Flybe v3?

[JonnyH]

It appears that there may be a third attempt rising from the ashes.

www.beregional.uk

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/15645806

I can’t see it happening. Director, and majority shareholder, is 73 year olds according to Companies House. Quick google search shows there is a John Chilman who is a senior member on the pensions advisory board.. doesn’t appear to be the same person. Let’s hope not anyways.

Below taken from their LinkedIn page:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1170x1647/img_0457_0f5ef5ee379e1b9f91044394d788efa8a728b304.jpeg

[ATNotts]

They refer to "beregional Ltd". A quick google search suggests there is no such company registered (yet) at Companies House and I couldn't find the business on the Linkedin site.

Hopefully this is another bored teenager in their bedroom.

[BA318]

They refer to "beregional Ltd". A quick google search suggests there is no such company registered (yet) at Companies House and I couldn't find the business on the Linkedin site.

Hopefully this is another bored teenager in their bedroom.

One of the names registered is active on this site. Hopefully he’ll come forward and provide some background/explanation.

The LinkedIn page appears to be a copy of Flybe’s brand guidelines…

[SWBKCB]

From the Companies House website

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/15645806

I can’t see it happening. Director, and majority shareholder, is 73 year olds according to Companies House. Quick google search shows there is a John Chilman who is a senior member on the pensions advisory board.. doesn’t appear to be the same person. Let’s hope not anyways.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/3aazW4OLyM_2eERJuZD9F8QYdcY/appointments

Link gives date of birth April 51 and occupation as Aircraft Engineer

[DC3 Dave]

beregional. I like the name. Credit to whoever came up it.

[ATNotts]

It would have helped if I'd searched for "Limited" rather than "Ltd". Stupid boy!

Perhaps they can join forces with Asquith to feed his A380 operation?

[SWBKCB]

beregional. I like the name. Credit to whoever came up it.

In isolation, I'd agree but do you really want to be associated with the Flybe brand? It's not just the name but the font/colour in the logo etc

[Flightrider]

Some things are just not meant to be, and this is one of them. BERegional starts with the right three letters - it’s Beyond Economic Repair for sure.

[amyisraelchai]

One of the directors is indeed active on this site BA318 - and the criticism is all taken in good humour I must say!

This isn't some outlandish attempt to create a new airline from scratch - at the moment the plan is very simply to begin presenting the name so that we can continue attracting industry professionals to steer the company further. There does remain some very focused regional demand which we believe can be filled, but if something does come of it, it will be a very long-term and small-scale venture. We are making moves, but nothing irreversible as yet. Expect to hear much the same in a subsequent press release.

The Flybe comments are well-received too, and rest assured that this isn't a Flybe MK3 and while the name will stay as it is currently, the logo almost certainly won't. Please do get in touch with me if anybody has any more to offer/add.

[biddedout]

There's a lot of money to be made out of regional airlines. The staff of Flybe 2 are still waiting to be paid the money they are owed and yet the administrators have already racked up 1.9 million in administration fees. :rolleyes:

[LW940]

One of the directors is indeed active on this site BA318 - and the criticism is all taken in good humour I must say!

This isn't some outlandish attempt to create a new airline from scratch - at the moment the plan is very simply to begin presenting the name so that we can continue attracting industry professionals to steer the company further. There does remain some very focused regional demand which we believe can be filled, but if something does come of it, it will be a very long-term and small-scale venture. We are making moves, but nothing irreversible as yet. Expect to hear much the same in a subsequent press release.

The Flybe comments are well-received too, and rest assured that this isn't a Flybe MK3 and while the name will stay as it is currently, the logo almost certainly won't. Please do get in touch with me if anybody has any more to offer/add.

Cardiff airport was massively affected since Flybe and has never recovered its domestic flying since then. There would be a market for flying, whether this ‘potential’ airline sees that demand is another matter

[caaardiff]

Would it just be better to buy out Eastern Airways? A ready made Airline that doesn't appear to be very well run or know where it wants to go. Everything setup ready to go, aircraft, maintenance, bases. Just needs the right Management.

