Southampton-2
 

easyJet release S18 schedule before end Sept, any chance of route addition/s at SOU?

Your as much aware as anyone else on here regarding any EasyJet announcement for summer 2018 and I don't think we're no until the full schedule is released but I wouldn't hold your breath for anything ex SOU.

As much I would like to see EasyJet expand on their planned Geneva route but you have to remember that this flight will be undertaken by EasyJet Switzerland.

That would be highly unlikely. SOU (like BOH which also only has one route) is operated by easyJet Switzerland, a separate airline that has its own route strategy team. DS fly to several destinations that are not on the U2 route map. easyJet themselves have not yet entered the SOU market, and almost certainly won't do so as they wouldn't want to risk losing passengers from their BRS and LGW bases. You're also forgetting that DS haven't even operated their first flight yet from SOU, and they'll want to test the waters for a year or two before considering adding any new routes.

Maybe using based airports like Nice & Barcelona?

Barcelona was tried by vueling in recent times,and didn't work.Nice has been a Flybe destination and is not a prolific destination.
The most important announcement regarding Saouthampton will be any airside improvements,i.e
Stands and 20 starter strip!.Without these developments,don't expect to much in airline announcements!.

Barcelona should be a success from most U.K. airports including Southampton but the fact that Vueling was a totally unknown name to many at the time it operated it wasn't too much of a surprise that it was shelved and Flybe continuing the route a year later with a ridiculous schedule that too was doomed but with the likes of EasyJet flying SOU to BCN I personally think that the route could be a success, the same applies in a similar way to Nice.

Barcelona is my favourite city and one I visit a couple of times a year so personally I would love to see SOU to BCN return someday.

EasyJet more likely to try the likes of EDI, BFS etc than anything else in the circumstances from SOU - imho..

But would EasyJet really want to encroach on current routes flown by Flybe rather than concentrating on unserved routes, I don't think it would be in the airports interests to have two airlines competing on the major domestic markets such as EDI and BFS.

IF and a big IF, we're EasyJet to announce flights from Southampton a scenario could be by a W pattern from other bases as others have suggested to at least test the market.

SOU strikes me as more of a FlyBe + Ryanair or Jet2 type of airport than a FlyBe + easyJet type of airport.

In other non-easyjet news- SOU had its busiest summer ever, 219,874 pax in July and 225,682 in August.
KLM have also added an additional weekly flight on Sunday mornings, taking them to double-daily every day except Saturdays.

01475
Good thoughts on Ryanair and Jet 2,however the runway length prohibits both of these carriers as potential users!.Good passenger figures for July/August further underlines the necessity for runway length increase / airside improvements announcement,but will this ever become reality?.
There has never been a better time to move to the next level at Southampton,it's got all the transport links any airport could want,improve airside and the airlines will come in and destinations will increase!

There's no reason why Jet 2 can't operate from SOU (route depending). They fly out of JER which has a shorter runway than SOU

But how far do they go?

Apart from UK routes, I'm unsure which is why I put route depending

Jet 2 operate Jersey to Leeds. I would not expect that this would ever mean that they operate at max. loads. In fact, they only use the 737-300 on the route. The 800 is weight restricted at Jersey. Doesn't mean that we never get them, though.

Kcockayne.
Just as I suspected,the 737-800 would have weight restrictions from Southampton to sun destinations.
That's why we will never see Jet 2 or Ryanair operating from this airport.
There is no mention of any new destinations from Southampton with easy today,indeed unless the runway take off distance is increased then don't expect any news.
Without radical airside change I think we can expect the same as this year and the past year,with Flybe
Operating the Sun routes with Volotea providing a limited balaric service.

Easy Jet don't tend to release new routes until around Oct time for the following summer and indeed if they are continuing the route into April ?

Interestingly the fares for SOU - GVA all seem to be well under £ 40 each way for all days except school half term where the BOH - GVA fares are well over that price and have been since they were released .
Not sure if that is an indication of seats not selling well , lot more capacity this year of course with Flybe and Powdair to compete with

MARKEYD- I'm by no means an expert but I've noticed the same and my thoughts on this are:

You're right in that the flights may not be selling very well. In my experience SOU really isn't strong on its marketing of routes beyond social media and occasional public competitions to win tickets etc. I can't remember ever seeing SOU-specific flights advertised on buses, trains or billboards etc. I guess this may be more the responsibility of the airlines though.
I've had a few conversations regarding holidays with people recently who had no idea that easyJet were now going to be flying from SOU, and these were all people who lived in the local area, so I'd say there's work to be done to increase awareness of these flights.

