Flybe

[TheLocalYokel]

I can see Flybe withdrawing from FAO which will free up the aircraft to do some shorter route unless there are planned changes within the based number of aircraft.

I wouldn't be surprised. Flybe withdrew from several routes at BRS when easyJet came onto them. They don't appear to relish competing with the major locos at the smaller airports.

 

[CraigW92]

Thomson sold packages with BE this summer with the 10 night option seemingly popular ( out on a Thursday with TOM, return on a Sunday with BE) with the support of Thomson in taking a percentage of seats onboard throughout the summer months we could well see them remain but in reduced capacity. E.g down to 2 weekly.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Thomson sold packages with BE this summer with the 10 night option seemingly popular ( out on a Thursday with TOM, return on a Sunday with BE) with the support of Thomson in taking a percentage of seats onboard throughout the summer months we could well see them remain but in reduced capacity. E.g down to 2 weekly.

It's a fair point. It might keep Flybe with some FAO presence.

 

[superking]

time will tell on the fao route. I wish them well with it and continue.

 

[Jerry]

It's a fair point. It might keep Flybe with some FAO presence

Probably be 2 weekly. With Verona looking like a success then i'm guessing they may want to put that at 2 weekly as well plus they will have to fit in Berlin in the summer as I can't see them just having it as a winter route. I could see Milan maybe been dropped to 3 or maybe 2 weekly? With Munich 3 weekly? It may be that to keep introducing new routes and do the others Flybe may have to drop FAO otherwise they would have to base another aircraft and they may not have one available or not want to.

 

[Jerry]

Does anyone know when Flybe will release there S17 schedule?

 

[CraigW92]

Monday

06:30 - EDI

07:00 - DUB

10:05 - MXP

10:15 - GLA

12:55 - BHD

13:55 - MUC

15:30 - CDG

19:05 - EDI

19:30 - JER



Tuesday

06:30 - EDI

07:00 - DUB

10:00 - FAO

10:15 - GLA

12:55 - BHD

15:10 - CDG

17:05 - DUB

19:05 - EDI

20:25 - ORK



Wednesday

06:30 - EDI

07:00 - DUB

10:05 - MXP

10:15 - GLA

12:55 - BHD

13:55 - MUC

15:30 - CDG

19:05 - EDI

19:25 - DUB



Thursday

06:30 - EDI

07:00 - DUB

10:00 - FAO

10:15 - GLA

12:55 - BHD

13:55 - MUC

16:30 - CDG

19:05 - EDI

20:25 - DUB


Friday

06:30 - EDI

07:20 - JER

10:05 - MXP

10:15 - GLA

12:55 - BHD

13:55 - MUC

15:30 - CDG

19:05 - EDI

19:25 - DUB


Saturday

07:20 - FAO

07:45 - EDI

11:40 - ORK

12:00 - JER

14:00 - VRN

15:00 - BHD

15:30 - CDG

15:45 - DUS



Sunday

09:40 - GLA

10:05 - MXP

13:25 - EDI

15:30 - CDG

17:00 - FAO

17:00 - BHD

19:25 - DUB


BOLD- indicates Belfast frame







Now this is this summers schedule, I can't not see MUC remaining at 4 weekly, simply hasn't taken off( no pun intended)and I'd be very surprised if FAO remained at 4 with the news of FR yesterday. MUC dropping to 3 and FAO dropping to 2 might seem likely. MXP could also lose one rotation resulting in a 3 weekly service instead of the 4 this summer, this would result in 4 weekly slots available. I'd expect the CDG slot to change timings to a morning departure similar to this upcoming winter.



TXL will prove a more popular German destination and I imagine this will be added in at a 2 weekly frequency, on that basics there would be 2 slots available in the Schedule.



The remaining two slots could either be used for introducing a new weekly route with perhaps the the support of a tour operator MLA for example, Although I don't see this as likely, VRN could be increased to 2 weekly service although this may impact the yield on the route, another possible option could be FCO which has been chased for a few years, shouldn't be that long and the actual schedule should be released and it turns out I'm completely wrong !