[SKOJB]

Think we can safely put this one to bed and move on!

[GROUNDHOG]

I remember starting a regional airline back in 1999 with a colleague who is sadly no longer with us and a member here offering to eat his hat if ever it got off the ground.
Do hope he put ketchup on it
I wouldn't right off any venture until you know ALL the facts, hope their desires work out.
Don't follow the heard, plenty of niche and profitable opportunities still exist I am sure.
​​​​​​73 is still in your prime by the way!

[Asturias56]

"There does remain some very focused regional demand which we believe can be filled, b"

You mean replacing Eastern? :D

[Alteagod]

No No No No No and again NO

[Albert Hall]

I'm intrigued. Although I don't know the identity of anyone posting on here, the guy listed as the lead for this new venture also has on his career profile that until last month he "Advised the board of a UK regional startup on strategy ahead of launch. The company did not ultimately progress to AOC and commercial launch despite having had a team of experienced leaders in place." With lots of stuff about ecoJet in the recent past and it looking to have gone very quiet on that front, is ecoJet still planning to launch as well as a possible Flybe 3?

[GROUNDHOG]

Credit where it's due at least they stress this is a study of feasibility which is a lot more than most seem to do these days
Good luck to them.

[amyisraelchai]

I'm intrigued. Although I don't know the identity of anyone posting on here, the guy listed as the lead for this new venture also has on his career profile that until last month he "Advised the board of a UK regional startup on strategy ahead of launch. The company did not ultimately progress to AOC and commercial launch despite having had a team of experienced leaders in place." With lots of stuff about ecoJet in the recent past and it looking to have gone very quiet on that front, is ecoJet still planning to launch as well as a possible Flybe 3?
Very much respect your posts on here but I'm afraid that's a leap of logic, even if a plausible one. We've scaled back the beregional messaging to simply reflect more accurately its true current nature - an assessment of demand and opportunities for a possible future airline. And Ecojet is still very much happening - according to the CAA site they have an ongoing CAMO application.

[Skipness One Foxtrot]

Don't follow the heard, plenty of niche and profitable opportunities still exist I am sure.
Name your top 5, and gimme 3 out of a single base to give yourself a fighting chance.
(that Loganair, Emerald and Eastern aren't profiting from right now.)

[Albert Hall]

Very much respect your posts on here but I'm afraid that's a leap of logic, even if a plausible one. We've scaled back the beregional messaging to simply reflect more accurately its true current nature - an assessment of demand and opportunities for a possible future airline. And Ecojet is still very much happening - according to the CAA site they have an ongoing CAMO application.

Fair enough - 2+2 doesn't equal 4 in this case. They haven't got an ongoing AOC application though, which is rather important if you wish to launch an airline. Unless you're going to buy another airline which already has one, of course.

[GROUNDHOG]

Name your top 5, and gimme 3 out of a single base to give yourself a fighting chance.
(that Loganair, Emerald and Eastern aren't profiting from right now.)
Would willingly do so following a study and that's the point.Here we have someone openly saying they are doing just that and ,,,,"experts",,,, are righting them off already.
I remember a gentleman called Stelios who said to me "You know everyone thinks I am mad and shouldn't do this"

[Skipness One Foxtrot]

Would willingly do so following a study and that's the point.Here we have someone openly saying they are doing just that and ,,,,"experts",,,, are righting them off already.
I remember a gentleman called Stelios who said to me "You know everyone thinks I am mad and shouldn't do this"
I agree, I called easyJet completely wrong, GLA-LTN was a non-market in 1995, and Ryanair has just joined the big league with refurbished B737-200s. BUT that was cutting a swathe into new territory, THIS is doing the same thing that was done before with the same aircraft type (Q400 or ATR) in a new world where the old rules, the traditional ways of doing things no longer apply. BA didn't realise that exact thing even when they launched and then sold GO to er....easyJet! This notion is trying to bring the old world back using the old ways, Stelios threw a bomb under the old way and with MOL built out a whole new market.