I've always thought of SOU routes as slow burners in that perhaps due to the above they seem to get off to soft starts and then eventually (if given time) build up to strong loads. See BMI to MUC, Flybe to DUS, Volotea to PMI for examples. KLM and Flybe now seem to happily co-exist on the AMS route and pax numbers on that route are going from strength to strength.

On the other hand, in their BOH-GVA route easyJet have a strong, stable and long-standing ski route that no doubt has a large number of returning customers year on year. Therefore, they can increase ticket prices for a higher yield knowing that up to a point, people will still buy them. They don't have this customer base at SOU yet, and as you say are up against direct competition from Flybe, indirect competition from Powdair to Sion, and even competition for passengers' wallets from routes to ski destinations in other countries such as Innsbruck. They are the new kid on the block at Southampton and although they are arguably already the biggest and most recognisable ski flight operator from there, they will have work to do to penetrate the market and carve out their own share.
Low ticket prices could be the way they plan to do this, in order to stimulate demand, take pax from the competition and begin to generate brand/destination loyalty and repeat business, like they have from other airports such as BOH where they're more established.
It may be that EZY have more cheap tickets on sale from SOU for this reason so it will take longer for each date to start showing high prices.

If they get enough people on their aircraft from SOU this year, even if many are at at low-yielding fares, then they may see the potential to return to the market next season and aim for a higher yield, and so on. No doubt low fares will be at least partially offset by incentives from the airport who I'm sure are delighted to have EZY there and will be desperate to keep them.

I may be completely wrong and the flights will just end up going out empty most of the time. Obviously I hope that's not the case and it's more to do with aggressive pricing. It would be good to see a few more dates showing high fares though.
Does anyone know whether any tour operators will be buying seats on these flights, or will easyJet sell them exclusively?

Interesting how so many people say med flights are restricted due to runway length. GIB doesn’t have a problem with A320’s (that I know of) and that has a shorter runway. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong. I know that the SOU stands aren’t ideal but with very little in the way of 195’s now, stands 6 and onwards could be used mainly leaving the other stands free for decent sized aircraft

Runway length isn't the only limiting factor - there are also obstacles affecting climb out performance. For details have a look at the previous thread, it's been covered in depth a couple of times.

Think the runway length , restrictions etc was discussed back in July and various aircraft performance etc

Now its a new thread it might take some searching to find it

Yes this discussion was discussed at length. Basically obstacles largely restrict SOU's operating performance and new lights and landing systems would yield little improvement. I personally still find that hard to believe or more to the point that SOU is not doing all they can to tackle the obstacles but maybe with the arrival of new planes like the C Series it is accedemic.

SOU announced around the EZY announcement that they would reveal plans for significant investment in the autumn. We have been here before with the investment usually turning out to be refreshed toilets or a larger duty free. I have noticed that they have been hiring a few people in their ops and planning team recently so perhaps we are finally going to see something worthwhile happen. By my reckoning we are now in the autumn so they need to get on with it.

Mahon summer 2018
 

Thomson have just added menorca for summer 2018 from Southampton departing Saturday afternoons chartered by Flybe .
Col

Good find uptoncol, flight time of 2:45 out and 3:05 back would suggest it is to be operated by a Q400. Nice to see Mahon return.

That's what I was thinking ,
I went to Mahon back in 2013 from sou on the 195 chartered by Thomas cook ,a nice aircraft ,perhaps they will see how the booking s go and maybe upgrade to the 195

Also glad to see Mahon back.

With regards to the easyJet ticket price discussion the other day, I noticed today that Southampton is the only UK airport not to be a departure option on the easyJet holidays website. BOH is there, as are all the others. Hopefully this will be rectified soon as this may restrict booking potential?

Flying out of SOU last night, I noticed a lot of vehicles and containers in a compound over the far side of the airfield. Could this be preparations for the much needed improvements to the airfield?

GCIlover

Snow moving equipment?