 

[Jerry]

Now this is this summers schedule, I can't not see MUC remaining at 4 weekly, simply hasn't taken off( no pun intended)and I'd be very surprised if FAO remained at 4 with the news of FR yesterday. MUC dropping to 3 and FAO dropping to 2 might seem likely. MXP could also lose one rotation resulting in a 3 weekly service instead of the 4 this summer, this would result in 4 weekly slots available. I'd expect the CDG slot to change timings to a morning departure similar to this upcoming winter.

Yes i could see MUC going to 3 weekly and hopefully the codeshare with Air Berlin will boost it plus codeshares with Etihad are also appearing on it. I wonder if they would do 3x MUC, 3x TXL and 3x MXP. That would give CWL 9 flights a week to 3 major european cities. Don't think they will launch FCO as Flybe don't fly there from their other bases that would be for Vueling. If they launch another route then it may be southern france. Bordeaux, Toulouse or Toulon. Not sure another German route would work. A possibility could be something like Brussels but that would have to daily. I wonder if with Malta they could organise a charter company to do it as a once a week rather than send a E190 on such a long rotation.
Hopefully the schedule will be released soon!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Ryanair tried Toulon from Bristol several years ago - it was a disaster.

Bordeaux is a possibility for a summer route and maybe Toulouse.

BOD and TLS were two of the routes that led to Flybe falling out with BRS when easyJet muscled in on them nearly a decade ago. TLS is year-round and BOD is operating this winter for the first time - previously it was summer-only.

BOD benefits as Bordeaux is one of Bristol's twin cities and Toulouse has the aviation connection of course, even though Airbus operates it own corporate shuttle to Toulouse from Hawarden and Bristol with Eastern.

Brussels, Hmm! A Brussels Airlines code share or operating on behalf of Brussels Airlines might give a sniff of a chance but it would probably need at least 2 x daily on weekdays to be useful. BRU is not widely served from the UK.

 

[Jerry]

From what i've seen in Flybe's destinations Toulon is the only Cote d Azur airport they fly to and every destination that Flybe fly from CWL they fly from other bases. So if the airport wanted to have a route to the Cote d Azur which is a holiday route that would be the only one for that area as Lyon would be to far away i'd think.
Whether Bordeaux or Toulouse would work i have no idea. Though i wouldn't be surprised if Roger Lewis has tried to get the Airbus flights!
Flybe do have a relationship with Brussels Airlines as they operate their BHX flights. I don't know if the airport has a strategy but CWL is connected to 7 capital cities and may want a route to another one. Whether they think like that i have know idea but also BRU could potentially add more connections through codeshares as well.

 

[superking]

these airports that are mentioned in the last 2 postings are slot restricted airports and to get decent slot times are very hard to get.

 

[Jerry]

Yes slots may well be a problem for many airports that CWL wants routes to. It may be why Vueling haven't launched FCO and also may be the reason why Flybe launched LCY to keep the slots for another route.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

From what i've seen in Flybe's destinations Toulon is the only Cote d Azur airport they fly to and every destination that Flybe fly from CWL they fly from other bases. So if the airport wanted to have a route to the Cote d Azur which is a holiday route that would be the only one for that area as Lyon would be to far away i'd think.
Whether Bordeaux or Toulouse would work i have no idea. Though i wouldn't be surprised if Roger Lewis has tried to get the Airbus flights!
Flybe do have a relationship with Brussels Airlines as they operate their BHX flights. I don't know if the airport has a strategy but CWL is connected to 7 capital cities and may want a route to another one. Whether they think like that i have know idea but also BRU could potentially add more connections through codeshares as well.

I knew that Toulon was not a popular destination from the UK but I hadn't realised to what extent. It seems the only regular route is a summer-only service from Southampton - by Flybe. I can find nothing from London or Manchester or Birmingham for example.

