Flybe in trouble ?
Retired BA/BY
I dont disagree with many of your points but not this:
You could argue this is the removal of an airline from the market that was not being run well and could not manage its debts. The establishment of a Nationalised Flybe would only impact on the profits of those other businesses, Eastern, Loganair, Blue Islands and Aurigny and thereby put them to the wall. If the demand is there, capacity will fill it. There are Public Service Obligation routes that the taxpayer already subsidises but apart from that, leave it alone and let the market find its natural balance. the gaps left by BMI, Monarch and Thomas Cook have all been filled by other providers where there is demand.
I dont disagree with many of your points but not this:
The UK government should immediately nationalise FlyBe and resume this connectivity at the earliest time, like next week !
To the best of my knowledge, Eastern Loganair Blue Islands and Aurigny, are all loss makers
Aurigny has had millions of pounds pumped int it by it' owners the govenmet of Guernsey
Aurigny has had millions of pounds pumped int it by it' owners the govenmet of Guernsey
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Can anybody expand on the value of the LHR slots that I assume Virgin have gained from this debacle - when VS got involved recently it seemed obvious to me that it was the long term objective to harvest these slots ultimately- why am I the only cynic regarding this big factor??
Virgin At lantic are contractin not expanding
They lost more tha 12 million pounds year end 2018.
They've also had to write off their investment in Connect Airways.
Based upon what Stobart Group are reporting as an equal shareholder, Virgin will have lost about 50 million pounds.
Bit a price to pay for a few slots wouldn' you think?
They lost more tha 12 million pounds year end 2018.
They've also had to write off their investment in Connect Airways.
Based upon what Stobart Group are reporting as an equal shareholder, Virgin will have lost about 50 million pounds.
Bit a price to pay for a few slots wouldn' you think?
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Virgin At lantic are contractin not expanding
They lost more tha 12 million pounds year end 2018.
They've also had to write off their investment in Connect Airways.
Based upon what Stobart Group are reporting as an equal shareholder, Virgin will have lost about 50 million pounds.
Bit a price to pay for a few slots wouldn' you think?
They lost more tha 12 million pounds year end 2018.
They've also had to write off their investment in Connect Airways.
Based upon what Stobart Group are reporting as an equal shareholder, Virgin will have lost about 50 million pounds.
Bit a price to pay for a few slots wouldn' you think?
So, it is clear that FlyBe was an important part of the UK infrastructure linking many smaller and “ remote “ airports around the country thus providing a valuable essential connectivity facility.
Heres my take:
The UK government should immediately nationalise FlyBe and resume this connectivity at the earliest time, like next week !
After all, we are spending billions on HS2 just to reduce journey time on a limited number of routes already quite well served.
The government spent billions supporting mismanaged banks.
It intends to nationalise a failing, failed northern railway network. Cost ?
We are spending many millions on so called “ smart “ motorways. Bloody dangerous in my view.
We throw away billions on overseas aid much of which we know is wasted.
Time to support our own people and supporting FB and the connectivity they provided would be peanuts in comparison to the above.
... and if my proposals are. In contradiction to EU rules and they kick up, tell Brussels to get lost, we are leaving, have left the EU and this is an internal UK matter
A nationalised FB would be NO threat to Ryanair or BA but if OReilly and Walsh whinge about it offer THEM the chance to run the new FB which would then have no routes duplicating , say BA and Ryanair.
If they make a profit they can keep it, if they make loss so be it, thvey had their chance and their losses prove their whingeing was baseless.
Government support for essential “ connectivity” flights is not new as the Norwegian Government and Wideroe are well aware.
Time for some “out of the box “ and creative thinking by Johnson and Schapps if they are really serious about connectivity.
Heres my take:
The UK government should immediately nationalise FlyBe and resume this connectivity at the earliest time, like next week !
After all, we are spending billions on HS2 just to reduce journey time on a limited number of routes already quite well served.
The government spent billions supporting mismanaged banks.
It intends to nationalise a failing, failed northern railway network. Cost ?
We are spending many millions on so called “ smart “ motorways. Bloody dangerous in my view.
