". (Quoted from pax info flyer)