TCAS FAN
There has been no further announcements on Southampton development ,can we expect any airside improvements?The airport seems to be steadily increasing in passenger numbers,surely it is approaching maximum numbers for the existing terminal?

Airport already confirmed earlier this year that no terminal extension will be required at this stage and I believe it is capable of handling circa 3m per annum so a long way to go!

RW20

Wish I knew, I threw in the towel many years ago after too many opportunities for airside improvements were missed, failure to provide a northern taxiway connection to the runway while there was an asphalt plant on site resurfacing the runway (a figure of around £50K was mentioned), extension of the short term car park up to the fence thereby preventing any extension of Stands 7-12 to take larger aircraft nose-in, failure to fully address the tree problem at the southern end (if you currently drive along the M27 take a quick look at the RW 02 approach lights buried in the trees-that's the tip of the iceberg) to permit increases in take-off weights, just a few past frustrations.

Still waiting for a significant announcement from the airport operators, haven't seen any planning applications for a runway starter strip or northern taxiway extension, so not holding my breath.

Under the original Section 106 Agreement drawn up with Local Planning Authorities when the airport site was redeveloped, contrary to many past Airport MD's publically voiced statements, an application for a runway extension can be made provided that it is not extended beyond 2000 metres. Nice as that would be its never going to happen unless a large part of Campbell Road housing is demolished and the rail yard and sheds are removed. Moving aircraft noise closer to Eastleigh is of course another factor that would most probably prevent it. A 150 metre northern starter strip, within the existing boundary fence may be successful, however the issue of an access road to the to permit development of the north eastern corner then comes into play, as does a large gas pipeline which around the northern end of the runway.

As mentioned on another thread a very limited 137m extension to the take off field length would have no tangible effect on existing operations (within 2hrs) in terms of payload limitations

Anything over 2hrs would still carry payload penalties so what's the point of extending it?

I disagree, if Southend can make the likes of Tenerife, Lanzarote and Malta work, then why not SOU with similar runway dimensions, even if both are payload restricted!

stewyb - if there are payload penalties then it means the fares will need to be higher. If people are prepared to pay more to fly from their local airport then that makes total sense but often this isn't the case. Operating payload penalty flight also makes sense if you are far away enough from competitors without restrictions. With SEN they are pretty distant from STN (an hours drive) so there may be a niche, but with SOU it's literally in Ryanair's core BOH catchment and too close to LHR's outer catchment.

stewyb

SEN does not have the performance limiting tree and hill obstacle problem that SOU has for 20 departures. SOU cannot move the hill, but could do something with the trees, something I wrote a report on for them in 2000!

Who owns the land populated by said trees and is it indeed possible to remove/reduce?

Nakata77.......with all due respect MAG would claim I feel that just an hour`s drive in deepest Essex is very seriously within STN`s catchment...& then you state SOU is within LHR`s outer catchment...confliction in that statement as well ?...

stewyb

From memory I believe that all of the performance limiting trees are on publically owned land, ie Southampton City Council. I had a long conversation with their then (2000) arboriculturist (tree man!) who was of the opinion that reduction of tree height could be negotiated.

While SOU has an offset take-off procedure, to avoid the hill, the problem trees were too close to the runway end to permit the necessary turn on to the offset take-off, thereby preventing use of its much better performance limiting obstacle environment .

Addition of a northern starter strip could mitigate the obstacle problem, but I do not have current aircraft performance data to determine if it will permit an early enough turn onto the offset take-off.

i think he means inner and outer catchments

Any reason why the reduction of the trees was not followed through? Useless management? I think the long incumbent team have already proved they will not invest if there is a cheaper option. Look at the VOR removal for an example. Rather than install a new ILS they were exploring a cheaper GPS based system. Not sure what happened in the end.

They are probably banking on enhances in aircraft opening the door to new opportunities. Let's not forget LCY has routes to Greece and shortly to Iceland. Let's also not forget they have a route to New York. I guess they can probably get away with charging premium prices but so can SOU to a certain extent.

The real hope for investment surely is more and/or bigger stands. Also taxiways to avoid backtracking. These are absolutely musts if they want to open the door to EZY. As other posters have pointed out the starter strip would make little difference. Then again the runway is due a resurface so might be an oprtunity to make it happen.