SOUTHAMPTON
 

Looked at SOU Winter 11/12 schedule and disappointed not to see 'rumoured' Jet2 service...any one know what is happening with this ? SOU schedule appears quite light on flights based on previous years.

What was the Jet2 rumour about then ?

And why isn't this question in the long running Southampton thread? ;)

http://www.pprune.org/airlines-airpo...uthampton.html

Jet 2
 

I agree why is this not in the SOU thread!

I would also like to know about this 'rumour' regarding Jet 2 at SOU although personally I would have thought if anything Jet 2 would be flying from BOH regarding there history with the airport and it's longer runway which would be neeed for their route network as to SOU shorter runway.

Or is this just a 'plane spotters rumour'?

When I was a kid and was a plane spotter I can remember all those rumours about this and that but at the end of the day it was all the usuall wishfull thinking by plane spotters and hardly any of it became reality!

Which I should imagine this rumour turns out to be, don't get me wrong I would love it to be true but my cynical self says NON!

Haven't heard anything about the Jet2 rumor either? Also it seems the Thomson PMI flight will be a Flybe E195 next year and a Saturday rather than the Thursday it was this year. A shame to not see Spanair return as the flights were mostly full (A320's) and the takeoff's from SOU's little runway were spectacularly powerful, as I experienced first hand!! Can't imagine what a 757 would be like!!

Flights
 

You never know it may still change to spanair again for next year ,as this years thurs flight was down to be opperated by flybe and only changed to spanair in december to give more seats .

And as for the 757 opperating from sou no probs ,the 757 has a better take off and landing performance than the 320 so is good on short runways but more seats to sell .

col

However, they were limited to, I believe, 70 odd passengers and PMI was as far as it could get.

Not that great really.

They could probably fill one, PMI is a popular destination and I know a number of people who live on the same road as me who often holiday there. Like I said they managed good loads with an A320 so I don't think filling a 757 would be too much trouble at least during the peak season anyway.

The 757's weren't' that restricted, they could just about make TFS with about 4 or 5 rows blocked off and the addition of winglets since then should enable the 757's to operate more profitably.

Adfly, you're probably right. I got my wires crossed and was talking about something else.

Uptoncol, you're not quite right. The 320 has better runway perf at MTOM than either the 737 or 757.

Flights
 

Well i have been to tfs on the 757 when it opperated from sou nov 2003 /apr2004 on a wet runway full 235 pax direct the spaniar flight which opperated the a320 mostly had to stop en route nantes to refuel .

I'm not disputing that but I suspect that the 320 would have been take off weight limited rather than runway length (ie performance) limited.

Think you'll find more of the problem is the ramp/stand space required for a 757 or a A321 at SOU rather than the length of the runway as there is only 1 stand I beleive capable of taking a aircraft of this size, and then it can only do it if the other stands arnt fully occupied.

Indeed, I believe all of the A32X's, and 737NG's along with the 757's have to park across two stands, either 2/3 or 3/4 due to their wingspans and tail heights!I believe the largest aircraft that can fit in one stand are the E195's, 737 classics and the 717.

SOU apron space
 

whatever happened to the BAA 'masterplan' to create a second terminal/apron on the eastern side of the airfield?

Apron stands
 

BAA Southampton should be thinking of making new aprons space as soon as possible before ANY new terminal ideas which I think they have changed there mind on anyway.

I wonder if the space occupied by the Royal Mail building is on a negotiated lease from the land owners, if that is the case it might be an idea if BAA could try and buy the land and find a way of relocating the Royal Mail depot over to the northeast corner of the airport where BAA had proposed further airport development and linking it to Chickenhall Lane at Bishopstoke.

BAA could then take over the area for further aircraft stands which I should imagine they could have at least 5 new stands by doing that and close to the current terminal.

It would be alot easier to do that then build a new terminal, etc on the other side of the runway.

Looking at the charter flights for next summer 2012 at the moment Thomas Cook have a Saturday Palma flight at 0700 with Flybe and Thomson have a Saturday Palma flight at 0730 also with Flybe , i was wondering if they may well merge these 2 flights as Malaga and Nice both depart at 0740 and 0710 using the EMB 195 unless there is an extra EMB 195 being based next summer ?

Palma 0700
Nice 0710
Palma 0730
Malaga 0740

Thomson may change their flight to their own aircraft or spanair, like last year, although this was not announced until December. It would be interesting to see what routes Flybe could add with an extra E195 based:

I could see the following working:

BCN - 5pw-daily
WAW - 3pw to cater for the large polish community in and around Southampton
MAH - 2pw
IBZ - 2pw
MPL - 2-3pw the three new French routes apparently did very well this year
FCO - 4pw
MXP - 5pw-daily
NAP - 2pw
MLA - 2pw - I believe this route used to be served by an Air Malta charter flight
INN - 1-2pw - Austrian/Inghams are cutting their BOH flight and INN is currently unnerved from SOU too

Note: these are just suggestions based on my humble knowledge and opinions and I realise that some may seem a little unrealistic, although I do believe at least some of my suggestions could do fairly well!

Flybe
 

I agree with you and BCN is long overdue from SOU.

I would like to see the return of Cork and Dubrovnik as well as Hamburg being added and maybe a Scandinavian destination but I could see BCN, IBZ, MAH, MPL, MXP, INN, WAW working.

Malta would be a good destination but it would probably work better with a charter flight rather then a scheduled flight.

Previously Air Malta operated charters from SOU on behalf of Thomson Holidays and Newmarket Holidays, they were popular although I think some were routed via Exeter!

BCN would be a dream come true for SOU but it still evades them after years of trying to get an operator on to the route. FlyBe fly over BCN to destinations further south ! If they are not interested and cant see the market potential, who will be ?

