BHX/MAN
 

Anyone have an idea re the potential cull of flights early October onwards from BHX & MAN?

BHX - TFS, ALC & AGP all gone by the first week in October except for a few peak dates, Barcelona is weekly for most of October at least but stops briefly in the New Year. Orly continues at the moment.

Manchester - TFS and FCO the same gone by October.

Seems a bit drastic but intense competition of course at both.

EDI-FCO also appears to be gone too, and of course a few routes culled this summer like EDI-ORY, LPL-BCN, NCL-BCN, LBA-BCN and the non starter AMS-MAN.

Seems Vueling couldn't quite break into the UK market as expected, probably not helped by some horrendous OTP issues (there were 2 occasions I travelled through MAN T3 at around 9am to see the previous nights Vueling flight (to ALC and TFS) delayed by over 18 hours).

No surprises with ALC and TFS from MAN. Passenger figures have been very hit and miss. Intense competition for these routes combined with very poor punctuality and Vuelings lack of general awareness amongst the U.K public didn't help either. FCO I'd of thought would of survived with VY slowly building a hub in FCO but most likely fell prey to the more established competition of FR/Jet2 offering much better frequencies.

with Level being pushed at BCN, I wonder why thats not being expanded rather than reduced. But yes too much competition on routes with an airline that noones heard of. That might be my worry with Blue Air at LPL too.

Aer Lingus is the perfect solution for IAG low cost offer for the UK

Aer Lingus tried it at Gatwick a few years ago, didn't work.

True, but that was pre IAG in fairness. They'd be fed by BA if they went again, but unlikely all the same.

Do IAG (namely BA) really want VY to be a strong LCC in UK beside FR, EZY, LS or do BA want to capture the holiday market by their own along with BA Cityflyer?

If UK-Spain, which is a big and important market, does not work for VY what other markets they are looking for (with their fleet of more than 100 aircrafts)?
FR, EZY and others fly across Europe and not only in the UK or Spain. Competition is everywhere now.

Aside from brand awareness and OTP issues, the schedules for many of these routes was so random, VY simply wasn't competitive. If you're only offering 1-2 return flights a week you're limiting your market considerably.

UK-Spain market analysis
UK-Spain market saw biggest growth in over 20 years in 2016

If the OTP is not good. Try the website. It is the worst website to book a ticket, print a boarding card. The English used must be the Spanish version more like Spanlish. We use them for LGW-RNS as to the wider family. Not just me but everyone else states the website is at best amateur but crap. Very hard work.

I've used their website for every journey with them and not found it a problem, although I've never printed a boarding card as I always fly with checked bags so get it printed at the desk.

I have wondered why BA/EI/IB and VY dont use the same website architecture. You would have thought that would make sense for IAG and lower costs...?

Was never going to work in the UK market. I'm still not even sure how to pronounce it and virtually no-one among Joe Public has ever heard of them.
Add in lousy punctuality and compare it to the several other well-known and frankly better brands....I'm surprised that IAG/BA ever thought that it could have possibly worked.....or does it say more about how little they understand the UK market outside of LHR....?

I'm sure all IAG airlines will move to a single booking engine in time.

All names taken, Well I think you're being very harsh. It's easy to pronounce as a Spanish word (vueling as in pueblo) and the product is very good, excellent in flight service, and no charity, scratch cards, spare currency insularity collections, etc. options on type of seat, network airline facilities, One World frequent traveller points, code share with BA and IB. Cabin crew are very friendly, it's a great experience for a LCC. Just wanted to give another viewpoint.

Travelled TFS MAN recently on Vueling. I found the website easy to navigate, and was very informative. The aircraft was immaculate, the cabin crew very presentable, and the flight arrived one hour early! This was no doubt due to a padded schedule and tailwinds. The only criticism was a poor choice of alcoholic drinks.
If Vueling produced a regular and consistent schedule to TFS they would be my airline of choice.

Since they're based in BCN, I had always assumed the word was Catalan....

And surely posters are ignoring the large number of Spanish people who visit the UK for work or pleasure? Aren't they a significant market for a Spanish/Catalan airline?

I think a word that UK passengers seem to pronounce in 3 different ways is always going to be a problem. I know that the management of IAG recognise the problem in the U.K. but decided to live with it because it works in Spain.

V is a B in Spanish. So it's Bueling.