"So let me see ... FlyWhoosh started ops on 29th May. Six months funding from the good old Scottish Exec. Flights end at the end of November. Hmmm."

In the words of Cilla Black "Surprise Surprise"

Dundee
 

Is Dundee going places then or is HIAL likely to be a help or hindrance to the airports operation.

dundee is definitely going places, HIAL certainly arent a hindrance, the council running the airport only held it back, they had no experience of how to deal with an airport and how to make it profitable, whereas HIAL have the experience and can make a profit if they want to. all in all, the takeover is a great thing.

abcd1234:So let me get this right. HIAL have never made a profit at any of their airports. Is this because they "don't want to"? Or is it because UK taxpayers will always foot the bill? And what is the difference between Dundee council taxpayers subsidising Dundee airport, and UK taxpayers subsidising it?
NS

because dundee taxpayers are getting fed up of subsidising the airport haha. in business there is never a gauranteed profit, but at the same time, you cant be gauranteed a loss either, hial seem to be doing fine with all of their airports in the money sector, they must be doing something right.

The money to run HIAL comes from central Government, ie all the UK taxpayers, the money to run Dundee came from Dundee and nowhere else.

Now HIAL have Dundee, funding will come from all of us.

For info, none of the HIAL airports make a real profit, INV may make an "operating profit" but they still have massive debts to service each year.
The remainder of the airports within the group are largely operated for the benefit of the community and can't be expected to make profits.
Dundee will be amongst the latter.

Story today (or was it yesterday?) that HIAL are talking to a number of operators about routes, both those vacated by Whoosh (Belfast, Birmingham) plus some new routes (unspecified).

So...who & where?

I thought a saw a press report in early December which mentioned the possibility of a "Swiss airline with an excellent reputation" were possibly considering taking over the Fly Whoosh routes - can't think who this would be apart from Darwin or Farnair or are the latter still cargo only?

Thought it was the Swiss airline Whoosh were talking about to about recommencing their flights and that it came to nothing.

Centre cities

Surely someone like Highland Airways would suit the airport very well? They could take on both the BHD and BHX routes and maybe even add a MAN? Rumours all over the place that they are getting J41s soon.

Would've thought flybe would be good for the kind of routes in question, but I guess they're not interested cause they feel they already get the traffic through EDI/ABZ and to a lesser extent GLA.

Given the local population and tourist attractions in the catchment I'm sure there are quite a few routes that are viable from Dundee. The problem comes in getting airlines to operate them (especially if they already operate to the same destination from EDI/ABZ) and getting pax out the habit of driving to other Scottish airports to pick up flights.

The price is also an issue. The prices whoosh were offering to belfast and birmingham were pretty steep compared to the likes of easyjet and flybe. This is understandable but for the sake of an hour and a bit in the car, most people would not want to pay the extra money.

I see WEA are openly saying they weren't getting paid now.

Mmmmmm, i wonder if City Jet would put a 146 on the Dundee route and use the D328 for Birmingham ?????????

Murcutt in the press:
 

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2...10783137t0.asp



S78

PR
 

Glad to see the subtle art of good PR is not dead!!!!

"He added, “I don’t regret [the way I spoke to Mr Sturrock] even slightly. It’s an old adage that ‘those who can, do; and those who can’t, teach’, and I’m not going to be lectured by someone whose potential earnings will amount to little more than three farthings to buy a Ford Fiesta."

Oh dear.

the courier article says it all. shows exactly how much he valued his customers, i wouldnt waste a penny of my money on that man or any of his businesses

with the way that london citys pax figures are justnow, anything bigger than a d328 would be a complete waste. figures from lcy to dnd can even be worse than dnd - lcy at times. pax are getting fed up with the late or canx flights, lack of customer care in the case of delays or cancellations and value for money or the lack of it.

"Those who can, do".

Is he referring to that roaring success called Flywho?






S78