I think this is an excellent point. I didn't know this - more people travelling to the US should consider this route, and who wouldn't want to avoid Heathrow.

LHR really isn’t that bad. T2 and T5 are great and comparable to most global hubs. T3 is the downside. The advantage of LHR is much better lounges for those eligible.

Global Entry is also a godsend meaning you don’t need to worry about immigration queues in the U.S. and I know more and more people applying for it - even those only going once a year to the U.S. think the fee is worth it for the 5 year validity. Plus you get TSA pre-clear which is also great.

Great to hear about the larger aircraft, especially their new E195 E2s. Perhaps the perfect aircraft for SOU? Recently cleared for ops at LCY so performance obviously not an issue. The TUI Belgium outfit have a few being flown to holiday destinations. Porter who are a low cost carrier in Canada have recently ordered 50+ odd and already received half in a year or so.

Perhaps there is an airline in Europe or a new operator out there willing to take a chance on this jet or the A220 to operate from smaller airports like SOU. Why would they do that you might say? Well Porter have gone from q400s to it and are making it work, Breeze are a new low cost airline built around a smaller jet in the A220. Air Baltic out of nowhere are going to operate 50+ A220s.

But why would an existing airline like Easy etc take on another fleet type? Well JetBlue a large low cost operator in America are building a sizeable A220 fleet alongside A320/A321. Many legacy carriers do in Air France, Delta, ITA and Azul.

And the potential clincher? The 737 and A320 are sold out for the rest of the decade and more. Huge growth for air travel predicted. Looks like the E2 and 220 will be the only options.

Disclaimer, this is merely speculation posted on a forum, not something to be taken as a fact. Of course the dream scenario would be for Easy to order the A220 which would be the perfect replacement for the A319. Not all of the routes flown by that plane can be ungraded to the A320. Saying that, if it was going to happen it would probably have already happened by now.

When easyJet were saying they are removing the A319 fleet from its portfolio, it was so they could increase their capacity, hence going for the neo's.

More of a case of clutching at straws. Even if easy did order the A220, which they won’t, looking at the backlog, a new order now would mean a long wait of a few years to take delivery.

PW GTF engine woes across those new fleets
 

RV, I enjoy many of your posts and passion (and those posts from others here too).
SOU Airport is a unique topic and it's future is very much pivotal on getting the ''right fits, with the right expansion''

However, we do have a rather large Pratt and Whitney shaped 'Elephant in the Room' as for the foreseeable future, the engine problems of the new Pratt and Whitney GTF's that happen to power the E2, the A220 and many new A320N and A321N, we are seeing one-third of these new jets with P&W GTF engines sitting idle as a recall impact spreads.

These recall problems are currently affecting many airlines Globally until at least the end of 2026 (including KLM, Wizz, JetBlue and AirTransat) with the groundings and mandatory inspections that are needed, and these mods are taking each airframe offline for at least 2 months or more downtime.
Wizz Air recently said it was forced to slash its capacity forecast by 10% as it will have to ground about 45 A320N/A321N aircraft, and Turkish Airlines has 18 of it's 55 A321N grounded.

What with Boeing's many woes across the 737-MAX design and the ongoing QA revelations, and now other recalls with LEAP engine anti-ice overheating, plus the continuing Certification debacle of the larger 737M Dash-10 version, airlines must be pulling their hair out to be able to get products that actually work.

Easyjet wisely bought the LEAP engines for their Airbus Neos, and likewise Jet2 stayed well away from the 737 MAX, buying up the last new 737NG's, and has now gone for the latest A320N/A321N family (with LEAP engines).

The latest airport data has been published by the CAA. 58,553 passengers in February.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d3af947bf8.png


Looking at February only in comparison to other similar sized airports
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....8c11fd8e7c.png

So steady progress.

Feb 23 v 24 saw some good growth for SOU. EIR/DUB + 51% and assume as a result of RYR/BOH pulling route this winter, EZY/GVA + 45% (albeit with added capacity) and LM/EZY GLA + 26% (cannot split stats although hear easyJet doing very well). Interestingly EIR/BHD holding firm -1% against EZY/BFS competition (loads 62%-75% A319/320). Not so good is LM/NCL - 19% and LM/EDI - 12% would suggest high pricing & RYR/BOH alternative. Apologies for jumbled message as not sure how to present these stats but I think the takeaway is the airport is showing green shoots with Aer Lingus performing brilliantly and easyjet domestics making a solid start, Loganair hitting slightly choppy waters!

You wasted your time working that out? I would get a life. SOU were so incompetence tonight.

easyJet policy is following Ryanair in up-sizing the core fleet. The A319s are leaving and more A320Ns/A321Ns are coming. Stated aim is that the A320-200N will be the smallest aircraft type.

Interestingly, if we just look at the month of February, flights to the Netherlands had some rather lacklustre growth, overtaken by flights to Ireland.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d9df599886.png

All international since 2021:
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....43f5d7871d.png

What happened? Was it ATC, ground handling, terminal staff etc?

Feb 2024 passenger figures when expressed as a percentage of the same month in 2019
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....b41e5fc4e0.png

Nothing we don’t know already ie Covid/BE. Hence will take longer than most airports to get anywhere near to 2019 figures but it’s improving year on year and going in the right direction. If the airport can get closer to 1m this year and 1.2m (break even) within the next 18/24 months, this will I’m sure be seen as an achievement when considering a totally new business model has had to be developed along with infrastructure changes required to promote this new way of operating.

Do you work for SOU pr team? BOU top of the table, SOU bottom, says it all about the future of SOU.

Airport sponsored article:

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/242...e-italy-malta/

Presumably you meant to say “incompetent”? Pray explain, from what FR24 shows all scheduled flights arrived and departed.

Far from it my friend. Merely pointing out that the airport has suffered a large downturn that has affected many people’s lives detrimentally and is having to build itself back up again.

There's a hill to climb for sure, but we've yet to see the impact of new routes. What I find interesting from the table I posted is that some airports are doing better than they were pre-pandemic which indicates that there is a demand for travel. I don't see why SOU wouldn't benefit from that.