Well i hope your correct wh reg the other carriers, so once regen is finished the airlines hopefully will be queuing up to fly from LBA, we shall see, but wow its certainly not been the best year for the airport.
Leeds Bradford: EasyJet Flights, New Routes & Schedule Updates
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White Heather
Elite Pro-Member
Agreed on that which is a shame as they were heading for record passenger figures. The loss of Sun Express and Easyjet during the winter is likely to mean we might match last year at best. Lets just hope Wizz dont give up on the UK regional market.
Easyjet have never been up for a fight since Stelios left day to day operations...Stansted was a biggy for them but when faced with fast expansion from Ryanair they scaled back to Southend and Luton and left when Jet2 moved in...
I suspect their wish is to be part of a legacy airline group, pricing just below their lunacy prices and being used as a feeder with some bucket and spade stuff thrown in..
O Leary doesnt see them with a long run of independence ahead of them either..
I suspect their wish is to be part of a legacy airline group, pricing just below their lunacy prices and being used as a feeder with some bucket and spade stuff thrown in..
O Leary doesnt see them with a long run of independence ahead of them either..
Im fully aware that wizz have their own plans and visions for the future but in my opinion i feel LBA management should be lets say more in bed with wizz , with the correct marketing ( should that ever happen at LBA) a huge population and no interference from that certain airport over the hill then LBA could be a decent base for the airline. There are certainly plenty of routes i can think of that would do well, Who remembers philip meeson on look north back in 2002 i believe it was announcing LS? Something down that line would be icing on the cake! I bet most the population of west yorks are unaware easyjet operate from LBA ! So come on LBA lets get those airlines in, tell you what members its getting very frustrating im sure many on here feel the same!
- Admin
- #1,606
Time for a serious reality check. It’s easy to sit behind a keyboard and say "LBA just needs to get in bed with Wizz," but that completely ignores how ULCC network planning actually works in 2026.
Wizz Air doesn't care about nostalgic announcements on Look North. They care about ultra fast 30 minute turnarounds, rock bottom landing fees, and high yield routes. Right now, with global fleet shortages and engine issues crippling capacity across Europe, Wizz is consolidating at massive hubs, not scattering aircraft across regional UK airports.
LBA isn't failing on marketing, they are fixing the broken, bottlenecked terminal infrastructure so the airport can actually handle modern airline requirements in the first place. Expecting Wizz to suddenly set up a base here under current industry conditions is total fantasy. No airport can work on the basis of a wishlist, you can already see how that plays out at Doncaster!
Love him or loathe him, Michael never misses a trick..That's why he's successful and Easyjet have been bought out..I suspect Stelios gave the OK, as the biggest shareholder, because he was fed up of abysmal management and simply wanted rid of the whole bloody shebang....
In a nutshell...excellent precis
HX3
Well-Known Member
sånn er det, or in English it is what it is! It just wasn’t Easyjet’s time and Ryanair as seen by their advert, and Jet2 by their email Yorkshire100 voucher for LBA bookings up to 31 August, show that our airlines are fully committed to LBA and will pick up the slack.
It’s disappointing, it brings home a bit of reality, but we don’t need to be dramatic 😜, there are new routes to look forward to, we will see larger aircraft and we will have a fully fit terminal soon.
The airline business is fickle and at some point it will be Leeds Bradford’s moment. Sometimes things like this help to give some impetus to others to raise their game, let’s see what Ryanair and Jet2 do next.
It’s disappointing, it brings home a bit of reality, but we don’t need to be dramatic 😜, there are new routes to look forward to, we will see larger aircraft and we will have a fully fit terminal soon.
The airline business is fickle and at some point it will be Leeds Bradford’s moment. Sometimes things like this help to give some impetus to others to raise their game, let’s see what Ryanair and Jet2 do next.
- Admin
- #1,609
Very true.
That nostalgic announcement on look north together with endless advertisement which i can still remember transformed our little airport on the hill with a huge increase in pax, jet2 is now one of the largest airlines in the uk. I do agree with most you mention but im just saying With the correct marketing LBA can be a huge success for any airline.
Well i hope ryanair and jet2 do something positive, the saying never put all your eggs in one basket has meaning to it!!
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HX3
Well-Known Member
HX3
Well-Known Member
Cheer up, things will improve 👍
One thing you can never accuse Ryanair of is lack of self promotion!
- Moderator
- #1,615
I think the positive to take from this is that as @White Heather has reported, the relationship between LBA and easyJet appears to remain a good one. Timing is everything when it comes to airline route and base decisions, and unfortunately it seems that the timing simply hasn’t worked out on this occasion.
LBA also has a slightly unusual problem in that the strength of Jet2 at the airport is both one of its greatest assets and, when trying to attract another major operator, potentially one of its drawbacks. Trying to establish a handful of non-based easyJet routes against a very large incumbent operation — with multiple daily frequencies, established brand recognition alongside an enormous holidays business was always going to be difficult. Adding two or four weekly flights to markets already served many times a week isn’t really comparable with entering an underserved market. Unfortunately that’s really the only way most carriers can and do enter a market. They don’t just sweep in with daily flights to a destination.
Southampton is a good comparison. easyJet has been able to establish and grow an operation there without anything resembling the level of direct competition it has faced at LBA. At Leeds, without a base and the scale and flexibility that comes with it, easyJet was effectively trying to establish itself around the edges of two already very well-established operators.
