Norwich new low cost routes

[loveJet]

Norwich Airport will be Flybe's next regional hub

Flights from mid-summer 2005 to:

Aberdeen
Belfast
Dublin
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Exeter
Southampton
Jersey
Guernsey
Liverpool

Flights operated by two based Dash 8-400Q aircraft with 78 seats. Frequency is not yet decided I have heard.

Jet

[jfriday]

To southampton- thats an odd one, how much demand can there be for this route??
Seems like a good idea for Flybe though, norwich is currently un-served by low cost airlines and it would seem to fit into Flybe's business strategy of using smaller regional airports.

[fireflybob]

I say good luck to them - it's about time the UK had more of these type of routes.

jfriday, have you ever tried driving from Norwich to Soton or vice versa? I know which I would prefer!

[Phileas Fogg]

Well Flybe's Chief Exec. is ex Air UK so in that respect he'll know all about NWI.
Perhaps they're using SOU as a connection hub for other international services.
That said, with all those routes out of NWI take a look at the catchment area of people that won't be travelling to other airports such as STN, EMA, LTN etc. It's a very small catchment area.
Never mind trying to drive from NWI to SOU, just try driving anywhere from NWI!

[mysecretsmile]

I wonder why they do not intend to start the services until Summer 2005. Is it due to Flybe not having the aircraft numbers to serve these routes sooner.

I understand the need have pre sales bookings etc, but by announcing these routes early does it not give other low cost operators with more aircraft at their disposal the opportunity to move in and start these routes from Norwich and put Flybe's plans at risk before they get started ?

[Oshkosh George]

Don't think there will be other LCCs interested in NWI. Most have bigger aircraft,and would probably need busier routes. Flybe's Q400s are probably ideal,and all new routes are probably a 'Try it and see' basis,to be quickly dropped if they don't succeed.

[MerchantVenturer]

It seems a strange set of routes. No foreign destinations apart from Dublin and that will be in competition with Air Wales.

EXT and SOU are shown as routes but not BHX. Hmm.

I have no doubt that NWI-BRS would be better patronised than NWI-EXT but this one might be down to operational reasons because BRS is not a Flybe base, albeit it has a few flights operated from other bases.

[aeulad]

This list of routes is somewhat unusual.

Aberdeen, a high level of competition exists on the route from Bmi regional and Eastern, I have no doubt that the route is no way big enough for 3 competitors. Bmi are reducing their rotations to 2/day because the demand just is'nt there. However, fares on the route are quite high, so there may be room for a daily low fares service for the more price-conscious traveller, but I really can't see anything more frequent than once daily being feasible.

Belfast is logical, once daily should suffice, you have to remember, the catchment area for NWI is not that big when you have STN just down the road, with equally as low fares.

Dublin is another good route, a daily Q400 should work, Air Wales does not advertise as heavily as Flybe. does and I have no doubt that Flybe. will take the market for themselves, and would expect some very attractive lead-in fares.

Edinburgh and Glasgow should work, Edinburgh has a proven market and fares are high on the route, this should make it more accessible to leisure travellers, who have previously found Eastern's fares too high, and have either taken the train, or driven to nearby STN. Glasgow has no competition, and should perform well.

Exeter, this along with Southampton, I find a very bold move. I am very pessimistic about these two, but only time will tell when the routes are up and running.

Jersey and Guernsey are good choices, in times done by, Air UK had 3 saturday JER and 1 sunday JER from NWI/week, and sat/sun GCI flights. The routes will perform well in the summer, however, I am weary as to the market in the winter season. Maybe a weekly saturday NWI-JER-GCI-NWI could work in the winter.

Liverpool is a good choice, again Eastern have very high fares on the MAN route, and Flybe. will open the leisure market up that would have otherwise driven or used the train.

All in all, not a bad bunch of routes, but I am unsure as to the EXT and SOU routes.

I am not 100% sure if the 146 could make it to the sun destinations from NWI or not, but I would expect the likes of Malaga, Murcia and Alicante to be on the addittion list, and am very surprised these have not been included in the initial batch if routes.

There has been no official annouoncement as yet, and I hope this is not a hoax, Flybe. are good at exploiting smaller markets, and NWI should be no exception.

Regards

Mike

[niknak]

Treat the information with caution.

whilst I sincerely hope that it's true, the cleaners and the taxi drivers don't know anything about it, and we haven't read anything about it in the Eastern Daily Press.

The only real substance to the story would be if FlyBe were taking over Eastern Airways, or vice versa.

