Maybe if flye had kept its GCI base open and thus had an early am departure and late eve arrival passengers would still be flying with them.

The prospect of Blue Islands as sole operator on the route - which happen saddens me. We have had two airlines on this route since. AIR ATLANTIQE went into competition with AIR UK. Prepare for higher fares as Blue dominate.

Yes sad to see Flybe giving up on the route. Hope this doesn't extend to their other routes. Flybe were great for onward connections. They were notoriously unreliable though and obviously can't be bothered to compete any more with the Island incumbents

Yes sad to see them close long standing routes. Quite an achievement for Blue Islands to have survived the challenge or a much bigger operator for so long. Equally for Aurigny, been very resilient as a small island operator. Sadly, many IOM carriers have not been as successful.

With the ext and SOU sun routes closing due to removal of 195 , is there a case for a wet lease operation on these route like they did with Astreus on 737's?
I understand the reason is due to the withdrawal of the 195 as part of the restructure, but are we to assume these routes were not viable?

I would have imagined there were good returns judging by the fares and loads especially on summer schedule.

EI-BUD, the overall problem with the sunshine routes from Exeter is the lease deal on the E195s. Flybe have to charge a specific price to stop customers running up the M5 to Bristol to use easyjet, this obviously means they make the company very little money, if any, even though they are generally good load factors. Saad has been on record to say that the planes simply aren't big enough. Make of that what you will. There's an article in the local Express & Echo newspaper on it. I'll try and find a link, or just Google it.

Here's the link to the local newspaper discussing the loss of the Sun routes from EXT.

Flybe Spain Portugal | Western Morning News

The part I find intriguing is the comment " A Flybe spokeswomen would not not confirm or deny that the routes had been scrapped for 2015 saying only that next years summer schedules had not been finalised". So make of that what you will. Let's hope they do return !!

WG. I can't see how they can return, we're getting no net increase in jets until 2018 so unless they move an E175 to EXT or fly them as through routes, both of which seem unviable, then there probably isn't a return for them.
However, just thinking out loud here. Is the 4th rotation to Manchester being operated from Manchester with a 175? If so then there could be a chance there, which is a contradiction to what I've just typed above. Either way I can't see a based jet in Exeter for the foreseeable future.

Me thinks Vueling could make a real go of some of these routes...

Interesting discussion. However, looks to me like despite making improvements to its financial affairs, The strategy looks unclear . Flights to sun destinations like BHX alc v monarch and ryanair and BHX to Iceland , and then backing out of More channel island routes in a market that would seem core. Ie long standing, I home turf, short flight time regional etc.

Then entering LCY , it all feels quite hap hazard.

BHX-ROUTES
 

EI-BUD wrote At least in terms of numbers the new Birmingham routes to ALC and KEF along with several others have performed very well. It is important for any airline to develop new routes and opportunities, remember the old Flybe with its "core" routes didn't make any money.
Daza

EI-BUD

To be fair the old core markets weren't really making any money, hence 18 months ago. The management have come in and streamlined the route network, and flights are full, and making money. Wether it looks hap hazard or not, in my opinion it's all well controlled and quite calculated, more importantly it's working.

Look for instance at Iceland, the jet an under utilised asset is sitting on Tarmac, so they launch the service, if it made no money how quickly do you think they would have pulled it? In my eyes, the new management aren't just putting their finger on a map, everything seems to have a calculation and idea behind it.

Daza, the core routes are mostly still operating. They pledged to keep them. Examples include BHX and MAN to BHD. I certainly would hope these as core routes are making money .

Glad to here the new sectors ex BHX are performing well. Where is the source of that information? Ie do you mean high load factor or is the yield strong?

EI-BUD wrote As I wrote in terms of "numbers" the routes are performing well source CAA. Yield is much harder to calculate and unless you know someone on the inside this information would be kept pretty close to any airlines chest. Presuming the new routes (including KEF) aren't making money I would not have expected them to continue into the Winter certainly KEF, TLS, BOD, FLR, OPO, CGN and KEF are. Of course Flybe have also added OSL, HAM and TXL this coming winter too. I would have thought that there certainly is some plan involved. :ok:

Daza , glad to see it's going well for them ...

Flybe number 10 in the top ailine rankings of regional airlines stobart air number 63, not bad for a new starter:):)

To be honest it is quoted on pprune rather a lot that " yeah load factors are good but what about yields ? " . On the BHX thread some of Flybe's French routes out of BHX (where Flybe are the sole carrier on the route) had a LF of over 90% for the whole month of August so unless Flybe's reservation system sells EVERY ticket at a loss (which it obviously doesn't ) then you can be pretty sure that Flybe are making money.

Yes, nearly 9 times out of 10 if the flight is 90% full the airline is making money on said service.

As we know though even when the LF is 50% the airline can still be making money

I am pretty sure that in their results presentation in July, they stated they would be retaining 3 x E195's in the operational fleet over the 2014/15 winter season.

Take a look here:-

http://www.flybe.com/corporate/inves...esentation.pdf

I understand 4 of the new (ex Republic) Q400's will be here before March 15. I suspect there are earmarked for the new base.

New base?

Will this base be decided upon long-term profit, or short-term subsidy?

Probably the most likely base that with the help of a short term subsidy will lead to a long term profit. Not a dissimilar plan to most airlines....

I'm a regular user of the Flybe MAN - GLA route and have just been told by the crew that it will be changing to a Loganair operation from 17th Nov. Confirmed on the website with new flight numbers and the loss of the Saturday flight :{

No news of equipment - Saab 2000 hopefully...