Eastern Airways-2
 

Flybe delays & cancellations: teething troubles or a sign of things to come? | Shetland News

Strange quotes from the flybe chap. Soo.. Eastern crews lack the experience compared to Loganair, couldn't hack it on the day so didn't land is what he thinks :ugh: Also, there's a shortage of crews so this could be the norm for the next 2 months... Quite a unique USP there! Can't see that driving business.
If he's not going to admit commercial have messed up with the aeroplane type, at least he could have thanked an experienced crew for operating in challenging weather conditions (yes it's a daily event there however it's still challenging), but safety being their number one priority choose correctly to divert.
Well done to the crews for showing more professionalism, experience and common sense than these three.

Well said. Hope the crew weren't rewarded with a "lack of moral fibre" speech.

This also implies that Flybe pilots are going to operate Easterns 170. Had heard a rumour that they were lending some spare 195 pilots to cover crew shortages, anyone able to confirm this?

Nothing heard from inside Flybe.

He's right, he's not a genius, it's an aeroplane mate :)

It's funny but sad at the same time. Flybe has good intentions but Eastern did and will let them and their pax down. The moronic EA commercial department probably and again incompetently thought that pax would prefer a jet. Anyone will tell you the locals have been travelling on that route for decades and don't give a Sh&t as long as it's reliable. All of us know that bit EA will ignore that as they seem to know better.
Most EA pilots (who have not left) are very experienced on the shetlands. And I would not be surprised if many of them raised the issue of wind shear detectors on the EMB. And I would totally not be surprised if their opinions and professional judgments were completely ignored by some elements at HUY who have no conception of reality.

In the end and most importantly it will be the customers who suffer. Followed by the EA crews (the ones left that I know) who are very competent at what they do. And of course Flybe, who obviously want it to work.

I disagree completely that Flybe have good intentions.

Good intentions would have maintained the codeshare with Loganair.

Apologies if I have missed it, but who made the decision to end the franchise with Logan? Was it BE or Logan?

Get over it SealinkBF. There's clearly reasons why the codeshare with Loganair has ceased. I'd rather we weren't into bed with any of them but it's not what I want that counts. End of the day it's called business. Loganair need Flybe as much as Flybe need them, probably not at all.

Reverse
 

Yes. You are right. It's just going to be a competition between all three of them. I wonder who will win:O
Sealink. Their intentions are to create business and profit, which is good. The reasons they left the agreement with Loganair; I have heard rumours, but I could not comment as I really don't know.
As I said before, in the end it's the passengers and us as flight crew who may suffer from incompetency.
I'm not biased. I worked for Eastern and the crews are just brilliant. I know, work and done type ratings with Loganair people who are again, lovely, talented people. Flybe crew are just the same.
My point is only aimed at the senior management who think and believe they are aviation royalty with an intellectual finger on the pulse of aviation, but turn out to be nothing more than vermin road kill.
Is that a bit strong.

Jamest - I think it fair to say that I've met a relatively small number of people from each of the pilot and airline management fraternity over the years who might class as vermin roadkill, but most in both walks of life have been decent people trying to do a job to the best of their abilities - which have also varied. Those who fall into the vermin roadkill category tend to have one thing in common - they think that each could run an airline without the other. Management-hating pilots and pilot-hating management are not good, for the truth is that both groups are absolutely necessary for an airline to function.

Just going back to the Shetland items posted earlier...

Flybe man:
And the report from the passenger on the flight in the other article linked:
So either a/ the Flybe spokesman is a total ignoramus when it comes to aircraft operating limits and thinks this is an issue of pilot experience or b/ he is openly suggesting that as the pilots gain more experience at LSI then they'll become prepared to bust minima? I hope not and am sure both Eastern and Loganair would have something to say about that. Either way, this bloke should not be let near a media interview to talk about operational stuff, surely?

Flightrider
 

I know what your saying but please;

None of that I said, I know a bit strong, is aimed at any of the flight crew. And actually at some of the management. I have always maintained that the DFO there (EA) is a great guy. And just to clarify that the strong classification I wrote is not in any way towards anyone at Logan or Flybe.
Its a pretty safe bet I meant an individual at EA that has cost the company adversely millions. If your at EA then you know who I am referring to. So my meaning was very specific.
And yes, I agree, there are great people out there doing great work in a demanding and sh/t industry. I really like and respect the people in the airline I work for now.
My point was that when you see shear and unswearving incompetence getting away with murder for years whilst the talented people on the coal face are being treated with contempt; it's a bit pants.

jamest - yes, i know what you're saying!

I'm curious as to the benefit to Eastern in all of this. OK, if they succeed in getting the routes to a profit that's an obvious win. But...
They didn't have the crews to run the pre-franchise operation.
They are wetleasing in multiple aircraft to plug the gaps in their schedule created by the increased workload involved in the franchise.
The franchise routes are too thin for multiple carriers, so it's going to come down to who has the deepest pockets, and I don't see Loganair giving up their routes in a hurry.
None of this can be great for an airline which posted a loss last year, as it must be costing a fortune. Unless Flybe are really bankrolling the whole thing.
Would love to know who phoned who first, but suspect that's another question with an answer that depends which side of the fence you are on.

They're applying band aid's to an injury that needs major surgery!

If there's one thing an airline that charges what Eastern does needs to be it's reliable.

Each airline claims they ended it.

Flybe wanted to jack up the franchise fee and Loganair didn't think it was worth it.....depends which side of the fence you are on I suppose...did Flybe push the amount up so far that they knew they wouldn't pay it or did they just screw up?

I keep wondering what a flyBe website user is going to think if they come across an Eastern fare. The website probably doesn't attract people that want to pay Eastern fares, and unsuspecting users coming across them first time around (possibly also applicable to Blue Islands fares but maybe less so) might not hang about.

