Remaining S20 schedule due out today? So guess we'll find out.

If the long term aim is to develop Heathrow as a hub for VS.DL you have to start somewhere and VS/DL and possibly AF/KL will have deep pockets for that - especially where it invades territory potentially important, but not well served by a competitor (LH group) for long haul. What VS/DL will not have deep pockets for is supporting point to point traffic in the UK which historically has never turned a profit and probably never will. It will be interesting to see what fares will be charged to long haul passengers connecting from DUS over LHR - probably less than LHR originators.

Yes, it has. But, it was only ever a temporary slot for Guernsey until VIR/DAL found a more lucrative route for the slot. As was explained at the time that the Guernsey service was announced.

Yes... indeed... I totally agree.... I grew up with the Viscounts in the 60s and 70s... the only beast in the sky that could better them was the Vanguard. Mind you, I flew a flew times on the Blue Islands ATRs flights from Jersey to Geneva or Zurich, every time in the front row left hand side, and that was also beautiful ! Last night was on G-ECOK and it was shaking like a tumble dryer but, once again it was so nice flying in a small turboprop from Heathrow !

Flybe crisis: we’re all going on a ‘tax’ holiday
 

Flybe crisis: we’re all going on a ‘tax’ holiday

So I had my daughter booked on the 19.45 Lcy - Bhd last night. She was waiting in the departure lounge at 7.00pm when the departure board is suddenly changed to flight cancelled. No warning emails or text. She was of the opinion that the load was very good. She believes that about 20 were transferred to the EI flight to Dublin, but that travel expenses from Dublin to Belfast would not be covered. Remaining pax to be put up in hotels. We were still at the hotel, close to Lcy, so she decided to return to our hotel. She has been told the hotel cost will be covered. Before leaving the airport, she was re-booked onto the 8.55am flight this morning and issued with a boarding pass. It was only later that I thought of the fact that the pax on the Bhd-Lcy last night were also left in Belfast or else were re-routed at cost to Flybe.

The first flight this morning left Bhd about 35 minutes late, arriving a few minutes late into Lcy. Departure board is changed to flight delayed, info at 9.30am. She heard ground staff on the phone and it seems the Stobart aircraft developed an engine problem. Now they are discussing transferring pax again that were from the cancelled flight to the 10.20 departure. I think by this stage ground staff were taking a lot of flak. So pax from last night's flight were called forward for re-booking. Now staff were dealing with the pax cancelled from last night, pax from the delayed 8.55 from this morning and pax on the 10.20. She was transferred onto the 10.20, but it left about 50 minutes late.

I have no idea of the exact number cancelled from last night, but this one example will cost Flybe a fortune, probably is a good example of why they are in the position they are in.

This is probably related to the Stobart E190s which they have been using (because incidentally this route is actually doing really well from what I’ve heard). The E190s are terrible and constantly have delays due to issues. One on the BHD-LCY route diverted the other week because of tech problems. So they will end up killing their decent routes through poor customer service.

Flybe has released the flights for NQY-Lgw. 4 flights a day and the departures, at least, are all the same time. How did Flybe manage that?

^^^
You'll need to ask Norwegian that question. I don't think Norwegian know the answer to that themselves, yet....

Why would Flybe not pay for transport for the canx LCY-BHD pax who took the DUB flight??
Surely they have a duty of care to get you to your final ticketed destination...Just dumping you in DUB??
The Hotac cost at LCY would likely be more than a coach laid on for 20 or more to go from DUB to BHD....

Cant get my head around today's treatment of pax - When at BMA LHR we would never have acted like this we got folk home as best we could.

I don't believe this is allowed. As you say they have to get pax to where the paid to go to. It's not even the same country so can't see EU law allowing such a change without compensation/alternative arrangements to get to the final destination. It may be that pax were told to make their own way and then claim back.

I am reporting what my daughter took from the conversation she heard. I am not stating this is 100% correct as wrong information could have been given out.
The point of the posting was around how much this episode will cost Flybe and over the network, is that not happening far too much for it to be good for their finances?

If Flybe offered the canx pax the choice to reroute them via DUB then the airline is responsible for the onward taxi/coach to BHD

2nd scenario -
If it was the pax who suggested to Flybe that there are seats on the DUB, can we get on it...
I think then Flybe could say we will not pay for onward transport BUT the EU261 clearly states that the airline must reroute pax as quickly as possible by any means/route/airline/mode to get them to their destination promptly - So a reroute via DUB is quicker than Hotac at LCY and then a new flight the next morning...So BE still should pay the bill

Either way Flybe should be looking after its pax...

So on the basis that one of the passenger's 'believe' something happened it is being assumed that this was actually true and as a result Flybe are being cast in a bad light.

I think it very unlikely they acted in this way and it would hardly be the first time a third party has made a wrong assumption. True Blue obviously posted the story in good faith and has pointed out that he/she was highlighting the high cost to Flybe of it all but some never miss a chance to denigrate Flybe; whether they deserve it or not. I've had my problems with Flybe over the years, as I have had with a number of others, and find them no better or worse than the average UK carrier. Actually most of my Flybe delays have been on flights operated by their Stobart Air franchisee so they were not even the fault of Flybe itself.

In this case, they will probably simply forward the invoice to Stobart (which may leave Stobart a little more out of pocket when it comes to propping up their investment in Flybe financially, but anyways...)

