Virgin is putting its code on almost all (all?) Air France and KLM services between the UK and Amsterdam and Paris Charles de Gaulle (as well as on AF / KL long-haul to North America). So where does that leave the competing Flybe / Connect Airways services on routes such as Birmingham - Amsterdam and Birmingham - Paris? I can't see Virgin competing with its own codeshares and the services of its partners, so maybe there will now be some consolidation (dropping competing Flybe routes), with AF and KL upping capacity where necessary and releasing a few valuable slots at AMS and CDG for other routes.

A lot of the Flybe traffic on those routes will be point to point and not connecting traffic. KLM especially won't be interested in that as their main focus will be connecting passengers so there won't be much clash.

The sensible thing to do here is a tie up between all Airlines. Flybe have too many aircraft flying unprofitable routes. Provided AF/KL play ball, they will regain aircraft availability to place elsewhere on their network. Flybe can take over the routes and slots that match the capacity required. EG replace AF/KL routes flown by the ATR/E170/190 of KLC and Hop! with BE Q400/170/195, freeing up AF/KL to open new routes elsewhere through Europe. AF/KL can also save on nightstopping aircraft and crews out of base in the UK with BE taking on the early flights.
AF/KL mainline continue to fly with their own metal where Airbus & Boeing size are required.
Not sure how that would play out with AF/KL unions however...

They already do this at MAN and BHX with AF although I understand that the KLM union agreement does not allow a similar thing.

Not strictly true...they operate a shared service with AF with each airline "buying" blocks of seats off each other so that they can both offer double the frequency they otherwise could

Well let me rephrase that.
If I book an Air France or KLM ticket in an expectation of flying on their own metal and service levels which have been well supported from the UK regions since the '80s, I don't really want to fly on an old second hand Q400 with flybe. Nor will either set of union be happy to see their own profitable flying being given away to a basket case British airline that couldn't make money....well frankly at all. That's not to say Air France might not try, look at the farce of JOON, another example of an outfit not being fit for the market they were operating in. Am not sure anyone benefits from swapping a new KLM ER7 for a Q400, and let's be honest, flybe just cannot ever make money with jets. They negotiated the worst leasing agreement in known history on the Embraers that's been an albatross round their necks ever since. Not sure why KLM or AF want to swap money making routes to redeploy their assets on new routes, there's gotta be a balance IMHO.

Personally given how Air France and KLM are an uneasy marriage, I am baffled as to how Virgin really adds anything. So they can codeshare between two points VS don't even fly to, wow! It would be different if there was a decent feed from CDG or AMS onto VS long haul at MAN, but is that something the big two are willing to do?

What will happen with the current Flybe setup no-one really knows. We could see them introduce increased service levels. But there are distinct differences between AF/KL and what Flybe currently offer. Hop and KLC are feeder Airlines feeding the wider network, flybe are likely going to still do that for VS and partners, but also have an extensive network separate to feeding hubs. There could be 2 sets of service levels.
Longer term there could be fleet replacement, or cabin refreshes. HOP fly a mixture of aircraft, including props and older Embraer 13/14X's.
The question is, what to KLC/Hop! etc offer that's different to what Flybe could potentially do. I know KL offer a light snack, but the rest of it is improved customer service levels. Put a VS uniform, refresh the training to VS levels, offer a light snack on flights connecting to hubs and link up the online/tech levels to that of VS. What would then be missing?
The point i'm trying to make is that it's unlikely Flybe will continue within its current state and improvements will come.
If you book with AF, you could be flying Hop. If you book KL, at present you could be flying Stobart, although KLC is more like a KL offshoot than Hop is with AF. Flybe will become Virgin branded and is part owned by VS, so if you book AF/KL but on an (ex) flybe aircraft, you're effectively flying VS.

and look where Virgin America are now :ugh:

This isn't just a case of what's in it for Virgin, Stobart own an equal share too, I think some posts on here are getting way ahead of themselves.