As for Malta, I think Air malta operated this charter but it went via BRS.

Air malta
 

Yes air malta did go via brs chartered by airtours 737.300 cheers col .

Just had a look at the current S12 schedules:

Blue Islands:

All of their JER and GCI flights are down to be operated by ATR42 500's so I assume they will be getting a couple more - also a sizeable increase in capacity compared to the Jetstreams especially since the frequency remains at ~3x daily for both routes.

Aurigny:

Much the same as this year although there do seem to be less flights especially Fri/sat/sun compared to this year.

Eastern

Aberdeen continues as 3 dailyish all on J41 bar Sunday which is a S20 via DTV. No sign of Dijon returning at the moment although I think it did perform fairly well with loads mostly in the 20's this year but don't take my word for it!

Skybus:

Same as last year 3x per week rising to 6x during peak times and at the start of the season at least it seems to be a 1-stop flight although it does not say where it stops.

Flybe:

Few changes to frequency's - BZR and PMI are up from 2x per week this year to 3x. Currently Verona is down as having no flights and Pau isn't even on the schedule although they may be released later.

Thomson:

PMI returns operated by a Flybe E195 on Saturday although the flight could still get upgraded later on as it was for this year.

Thomas Cook:

S12 is not currently bookable but it has been previously said that the flights will return as per this year - PMI on a Saturday and MAH on a Sunday both operated by Flybe E195's.

Thomascook s12 sou
 

Thomas cook holidays for s12 from sou are available starting sat 2nd june to pmi and sun 3rd june mah

cheers col

adfly

Looking on the Blue Islands website Guernsey/Jersey to Southampton next summer is showing as being operated by Jetstream.

Another Atr42-500 is expected to join the fleet next year.
I wonder how Flybe will react to this increase in aircraft size & therefore possible loss of pax on their own SOU Channel Islands routes?

Adfly - I suspect the early season Skybus flights will route via NQY, as that's what the current end of season flights are doing.

Jerbourg: 1 being added would only be enough to cover 1 of the routes as they are both non-stop so if the schedule is correct then they need third aircraft or some rescheduling elsewhere. This can all change though!!

Malta
 

It was an Air Malta Boeing 737-300 used on the route on behalf of Thomson Holidays and First Choice Holidays although separate companys at the time they shared the flight, it was not an Airtours chartered flight, plus Airtours never operated Boeomg 737s.

Several one off charters in conjunction with the Southern Daily Echo travel club along with Newmarket Holidays were also operated after Thomson and First Choice pulled Malta from there SOU IT schedule after only two seasons.

It has been mentioned that the flight went via BRS but I am sure some went via EXT!

Air malta
 

The air malta was chartered by airtours holidays using a air malta 737.300 it opperated on a tues evening ,the flights which opperated via ext were thomson chartered air europa 737.400 to alc on a sat and agp on a sun .

cheers col

Air Malta
 

You may be correct to the Air Malta flights being operated onbehalf of Airtours!

Thomson Holidays used Air Europa, Air Malta, Britannia (Thomson) and Sata for there IT flights and First Choice and Airtours generally used Air Malta, Iberoworld and Spanair.

During the 1998/2001 period there were IT flights to Alicante, Faro, Ibiza, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Palma, Tenerife.

Flights
 

Its a shame they do not offer many charter flights from sou these days .

col

All a bit regional really.

Yes I know they have flights to the continent, but the small mindedness there does nothing to help their progress!!!

Safety first
 

It comes down to safety, lack of classic 737/757 available in fleets these days and also the new A320/B738 being payload restricted if they operate from the runway at SOU.

Besides that point, the charter offering from BOH is substantial.

The two airports compliment each other perfectly.

Who is being small minded? The charter airlines for daring to think there is no strong economic case to operate from SOU?

...not small minded, SOU are probably just not interested in ad hoc charters for fear of taking opportunities from their dominant (90%+) carrier, Flybe. Added to this an unattractive apron configuration for anything above an E95 or baby Airbus, its easy to see why charters dont really fit with peak traffic parking...of course if the holiday charter companies could operate attractive out of peak slots through SOU, that may be a different story.

After many years of waiting and anticipation it seems we may finally get a BCN route from SOU! Apparently Vueling are considering adding SOU as part of their BCN expansion and it is currently being discussed on a.net! :ok:

This service will be diverted to BOH so often that eventually it will move over to BOH - in the same way Air Berlin did.

I don't think it will be, BOH does not have the same demand for a BCN route as FR already serve GRO. I can't see it needing to be diverted at all as the runway can cope easily and you still have room for 2 of Flybe's based E195's even with an A320 taking up two stands!

Sou Bcn route
 

Great news if its true. Lets just hope the timings are right. Sure Flybe will start serving it when they finally get their 175's!

Now how about that Scandanavian destination? Surely Flybe's tie up with Finncomm will allow for this?

Also surely a polish route, Southampton is 1/8th polish last time I checked!

BCN
 

Well I hope this pulls off as I will be on the first flight, a long overdue destination from SOU.

As I am usually traveling alone the extra costs of airport parking, fuel, time, etc to either LGW,LHR,STN for flights to BCN is very frustrating so if this flight actually happens it will now be just a 4 mile hop from my front door to SOU!

I was only thinking when Cardiff was announced, I thought to myself would it be cool if Vueling came to SOU.

Fingers crossed and come on SOU get ya finger out and start building new apron space!

Good point Canberra! I mean I know we are in a recession but surely they could be building more apron space, especially with the sale proceeds of Gatwick and soon to be Edinburgh burning a whole in BAA's back pocket. More taxi ways as well would help with the delays.