Flybe

[Matt995]

No it wasn't.....

Flybe was the 3rd largest carrier at BHX behind Jet2 and Tui…. thought still pretty big!

guess it depends if we are talking about passenger numbers or aircraft moments?

aircraft movements so far this year (Jan to Feb) Flybe accounted for 31%, Ryanair 14%, Jet2 9%, Aer Lingus 7%, Lufthansa 6%, TUI 5%, Easyjet 4%, KLM 4%, the other 20 airlines make up the remaining 20% - of course this is based on the winter schedules!

Passenger wise, Ryanair fly more passengers from BHX than TUI, surely?

 

[Jon Dempsey]

I do wonder what other expenses Flybe didn’t help themselves out with, obviously their top tiers of management would love to push it as the APD, brexit and coronavirus, but their Heathrow slots can’t have come cheap if they directly purchased them. They also changed their livery twice not so long ago, the first being the bright purple across the whole aircraft, then the second being a more subtle purple with a white tail, they surely wouldn’t of been cheap.
Very sad day indeed

A point to note regarding APD is that this was paid up front by all pax, so the cash receipts were used on something else rather than being ring-fenced to cover the tax liability.

 

[hay677]

aircraft movements so far this year (Jan to Feb) Flybe accounted for 31%, Ryanair 14%, Jet2 9%, Aer Lingus 7%, Lufthansa 6%, TUI 5%,

Two things amaze me here: Lufthansa have more flights than TUI, and in 24 hours BHX lost a THIRD of its flights

 

[thunderchild]

Does Lufthansa accounting for 6% include the whole group - Swiss, Austrian, Brussels etc?

 

[Matt995]

Does Lufthansa accounting for 6% include the whole group - Swiss, Austrian, Brussels etc?

nope just Lufthansa, Brussels was 3%, Swiss 2%, Austrian less that 1%!

Two things amaze me here: Lufthansa have more flights than TUI, and in 24 hours BHX lost a THIRD of its flights

remembers its only the winter timetable, Lufthansa has 6 or 7 daily arrivals so far this year, TUI can vary from around 4 arrivals to 8 a day in the same period.

 

[hay677]

remembers its only the winter timetable, Lufthansa has 6 or 7 daily arrivals so far this year, TUI can vary from around 4 arrivals to 8 a day in the same period.

It's just I've always thought of Lufthansa, Air France, KLM as occasional and TUI as one of the mainstays - obviously wrong in winter at least (though their 787s balance things out a bit!).

 

[Matt995]

It's just I've always thought of Lufthansa, Air France, KLM as occasional and TUI as one of the mainstays - obviously wrong in winter at least (though their 787s balance things out a bit!).

Of course come Summer, currently we are looking at around 19 to 22 arrivals every day by TUI, compare to Lufthansa who should be 7!

 

[HPsauce]

I wonder who will operate the former Flybe summer charters for Olympic Holidays to Preveza?. E175 normally. Not an easy capacity to replace.
As yet Jet2 have only replaced the route formerly operated by Monarch from MAN and STN. Maybe they will have a word with Olympic!.

 

[thunderchild]

I wonder who will operate the former Flybe summer charters for Olympic Holidays to Preveza?. E175 normally. Not an easy capacity to replace.
As yet Jet2 have only replaced the route formerly operated by Monarch from MAN and STN. Maybe they will have a word with Olympic!.

Jet2 are starting Preveza from BHX this summer too!

 

[Matt995]

Flybe had no plans to operate any charter flights this summer, Jet 2 had taken over the Preveza & Innsbruck flights, with TUI taking over Salzburg.

 

[Nethercote2019]

I popped into BHX this morning & was surprised to see all the Flybe aircraft still parked on the stands of south terminal, I realise that parking space is a plenty at moment but I did think they would of been moved to remote stands is similar, also the check in area is now devoid of any Flybe branding

 

[Coathanger16]

I popped into BHX this morning & was surprised to see all the Flybe aircraft still parked on the stands of south terminal, I realise that parking space is a plenty at moment but I did think they would of been moved to remote stands is similar, also the check in area is now devoid of any Flybe branding

To be fair the remote stands are usually fairly busy with lots of Jet2 flights. With only Ryanair and the odd other airline operating into T2, there's probably more space there for them and they don't get in the way.

 

[mullion]

One presumes that aircraft have been impounded so it will be up to airport and administrators what they do

 

[jon01]

Bid to revive Flybe

 

[HPsauce]

Interesting but not exactly the right time to relaunch an airline. We certainly need the connectivity they offered at BHX but as the article reveals, it may be a smoke screen to their proposed bid for Virgin Australia. One to keep half an eye on?.

 

[CoalPowered]

I noticed Exeter City were still wearing the sponsor on their shirts in yesterday's game.

 

[Brum X]

I know this might be controversial but after the covid crisis has passed,I’d rather the airport just reset its whole operation and look out for bigger fish. Flybe is the past as far as I am concerned. I still think one of the other “bigger” airlines would suit BHX better.

 

[Jerry]

still think one of the other “bigger” airlines would suit BHX better.

BHX has most of the bigger airlines serving it though.

 

[Coathanger16]

Depends what form Flybe returned in - think it's widely accepted that one of the contributing factors to Flybe's demise was over expansion.

Although before Flybe collapsed many were stating any collapse would create a big gap at many UK airports, a lot of that capacity was very quickly taken up - the regional/domestic routes by Loganair, Eastern, Blue Islands, etc, and whilst the international routes remain unserved, I suspect if Coronavirus hadn't come along, the likes of Air France, KLM & easyJet would have filled in many of the gaps.

I think if Flybe were to return they should stay away from the international routes they flew before - they either couldn't compete with the larger airlines or were unviably expensive. BHX to Berlin or Milan was often several hundred £GBP return. Compared to easyJet offering more frequencies from LTN, BRS, MAN, etc with return prices less than £100, its amazing those routes lasted as long as they did!

Now that Loganair, Eastern and other regional airlines have expanded to fill the gap left by Flybe, I'm not sure there's enough demand to add another regional airline into that mix. The average Loganair aircraft has around half the number of seats as Flybe's Dash-8s did, so any return of Flybe would swamp the regional market with lots of seats, driving down prices & yields. Not exactly what the industry needs in the wake of Coronavirus.

 

[Ash]

BHX to Berlin or Milan was often several hundred £GBP return. Compared to easyJet offering more frequencies from LTN, BRS, MAN, etc with return prices less than £100, its amazing those routes lasted as long as they did!

The ability to attract a high fare on a route is a sign of its success, not failure. Any conventional revenue management system will progressively jack up the price as the cheaper fare buckets are sold, leaving only the most expensive last minute fares available for those who will pay them (business traffic).

Flybe's business model was never to chase mass market tourists looking for a cheap weekend in Berlin or Milan. Their fleet, route network and frequencies operated should make that apparent. They were doing well on the revenue side of the business, the SAS ACMI work was particularly lucrative for instance.

However they were ultimately undone by poor cost control, the consequences of a revolving door of senior management and the legacy fleet decisions they had to live with. COVID was simply the straw that broke the camels back.