Brussels too is not that well served from the UK either, perhaps surprisingly in view of its importance within the EU.

The only UK routes in May to BRU for instance were these:

LHR 47,300
MAN 17,100
EDI 11,100
BHX 10,500
BRS 4,800
NCL 1,800
BHD 1,650
EMA 1,280

EDI and MAN also have scheduled routes to Charleroi

To be any use for business, elected representatives etc BRU would ideally be at least 2 x daily on weekdays. Unless the WAG is prepared to subsidise Flybe heavily on this route I would think the airline has better options, even increasing some of its current routes in frequency - GLA for instance.

 

[Tinkerman]

BRU is a non-starter, tried and failed many times and would not support the number of passengers required to make it a success. Even less travel to BRU will be required in a couple of years time ...

 

[Jerry]

I knew that Toulon was not a popular destination from the UK but I hadn't realised to what extent.

That may be because most airlines fly to the french med coast via Nice but Flybe might be able to get slots at Nice. If you look at Flybe's SOU destinations there are a lot of French destinations.
Yes you would've thought BRU would be a busier destination. It is a nice city.
Before Aer Lingus pulled out Flybe were going to drop the morning DUB and go to 12 a week CDG and i think it was 11 a week GLA so maybe they'll decide to that again. That might also provide greater connectivity to GLA long haul.
MAN could also be a contender because Roger Lewis mentioned in his interview of better regional connectivity through flying.

 

[Aviador]

BRU is a non-starter, tried and failed many times and would not support the number of passengers required to make it a success. Even less travel to BRU will be required in a couple of years time ...

I would tend to agree with that especially now that our EU exit looms. At the peak of our BRU service here at Leeds, the flight was frequented by numerous MEPs. Since the financial crisis of 2008 business use dropped substantially followed by the loss of the flight itself. These days I think the flight has limited scope from only select number of UK airports.

 

[Tinkerman]

Audacious claim there Jeremy. I'm sure BE can get slots at Nice if they want to, it's not slot restricted. They must just choose not to fly there.

Whilst i admire the additional activity on this forum these days, i must say that some of the posts are a little far-fetched to say the least.

 

[Jerry]

Audacious claim there Jeremy. I'm sure BE can get slots at Nice if they want to, it's not slot restricted. They must just choose not to fly there.

Didn't realise, meant 'might not'. I've edited it now.

i must say that some of the posts are a little far-fetched

Why do you think they are far fetched? The med coast is a popular holiday destination so it's not inconceivable for CWL to try a once a week flight to the area like what happens with Verona plus Brussels is a pretty big city, the capital of Belgium and the EU so the airport and WAG might want to have a flight connection to it. In the end all people can do is speculate as no one except Flybe and the airport will know what will happen for S17 and if no one speculated about anything on this forum then all it would be is a movement blog for the various airports and the posting of the odd news item.

 

[Tinkerman]

I agree with your points Jerry, but to me just some of the suggestions or speculation as you state seem a bit inconceivable. May just be me. No offence intended.

 

[marsh.ger]

Eastern Airways couldn't make Brussels work in 2006 which was a year before Cardiff Airport's busiest year. This is proof of how much a no go the route is.

I believe Cardiff is also focussing on linking to hubs which grows the number of destinations via one stop connections.

I bet in an ideal world they would love a 2 x daily CDG which would codeshare with Air France and therefore not only offer business friendly times but better connection opportunities.

Despite how much I love we got E195 I think ideal base for CWL would be Q400 which would improve yield and profitability on routes.

Cardiff would also no doubt like to link to Rome, improved frequency on BHD & GLA.

The question is if in the longer term Q400 is the way forward for CWL then would there be enough routes to fill the gap between the peak business routes. By relying on Flybe CWL would need to be a 4/5 Q400 base to get what they ideally want. I don't think honestly it will happen however I am willing to be proved wrong.