The Flybe website is offering direct flights ABZ-SEN-ABZ under a code share with Loganair from now until 27th March 2020. I wonder why this is only available for two months. After that date the Flybe offering reverts to being non-direct.

Blue Islands recently stopped GCI to Southend stating not sustainable. They ran it under the flybe franchise so why would flybe go alone on it

https://gov.gg/article/176053/Econom...be-discussions

Technically SEN-GCI is already on sale this summer on the Flybe website. I use the word 'technically' as none of those flights are direct so all involve one or two stop en-route aircraft changes. Whether those plans are changing or it was just a clever use of words to make it sound as if Flybe were taking on the route in a meaningful way, we shall have to wait and see.

It was not sustainable because as well as a daily service during the summer which was probably to much capacity, it was also operating 5 flights a week for the winter season, which as i have already stated before was a recipe for losing shed loads of money. Now we wait to see if indeed Flybe will operate a direct GCI-SEN service and at what frequency.

i'm surprised they don't attempt a single daily LCY GCI service ; might make more sense

BBC News - Flybe Guernsey-Heathrow link cancelled
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-eur...rnsey-51228034

Looks like the new owners of Flybe have decided the Heathrow slot will be better served by Virgin Atlantic? Moving the flight to Southend doesn't help people looking to get on to onwards international flights.

That was always the case & was pointed out in this forum before BEE started the Heathrow to Guernsey route last year. BEE were only ever "slot sitting" for DAL/VIR - until such time as they found a better use for it. It was also pointed out to the States of Guernsey, who were also well aware of the reality; but chose to publicise the route as something of a coup for them. That's politics; you can fool some of the people all of the time etc. Seems that the Southend service may not be all that it is cracked up to be, either.

Who cracked the service to SEN to be a serious competitor to anybody?

As others have indicated, a summer service to Guernsey - maybe 2/3/4 times a week may be sustainable. Nobody is suggesting that SEN can replace LHR, even if the subsidy was doubled.

I am simply suggesting that Heathrow to Guernsey was something of a con trick , & that the Southend service is , perhaps, designed as a smoke screen to fool those who might be expecting something more than is going to be delivered.

Flybe owners requesting £100m short term loan from Government on "commercial terms"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51244308

So what happens if they default? Will the government bring Flybe down?

Tomorrow’s Times “Flybe will tell the government that it needs a £100 million loan to survive the winter, on top of the £106 million tax bill deferrment it has received”

So, thinking about it....they need a £100 million loan in order to get through the next 9 weeks !

So if they want a loan on “commercial terms” why not go to the Banks?

is it because they won’t lend to them?

You have to expect that the government will tell them to go whistle. If they need money then Cyrus and the grinning jumper should be funding it! I can't believe this is even under consideration.

Eastern Airways
 

Reading between the lines today with the new routes announced by Eastern Airways are they cutting ties with Flybe and going it alone once again ?
cant find an articles to say the new flights can be booked through Flybe. All just commenting that they will on sale on eastern website and no comment from Flybe at it all?

Eastern is more of a basket case than flybe in my opinion


cs

the eastern website doesnt have a reservation engine. it redirects to flybe

It was reported on this site in the weeks prior to the well publicised near collapse that the airline had commenced a head count reduction at HQ in Exeter.

Does anybody know where this exercise is at?
How many are to go? How will they fund the redundancy cost? I'm imagining that there are long standing employees who might well be entitled to apply a severance package.?

Anybody on here close to that process?

Unless you have defined in your contract specific redundancy terms or agree voluntary terms the English statutory redundancy terms apply.

They are rather less generous than most expect .

In simple terms first two years - Nil other than accrued holiday pay

The for complete years worked up to your 22nd birthday half weeks pay for each year service.
22 -40 one weeks pay for for each completed years service
Over 40 1½ weeks pay for each completed years service
Cap out at a maximum of 20 years service and cap of weekly pay £525 per week maximum

Maximum payment can not exceed £15,750

https://www.cityam.com/flybe-looks-f...saves-airline/




Surely a cash for taking flybe into public ownership given it is vital for the UK economy .

Can FlyBe survive? As pointed out earlier, Connect have barely touched their network in the last year.

The Telegraph is going after them all guns blazing. Mind you, BA advertise with them and that paper tries to be sympathetic to advertisers!

https://www.ft.com/content/c87a967a-...7-eae9bd51ceba

This is why flybe needs to
be in public ownership

Sorry FT links do not work as cannot be read unless one subscribes to the paper - can you elaborate please?

Just lazy journalism, not looking through the smoke and mirrors as the Mayor and Eastern try and avoid the damaged Flybe brand. However, the Eastern website directs you to the Flybe booking engine and Eastern's own press release says




https://www.easternairways.com/news/...-international

When flybe were rumored to be heading down the sink recently an interesting article came out suggesting plans were in place for the network to be cut into bits and various routes taken over by other airlines.

as it was behind a paywall I don’t know how detailed the reports were, can anyone elaborate ?

at this point I think a government loan isn’t going to be seen to be fair, and if it needs a loan on commercial terms why doesn’t Virgin Atlantic loan them ?

surely the better outcome would of been for IAG to buy the company rather than connect last year ?

cs