Quite an interesting chat with an industry contact recently. One of the big issues at Southampton is the cost of aviation fuel, which is surprising when it's that close to Fawley refinery! It's apparently the most expensive of any decent-sized airport in the country - not far off double that at Bournemouth apparently - and unless you can carry roundtrip fuel into SOU, which isn't easy with the fairly limited runway length, it's incredibly costly to pick up fuel there. Might this be one reason behind the airport's stagnation?

Didn't easyJet do just that the other day with their diverted flight back to BFS. Goes to show it is possible on domestics, not sure for international, but interesting all the same.

Oh dear here we go again, after the previous regime realised their mistake and stopped saying it, the new one does exactly the same “aviation director Chris said will increase the number and size of plane now able to take off from Southampton”. Nothing bigger than what could pre-extension already use the airport is going to be appearing.

Just adding more fuel to the anti-airport lobby bonfire.

One would have thought that an Ops Director would have sufficient technical expertise to not make such a basic mistake.

Not in my experience of some Ops. Directors !

Nor mine, a long past predecessor at SOU got her 02 and 20 mixed up, and had a survey done on the opposite end of the runway to what was required. That one promptly ended up under the carpet!

New route
 

New route to Caen starting in June by Chalair ATR-42 twice per week

Credit to seanm on X

That's a nice and unexpected addition to SOU.

I've often wondered if Chalair would ever consider starting a Caen to Southampton route, and here we have it.

Would be nice if an operator could resume a link from Southampton to Rennes as it was a popular route with Flybe.

SOU now has 20 destinations from 9 Airlines. Most regional airports would love the thought of having 9 airlines. You would imagine, though, that most regional airports with 9 airlines would produce far more than 20 destinations. SOU should in reality be serving more than 20 destinations with 9 airline's.

If I remember correctly the highest amount of destinations served from SOU at any onetime was about 38 and from a much lesser amount of airline's.

I really don’t want to rain on the parade but it’s a little bit late to start a brand new route to somewhere that most people in the UK don’t know about and even where the place is and secondly who the heck is this airline ??

Chalair
 

Further to the above post's regarding the French regional airline Chalair announcing a seasonal service between Caen and Southampton.

Service commences on Friday 28 June 2024 and operates until 22 September 2024. Flights will operate twice weekly on a Friday and Sunday with an ATR 72.

​​​​​Friday schedule.

CE1431 CFR 10.00 SOU 09.45
CE1432 SOU 10.30 CFR 12.15

Sunday schedule.

CE1431 CFR 16.45 SOU 16.30
CE1432 SOU 17.15 CFR 19.00

Caen is a lovely city with lots to see and do, great food and loads of history. Close to Bayeux and the Normandy beaches. A great weekend getaway made even easier with this new direct link between the city and Southampton. Equally great for Caen and northern Normandy for an air connection to London via SOU.

Hopefully in the future we will see further French regional airports being added or resumed from Southampton.

Caen CFR was never flown by Flybe from Southampton, although it was previously served by a small French regional operator in the late 1980s, the name of which I can't remember.

You say you don’t want to rain on parade and then do exactly that!

Don't worry, to this poster if it’s not BOH it’s not worth worrying about.

Beat me to it. A very sad individual. Imagine being so angered by an inanimate object.

Good news we have a new airline and route. Shame it’s not somewhere a bit more south like Bordeaux as the second home market was quite a big thing for BE that hasn’t been replaced. You can get the ferry to Caen and other areas of northern France just down the road in Portsmouth as well. Hope it proves to be a success though.

Hopeful that easyJet will do Bordeaux summer seasonal as not sure BA will be back next summer with Bergerac

It is a shame that you find it impossible not to insult anyone that might be described as having an alternative view. Remember it is just an airport so stop getting angry.

Fingers crossed. You would like to think as they grow they will serve at least one French regional route. They have quite a big presence at Bordeaux and SOU use to have many routes to the towns around the Dordoyne region. The second home market must be strong in that area.

DORDOGNE even :ok:

List of former French 🇫🇷 destinations previously served from SOU.

Angers
Avignon
Bastia
Beziers
Biarritz
Bordeaux
Brest
Cherbourg
Clermont-Ferrand
Deauville
Dijon
Dinard
Grenoble
La Rochelle
Le Touquet
Limoges
Lyon
Nantes
Nice
Paris Orly
Pau
Perpignan
Rennes
Rodez
Rouen
Toulouse
Tours

Current French 🇫🇷 destinations served from SOU.

Bergerac
Caen
Chambéry
Paris CDG

A lot of catching up to do regarding many of those former French 🇫🇷 destinations previously flown from SOU. Although compared to other similiar UK regional airports, four French 🇫🇷 destinations is not too bad.

Hopefully easyjet at some point, might consider the following French 🇫🇷 destinations for SOU.

Bordeaux
Lyon
Nice
Paris, either CDG or ORY
Toulouse

Just to add, the amount of second home owners in France 🇫🇷 has severely dropped over the last few years so the demand is not what it used to be for the majority of French regional routes.

Have a good weekend everyone including RJ who's still recuperating by the sounds of it.

wow that’s a long list! Not sure however if all those were profitable for BE. EasyJet to Nice, CDG and Bordeaux (away bases) would do well in my opinion with of course CDG being year round. Also importantly no duplication with BOH.

It's always been a problem with Rivet Joint,if you have a view different to his then the personal insults follow.
Lets not be carried away with the Caen announcement, any new route from SOU is good news,but the list of French destinations that had been quoted that Easy might go for is pie in the sky.
SOU needs new Sun routes and increased frequency for a sustained future,competition is tough with Jet 2 down the road starting ,it seems Easy is the only airline at present that is committing in a limited way to provide some sun routes,2025 is going to be the tell-tell year for the airport.

Totally agree. No need to serve anywhere near that list of destinations any more. It’s an impressive list though.

Easy to Bordeaux, Paris and Nice would probably cover the majority of peoples needs. Let’s not forget at reduced airfares compared to what BE charged.

How many of the airlines that operated the long list still exist?