That's really disappointing news regarding Volotea if that's the case it's quite a big deal really considering the loads for this summer especially with the addition of Ibiza.

I along with many others had high hopes for Volotea at SOU and was looking to them to expand not retreat:-(

If only SOU could find a long term airline that's committed from flying from the airport to the sunshine destinations that are obviously in demand that's not including Flybe.

I posed the question regarding Volotea a few posts back but a certain poster replied back and he seemed to have had great faith in a certain Bruno from Volotea who replied back to him, GKmeech posts 73 and 96.

Maybe this Bruno chap was referring to the TUI charters that Volotea are supposed to be operating. That still leaves a reduction of x 1 scheduled service per week to Ibiza and x 2 to Palma, although I guess Flybe have mitigated this slightly by offering an extra weekly flight to Palma up to start July, when the E195 is then allocated to Skiathos!

I hope Ibiza is picked up by an alternative airline as it's definitely a destination in demand, I find it unbelievable that SOU with it's large and fairly wealthy catchment area can't support destinations such as this.

There are so many unserved destinations that could easily be flown from SOU regardless of the runway and airport infrastructure limitations.

Ha ha, nothing should surprise us with that lot in charge. I guess it beats the usual upgrade of the urinal blocks!

Canberra 97
Ibiza 2018 is fully bookable on Thursdays flying Volotea,plus Palma Saturday and Sunday via Volotea,Tuesday Palma via Flybe.
So not a total disaster,but one step back!
The sooner Easy take on Majorca the better!

Hopefully this is only a temporary administrative error but it doesn't look good. Maybe they are only going to operate via the tour operators like another poster has said. It seems strange though as the loads looked good, and the tickets were not exactly cheap! Surely airlines cannot possibly expect to pitch up and in the first year make a killing? This is the kind of operation that needs to build year after year and probably establish a loyal and lucrative following. We all know the catchment for SOU is a wealthy one, with people willing to pay more to use a local airport. Air Berlin and Vueling also only gave it a year before disappearing. Not sure why low cost carriers do not give SOU a few years to show its potential? They seem to at other bases (Volotea has a base at Nantes!). I can only assume it's the crap airside facilities at SOU which make the operators think that a sizeable base could never be possible. It's a fact that the low cost operators are moving to larger aircraft and that SOU does not have the stands for them. There is the frequent fog (ok not SOUs fault but lights and landing equipment could be improved), the fact that the runway is too short, doesn't seem to drain properly and the quite ridiculous backtracking. Over the course of a day, the waiting for departing and arriving aircraft to use the runway also as a taxiway will obviously back up operations. All these delays, diversions and cancellations must add up to serious money (hotels, additional landing fees, navigation costs etc) for what are thrifty operators. These limiting factors must put off the low cost operators as time is money for them. They cannot afford for the knock on effects of repeated delays from sub-standard facilities. Let's be honest SOU is not up to it and clearly the management aren't going to do anything about it. The MD would put Sepp Blatter to shame when it comes to overstaying his welcome.

Available on the TUI website:

Tuesdays:

Arr 09:50 / Dep 10:15 PMI-SOU-PMI Volotea

Thursdays:

Arr 10:30 / Dep 10:55 IBZ-SOU-IBZ Volotea

Saturdays:

Arr 15:05 / Dep 15:30 PMI-SOU-PMI Volotea

The others (like the Sunday Palma) are listed as Flybe

Volotea
 

I response to multiple posts regarding Volotea, it is not an administrative error. SOU is not on their booking engine at present because there are no flights you can book. Once they announce their summer 2018 schedule SOU will re-appear.

Are you sure? Have they not already announced their summer 2018 schedule from other airports?
I've got a feeling the flights are off sale because they're being discontinued.

Their S18 schedule was released a few weeks back so not sure why it's being suggested that they are still to be loaded. SOU has disappeared from the website altogether including the route map, hence why it is being thought of that Volotea are discontinuing. My conclusion would be TUI charters only!

Volotea's slot submission for SOU in S18 has only the Tue/Sat PMI and Thu IBZ charters. If they are intending to operate additional flights as scheduled services, they are doing a very good job of disguising their intentions - no slots applied for, no flights on sale etc etc. I'd say it's not happening.

Albert Hall
This is surely a big slap in the face for Southampton Management,not surprising though as the continued lack of airside development has finally come home to roost!
The prospect of moving any further on from 2m Pax looks remote,in fact if Flybe continue to retract on the sun routes I can see a downturn looming

or Volotea (who actually know what they were making), just decided the numbers weren't good enough.

The Volotea fares were quite high especially in peak summer months

Could it be over capacity in the area as well , Bournemouth had 12 flights a week to Palma in July / Aug and saw 19 , 000 passengers use the route in August

Markey.
My wife and I flew Volotea to PMI , in August, for a basic £75 each, return! So, not always expensive!

