Mob,

How much of your excellent point above could also apply to the way some of them treat their customers?

Don't get me wrong, many no frills airlines have very good punctuality records, but Southwest's attitude is still very much of the caring, sharing company you talk about. Ryanair might keep telling us they have the least delays, the fewest lost bags, the fewest complaints (aided my making such complaints very hard to make), etc - but their attitude when things do go wrong is still - f**k off, you only paid 99p, what do you expect.

Now I don't expect to see JF using the f* word in public (come to think of it, what would happen to Ryanair employees who told customers to f*** off - instant dismissal, or promotion to the boardroom?), but I have heard of plenty of cases where Flybe too have not responded to delays in the most sympathetic manner.

An apology, an announcement, a smile etc - all cost nothing, but go a long way towards keeping the punters happy, even if everything is going t*ts up.

jabird

Yes, it's the same mentality. I have been present at meetings where lateness and PR was discussed, and it always came down to "well what do they expect for ten quid..." Usually said in jest, but you can almost sense the resentment towards pax who pay virtually nothing and then expect service.

The bottom line is that you can't easily combine low fares and excellent service in the Euro LCC model. The economies of scale aren't there, attitudes are entrenched, and the Brits don't get giving everybody the same excellent service. They usually fail at this by employing cheap (but generally hopeless) handling agents like Servisair and Aviance. They entrust their pax (on the ground) to people on horrifying wages, who are often severely demotivated. There is only one outcome possible.

I have to say I nearly went to work for Easy - I had the offer in my hand. I turned them down in the end, mainly because Stelios had handed the company to a management team who are probably competent, but lack any form of soul or personality.

Anyway, expect standards to continue to slip as money becomes tighter.

As far as Ryanair is concerned, I wouldn't travel with them unless there was no possible alternative. I'm afraid I don't have a lot of faith in either their business or safety cultures.

Easy are slightly better, but only slightly - although their training department does appear to be excellent.

The first 737,looking very nice!


http://www.planepictures.net/netshow.php?id=314841

It's funny how with basically single or dual type fleets you can get very used to a livery on only one or two types of plane - a definite double take when you see this one :)

Any firm news on where it's being based and what ops it's in for?

*j*

Flybe have applied to the CAA to lease a Hola 733 EC-IOR from 27th March until 18th May to cover crew shortages.

Therefore this will presumably be their first taste of 737 Ops.Anybody know where it will be based?

BHX maybe? if not EXT or SOU

I was really looking for an answer,not a guess!

Oshkosh George

SOU has never, so far, been mentioned in the 737 trial yet.

The two bases to have 737's are BHX (2) and EXT (1).

I thought all three were being provided by Ashtrays-are-us...... but i guess now this new Hola a/c has appeared it could be based at either airport.

Anyone else know?

BPM

Yes,I think this is an unplanned 733,so there will possibly be four,depending on timescales of the others entering service.

G-STRE/I not far away,haven't heard of the fourth as yet. Could conceivably be ZK-SLA,which Astraeus have leased from 7 April for the summer.

OG....

well you know way more than me and most of my collegues!!!!

I gather the RJ's might not be as imminent as once thought so that could explain the lease of another a/c.....

We'll see. I shall look out here to find out more!!

BPM

The First 737-300 (G-STRE) starts flying for Flybe today the 24th march Operating from BHX. The second Astreus aircraft is due to join Flybe from Sunday and the Hola airlines a/c positions into EXT on saturday to operate from Sunday on the Exeter routes.

brgds
W.G

G-STRI is the second 737 to go to flyBe. First one is G-STRE and this will be operating the inaugural services from BHX today.

When is the JetX MD82 lease due to end & what a/c is likely to replace it at SOU?

"crew shortages" for what? I thought they always intended to use a 733 during the summer from EXT so whose crew shortages are they referring to? Also what routes is this a/c going to be used on?

The Jetex MD82 finishes on saturday and positions back to it's base after operating the scheduled service.

The Hola airlines 737 will operate the EXT/ALC/AGP/PMI/FAO flight's and is operating in place of the planned 146 which was due to operate the first part of the summer schedule untill the third 737 was due to join us from Astreaus.

brgds
W.G

WG

and what news is there from the EXT mothership about the RJ's?

The conversion training seems to have stopped......

If they aren't going to arrive when the schedule expected them to arrive how will the shortfall be filled?

BPM

Thanks W.G. by the way I presume your username is related to one of the Bristol Aeroplane Company's finest?

rgds Brabazon

Brabazon - It most definetly is as is yours too, pity they cut the mighty Brabazon up would love to have one of those mighty beasts.

brgds

W.G

BPM
 

Well,as the third Astraeus wasn't planned just yet,the Hola would presumably be the stop gap for the RJs. But I haven't checked when the new routes from EXT were to begin. If not until May,then I guess the Hola will be doing something else!

