Binder

If that was the reason wouldn't they have an LPL-LTN & MAN-LTN route?

Because its easier to drive from Liverpool or Manchester maybe?

Easyjet did have a Luton - Liverpool route for quire a while in the early days but it was not viable. Similarly bmi had a Liverpool - Heathrow route for a while and even tried a SF340 on it but again it was not viable.

Turning to routes to Paris, there are a lot fewer services from the combined London area airports now compared to pre the tunnel e.g bmi to CDG and Orly from LHR.

easyJet has announced that the Liverpool to Gibraltar service will commence on Tuesday 29th March 2011 operating three times a week. I think this is at the expense of Liverpool to Dubrovnik which appears to have been dropped.

I usually use Monarch from MAN on my trips to GIB but EZY appears to be alot cheaper from LPL.
What are the loadings like on these flights? I'm a bit cautious with EZY when it comes to punctuality and customer service and the allocated seat is something I don't mind paying a bit more for...cause I hate the stampede for seats!
But for nearly £100 less for 2 adults swapping to EZY is really tempting...any reason why I shouldn't?

Punctuality has improved a LOT this year and is not bad at all anymore. If you don't want to compete with the herd for seats, you can purchase the "speedy boarding" malarky and be on the plane as one of the first passengers and choose your own seat as you like.

Not being biased........but
OTP (ontime performance) is now consistently 85% plus (and we operate 1200 sectors a day). Free seating policy.....well allocated seating makes sense IMO and I think in the mid term future, Easy will introduce it. However, the "stampede" isn't actually that bad and is quite often kept very civilised depending on where you are and seating problems (which also arise on allocated seating) only occur on flights where pax load are 95% full which, accounting for now shows, is quite rare.

ZB have their plus points however but inflight service is similar.

If it's a considerable amount you are saving then the cheapest option is probably the best.

LPL-GIB
 

I`ve used the Easy LPL-GIB route a couple of times this year having previously used the Monarch service from Manchester. I swopped due to price as well and find the service excellent...It does seem to have quite high load factors and is operated on the 319. Have done with and without speedy boarding and you do get on the plane on the first wave but other than high season I wouldnt bother with it...

Re service, nothing extra on Monarch you dont get with Easy, but the Scouse crews are usually real good fun and a pleasure to be with :D oh yes and you save a fortune to boot :D..On time has been very good also

any idea what the remaining flights out of southend might be? was to be either scotland or mainland europe,gone very quiet

could it be dublin? aer arann didn't take the opportunity

GLA and EDI were announced by them as well as the 8 on sale.

if it was to be dublin it could be quite a nice little money maker.if the timeing was right there might be a link up with EI to JFK.

EZY got their balls booted last time they flew to Eire from the UK, as did GO which was sold to easyJet. FR take it personally, if EZY fly SEN-DUB, FR would either compete or slash STN fares to kill the route.

i feel that dublin- sen would be a great route for easy and something that actually might beat ryanair for once , would ryanair really slash prices on the stn and lose money route just to make a point?

Yes. Yes it would. It has the money to make a point to stay out of Dublin, and good luck if easyJet does try SEN-DUB.

fr-

You obviously didn't witness the last time that Easyjet tried to enter the Republic of Ireland Market. Ryanair literally matched Easyjet on every route they tried and flooded the market with free seats.

Cork-Gatwick was Easyjet's most successful route from the Republic with frequency gradually increased to a 3 times daily service. Ryanair initially dropped fares and increased frequency on Cork-Stansted, with it going up to 4 daily at one point. When that didn't seem to be working, they launched a twice daily Cork-Gatwick service in direct competition with Easyjet and flooded the market with even more cheap seats. They had even put a 3 times daily service on sale before Easyjet finally gave in and axed the route. This all went on for about two years and during this time fares were so cheap that I doubt that anyone made any money on any of the Cork to London routes.

I think that something similar happened when Go tried to enter the Dublin market.

Hmmm..
Disabled flyers left at airport - Edinburgh Evening News

Ultimately, it's much cheaper to operate from SEN than STN and despite whatever pricing FR gets at DUB, I'm sure EZY could come in close and ultimately keep year round low cost profitable flights... FR is stuck in a high cost battle. Financially EZY could stick it out at a loss just to make a point. But also given Stobart interests in Aer Arann, I wouldnt be surprised if they are pushing to get SEN-DUB operating under EI Regional umbrella, so Stobart may throw a funny if EZY want to operate it.

There is no doubt that Easyjet V Ryanair competition on NOC/ORK/SNN to LGW was a blood bath, but the question is could FR land at SEN if they wanted to, reference to the point above on this post, 'When that didnt seem to be working', ie would a reaction on STN DUB be enough to make the route unfeasible for Easyjet?

Given that SEN is serving an area with good population, and presumably EZY would have its own share of low fares, could the route be niche enough with appropriate frequency to be largely unaffected by an FR reaction on STN DUB?

EI-BUD

FRs 737s dont have the performance to operate in/out of SEN. MOL was once quoted saying that never again he would operate into an airfield where he would have to payload restrict.

hope stobarts tell MOL were he can shove his planes