[Expressflight]

Name your top 5, and gimme 3 out of a single base to give yourself a fighting chance.
(that Loganair, Emerald and Eastern aren't profiting from right now.)

I can only give a historical perspective on this but in 2019 CFR, BES, GRQ and RNS generated 122,000 pax from SEN. I was involved in setting up the CFR route and had knowledge of the GRQ and RNS deals so know that those routes were financially viable at that time.

[GROUNDHOG]

Could the aeroplane shown be misleading? You are of course quite right there is no point trying to follow the trodden path littered with failures, it has to be something different.
iF you want niche look at Skybus and similar examples, I still believe there may be a place for under 20 seat aeroplanes to operate economically and profitably. In a few years they may be electric too!
For example and it is an unproven one, to drive from NQY to BRS takes hours, CWL even longer so why not look at a small aeroplane operating those sorts of distance without trying to be at easyJet prices. This is an example not a suggested money spinner.
No harm at all in evaluating the possibilities which seems to be what is happening here. I don't see the reason for mass negativity of someone investigating the market.
I nor anyone else can say what may or may not work without investigating first.

[OzzyOzBorn]

I can understand the scepticism on here, but take a step back for a moment. FlyBe 1.0 failed with a fleet which had reduced to around 70 aircraft from over 80; the company operated from multiple bases and seemingly tried to be all things to all customers. That was too much to sustain, but the failure doesn't mean that everything the company did was a financial calamity. The standout for me is the vacant Manchester to Southampton route. It is unlikely to support six return flights daily with Q400's / E195's again ... but two or three daily pitched with sensible pricing really ought to be a winner. I know that folks will reply that the business market isn't what it was pre-covid and that's true, but the overland journey by train is hopelessly unreliable and eyewateringly expensive. The road journey is a slog. So this is a route which appeals to VFR traffic and those joining / leaving cruise ships, amongst others. A case can be made for Manchester to Exeter too ... not at the previous 4 x daily, but certainly at least once daily. And Southend ... those Stobart ATR72's ran up too many EU261 liabilities due to over-ambitious scheduling; underlying demand looked healthy on the Manchester route at least. Manchester to London rail services are in the news again just today for being terrible, and we all know that HS2 isn't riding to the rescue. Capacity is needed, and slots won't be allocated at LHR / LCY. Any new operator won't be looking to occupy a 70-strong fleet. Opportunities are there for a small, well-managed operation focused on corridors where the rail alternative is in long-term disarray.

[Mcvicker03]

Beregional hope to be operational before 2026 and have 15 aircraft within 12 months with it restoring regional stability destinations within the Uk

[laviation]

Could Virgin Connect be revived? Not necessarily suggesting Virgin ownership, but a strong partnership providing connections to LHR/MAN long haul routes using E175/A220-100 sized aircraft. Win-win.

[SWBKCB]

Could Virgin Connect be revived? Not necessarily suggesting Virgin ownership, but a strong partnership providing connections to LHR/MAN long haul routes using E175/A220-100 sized aircraft. Win-win.

How much money would you put in? :confused:

[BA318]

Could Virgin Connect be revived? Not necessarily suggesting Virgin ownership, but a strong partnership providing connections to LHR/MAN long haul routes using E175/A220-100 sized aircraft. Win-win.

and where are these LHR slots coming from? And the funding to make marginal routes pay for E175s/A221. BMI couldn’t do it. Flybe couldn’t do. Virgin Little Red couldn’t do it. It isn’t going to happen.