Virgin America was the case of Alaska's hostile takeover and was permitted - SRB and the VA CEO could do little about it sadly.

My guess is that the future will be much more mundane and involve a fair amount of white label flying.

Possibly the only registration plate worth more than an airline?

Hope he or she can park an aircraft a bit better!

I see the switch to a new back-end platform was a huge success :E

What's that? Do tell.

Switch to Amadeus Altea. Seems to have worked for future reservations but the website was out of action far longer than planned (impossible to check-in) and the app is offline altogether. I managed to check in after a few hours of faff. Got a notification about a new PNR for one future booking but not the others. On top of all that I believe VS uses Sabre so could it all be in vain?

Massive single point failure if those platforms suffer major hack, will impact all airlines. If they can hack the smart banking global network, these flight booking systems may be light work for the hackers.

Flybe have free airport check-in / boarding pass collection so probably easier to do that for the time being.

I don't find the new website booking page layout as user-friendly as previously but perhaps it's just a matter of getting used to it.

I've just tried looking for the days of operation and operating periods for flights out of Norwich so went to 'Timetables' on the 'new' website. Previously you could see the timetables for all destinations on one page with details of their period of operation. Now it seems that you have to specify a 'date of travel' and the timetable for flights for a few days around that flight date will be displayed. I often do not have a specific date in mind and need an overview of what is available and when: the new website seems to make this impossible.

write/call and complain then. ... If anybody answers....

I did that and the respondent said "I shall have it flagged for internal review". In the preamble he explained to me how the new Timetable search worked - which I had already discovered - and apologised for the fact that the new timetable search did not offer the same information as previously. Unsurprisingly I had already discovered that too!

their facebook posts are telling customers that the app will be off until the end of March

Having previously been involved in spending decisions around IT by Flybe this comes as no surprise (unfortunately) :rolleyes:

Having had the "pleasure" of dealing with Amadeus on the systems side I can only say get used to the pace with which they respond to any non-critical (from their perspective) system issues. Their support of what they feel are non-critical functions for them i.e. doesn't earn them any money is disgraceful. Considering Altea gains Flybe absolutely 0 functionality over what they had before, I can see why the previous IT director was shown the door. I can only assume the first bills started coming in and people asked questions as to why there were additional zeros on the end of what they used to pay!

Well, at least the website response times seem to have dramatically improved today - at least for me - and no more errors when trying to access the backend.

Like Expressflight though, I lament the replacement of the previous timetable format.

Their real USP is the interline and codeshare functionality. In terms of other systems that are at the same level there's probably only Sabre which comes at a similar cost. Distributing codeshare is a pain in the backside but Amadeus have it cracked.
The real problem is that whenever a likely alternative starts to come onto the market one of the big 3 will buy it. Navitaire was bought by Amadeus and G2 switchworks was bought by Travelport. What carriers really want is the codeshare and interline capability of Altea with the customisation and flexibility of Navitaire. Amadeus have deliberately dragged their feet on this as the pricing is so different. A booking segment on Navitaire was less than $0.50....on Amadeus a codeshare segment can cost anything up to $8. They know that they have the airlines by the short and curlies hence the outcry when the biggest airlines develop workarounds via their own API solutions offering discounts. Agents are also incentivised to sell through the GDS by getting kickbacks that are funded by the airlines against their will!

Welcome to the current world of IT timetable developers, where each of the frequent revisions offers less and less useful information.

It's not hard to write a program to develop a PDF of their timetable which knowledgeable travellers can download, but even where carriers used to have these, they seem to delight in throwing them away.

It's like a restaurant abandoning menus. Instead you have to go through steps of logging in to a screen, then say how hungry you are, when did you last eat, (Would you like a special voucher for 3 weeks on Tuesday - NO), how much money have you got in your wallet, (Would you like a special voucher for 3 weeks on Tuesday - Again NO), and then IT tells YOU what you are going to be given.

