BE and KL absolutely did not coexist at SOU. It was a mess for both and KL withdrew before returning only after BE Mk1 had departed this life.

And I didn’t think the Aer Lingus or BA brands were too shabby ?

None of the core routes at SOU are strong enough to take two carriers in competition. All are good single carrier routes and poor two-airline routes - they’re just not thick enough to warrant two airlines. The airport has never sustained it and nor will it either.

The ongoing fantasy of easyJet at SOU is clearly too much for some to resist. The runway extension will help current carriers who are payload restricted even on an ATR72 some days, let alone an E145. It will also help with some more leisure flying and there are two options - neither easyJet - that I can think of which would work well to deliver it.

for your information EZY are very interested in SOU for the future!👍

The runway extension ( when it happens) will help with payloads,but the on going persistence with Easy seting up a base is pie in the sky!
The airport would need a 7000 ft runway and larger/ increased stands,something that it can't offer,unlike down the road at Bournemouth.
Let's hope that investment leads to a much needed northern taxiway to stop all the backtracking,and further development of bis jet facilities .
SOU can survive and prosper with the runway extension and airside investment,but it cant rival Bournemouth for the sun routes.

Doesn’t need to be an EZY base to add a select number of routes!

Difficult to see what select routes can be added,considering Bournemouth has the sun routes tied up,certainty Paris for example coudnt fill a 320,but may be a flybe 400?
Realistically given the runway extension Easy or other operators could offer some seasonally Summer weekly operations,but it's going to be limited, look at Southend as a example, runway extension,stands( more the SOU) and airside improvements,now virtually without daytime operations!

Please define “sun route”

While I am being pedantic, in the interests of technical correctness should you not be “RWY20”, or maybe “RWY26”?

Sorry to correct you but BE and KL did co-exist in the sense that they codeshared on the routes happily until BE started to over-expand (in KLs eyes) on MAN/BHX AMS routes at which point they threw their toys out of the pram and pulled the codeshare.

Previous to that they had a mutually beneficial co-operation.

Emerald are increasing BHD-SOU to 2 daily on some days starting from around the August Bank Holiday weekend.

With 2 daily Eastern (most days) and daily BEE this means there will now be more capacity on this route than there ever was pre-pandemic (it was usually up to 3 daily BEE Mk1)

Can't see this being sustainable.

Emerald do seem to be putting a lot of effort into establishing themselves, arguably a little more than Flybe. Emerald have the benefit of the backing of the Aer Lingus brand and booking systems, a recognised brand in Ireland as well as the U.K. Between them and Loganair they do seem to be tying up the regional market.

For anyone confused about the Runway at SOU, even Flybe Mk1 had restrictions from time to time on the Dash especially when operating some of the longer flights, a tech stop on a hot day wasn't unheard of. Combine this with LM, SI, T3 and GR all operating aircraft that are restricted its obvious that the extension is more to benefit the regional market and to ensure those aircraft can depart full rather than to create an attractive airport for someone like Easy.

If Flybe do have the resources and will to set up a base at SOU hopefully it will be much more successful than T3, however if it was a case of putting eggs in baskets I think they should focus more on LM and Emerald.

I don’t think anyone is confused. Restrictions for existing aircraft is common knowledge. LM themselves have said it affects their 145s.

I would be very surprised if any of you think SOU is investing many millions of pounds just to help the existing carriers operate a bit better. No company makes a large investment for such a small gain. Remember airports get money from landing fees, footfall etc. they want to open up a new revenue stream and take the next step in development which means bigger aircraft and more passengers. I agree it’s odd that they aren’t also creating the bigger stands etc but that’s likely phase 2.

To anyone who thinks EZY wouldn’t be a success at SOU you must be forgetting a large chunk of LGWs customers come from this area and Hampshire is one of the wealthiest counties in the country. If EZY could offer the same fairs at SOU as they do at LGW then why wouldn’t people use SOU? Your next question no doubt will be what’s in it for EZY? Why split a base? Competition. Lots at LGW and none at SOU.

Getting back to BE I hope they do open more routes at SOU but focus on MAN, CDG, French second home market and maybe the Scottish routes.

While SOU would definitely be attractive for some (not necessarily a large chunk) of EZY’s LGW customers, EZY will obviously continue to firstly maximise their LGW slot base. If/when they get to the point that no more significant expansion is possible at LGW then SOU could get interesting. In the meantime they could try the odd W pattern to test the water.

Willy wombat, your points make sense and are more realistic.unfortunately some contributors on here can get carried away

Back to Flybe also. The routes from NCL, ABZ, INV to BHD were all new, so it’s apparent why they might need new aircraft deliveries to fly them. They were already flying MAN but are stopping - is this related to aircraft deliveries also?

not me fella, said all along EZY will most likely come in with some away base routes initially!

Yep. There was supposed to be an aircraft arriving 25Jul which clearly hasn't and it looks like they've decided that it's more important to have a standby from 15Aug than fly 7 lines with 7 airframes which they will be doing until then.

Seems like a sensible decision.

Put back 1-2 weeks

Logan's MD has stated that they won't open bases outside their core of Scotland and the North and as an island of Ireland-based operation I can't see Emerald doing that either. A mix of those together with a small Flybe base, picking up what Eastern are failing at (flights canx again today) and some of the solid routes operated by their previous incarnation are probably the best (least risk) option for both the airline and the airport.

Would image SOU base opening end October to coincide with Winter timetable with CDG, DUB and MAN added!

The statement of "not interested in bases outside Scotland and northern England" was made in spring 2020, over 2 years ago, when the UK was in its first lockdown.
MOL of Ryanair said they would never fly to FRA, but they did.

I'm not saying Loganair will or won't do X or Y, but one should remember that the passage of time and structural changes in the market allows CEOs a convenient reason to change their minds on many things if so desired