[SKOJB]

I can understand the scepticism on here, but take a step back for a moment. FlyBe 1.0 failed with a fleet which had reduced to around 70 aircraft from over 80; the company operated from multiple bases and seemingly tried to be all things to all customers. That was too much to sustain, but the failure doesn't mean that everything the company did was a financial calamity. The standout for me is the vacant Manchester to Southampton route. It is unlikely to support six return flights daily with Q400's / E195's again ... but two or three daily pitched with sensible pricing really ought to be a winner. I know that folks will reply that the business market isn't what it was pre-covid and that's true, but the overland journey by train is hopelessly unreliable and eyewateringly expensive. The road journey is a slog. So this is a route which appeals to VFR traffic and those joining / leaving cruise ships, amongst others. A case can be made for Manchester to Exeter too ... not at the previous 4 x daily, but certainly at least once daily. And Southend ... those Stobart ATR72's ran up too many EU261 liabilities due to over-ambitious scheduling; underlying demand looked healthy on the Manchester route at least. Manchester to London rail services are in the news again just today for being terrible, and we all know that HS2 isn't riding to the rescue. Capacity is needed, and slots won't be allocated at LHR / LCY. Any new operator won't be looking to occupy a 70-strong fleet. Opportunities are there for a small, well-managed operation focused on corridors where the rail alternative is in long-term disarray.

Remains hard to believe that MAN-SOU is still unserved. The route was for years SOU busiest in pax terms with over 200k. Assume not as profitable now but expected LM/EZY to bring it back by running a daily.

[laviation]

and where are these LHR slots coming from? And the funding to make marginal routes pay for E175s/A221. BMI couldn’t do it. Flybe couldn’t do. Virgin Little Red couldn’t do it. It isn’t going to happen.

It doesn't have to be focused on LHR.

Routes like MAN-SOU/EXT/ABZ/BES/RNS could definitely work with well timed connections on to MCO/JFK/LAS/BGI or wherever Virgin will serve by the time this launches.

Once again, not suggesting an operation structured AROUND Virgin just a comprehensive codeshare agreement, give Virgin the feed they sorely need which would also give this startup a boost !

Remains hard to believe that MAN-SOU is still unserved. The route was for years SOU busiest in pax terms with over 200k. Assume not as profitable now but expected LM/EZY to bring it back by running a daily.

LM have applied for 3x daily in the past 12 months but remains to be seen whether they will revisit these plans

[Flightrider]

Virgin has had (and still has!) the opportunity to take MAN feeds from the likes of ABZ, INV, IOM and NQY from Loganair but it has never happened. Quite they’d hitch their cart to this particular donkey for MAN feed which they could already be getting elsewhere is beyond me.

[laviation]

Virgin has had (and still has!) the opportunity to take MAN feeds from the likes of ABZ, INV, IOM and NQY from Loganair but it has never happened. Quite they’d hitch their cart to this particular donkey for MAN feed which they could already be getting elsewhere is beyond me.

Loganair are already tied in with EI and even SQ on IAH (ABZ connections are rather fruitful) - doubt they would jump ship to Virgin now

[BA318]

Loganair are already tied in with EI and even SQ on IAH (ABZ connections are rather fruitful) - doubt they would jump ship to Virgin now

There's nothing stopping a carrier having multiple codeshares. BMI used to have tens on every flight. The reality remains that feeding other carriers don't really pay the bills. Often the shorter leg gets a minimal fee.

[Skipness One Foxtrot]

The triumph of hope over expectation. Who used to get an aeroplane from MAN-SOU? Business travellers. Who works from home via Zoom now? Those same guys. The SOU thread pummels Loganair as being two expensive, especially with an easyJet alternative. Any new regional turboprop operator isn't going to be a whole lot cheaper. The guys who paid top dollar to fly now don't need to fly, the rest can't believe how expensive flying on an ATR/Q400 actually is.

Some of the MAN guys are rightly astonished that their domestic connectivity is a pale shadow of days gone by, those glory days ain't coming back, there's not enough business demand to drive frequency. We all just watched Zombie Flybe try this! WHAT DID WE LEARN? And codesharing to long haul is icing on the cake, BUT you need strong core point to point business at a high enough price point. Is that there anymore? Little evidence that I can see. It was the ERJ175 that drove the debts of the original flybe, high costs and not enough high yield business, that model was wrong then and it's even less relevant today.

[AirportPlanner1]

And Southend ... those Stobart ATR72's ran up too many EU261 liabilities due to over-ambitious scheduling; underlying demand looked healthy on the Manchester route at least.