Would someone who came across Eastern's Southampton - Rodez or Belfast - Newcastle fare hang around to look at Southampton - Toulouse, or Belfast - Leeds? Or would they run a long distance and quickly?

I'm wondering if they should have created a different brand for Eastern flights; flyBE executive or something?

jamestkirk - I know both of those you speak of and totally agree with your character assessments of them. I agree that the second person you mention MUST have cost the company millions in the past and it's shocking that he's still there and allowed to play such a big part!! :mad:

Flightrider - I came to the same a) & b) conclusions as you after reading the comments of the Flybe spokesman and agree that he shouldn't be let near the media again until he expands his aircraft and operational knowledge.

I have to say I'd rather be on this aircraft going to Shetland...!!

https://www.shetnews.co.uk/images/st...e_arriving.jpg

There must surely also be a question about the sustainability of an E170 operation. They have 50% more seats than a Saab 2000, 124% more than an SF34 and 162% more than a J41. They must surely be flying with lots of empty seats now, and that must also be true even without competition on the route. So they would have to make decisions about reducing frequency, which won't endear them to their customers.

According to ch.aviation Eastern were supposedly accepting delivery today of the first of two leased ATR72-600's.

So they cant take disabled passengers

Flybe apologises to wheelchair user over Glasgow to Stornoway flight - BBC News

As a lot of pax are paid for by the NHS needing treatment on the mainland this is not good

But the S2000's are a similar age if not newer than many a SF340 that are still flying around whilst, I think, the S2000 remains the world's most advanced turboprop.

I did some work with Carpatair when they operated some 15 S2000's, provided they are well maintained with an appropriate spares back up they can be very reliable.

So I heard a few weeks ago that Eastern were getting rid of the Saabs because they were either expensive to operate or on expensive leases, can't remember which, and that they were getting ATR72s instead, and lo and behold today they register the first one. A couple of questions; 1) how do you replace 9x Saabs with 2x ATRs and 2) where did this order even come from? It was never announced in a press release nor does it appear to have been siphoned off Flybe's order for SAS, so what did they do? Phone ATR and ask if they had any kicking about that they could have?! :eek:

They're leased from Nordic Aviation Capital.

But wouldn't such a lease have been arranged months ago and resulted in a press release? I've never known an airline take delivery of a shiny new state-of-the-art fleet and not shout about it from the roof tops

Does this mean the LCY-IOM service operated by Eastern for BA Cityflyer won't be Saab 2000 anymore and will become ATR72 ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_2000

The piece in ch-aviation suggested that they were specifically for oil personnel charter work to Scatsa.

The a/c registered to Eastern is a new frame. Jethro has "to be based Aberdeen"

G-IACY, MSN 1448 was ferried LFBO-LFBF (for painting) on 09SEP17.

For those 'in the know' the 'IAC' part of the regn is a pretty good clue it will be in ABZ for the SCS oil flights, as IAC (integrated Aviation Consortium I think it stands for) is the conglomerate that makes use of the flights, made up of a number of oil cos and Bristow.

Thanks Richard - knew the registration was ringing bells for some reason!

Are they only getting two ATR72's? I thought there was three Saabs allocated on the Scatsta flights?
Either way I guess one should replace the Etihad one on lease

Airbus (yes airbus) owed Bristows a favour and gave them the ATR's, which they owned (airbus). Something to do with helicopters.
I hear Saab will stop supporting the 2000 in 2020. Brilliant aircraft so it will be a sad day when that happens.

How is that "Airbus gave them the ATRs" possible if the aircraft are leased from Nordic Aviation (which is majority owned by a Swedish investment fund)?

I have been told by EA staff.

Airbus owned them, for whatever reason. There was some issues with helicopters in relation to Bristows. As a deal, airbus gave the ATR's to Bristows/Eastern for the Shetland operation. EA needed a replacement for the Saab so I suppose it's a win win for everyone.

The financials, I obviously know nothing about.

The ATRs will be 'ring fenced' for the integrated IAC contract that Bristow lead with Eastern as a contractor to BRS. I would find it highly unlikely they will be bombing around doing anything else as the IAC will expect these aircraft to be available for Scatsta services (with a back up Saab).

You can't underestimate the importance that Bristow place on the IAC contract and rightfully so.

Its a significant part of their revenue and it's the jewel in the crown of all the offshore contracts in the UKCS.

Unfortunately for BRS the make up of the IAC is about to radically change as the bigger companies sell on their assets to companies who are not traditional BRS clients. Babcock and Loganair are being positively encouraged to sniff about and that could be disaterous for BRS and as a consequence EA.

With renewal not being far off it's in both companies interest to pull out all the stops to keep it. With the well documented losses and share price plummet over the last few years, loose the IAC contract and its not worth thinking about for BRS and as a consequence EA.

It's a perfect storm for EA no matter what you think of them they would be getting absolute dogs abuse if they hadn't taken on the FlyBe work, coupled that with the ATR introduction and it's not ideal, but it's vital that priorities don't get skewed.

They are both going to have to be VERY careful that irrevocable damage isn't done as gaps have started appearing in the Scatsta schedule as the program gets stretched and you can't imagine that hasn't gone unnoticed by the IAC.

The negative press around early FlyBe disruption and cancelling scheduled flights with senior oil co execs on board isn't helping either.

I've read a lot of stuff recently that's patently not true about the relationship between the two companies, there are lots of parts of both EA and BRS that are good and other parts not so, but loose the IAC contract and it's serious serious stuff for both companies.

Lets hope they can work through it.

Darwin Airlines
 

I see Eastern Airways web site saying Darwin Airlines now operating IOM-Newcastle via Belfast on a SAAB 2000. Does anybody know why the change?