[jamesbrownontheroad]

It would certainly make more sense than Cambridge (as some earlier discussions suggested). I've always understood that the long term aim of Marshall's, who own the airport there, is to ship out of the city and cash in on the massive development value of the site. Besides, STN is too close for it to work there.

Recent 'innocent' requests to FlyBe staff about the existence of services to NWI have certainly produced highly ambiguous and slightly smug 'we have no plans at the current time' answers...

*j*

[ALLMCC]

Several news threads today say the deal between Norwich & Flybe will be confirmed next week with destinations to be announced on Tuesday - reports say there will be a few destinations initially but Flybe are planning long term growth at Norwich. Has anyone any ideas on the initial routes?

[ClickRich]

About that NWI-SOU route.

If you want to go to Norwich for a weekend, the train timetables will give you a whopping 4 or 5 changes to get back on the Sunday. Oh, and you'll pretty much spend the best part of the day on the train or platforms.

I'll be using FlyBe thanks.

[PAXboy]

A Norfolk website has a report:
EDP24 (http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=edponline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED25%20Nov%202004%2022%3A26%3A27%3A217). They are also expecting detail on Tuesday 30th November.

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"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

[bmifox]

The Flybe website has flights from NWI to BHD, EDI, GLA and JER. BHD and EDI starting 27 Mar, GLA starting 16Jun and JER starting 7May.

[mysecretsmile]

As per rumours - I notice this morning that Norwich has been added to the destinations booking list on Flybe website this morning.

Probably updating and adding as I speak but looks like the destinations so far from Norwich include:

- BHD
- EDI
- GLA
- JER

Press Release on the flybe website

Europe’s third largest low cost airline makes East Anglia a major base 30th November 2004
Flybe., Europe’s third largest low-cost airline, is set to announce its intention to become the first major low-cost airline to make Norwich International Airport a base for its operations. Flybe. will initially put 200,000 seats on the market in Norwich, as it launches a raft of new routes in summer 2005, emphasising its commitment to offering cheap fares to regional airports in the heart of key business and leisure destinations.

Flybe. will begin by offering new daily services from Norwich to Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Jersey. Prices to Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow will start from £25, with fares to Jersey will starting from £39.

The new services will travel daily to Belfast and Edinburgh from 27 March 2005 and daily to Glasgow from 16th June 2005. Services to Jersey will start from 7th May 2005. Tickets for all the new routes are on sale today at www.flybe.com.

The move follows flybe.’s recent half year results announcement of a record £14 million profit, in addition to a 24% overall growth in passenger traffic and a 34% overall increase in passenger revenue.

The launch of the new routes out of Norwich are part of flybe.’s extensive summer schedule for 2005, which forms part of the airline’s overall strategy of continued investment and expansion of both its domestic and international route network.


Mike Rutter, Sales and Marketing Director, flybe., commented: ‘We have big plans in East Anglia and are delighted to be the first major low cost carrier to operate routes from Norwich International Airport. Whilst many of our competitors are route cutting and retrenching back to London, flybe. is expanding in the regions and is committed to bringing flights to your door.

“Opening up a genuine low cost flying option for the region can only have a positive impact on the people who live and work here. With Norwich now fully integrated into flybe.’s European network, we’re going to be looking at adding more routes and more capacity over time.”

“East Anglia has a successful and exciting economy which will benefit greatly from the increased business, inward investment and tourism traffic that will be delivered by these new routes. Flybe. is proud to link its route network to such a vibrant area.”

Richard Jenner, Managing Director of Norwich International Airport said: "This is a fantastic social and economic boost for the region and is a crucial stepping stone in further establishing Norwich as a major tourist destination in the UK. With flybe.’s invaluable support, NWI will be striving to continue to play a major part in attracting further investment into East Anglia as a whole.”

Caroline Williams, Chief Executive of the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce added: “Businesses in the region will be very excited by the introduction of these new routes. Many local businesses rely heavily on the services of Norwich International however the range of destinations has in the past been limited. The decision by flybe. to offer these new destinations from Norwich will open greater opportunities for our members resulting in increased economic benefits to the region.”

Clive Davies, Executive Director of Omniport, the company which acquired a majority share in Norwich International Airport in March this year said: “Flybe.’s announcement of new routes today underlines Omniport’s commitment to growing the range and frequency of destinations from Norwich International and providing the people of East Anglia with convenient and reasonably priced air services – a commitment Omniport made when it acquired the airport.”