Actually it was the E195s that were sick all the time. The ATRs were very reliable. Quite often if the ATR schedule went haywire it was because they’d been sent out on a 195 route.

Overall demand on SEN-MAN wasn’t strong enough. I used it quite a lot. For the first year or so loads were all over the place. Some laughably empty, some nearing full. Numbers were inflated through a reasonable number of connecting pax, either through MAN to other BE domestic/IOM/CI destinations, or through SEN particularly to Antwerp and Rennes as the times matched well in both directions.

In the end months they increased prices significantly which interestingly matched those of Loganair who went on to launch Scottish routes soon after. I had a theory they were trying to get Logan to take the route on. Anyway, during that time my loads were consistently around 20 and I think overall CAA stats mirrored that. SEN-MAN might work on a theoretical 20-seat outfit. It’s not a route that will work on a larger prop or jet, regardless of the state of the trains.

[CaptainActor]

This is clearly a joke - ha ha
O r delusion - oh dear

[TartinTon]

A lot of domestic routes are being constrained by over-zealous pricing. Look at routes like LTN-EDI/GLA/ABZ, pax numbers at or above 2019 levels. A similar story can be seen for BRS domestic routes where yields aren't being squeezed. Yes, there are are a lot of zoom/teams calls taking place but businesses still want to go and meet people face-to-face. There are definitely opportunities for unserved citypairs and routes that are being milked. As for "Zombie Flybe" the reason for the collapse was a lunatic CEO who had been told by "experts" (a couple of contributors on here spring to mind) who told him there was a fortune to be made out of LHR and AMS slots. There wasn't and a profitable domestic network was sacrificed to maintain the remedy slots due incompetence on the aircraft delivery side.

[OzzyOzBorn]

The triumph of hope over expectation. Who used to get an aeroplane from MAN-SOU? Business travellers. Who works from home via Zoom now? Those same guys. The SOU thread pummels Loganair as being two expensive, especially with an easyJet alternative. Any new regional turboprop operator isn't going to be a whole lot cheaper. The guys who paid top dollar to fly now don't need to fly, the rest can't believe how expensive flying on an ATR/Q400 actually is.

Some of the MAN guys are rightly astonished that their domestic connectivity is a pale shadow of days gone by, those glory days ain't coming back, there's not enough business demand to drive frequency. We all just watched Zombie Flybe try this! WHAT DID WE LEARN? And codesharing to long haul is icing on the cake, BUT you need strong core point to point business at a high enough price point. Is that there anymore? Little evidence that I can see. It was the ERJ175 that drove the debts of the original flybe, high costs and not enough high yield business, that model was wrong then and it's even less relevant today.

Skip - You are so predictable. MAN-SOU was NOT, REPEAT NOT all business travellers. There was alot of VFR on those flights as well (including myself and friends quite frequently). Southampton is not an easy journey from the NW. Accessing Southampton cruises is also a factor. And business travel - whilst significantly reduced (as I said) - is not entirely extinct. Business travel is reduced, not dead. And not all business travel relates to office meetings either. Merchant marine crew fly to join ships, engineers fly to worksites where their specific expertise is needed. Your thinking on 'business travel' is two-dimensional. As for your comment: "We just watched Zombie FlyBe try this! WHAT DID WE LEARN?" - we have just learned that you didn't pay attention, so you need to do your homework before condescendingly talking down to "the MAN guys" with your customary dismissive contempt. FlyBe 2.0 DID NOT offer any presence on SOU-MAN. They never offered that route. Neither were they on the other two routes I highlighted.

Another "much loved" carrier occupied the SOU-MAN route for a while, but they consolidated advertised frequencies from twice to once a day at different times, frequently cancelled flights and suspended services altogether for weeks at a time. All whilst charging fares one could fly MAN-JFK for. Customers who booked them in the early stages soon gave up on them. Reliability tends to be rather important, especially at an premium price point.

