Flybe

[IanFarquharson]

Eastern advertising for crew at CWL and SOU - new bases ?

 

[Jerry]

Eastern advertising for crew at CWL and SOU - new bases ?

SOU will be as they plan a 5 aircraft base. Hopefully for Cardiff they aren't just recruiting for the VLY J41 but something more.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It would be interesting to know that out of the New Jersey routes how popular the routes were passenger numbers wise compare to the Cardiff Airport numbers.

CAA annual passenger stats for 2019 not yet out but below are those for 2018, JER figures first then GCI:

Cardiff 20,095 : 2,035
Bristol 24,447 : 27,678
Exeter 41,240 : 29,722
Southampton 169,369 : 119,533
Newquay no JER or GCI services in 2018
Birmingham 72,126 : 29,625

This suggests that the Channel Islands from Severnside airports individually are not huge draws, certainly when compared with the likes of Southampton, and Exeter carried more passengers too.

 

[Jerry]

It won't happen but it would be nice to see them at Cardiff if it did.

State takeover of collapsed Flybe in the works

Flybe collapsed on March 5 after failing to secure a bail-out from the Government

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[Jerry]

It won't happen but it would be nice to see them at Cardiff if it did.

State takeover of collapsed Flybe in the works

Flybe collapsed on March 5 after failing to secure a bail-out from the Government

www.telegraph.co.uk

Maybe a better option would be for the government to provide grants to airlines like Eastern Airways and Loganair to setup bases at airports like Cardiff.

 

[mathers_wales_uk]

Isn’t that currently banned under current EU legislation. At present only support can be provided to assist with marketing I believe. How this will change at the end of COVID-19 is unsure.

think the UK Government will be tightening their purse strings for some time.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It won't happen but it would be nice to see them at Cardiff if it did.

State takeover of collapsed Flybe in the works

Flybe collapsed on March 5 after failing to secure a bail-out from the Government

www.telegraph.co.uk

If Flybe was nationalised would it become the UK flag carrier?

British Airways is now subsumed into the International Airlines Group which is a Spanish company so it could be argued that a nationalised Flybe had more claim to the UK flag carrier title.

On a more important aspect, how could the likes of Loganair and Eastern compete with a nationalised Flybe that enjoyed government backing and support?

Maybe a better option would be for the government to provide grants to airlines like Eastern Airways and Loganair to setup bases at airports like Cardiff.

Isn’t that currently banned under current EU legislation. At present only support can be provided to assist with marketing I believe. How this will change at the end of COVID-19 is unsure.

think the UK Government will be tightening their purse strings for some time.

It probably would be illegal state aid at the moment as the UK has to abide by EU regulations until the end of the year (unless the transition period is extended because of Covid-19), but once released from that yoke the government would be much better placed to try other financial remedies - if it was so minded.

 

[mathers_wales_uk]

Don’t forget it’s not just Brexit it’s all this money they have been spending to fight to COVID-19 pandemic and supporting jobs etc.

they would probably better placed to actually set-up their own national regional carrier rather than re-launch Flybe.

it’s a tough line because all this COVID-19 money will need to be recouped in form of future taxes etc so maybe not huge spending projects such as propping up Flybe 2.1.0 or creating a national airline.

May provide tax breaks to Eastern & Loganair after brexit if they operate certain essential services.

who knows it’s a crazy world we live in at the moment.

 

[Rob c DSA]

The government can't really win whatever they do, realistically they'd be better helping those airlines who've stepped in for Flybe and help them grow and be stable financially assuming they can grow however if anything were to happen re a new Flybe of sorts say, it needs doing properly and to support the region's the like of Belfast, Newquay and Southampton on routes that Loganair or anyone else isn't on and also support the likes of DSA, EMA and Liverpool where Flybe weren't on some routes or routes aren't served by other carriers at those airports. It would have to be a truly UK airline serving everywhere where an air link would work and help business in the UK with a sensibly sized efficient fleet and most importantly aneffective management team to oversee it.

It couldn't just serve the major airports or it would be pointless at present everything is up in the air maybe the best thing to do at present is sit on things see where things are 12 months down the line with the present system and airlines and take it from there for sure though come the end of Covid 19 some link's were missing before this kicked off and obviously still will be.

 

[Jerry]

If Flybe was nationalised would it become the UK flag carrier?

Possibly! I doubt BA would be happy having that taken from them!

Isn’t that currently banned under current EU legislation.

I suppose it's how you go about it whether you use things like PSOs or a connectivity fund or like mentioned a marketing deal.
Also i thinking it depends on the strategy employed to replace the regional connectivity in the UK.
Do you go about it by an individual route by route basis by either PSOs or if that's not available marketing deals or do you go by a base by base and encourage airlines to setup at specific bases and base aircraft etc there. On a smaller scale I suppose that is the challenge faced by Cardiff airport itself to replace the Flybe routes. Does it go route by route or chase a specific airline to base.

 

[paully]

Isn’t that currently banned under current EU legislation. At present only support can be provided to assist with marketing I believe. How this will change at the end of COVID-19 is unsure.


The EU lifted restrictions on all forms of State Aid that was previously banned, a couple of weeks ago. Alitalia has already been nationalised, no suprises there. That genie ,having been let out of the bottle, won`t go back in again, for sure.

 

[Jerry]

Maybe we'll see Flybe back at Cardiff one day Flybe 2.0 just registered their first aircraft.

Flybe 2.0 Becoming A Reality With First Aircraft Registration

The ‘new Flybe’ is edging closer to becoming a reality after its first aircraft was spotted to have…

simpleflying.com

 

[Jerry]

A bit of hope for the future domestic route wise?

AMP and Axa offer £8.2bn in a second bid for Axa’s Asian unit

AUSTRALIAN wealth manager AMP launched a fresh £8.15bn bid for Axa Asia Pacific Holdings yesterday in a joint deal with French parent Axa, a year after its original approach. The move comes after rival bidder National Australia Bank pulled out of a deal to buy Axa’a Asian unit after the...

www.cityam.com

 

[Nuffsaid]

CWL needs links to EDI, NCL and LBA along with EU connections to hubs at CDG, DUB and either FRA or MUC.

 

[Jerry]

The problem seems to be finding airline's willing to operate them. I suppose we can only keep our fingers crossed that we see some of these routes return in 2022.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

CWL might stand a decent chance of being near the front of the queue given that many of the other 'Flybe airports' have seen the previous Flybe's routes taken up by other airlines.

I must admit I've not been following the Flybe phoenix story closely although on that other forum I have noted a lot of posters sceptical about the chances of a rebirth.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Lets not forget that some of the routes were unprofitable which is why Flybe pulled out in the first place. The second stab at it was all funded. Loganair also publicly stated they couldn't make it viable.
I can't see much WG money being made available after what has been spent on Covid. Also domestic travel demand is likely to be down with less business travel for some time. Maybe down the line but can't see it happening anytime soon.
For EDI, GLA, JER and DUB to all come back will likely need a base. If any of those Airports become a base then there is a chance 1 or 2 of them may return, but we'll have to wait (some time) and see.

 

[Em0866]

It will be interesting to see what happens but there's no way of us knowing for sure what routes for CWL (if any) until announcements are made. We have a wish list of hopeful routes...but are they viable at the moment? We have to wait and see. Let's not get too excited just yet.

 

[Jerry]

Yes demand won't be what it is but destinations like Dublin and Edinburgh should have strong enough leisure demand to be viable.

 

[fly4gigs]

LHR slots taken. Let's wait and see then.