I dont see why it would be less attractive to offer those routes, HUY is a more specialised market yet it managed to grow comfortably next to DSA when they were both offering more than they currently do.

Im not suggesting LS will ever come to HUY but if they did they would most likely have support from tour operators, namely TCX, who have a good track record of getting bums on seats.

Whichever way im sure all of the routes lost at HUY will be taken back again when things get better, todays announcement could even spur them on to be more open to the concept of offering deals like they did with XL and FR a couple of years ago.

Flybe to Malaga
 

A Summer Saturday Malaga service showing on the Flybe website

This Is Great News :8

woohoo
 

The men from Flybe...........they say YES!

:D

Interestin development. I hope we can expect more too though i suspect it may have been arranged via a local tour operator.

I eagerly await the official statement.

Good news, I hope it's the start of better times up there.

Beware of the wonderful Flybe, all the crews and groundstaff are a great bunch, but any sniff of competition and large management teddy bears get thrown out of the Exeter cot...:}

Its good to see the Fire Section doing a good job keeping HUY open.:D

Allegedly it is Humberside Airport Travel who are chartering the plane and selling the seats.

They will be chartering a Flybe Embraer 195 with 118 seats....so personally i think they will sell like hotcakes. Good luck to HAT in their venture and hope it goes from strength to strength.

:D:ok:

I would suggest the charterer is not selling all 118 seats as Flybe are offering on a scheduled basis as well. What will probably happen is the charterer will take 90 seats or so and Flybe will sell the rest.......probably at a fairly high cost? Maybe if successful HUY and BE will offer other routes to PMI which in the summer must surely have a reasonable demand even from Humberside??

Im not so sure on this one. Humberside Travel are not strictly a tour operator, more agent. I would have thought that they have played a big part in attracting them but i doubt that they will have block seat allocations.

Cloud1, judging by previous routes (since DSA opened) then there are far more routes than just PMI which would work. The problem is that BE aircraft can not reach them (far as im aware). Tenerife and Gran Canaria are strong year round routes. Along with Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, Alicante has worked well year round too. Its all quite frustrating to have to travel to the other airports to get to these places and whilst this new route is a small addition it is a step in the right direction.

Im hoping for Jet2 in 2011, fingers crossed.... :ok:

New Hotel
 

I know its not strictly to do with flights etc but HUY are getting a new hotel. By the sounds of it, they reckon it could be up and running as soon as April/May.

Is te long awaited (15 years) petrol station to be part of this scheme?

Do you know who will be the tennant? The MD seems to believe that the Eastern J41 sim alone could generate enough custom!

April seems a bit optimistic though.

When the Airport runway was extended in 1992, a 133 bed Hotel was propsed to be built by the Quality Hotel Group, so no hurry!!.

Apparently, Thomas Cook are going to be using a 767-300 on their Monday Dalaman rotation this summer.

Regards

Mike

well i was told by a friend who works for thomas cook saying that thay mite send a 767-300 or a 757-300 on the palma route in august 2011 but he cant be sure

From the thomas cook thread!

I believe Thomas Cook should consider to serve also Bodrum/Izmir or Sharm el Sheikh from HUY, next summer, as bookings to Turkey and Egypt are rocketing.

At the end of the day, Thomas Cook could base an A320 at HUY for the summer and winter season, and there would be plenty of work. They recently pulled their winter programme from HUY, and this summer upgrade, with mention of next summer too, would all seem to contradict Thomas Cook's commitment to HUY. They are already offering Antalya, Dalaman, Heraklion, Larnaca and Palma, on which they have the majority of the allocation, and there is definitely scope for the likes of Bodrum, Bulgaria, Corfu and Tenerife during the summer. It has been discussed to death in the past, it would appear that it will just never happen, despite HUY apparently being a good seller for Thomson amd Thomas Cook alike.

Regards

Mike

I agree with most of what you say aeulad, the problem is that TCX will surely not want the risk on their shoulders.

It is understandable that TOM want to fill their aircraft from DSA and EMA and so seat sharing is not an option.... The winter TCX fights were pulled due to costs of outstationing aircraft and crews, this is made worse by a lack of other major operator support.

Ive said it time and time again, i believe that as things stand Jet2 would be the only saving grace. Whether the airline or the management want that to happen is another matter entirely however.

A TCX's A320 based in HUY would be definitely work fine, during the whole summer season, May to October.

They should aim to offer flexible stays and departures to the best-seller destinations, such as Dalaman, Larnaca, Tenerife, Heraklion and Palma, offering at least 2 weekly flights and, in the meantime, flight-only tickets to the increasing public made by second-home owners, DIY travellers and so on.. and I guess filling almost all the available seats would be an easy game to sustain, maybe also sharing this capacity with rival firm Thomson, as they are frequently swapping their own seats each other, from other UK airports.
Next to these flights, they should consider to include some others that are registering an increasing popularity like Paphos, Monastir (Tunisia) or Sharm el Sheikh, to name few. Plus operating also some Ws to other smaller UK airports.

But first of all, what they need is a full support of local travel agencies and also from the Board of the airport. Holidaymakers have to be addressed firstly to HUY if they want to travel to the offered sun spots and these could be reached only with an intensive work of promotion throughout Internet travel sites and holiday agents, alongside with a very reliable schedule of flights.

As for Costa Blanca (Alicante) or Costa del Sol (Malaga), as well as Algarve (Faro), the best way to regain this traffic and give a boost to the airport, is to attract back again Ryanair.
A 738 with a low-cost pattern is more suitable for these destinations, rather than Dublin was.