[SKOJB]

Skip - You are so predictable. MAN-SOU was NOT, REPEAT NOT all business travellers. There was alot of VFR on those flights as well (including myself and friends quite frequently). Southampton is not an easy journey from the NW. Accessing Southampton cruises is also a factor. And business travel - whilst significantly reduced (as I said) - is not entirely extinct. Business travel is reduced, not dead. And not all business travel relates to office meetings either. Merchant marine crew fly to join ships, engineers fly to worksites where their specific expertise is needed. Your thinking on 'business travel' is two-dimensional. As for your comment: "We just watched Zombie FlyBe try this! WHAT DID WE LEARN?" - we have just learned that you didn't pay attention, so you need to do your homework before condescendingly talking down to "the MAN guys" with your customary dismissive contempt. FlyBe 2.0 DID NOT offer any presence on SOU-MAN. They never offered that route. Neither were they on the other two routes I highlighted.

Another "much loved" carrier occupied the SOU-MAN route for a while, but they consolidated advertised frequencies from twice to once a day at different times, frequently cancelled flights and suspended services altogether for weeks at a time. All whilst charging fares one could fly MAN-JFK for. Customers who booked them in the early stages soon gave up on them. Reliability tends to be rather important, especially at an premium price point.

Yep, I repeat that MAN-SOU EZY daily would do well what with some business, students, VFR and cruise travel. Fingers crossed it will be looked at again.

[Skipness One Foxtrot]

Ozzy Osbourne Let me predictably seperate the points out.
MAN-SOU as a daily service operated at x times per day was predicated on high price business travel to make that pay, that's showing no sign of returning to the same level. Hence you might manage to make a once daily rotation on a prop work BUT that's going to have to be at a relatively high price point AND you need 2-3 other rotations for your aircraft out of MAN or SOU. That 1st airframe needs to be kept flying and the obvious candidates out of both airports have an incumbent. Core point being I see no gap in the market that you can monetise linking the niche, unserved routes together profitably.

My point about MAN was it had (ISTBC) the biggest domestic network of all, and that's not coming back as the market has changed. It's not a lack of an airline, it's a lack of enough profitable routes to make a base worthwhile. "Students, leisure and cruise passengers" aren't going to willing to pay enough money to counter the lack of eye watering business fares that used to offset leisure as a cross subsidy to make the flight profitable IMHO.

Let's test it. What's a solid case for a 4 sector day out of MAN or SOU without getting into a fight with an incumbent? In February.....?

[willy wombat]

Three points. 1/ assuming Flybe 2 had access to the route performance data from Flybe 1, if SOUMAN was such a gold mine why didn’t they operate it? 2/ EZY SOUMAN? There’s currently nobody on SOULGW and I would have thought that if EZY wanted a short rotation on a MAN or LGW based aircraft that would make more sense. While not as bad as from Hampshire, it’s not great by either rail or road from Sussex to Manchester. 3/ the days when 18 seat aircraft could make money on UK domestics (as suggested above) are long gone apart from where there are some very unique and specific circumstances, primarily a market that must travel and won’t spend all its time complaining that the airline with the Jetstream charges more for a domestic flight than EZY does for a flight to Spain (cf discussions ad nauseum about LM fares SOU - Scotland).

[willy wombat]

My post above crossed with Skipness’s but we are in agreement.

[amyisraelchai]

It's perhaps not my place to comment extensively but Flybe "2" did have SOU-MAN on sale for 2023 - it was then dropped along with the other proposed routes from a Southampton base due to the company-specific factors others have highlighted above.

[Skipness One Foxtrot]

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/828x1792/3cabfc76_58f5_49c4_a47f_e3a7b6f07121_cd2b40b1f774da12c37c635 fd550424c020af8d5.png
G-JECP, flybe Q400. The literal definition of madness...

[Accura]

The triumph of hope over expectation. Who used to get an aeroplane from MAN-SOU? Business travellers. Who works from home via Zoom now? Those same guys.