I also think it’s a little unfair to put the blame entirely at easyJet’s door when none of us knows the full story. There have been comments about a lack of advertising, or suggestions that easyJet hasn’t been prepared to compete since Stelios left, but I’m not sure the evidence really supports that. easyJet has continued to grow across its UK bases and over the last few years has added over 20 aircraft to current UK bases as well as opening / reopening new ones at BHX, NCL and SEN. I’d say it’s difficult to argue that the airline simply isn’t prepared to compete or invest where it sees the right opportunity - BHX and NCL already both being major bases for RYR, EXS and TOM. I struggle to think of another recent example where easyJet has established a presence at an airport and then withdrawn from it entirely. Airlines don’t remove routes and walk away from a market for no reason, particularly when they had previously been discussing further expansion.
The fact that LBA management still appear to have a good relationship with easyJet, and continue to talk positively about them, is also worth bearing in mind before putting all the blame at easyJet’s door. LBA management will know exactly what discussions have taken place and the reasons behind easyJet’s decision; we don’t. If they felt easyJet had simply failed to support the routes, wasn’t prepared to compete, or had messed the airport around, it seems unlikely that the relationship would still be described so positively. That suggests there is probably more to the decision than any of us on the outside know.
LBA also has a slightly unusual problem in that the strength of Jet2 at the airport is both one of its greatest assets and, when trying to attract another major operator, potentially one of its drawbacks. Trying to establish a handful of non-based easyJet routes against a very large incumbent operation — with multiple daily frequencies, established brand recognition alongside an enormous holidays business was always going to be difficult. Adding two or four weekly flights to markets already served many times a week isn’t really comparable with entering an underserved market. Unfortunately that’s really the only way most carriers can and do enter a market. They don’t just sweep in with daily flights to a destination.
Southampton is a good comparison. easyJet has been able to establish and grow an operation there without anything resembling the level of direct competition it has faced at LBA. At Leeds, without a base and the scale and flexibility that comes with it, easyJet was effectively trying to establish itself around the edges of two already very well-established operators.
I also think it’s a little unfair to put the blame entirely at easyJet’s door when none of us knows the full story. There have been comments about a lack of advertising, or suggestions that easyJet hasn’t been prepared to compete since Stelios left, but I’m not sure the evidence really supports that. easyJet has continued to grow across its UK bases and over the last few years has added over 20 aircraft to current UK bases as well as opening / reopening new ones at BHX, NCL and SEN. I’d say it’s difficult to argue that the airline simply isn’t prepared to compete or invest where it sees the right opportunity - BHX and NCL already both being major bases for RYR, EXS and TOM. I struggle to think of another recent example where easyJet has established a presence at an airport and then withdrawn from it entirely. Airlines don’t remove routes and walk away from a market for no reason, particularly when they had previously been discussing further expansion.
The fact that LBA management still appear to have a good relationship with easyJet, and continue to talk positively about them, is also worth bearing in mind before putting all the blame at easyJet’s door. LBA management will know exactly what discussions have taken place and the reasons behind easyJet’s decision; we don’t. If they felt easyJet had simply failed to support the routes, wasn’t prepared to compete, or had messed the airport around, it seems unlikely that the relationship would still be described so positively. That suggests there is probably more to the decision than any of us on the outside know.
That’s a good summary @Severn. It’s been discussed on here before how big Jet2 are at LBA. It brings lots of positives in terms of frequency and choice and clearly they have built up a very loyal customer base over nearly 25 years. It makes perfect sense that if Easyjet’s strategy is to grow their holidays business, then they will have to appeal to Jet2’s customers and persuade some of them to switch. Operating flights from LBA is one way to do that. Rather than jumping in with a base from day 1 (which would be high risk for all sorts of reasons) they elected to operate a few routes initially and then slowly build. Downside of that is it ends up with less flexibility and poorer timings compared to Jet2 and its just very easy for Jet2 to defend that. If they’ve now decided that the earliest they will consider a base is 2030 and the outlook for oil prices and consumer confidence are a not great, then it makes sense to walk away and review it in a few years. Personally I’m not sure there is any more to it than that.
Finger66
Well-Known Member
We all have our views on all this and when they announced BCN I said yet another "safe" route but was immediately shot down by someone (can't remember who) who said that BCN was extremely under-served. Well perhaps this U2 announcement says otherwise along with them not being able to compete with incumbent carriers. This brings me back to "safe" routes where I think they could have chosen better/unserved routes. But that would have needed them to have a base at the away base for those unserved routes. Anyway whatever the reason(s) are it is what it is and what they have tried hasn't worked in the way we had all hoped. Onwards and upwards hopefully.
The CAA data published every month gives a very accurate insight into which routes are served well or not. Personally I don’t think it’s a matter of too much debate. LBA-BCN is just one of many routes that are under served. But if serving it doesn’t fit with Easyjet’s strategy then they won’t serve it.
White Heather
Elite Pro-Member
If it is underserved ( and it is) you have to wonder why Vueling don't give it another go. They also came and went after one season some years ago.
YorkshireLad
Well-Known Member
I have to disagree on this - I believe BCN is exactly the type of route they should have been operating from LBA, along with BFS and CDG. Those are the routes I'm particularly disappointed to be losing from them. I've been thinking recently also, I think easyJet's route to CDG killed Ryanair's route to BVA, while the 3 airlines competed Jet2 and easyJet seemed to get ok business to CDG while Ryanair really struggled at BVA, with one September having an average load of about 60 pax if I remember correctly
(From @White Heather) They were facing both Jet2 at a higher frequency and Monarch at that time
If I were to think of an ideal easyJet network from LBA it would look something like (not taking into account their bases and semi-taking into account where they normally fly): AGP and PMI with higher frequencies (4X weekly minimum), TFS, RAK, BCN, CDG, MXP, VCE, FCO, PSA (or somewhere in that area), MLA, ATH, KGS, RHO, AYT, DLM, BJV, AMS (Minimum 4X weekly), SSH/HRG, GVA (properly), BFS, NQY
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