And whether you can sit at the same table as the rest of your family will be decided only when you come in through the door. Unless you pay extra now.

That's a great post WHBM - sums up beautifully how awful the aviation business has become.
We keep predicted that we will hit the bottom of the barrel but somehow the barrel seems much deeper than anyone thought.

Unless a dominant new disruptor like Google enter the space to threaten complacency and comfortable positions held by incumbent providers. I could see disruptors of massive scale making a splash, they'll be too massive to buy.

Delays and cancellations
 

UOTE=Expressflight;10418543]I did that and the respondent said "I shall have it flagged for internal review". In the preamble he explained to me how the new Timetable search worked - which I had already discovered - and apologised for the fact that the new timetable search did not offer the same information as previously. Unsurprisingly I had already discovered that too![/QUOTE]

On the positive side of the website update it makes it harder for all to track their flight delays and cancellations. There is a note of their website stating live flight information temporarily unavailable which is nice and convenient for all the passengers on tonights delayed and cancelled flights at BHX along with their family/friends waiting at the airport.

A stunning week at BHX and some if not most was probably down to weather at various airports but over 15 cancellations or around 30 sectors mainly Glasgow, Belfast City, Amsterdam and Milan.

Tonight only the 4 of the 10 based cancelled so pretty good going (not) plus loads of delay.

Two of the delays are apt as they were charter flights and a question was asked on the Southampton thread if charters are to continue. Well after the last few weeks I am sure Flybe's new master will be taking a good look at these and this brings me to today's mess.

If you work in the scheduling department would you seriously think in winter that this a good schedule - BHX-CMF-SOU-CMF-BHX-MXP-BHX (Can be AMS BE113/4 or BE3009/10 CDG). A six sector day, so it sounds efficient for the "expensive" 195 but it is winter and the first 4 sectors are charters including two airports not known for their long runway, beautiful weather and state of the art landing aids. Then to mix it with a high-end business flight afterwards. Last week cross-wind issues at Southampton and today the SOU-CMF appears to have diverted to LYS ands is 7 hours late.

The other Sunday ski charter was due to fly BHX-ILD-BRS-ILD-BHX-AMS-BHX - you can see where I am going here...……….yes again delayed (not sure where but presume weather) . Both these examples resulted in BHX-MXP-BHX (175 tech) and BHX-AMS-BHX (late running CMF) cancelled

For good measure Flybe also threw in cancellations on BE792/5 Glasgow and BE414/7Belfast City as well plus BE400/3 BHD and BE105/6 Amsterdam already cancelled in the morning.

One Dash 8 has been noted over the Elmdon side of the airfield between the XLR and ex-MAEL hangar possibly sunbathing or on annual leave most of last week and although some of the issues might have been weather related it seems a lot from just one base or was it network wide?

A case of just bad luck due the weather, or was there also crewing issues, tech aircraft and also not helped by a fairly useless website update???

Pete

Probably a crewing issue, the exodus continues and is not looking likely to stop any time soon.

Cancellations
 

Cheers - it certainly seemed more than just weather and now that the live flight information is back it makes it easier to track - although it was 3 months and currently just showing 3 days but what a miserable 3 days.

Today ABZ-BHX-ABZ ABZ-MAN-ABZ (same aircraft?), EDI-EMA-EMA, EDI-BHX-EDI (same aircraft?) SOU-NCL-SOU, BHX-BHD-BHX, BHX-DUS-BHX (same aircraft?) at least 18 sectors cancelled Monday from BHX (BHD, AMS, DUS), GLA (BHXEMA), MAN (AMS) and SOU (GLA/AMS) on top of the Sunday cancellations mentioned in an earlier post. Although only a tiny percentage of the fleet I am sure this is getting on for a week with BHX-GLA cancellations starting on the 11th but did manage a full schedule today.

Pete