The post-pandemic balance is still being established. At present (purely from my observations) the trend is slowly drifting more towards onsite presence - particularly for people who work in account management, B2B sales, and consultancy. Another new group of long distance travellers are the ones who previously lived in cities, but moved away when WFH became more commonplace. A number of people I have worked with moved to Scotland, but fly to London (and other places) to fulfil their obligations of being onsite a few days a month. I agree that the demand still isn't at pre-pandemic levels (certainly not enough to warrant 6 MAN-SOU flights a day) but there is certainly a growing demand.

Until it was axed mid last year, I used the MAN-SOU flights twice a month to go to my company office on the south coast. Despite the highish prices, and despite Eastern's shoddy reliability (I had my longest EVER flight delay on a MAN-SOU flight last spring) it was still way more convenient than the train or driving. And despite the fact it was only running once a day, the flights were getting busier with each passing week. Eastern's exit from the route was an odd one - it was right before the frequencies were due to go twice-daily, and coincidentally it was right before their Air France routes to Paris Orly began. I did my final return flight to Manchester right before the route ended and it was pretty much full.

As mentioned above, FlyBe2 had begun to sell tickets for the route, but the airline collapsed.

[SealinkBF]

It's probably been said before but surely any viable routes would have been taken up by Loganair, easyJet etc.?

[SotonFlightpath]

Not sure what to make of this. Looking at the website, it appears to have been set-up by a Netherlands-based company called TDA Design, which looks to be owned by a couple of young graphic designers who are working in/hoping to work in the airline branding sector. They have the usual social media feeds, but with very sporadic postings, the 'Be Regional' scheme was posted yesterday, but their previous posting was in 2022 and the two individuals appeared to be visiting an commercial aviation exhibition in Hamburg.
At the very best I would suggest it's just a 'kite flying' exercise, but I think it's more likely just to generate some interest in their design business. I think if there was sufficient pent-up demand for more regional connectivity, the existing operators (Loganair, Eastern and Blue Islands) would be going all-out to raise the finance to acquire the assets necessary to expand to fill this need. Yes, there are a few key routes that would be ripe for an operator to jump in, but I personally think that the days of fast turboprops and small jets frantically criss-crossing these islands with a spider's web network of routes are long gone.

[Flightrider]

This is turning into quite an interesting thread.

AirportPlanner1's write-up of the Southend operations looks bang on the money to me - the jets were a disaster zone in almost every possible way.

As for "Zombie Flybe" the reason for the collapse was a lunatic CEO who had been told by "experts" (a couple of contributors on here spring to mind) who told him there was a fortune to be made out of LHR and AMS slots. There wasn't

There indeed wasn't, but I think the main person to blame for that was the investor who had a fixation on the Heathrow slots and being able to recover value from them - which was never realistically going to happen. It's not really fair to blame people on PPrune for that one when it was a hare-brained scheme long before anyone on PPrune got to ever hear about it.

There are definitely opportunities for unserved citypairs and routes that are being milked.
​​​​​​​MAN-SOU was NOT, REPEAT NOT all business travellers. There was alot of VFR on those flights as well (including myself and friends quite frequently). Southampton is not an easy journey from the NW. Accessing Southampton cruises is also a factor. And business travel - whilst significantly reduced (as I said) - is not entirely extinct. Business travel is reduced, not dead. And not all business travel relates to office meetings either.

If we take SOU-MAN as an example, Flybe generally had 5 x daily services. Four of the five met the hub banks at Manchester with connections to ABZ, INV, IOM etc and also had connections from MAN via SOU to the French regional points which were barely served from MAN at the time. Between all of that, a chunk of traffic will be connecting which isn't there today. You then have a reduction in business travel - it's still there, but there's less of it. At very best, you might get to 2 or 3 a day in today's world when you strip all of that out.

That's probably the most obvious of the unserved routes and not enough to base a new business on. Yes, you have EMA-GLA/EDI - which Flybe had dumped anyway before ceasing trading - and bits like Cardiff, MAN-EXT and so on. What do you then have? A disparate bag of routes, none of which are a bedrock and with little or no operational or marketing synergy between them.

