it looks from the press release that Manchester gets an extra 5 returns from the currently on sale
schedule.

cs

NQY-AMS schedule seems to be (based on a random Tuesday...)

BE1543 11:10 NQY 13:55 AMS
BE1544 14:40 AMS 15:25 NQY

I don't see it on sale to connecting destinations via klm.com yet (hardly surprising, given the lead time) but hopefully that will be fixed soon. Coupled with DL/KL/VS options from MAN and VS/DL options from LGW there could be better connectivity in the longer run.

Isn't there a restriction imposed by KL pilot unions on the number of codeshares from a particular country?

Yep I think so

does the klm site sell VS coded and BE coded flights ? I genuinely don’t know


cs

I thought so too. If I remember correctly it was something like two routes which was why KLM recently changed their codeshare from one route to another here (can’t remember which).

Starting a hub feed without any codeshares with the hub airline would seem silly even by the standards of recent decision-making.

As for union restrictions, there were far more codeshares 10-15 years ago when the entire UK-KL feeder operation was run from Britain; can't imagine a single daily arrival from NQY is going to exercise pilots.

It's a strictly enforced maximum of three codeshare routes per codeshare partner. And although the KLM operation used to be run from UK crew bases, those have all been closed over those last 10-15 years and all work repatriated to the Netherlands. There was a reason for that, and it wasn't cost. The VNV would get very exercised indeed if KLM started to push the boundaries of the codeshare agreements into AMS where they believe KLM should be doing all of the flying itself.

Those timings are pretty Lousy for interlining at AMS - You miss the all morning and lunchtime departures out of AMS (CPT for instance deps at 1030) and for the evening flights you will have a very long wait at AMS.
Likewise the inbound means if you land say from the US or Africa early doors, then you have to wait until after lunchtime to get home - Not the best IMHO....

Agree the timing isn't great but there will be some possibilities just because of the volume of onward flights; it's less lousy than the afternoon DUB-NQY which misses most things in both directions!

As for the codeshares, which other routes does Flybe operate out of AMS? EXT, SOU and LCY?

According to Wikipedia: Birmingham, East Midlands, Exeter, London–City, Manchester, Newquay (begins 29 March 2020),Southampton

You might have thought that the good selling point of the great choice of the USA flights catchment with Aer Lingus (with the handy Pre Immigration clearance at DUB) would have been a good idea for the flights out of NQY to DUB to actually connect with all of the EI Transatlantic's going West....bit of a no brainer?

As Eddy Monsoon from Ab Fab would have said PR darling PR....

Or maybe Aer Lingus are looking at as a nice holiday destination for the Irish instead of transatlantic feed to and from there especially as Newquay not only has a London link but a Manchester link which will provide that.

And gives that a/c something to do in the slack periods when it isn't providing T/A feed from the big commercial centres

Well, indeed. EI does sell a couple of transatlantics as a connection (the late JFK and the eastbound BOS I think) but not every day of the week and the price is often comically uncompetitive. It doesn't sell any short-haul connections even though quite a few would work rather nicely. I've flown NQY-DUB-LYS, CDG-DUB-NQY and NQY-DUB-EDI in preference to driving to EXT or BRS but I've had to buy the tickets separately and shoulder the risk.

In future, Flybe via MAN or AMS will be more useful, for sure.

I would happily fly NQY/DUB/YVR if such a service existed but would not fly NQY/AMS/YVR simply because flying east to fly west makes no sense at all. Easier as I always do to just drive to LHR.

As someone who uses AMS with KLM to fly to the USA I find it just as easy to use that as making the 2 and a half hours drive to Heathrow or having a long layover in Dublin.

As I previously suggested from
the press release from flybe. Manchester does go x3 daily Monday - Friday with the additional rotation seemingly operating ex Manchester.


cs

but if you go via Dublin you pass US immigration there - a major saving in hassle................

Not in my experience. I've used Dublin pre clearance once and found it just hassle. Had to wait till I could go through, then did another security check and then a big queue to get through. My experience of going via Amsterdam was much better.

Lat time it took us as a family 90 seconds...................