Now this would be an ideal fit for Southampton?

airBaltic CEO Martin Gauss said the carrier identified airports in Europe that could serve as bases should the carrier exercise options for 30 A220-300 aircraft (Routes Online, 24-May-2019). Mr Gauss said: “It would be a point-to-point operation to other countries outside the Baltics”. Mr Gauss added: “Our business plan calls for up to 50 A220s to be based here – expanding from Riga which stays a hub and spoke airport – but also Tallinn and Vilnius; we’re adding aircraft to these two bases”.

CAA stats for March show GVA down a significant 17% on 2018. Any reason as to why circa 1k less passengers took this route? I think EZY finished earlier this year but only towards the end of March

Possibly the fact that Easter was end of March 2018 but not while April week 3 this year.

PM Trudeau in his A310 had to go to LGW as I guess that was too big for SOU - unless the chap was going to have a quick private visit to meet HM>?

It's not super complex, the airport is massively constrained by it's physical environment and runway length, not to mention the proximity to both Heathrow and Gatwick, something which affects BRS regarding LHR but less so LGW. These markets don't operate in isolation of course, there is substantial overlap, and just look at the sheer volume on offer from easyJet out of Gatwick. We have too many airports in the UK.

I had some time on my hands.

April as a whole saw 147,209 pax, down 12.8% on last year, rolling total 1,945,517 down 5.6%. Some good news mixed in with the bad:

Positives

Leeds Bradford 2,438 up 120%
Alderney 2,064 up 22%
Rennes 1,478 up 10%
Chambery 1,189 up 10%
Edinburgh 15,351 up 8%

No change/insignificant change

Cork 2,300 +2%
Guernsey 9,355 -1%
Jersey 13,387 -1%
Nantes 1,708 0%
Paris 6,449 -3%
Newcastle 9,434 -3%
Dusseldorf 2,529 -4%
Alicante 2,678 -4%

Negatives

Bergerac 3,236 -5%
La Rochelle 1,077 -8%
Glasgow 13,826 -9%
Belfast 9,816 -10%
Malaga 3,124 -11%
Limoges 1,015 -18%
Manchester 16,713 -18%
Palma 1,060 -21%
Dublin 10,202 -24%
Faro 1,850 -24%
Amsterdam 14,302 -32%
Geneva 554 -82%
Bordeaux 0 (last year 1,412)
Aberdeen 0 (last year 1,877)

Expansion work supposed to be starting in October

Stewby,
What do you base this info on?,the planning permission from EBC had yet to be approved.
There will be many objections and delays ,so even if approved then surely 2020 will not be a viable date for completion.On another note ,the passanger figures are very disappointing as late,will any airline be interested in coming to Southampton with the proposed runway extension?

Which October is the question??.......

I understand that a judgement in favour of the Airport Operator has been given - fuel up the chainsaws?

Removal of obstacles by reducing the height of Marhill Copse trees will not totally solve the obstacle problem, the hill is going nowhere! As mentioned in a previous post it will permit many jet users to take advantage of the a much better obstacle environment which will increase take-off weights (ie fuel/PAX/range). When I was last directly involved, many years ago I believe that it was worth 2-3 tonnes extra for an E145 departure.

As you may be aware the airport has for many years been used by A319/320s, albeit with weight restrictions. Once the new Type A Chart is published, following tree height reduction, there is hopefuly some out there who has current A319/320 take-off performance data who can quantify what exactly the improvement will be.

Yes It has been hot today - Flybe Dash 8 prop flight SOU-Alicante had to stop at BOH for fuel - Just shows the limitations of SOU airport, and using small props on almost 3 hour sectors with a full IT summer load and bags. not gonna happen is it....

rog747
I assume they were using 20 at the time. I'd be surprised it couldn't do SOU-ALC off 02 if the wind permitted

Sou is on a downward spiral,the necessary airside improvements including the starter strip should have happened years ago,and it looks like little will change.
unless something major happens then things can only get worse.

That's of course if the planning actually gets approval from EBC, so the masterplan can even be implemented, time will tell I guess.