I have now checked and see that the new routes start at the end of March,so assume that the RJs were due on these routes until the third Astraeus took over in May.

Oshkosh - the Hola airlines a/c is to operate the routes that Jetex have been operating via EXT over the last month which was previously operated by the Exeter based 146 last summer that then operated useing a SOU based 146 on a W Pattern over the winter.

brgds
W.G

Any possibilities of BE operating any more routes from BRS plugging some of the holes that Easyjet havent covered- Murcia Almeria, Perpignon, La Rochelle ex cetera ex cetera

I expect that's in the pipeline - they've only just started the planned routes so far, if successful then maybe in the winter or next summer, who knows could even be this summer if there's enough demand! But EXT isn't too far away from BRS so maybe they should stagger the schedules between the two so as not to take one's business away from the other!?

:ok:

WG
 

Is G-STRE now in full Flybe colours?

Oshkosh - Yes G-STRE is in full flybe livery.

brgds
W.G

Is it in service yet? - saw one climbing out of BHD yesterday pm not sure which one

Thanks WG.

ALLMCC
As previously posted---yes,entered service yesterday.And it should have been 'E,as the other two enter service on Sunday(but I suppose could have been a PRE service flight by one of those!)

Hi ALLMCC, don`t know how regular it will be on the Bhx-Bhd route but it is operating over the Easter weekend as part of the regular schedule. Think it brought in 137 and took out 131 pax this avo.

What are the chances of seeing anything bigger than a RJ100 operated by Flybe from SOU in the near future. I would have thought that there would be more demand for flights to Spain etc. from SOU than EXT.

Anyway, whats the deal with flybe flying to Faro and Palma from Exeter and BHX but not from Southampton, seems a bit strange as there is surely enough demand to justify SOU-FAO and SOU-PMI?

those destinations might well be served from SOU when the Airbus arrives..........

BPM

What Airbus exactly?

the A319's that the company are itching to buy to replace our jurassic jet fleet.

Announcement to be made at the end of the financial yeaf according to JF.

Not long now then......

BPM

How many times have we heard this before about ordering new jets, hopefully it will actually happen this time! So its definately going to be Airbus, not Boeing then?

I've no idea.

Last i heard in a crew room recently was Embraers.

Will they EVER replace the 146? Probably not.

The airbus / boeing rumour must be 10 years old now.

But we live in hope........

BPM

When the MD82 was at SOU, FlyBe were consistantly filling over 120 seats on the ALC & AGP routes.

I thought all three were being provided by Ashtrays-are-us...... but i guess now this new Hola a/c has appeared it could be based at either airport.

Anyone else know?


The first BE 737 flight (afaik) was this morning BHX - MJV - BHX. Anyone know loads on the outbound sector? MJV to BHX was around 35.

Not sure how this really stands for an inaugral inbound. I would imagine they can get the loads over the busy summer period. But with all the other competitors on these routes, and having to subcontract to another airline (my understanding is that they are not getting a "cheap" deal on them), will they really add much, if anything to the bottom line?

I know they might be "testing the water" for a possible Airbus order, but this afternoon's flight felt like just another 737 operator. BE do something different with their Q400s, operating some excellent niche routes, and offering some very good frequencies on higher density sectors. I've never really understood JF's motivation to swim with the sharks in the highly competitive 150-180 seat market, but time will tell.

The MJV sector was a 737-300 in Flybe livery. No branding inside, presume this is standard for a charter op. Saw another Astraeus logo 737 on neighbouring stand (57), which afaik was operating BE's flight to AGP.

Flybe actually now mention and detail the Md82 as one of their aircraft types on their website now:

http://www1.flybe.com/faq2/afmviewfaq.asp?faqid=86

southbound MJV / AGP from BHX and ALC from EXT (i think that was the other one....) all above 140.

Not bad!

BPM

the A319 will not be able to operate fully laden to southern spain from Southamptons runway. Your would need a min of 1800m TORA in order to do that.

They would be better placed to buy the ERJ170/190 surely?

Er nakata,

Aircraft of A319-size and larger use SOU throughout the year on routes to southern iberia and the canary islands. With the uprated engine option flybe are considering for the A319 there shoulden't be any problem in operating such routes.

The ERJ-170/190 woulden't bring any extra capacity benefits over the current max of 112 seats on the BAe 146.

:ok:

Nice idea, but the Embraer 170/190 field performance is poor and you'd be lucky to make Cherbourg with a full load out of Southampton on a hot day. I don't think that the Embraer family will be one of the contenders, somehow.