Archive Eastern Airways at Cardiff Airport

[Jerry]

I do wonder how long Eastern can keep them going!

 

[Starflyer]

I think quite a few people at Eastern wonder that too, judging by what they said when I was last working with them!

 

[Jerry]

There is not really a replacement aircraft type out there for them as well. Closest maybe a Dornier 328? If that's still in production and then it's the ATR42 I believe?

 

[Foxlimayankee]

There is not really a replacement aircraft type out there for them as well. Closest maybe a Dornier 328? If that's still in production and then it's the ATR42 I believe?

Eventually I think Eastern are going to have to replace them with probably something like the ATR42. They are a niche regional carrier with few options of replacement aircraft. The ATR42 only has about 20 more seats but in order to make that work Eastern would likely have to become a more standard regional carrier than offering niche high prices with low load factors. That being said apparently the running costs of an ATR72 isn't much more than a -42. If they look at the bigger version then they become more of a Flybe/Stobart regional carrier.
Given their current network offering since Flybe went under, they are already operating routes that can support the ATRs (post covid). Whereas before much of their flying were suitable for the J41, like the oil/islands & Scottish flying which is barely nothing now.
Provided Teesside can be built up, SOU can support ATR sized routes and they would need aircraft like that to be able to compete with Loganair on price. Loganair are already seen to be going that way with the introduction of a number of ATRs over the E145.
IF stobart lose the EI contract then a stobart partnership or even takeover by Loganair or Eastern could be something that we see to gain access to the ATRs. Stobart don't seem particularly interested in going alone anymore.

 

[Chris Gronow]

I hope it's a success but at £79.99 one way, I can see it only appealing to business passengers, especially if people realise the type of aircraft being used. With a lot of business types now doing teams meetings on their laptops etc there may not be that demand anymore.

Just a quick look at going on the 11th of Jan and back on the 12th.

CWL £159.98 return with Eastern J41
BRS £45.98 return with Easyjet A319/20

Don't mean to sound negative on what is a very rare positive at the moment but the above shows exactly what they are up against. Let's hope its a step towards a bigger presence by Eastern at CWL with bigger aircraft serving the lost flybe routes. Hopefully by the time Christmas has been and gone things will be looking a lot better for the travel industry

 

[Jerry]

CWL £159.98 return with Eastern J41
BRS £45.98 return with Easyjet A319/20

From what i remember the price is not much different to what Flybe were charging especially when it was a daily Q400 flight. Easyjet are always going to be cheaper, have nicer aircraft and bigger aircraft. Eastern will appeal to travellers who want to the convience of flying from Cardiff and departing or arriving close to Belfast. Hopefully over time Eastern will invest in Cardiff add bigger aircraft and shift the route onto there.
The reality is it's better than nothing.

 

[Finger66]

And in COVID times the J41 is the right aircraft. But definitely needs something better post COVID. They are long in the tooth and unreliable to say the least these days. But any positive news for anyone should be welcomed just now

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Looking at what is on sale for April 2021 (not the timetable section), the based aircraft situation appears to be:
CWL - 1x J41
HUY - 1x J41
LBA - 2x J41
MME - 2x J41, 1x E70 (LHR)
SOU - 3x ATR (BHD/DUB/MAN)

The timetable has gaps all over the place and fleet utilisation is very low.
Most days there's an early LBA - SOU, but no return on sale, similarly a SOU-MME-ABZ but no flights starting ABZ the next day. Obviously very much a work in progress and all subject to covid restrictions and demand, but plenty of scope for Eastern to expand if they wanted to be a serious player in the regional game.

In terms of aircraft availability it's difficult to work out exactly what is going on with the fleet. According to Jethros T3 have:
2x ATR's
15x J41s - with 5 note as stored.
3x E145s - All appear to be leaving the fleet
1x E70 - Currently planned for MME-LHR flights
2x E90 - Shown as "Acquired due 2020"
3x S2000 - 3 of which shown as returned to lessor & 1 at Humberside, although on another forum someone posted it was recently in use.

So what appears to be the fleet going forward is J41s, E70 (There was talk of a second returning), E90 (Still a ?) and ATR's. According to what's on sale SOU is planned to have 3 ATR's, so they are either going to get another ATR or utilise an E90 in place of the third.
Comparing that to what is on sale and trying to suss out their plans it appears there will be 4 spare J41's and possibly 2 E90's unused.
There is therefore scope for another based aircraft, whether it be a J41 or ATR/Embraer jet.
I've attached the timetable as I can work out from what's on sale for April 2021.

 

[geoff]

Thanks foxlimayankee,it certainly looks as though CWL, could utilize one of their spare aircraft on Dublin. Edinburgh, or Paris, no competition for them at CWL.

 

[Jerry]

If I remember correctly it was stated that there plan was for a 5 aircraft base at SOU, Covid19 might have changed that but I wonder if maybe they could look at making SOU all E jet and then shift 2 ATRs to CWL for 2 daily Dublin and Edinburgh, with Belfast, Glasgow, Jersey and Cork in the middle at various frequencies with Paris on a SOU based E jet on a W pattern.

 

[superking]

CWL-VLY restarts jan 4th 2021.
CW- BHD starts jan 11th 2021
Hope these routes do well,they will unless covid 19 has any thing to do with it.

 

[Jerry]

Honestly i'd be surprised if they start then but hopefully they will!

 

[Jerry]

It was mentioned on the Leeds forum that Eastern have received the first of three ex Air Moldova E190s, I don't know when the other 2 are being delivered but I wonder if maybe with some sort of deal Eastern could be tempted to base 1 or even 2 of them at Cardiff to cover routes like Dublin and Edinburgh?

 

[Foxlimayankee]

The E90 isn't a particularly efficient aircraft to operate which is why you tend to only see them being used as feeder aircraft to hubs. I suspect Eastern may be wanting these for use to LHR or LCY where additional seating capacity is required.
What CWL needs is something like the ATR for its domestic routes. The E95 has the better seating capacity than the E90 but doesn't look like Eastern will be getting those.

 

[Jerry]

I'd expect routes like Paris Verona and maybe even Barcelona could be part of any deal if jets like E190s were based. But would incentivising an airline just be repeating the mistakes of the past I wonder.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Paris could be an ATR. The issues with longer flights is being able to compete on price, which with an Embraer makes it very difficult against EZY and FR.
Unless a good tie up can be made with a tour operator on certain routes that can support significantly which may work. Flight only alone would be a struggle.

 

[Jerry]

Eastern Airways have taken Anglesey & Belfast City offsale for Jan & Feb.

Anglesey resumes 1st March 2021
Belfast City begins 12th March 2021

 

[superking]

That was some news it did not want to hear. It gains 1 and lost 1. Least the lost 1 is to come back.

Eastern Airways have taken Anglesey & Belfast City offsale for Jan & Feb.

Anglesey resumes 1st March 2021
Belfast City begins 12th March 2021

..

 

[Jerry]

That was some news it did not want to hear. It gains 1 and lost 1. Least the lost 1 is to come back.

..

Lost who?

 

[superking]

They have delayed 2 routes on a temporary basis till march start. I could have said suspended. They must have done this for a reason that Eastern would class this new route for them to BFS, Jan and Feb 2 of the quietest months of the year and it shows what commitment they have in the routes and hope it works for them. perhaps i should have put a delayed start to the routes.How long was the Anglesey gap at christmas last year,if a longer gap this year then i would think covid 19 has kicked in for this year