The other issue here is volume. If volumes on many of the ex-Flybe routes aren't what they were - and if easyJet are doing well at LTN, BRS etc then they'll fight to retain that traffic, and fight on price - then you're into flying smaller aircraft. You need higher fares to make that work. You cannot run a Q400, ATR72 or whatever is your weapon of choice at A320 low fares - you'll go bust (again) if you do. There's no middle ground between those things and if you think there is, that's where you build up a business and then easyJet come and sit on top of you, just as they were doing to Flybe 1 on BHX-EDI/GLA and they're now doing to Emerald, Loganair and others.

A great many of the comments here might be true in isolation, but I still don't see anything here which you could knit into a cohesive business which makes a profit. And that goes for ecoJet just as much as for Flybe 3.

[amyisraelchai]

TDA Design (owned by a well-respected aircraft parts broker of the same name) has been contracted to provide this branding, with no actual involvement in beregional, and the decision to publicise their involvement at this early time was in fact made for the opposite reason to that suggested above - namely to gain more interest in beregional. It's been made very clear in all of these posts that any illustrations are purely for show at this stage.

[OzzyOzBorn]

MAN-SOU as a daily service operated at x times per day was predicated on high price business travel to make that pay, that's showing no sign of returning to the same level.

I never contended that business travel would return to the same level. On the contrary, I made it very clear that business demand is reduced (but not extinct). I also made the point that not all business travel is about folks in suits attending meetings. Sometimes one just needs to be on location.

​​​​​​​ Hence you might manage to make a once daily rotation on a prop work BUT that's going to have to be at a relatively high price point AND you need 2-3 other rotations for your aircraft out of MAN or SOU.

It is your OPINION (not an established fact) that MAN-SOU would support only one 74-seater per day. But it supported SIX daily previously. I contend that your antipathy toward the route is overdone. My suggestion was for TWO daily flights initially (one third of previous levels), with a third to be added later if uptake justifies it. That would still be only half the previous capacity. Keep in mind that cross-country railfares are themselves crazy expensive, and short 'Voyager' trains feature on many services (if they're not cancelled or on strike). Good luck getting an actual seat on the train too. There are NO new paths (for additional rail services) coming to the main North-South routes, because our wise politicians have KO'd HS2 which means that capacity will not be released on existing lines. So rail prices aren't falling, the road journey is an ordeal, and plenty of folks still need to travel between Manchester area and Southampton area even if elevated prices apply (as they do on the trains).

​​​​​​​ if SOUMAN was such a gold mine why didn’t they operate it?

I don't recall referring to SOU-MAN as a "gold mine". It is, however, a much-needed route with a long proven track record of viability. I have no inside information to confirm why FlyBe 2.0 chose the launch routes they did; perhaps they got attractive terms from the bases they chose? But the immediate problem for UK regional airlines generally is access to crews, spares and aircraft for expansion / replacement of older types. I suspect - but cannot confirm - that this is why Loganair has not yet followed up on slot applications for the SOU-MAN route. Those on the SOU thread speculate that there was some bad blood between Southampton and Loganair, but I am in no position to comment on this one way or the other. I just note that the narrative is out there.

[Curious Pax]

I can see that domestic routes with problematic surface alternatives such as MANSOU could support a morning and evening rotation to get what business traffic is out there. However surely the real problem is what to do with the aircraft between those trips. Thinking of regional route pairs that would be profitable with a late morning/early afternoon service would be much more tricky.

[MidlandsWanderer]

Always amazes me this fixation with the "day-return" business passenger as it's one of the biggest fallacies out there. You only have to look at the prices charged to realise that most business routes have passengers staying at least 1 night which is why the busy flights happen to be out Mon/Tues morning and back Wed/Thu evening.

[willy wombat]

Always amazes me this fixation with the "day-return" business passenger as it's one of the biggest fallacies out there. You only have to look at the prices charged to realise that most business routes have passengers staying at least 1 night which is why the busy flights happen to be out Mon/Tues morning and back Wed/Thu evening.
But on this basis you still need at least two rotations a day otherwise you can’t go out in the morning and back in the evening even if it’s on two separate days.

[MidlandsWanderer]

At least....