We throw away billions on overseas aid much of which we know is wasted.
Time to support our own people and supporting FB and the connectivity they provided would be peanuts in comparison to the above.
... and if my proposals are. In contradiction to EU rules and they kick up, tell Brussels to get lost, we are leaving, have left the EU and this is an internal UK matter
A nationalised FB would be NO threat to Ryanair or BA but if OReilly and Walsh whinge about it offer THEM the chance to run the new FB which would then have no routes duplicating , say BA and Ryanair.
If they make a profit they can keep it, if they make loss so be it, thvey had their chance and their losses prove their whingeing was baseless.
Government support for essential “ connectivity” flights is not new as the Norwegian Government and Wideroe are well aware.
Time for some “out of the box “ and creative thinking by Johnson and Schapps if they are really serious about connectivity.
What do people think is the rational public policy response to the FlyBE collapse (within the bounds of reason)?
I would like to see APD cut in half (so to £6.50) for domestic flights; and scrapped altogether for domestic flights where no realistic alternative than flying exists (which could be defined as no rail connection between relevant conurbations of less than 3 hours duration - which would effectively lift it entirely for BHD, JER, GCI, NQY but not EXT, SOU, ...).
Can anyone explain what the current special APD provisions are for certain Scottish airports? Is APD devolved to the Scottish government?
APD is both an environmental tax and a revenue raising measure. Why should flights inside the UK be exempt when flights to outside are not? What makes aviation inside the UK so much more special than to outside the UK? Why is my London to Edinburgh flight any different from my London to Amsterdam flight for tax or environmental purposes?
Countries build roads, railways, etc. to connect their people, almost always with some element of public finance. It's just part and parcel of being a country. And yet, when aviation achieves the same ends, not only does this receive no public finance, but the state seeks to levy a tax upon it! This is illogical, and wrong.
Never realised it only applied one way. So INV-LHR is zero rated, however full rate applies on LHR-INV. So in effect it halves the APD (I grant that it will eliminate it entirely for the intra-highland & island flights).
I think the story of the FlyBE collapse, plus the parlous history of UK domestic air carriers, is such that APD on domestic flights really needs overhauling.
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Largely true but, it might benefit by operating a few more profitable routes , such as ones from Jersey . The question is whether inter island rivalry would blinker the States of Guernsey & prevent them from allowing their airline to operate more commercially. It would, for example, allow AUR to at least double the revenue it generates on Exeter services , if the route was triangular via Jersey. Generally, AUR could do with more routes (ex BEE ones ?); however, this would stretch them &, it might be suggested, would expose the quality of their management more obviously than it, seemingly, does now. I am not suggesting that the management is poor - but the airline continues to lose a lot of money on the restricted number of routes which it already serves ! The same is true of Blue Island.
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Largely true but, it might benefit by operating a few more profitable routes , such as ones from Jersey . The question is whether inter island rivalry would blinker the States of Guernsey & prevent them from allowing their airline to operate more commercially. It would, for example, allow AUR to at least double the revenue it generates on Exeter services , if the route was triangular via Jersey. Generally, AUR could do with more routes (ex BEE ones ?); however, this would stretch them &, it might be suggested, would expose the quality of their management more obviously than it, seemingly, does now. I am not suggesting that the management is poor - but the airline continues to lose a lot of money on the restricted number of routes which it already serves ! The same is true of Blue Island.
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Loganair made a loss in the year that Flybe/Eastern tried to do them over on the Islands routes (although it cost both of them considerably more), otherwise they’ve been profitable for some time.
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We need far fewer airlines, far fewer airplanes, far fewer flights. We need to learn not to travel, the same way we need to learn not to make other dumb decisions, which are raping our childrens’ futures. Our wallets can deliver that message quite powerfully.
I completely agree with you. In fact, I made this point in a separate post on this subject. What I was trying to do here was to highlight the fact that AUR might be in existence to serve the States of Guernsey’s purposes, but they would surely prefer the airline to make more money, even if that involved operating some Jersey services eg. Exeter - Jersey - Guernsey.
One of them, G-ISLL, landed at SOU at around 13:30.