I do appreciate your continued optimism I really do but you have to admit that your good old friend Bruno from Volotea was stringing you along as any good PR would do when responding to an anomalous email.

What the hell do the airports management discuss every morning in their daily briefings it's definitely not about regaining or securing new airlines.

Message for EasyJet

Come on EasyJet you have five A319s leaving the fleet this year so keep them and base them at SOU as the airport needs you and we might even give a huge incentive to come here.

Perhaps Aer Europa might be considered by Southampton if its not to late

They are operating the Palma charters on a EMB 195 from Jersey for next summer season on behalf of a local tour operator who had in previous years used Volotea B717

EZY are not going to keep a small sub-fleet, especially for SOU. All of us on here can see that EZY are moving to an A320 fleet which is not going to work from SOU. Especially not for a base. The question should be to SOU from EZY. What are you going to do to make us stay and grow? Hopefully they have learnt from Volotea's lost interest that you need to provide the environment for these airlines to operate smoothly. Can anyone tell me what SOU has done in the last 5 years? 10 years even? The answer is nothing. Great catchment area, great transport connections, quality airlines sniffing around and absolutely woeful management.

Might be a silly question, but am i correct in assuming the takeoff run required for an A320 is too long for SOU runway? Also guessing there's nowhere it can be extended to?

.

There seems to be an underlying assumption from many contributors that SOU is an untapped gold mine and that by fixing the infrastructure issues the airlines will come. Is there any evidence to support this? Any evidence that airfield issues impacted on Volotea's hand full of flights a week? Diversions, delays due to backtracking, etc

Airlines tend to find a way to work round issues if there is money to be made. LTN, BRS, LBA are hardly without their issues.

And indeed, rather than what the airport does, what is the general economic environment doing? Actually, there's a lot of problems brewing for airlines... and that's with oil prices low!

air Europa with a 738 is not much good at SOU too - runway too short

Was talking about Aer Europa using the EMB 195 , better suited if they were interested in launching from SOU

SWBKCB

Unless there is airside development at Southampton,and we are talking Taxiways,Runway extension,and vital :expanded stands,then Southampton future looks very uncertain.Its abundantly clear the management team needs a major shake up ,it's a great shame,but the potential is there,but it's not being currently exploited.

Let's assume for the sake of argument that Volotea aren't coming back in their own right, which of these points have had an impact?

ah thanks - cannot keep up with the airlines going small planes lol

This assumption is incorrect. I flew to Majorca in the Iberworld A320 on a couple of occasions

A Spanair one used to operate to TFS also, but tech-stopped somewhere in mainland Spain going south IIRC.

Is any of this true? Surely SOU is doing all right at the moment - ie not operating at a loss? Why should they spend a fortune on improvements which may not lead to much? Lots of complaints about SOU management but they must at least have a vague idea of what they are doing. Ducks for cover!:confused:

Flight was opperated for Airtours I think and tech stop was in Nantes (France).

Agree to a point and for what its worth, the following I believe could happen in the near term. Runway resurfacing due next year and will be done along with northern taxiway added, runway starter strip to the north will not happen immediately and may/may not be carried out some time in the future. Stands 1-5 will be realigned to accommodate A320 size before S18 as don't think a big job. Easyjet will take up the slack on Volotea's withdrawal and operate 2/3 per week from its summer seasonal base in PMI and to also test the water for future routes. I'm probably way off the mark but quite feasible that the above could happen!

It could happen and hopefully some of what you describe may happen if only half of it happened it would be a major improvement, I share your optimism:-)

So technically, this means EZY with their A320's could still operate from SOU. Particularly if they're only on short sectors (2 1/2hr tops) they could just go full throttle and not worry on fuel burn?

If this be the case, what's stopping EZY? besides the useless management

Maybe they just don't want to operate from SOU. They might not see a business case for it. SOU would probably be better off trying to attract BACF.

The A319 has immense takeoff performance, and could probably operate quite reliably out of Southampton to at least the south of Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, if not the Canaries and Cyprus.

I believe the A320neo also has rather impressive takeoff performance, but not quite to the same standard. If EZY ever get the Cseries... SOU (and a lot of other minor bases/operations) could be onto a real winner

I wish EZY and SOU the best and hope it turns into something good, SOU is one of my favourite UK airport. It was just, hands down, a lovely experience from start to finish

You might want to consider the "L" in LCC!

Apart from the physical constraints already mentioned, how about their largest base 80 miles up the road?

I don't think the odd additional route ex SOU i.e. Palma, Nice, Krakow, is going to concern EZY/Gatwick too much!

Palma, Nice and Krakow would take less than one airframe to operate so what would be the point?

Can't the aircraft come from other EZY bases in to SOU, for example the summer base in PMI that already operates in to 11 of Easyjet uk airports?

And from Nice and Krakow?