JSCL, I hope you get the irony behind that statement, coming from you as it does. That gave me a good laugh.

Training again today. Certainly getting the hours in. Good Luck to all......especially any ex-Southampton crews. Miss you.

Flybe 2.0 start date?
 

Hi, do we know when Flybe 2.0 plan to start operations again? Has a date or rough time been announced?

No date but a tough time is probably guaranteed. Sorry, couldn't resist it - bloody predictive text!

All seems to have gone very quiet for a summer timetable start. Tough times ahead indeed!

Prediction :

If they don't commence in summer 2022 then they won't start at all.

Thanks for that, a tough time is indeed guaranteed.
Not sure how they plan to fit back into the market and build a business given majority of routes now taken by competitors

If rumours are to be believed, thy could be finalising the sale to one of the companies approached late last year, such as Blue Islands. It could then explain why Blue Islands have ended their EXT - MAN operation as has been noted on the Exeter page. Run flybe to focus on the U.K and Blue Islands for the CIs. Could even be a joint effort with Aurigny and Loganair as they're all in some form of partnership.

That would be an interesting development. There had been discussions that the regional airlines in the UK would create further alliances with each other. It all sounded as if a move towards the creation of a single regional airline operator, albeit perhaps individual airlines still operating under their own brand etc.
Will be interesting to see what happens. Given they are presently recruiting staff perhaps we might hear something in the near future

Rumour at BHX is start date mid March. Also believe a 3rd aircraft is due imminently

Blue Islands needed loans from Jersey in 2020 and I don’t think they have ever made much profit and their owners wanted to sell them off at one point. I think there would also be regulatory issues with co-ordinating schedules and reducing competition before any sale was announced. As for involvement of the other players - Loganair has no need and is arguably a stronger brand than Flybe now and Aurigny is forever loss making and bailed out by Guernsey.

Likely to be end of March when Summer schedules start so should hear something very soon.

In Blue Islands defence most businesses in 2020 received some form of support from governments around the world, airlines specifically had some fairly high profile loans. Maybe this has enabled them to be in a much stronger position now than before covid making new ventures possible.

Aurigny are owned by the States of Guernsey so not bailed out, they're just run as what they are, a state owned airline offering connectivity to the people of Guernsey. Yes they receive large funds, but its just essentially another state department with a given budget.

Ok. Let me phrase it differently. Aurigny has never (or very rarely) made money. It’s one thing subsidising it for their local residents, it would be another thing altogether to start buying another likely loss making carrier. Aurigny has a given budget but goes beyond that, making bigger than expected losses and has to go asking for more money. That is a bailout. Just like when the Gov gave TFL more money it was explicitly called a bailout.

Has Blue Islands ever made a profit?

There is no need for any of these carriers to buy Flybe. There are few barriers to entry on the likely routes so if they have £45+ million laying around they would be better off just fighting Flybe and winning.

My understanding of this is that the loan wasn't given because Blue Islands needed it to survive, but the Government of Jersey gave Blue Islands the loan in order for them "...to become a 'base carrier' for the island for at least the next 10 years" [according the BBC]. This is probably because they were really badly exposed when Flybe 1.0 went into administration.

I'm sure that someone will be able to correct me though if I'm wrong.

This proposal is unlikely to be helpful for Flybe, Loganair, Eastern etc:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60197462

Reading a bit further could this acually be good news for the domestic carriers? It would seem to limit the payout to 100% of the fare paid which is far less than under EU261 although they would obviously be on the hook for delays of a shorter duration than currently.
This is far more equitable than the ridiculously punitive 261 conditions.

I was working on the basis that, due to distances involved, domestic AOG instances would be much easier to cover within the existing 3 hour deadline than the proposed new 1 hour limit.

job ads have been updated today

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search...on=1&pageNum=0

I hope that the compensation would be based on the total amount charged to the consumer.