Flybe

[Brum X]

FLYBE at Keflavik Airport, Iceland.



Benefitting from Reykjavik/Keflavik Airport’s revised winter charge scheme, Flybe announced plans to extend its Birmingham operations from 7 September until March next year, having previously announced the route as summer season only. Celebrating the achievement are (left to right): Þórunn Reynisdóttir, CCO, IcelandREPS; Guðný María Jóhannsdóttir, Manager Business and Route Development, Isavia; and Paul Willoughby, Regional Sales Manager, Flybe.

 

[User0001]

Over the past few days, Birmingham has lost its links to Berlin and Stockholm.

In amongst the reaction, on both routes it was said 'one for flybe', but, I wonder if people are pinning too much on flybe?

Flybe are just coming back from a cash crisis that very nearly pushed the company under, and forced them to close several bases, double digit figure closures of routes and made several hundred people unemployed.

I fear that with the London City expansion, Southend expansion and the BHX expansion, are they expanding too quickly again, and not learning from their mistakes?

In terms of BHX specific, if a hub carrier cannot make Stockholm work, and Lufthansa via Germanwings couldn't make Berlin work, then why should a carrier that has had known financial issues fare better?

Ive seen it argued that 'the routes didn't work because they kept chopping and changing the times', but, on the flipside, one could argue the times kept changing because they were trying to find 'the sweet spot', ei getting the best passenger loads at the best times?

I just can't help think people are forgetting the reason flybe expanded so much at BHX in the first place, and, expanding back into bases here there and everywhere, and trying any route under the sun really does leave me the impression that this airline has not learnt anything at all?

 

[Ray Finkle]

Good points well made, I think most routes wanted at BHX will be 'one for Flybe' as it's the only airline that's shown any sort of expansion in recent times, go back a couple of years and it was 'one for Ryanair'. I'm not sure Flybe have found their direction yet but their expansion at BHX was very welcome, as was the fact that most routes have continued into the winter. The optimist in me likes to think that bookings were strong which helped the decision but the persistent BHX pessimist in me say BHX may well have done them a deal for the routes and when that runs out then some may well be chopped, time will tell on that one.

In my opinion Berlin could work for them, Lufthansa seemed to do pretty well when they had the route which tells me there is some sort of demand there, things seemed to go downhill rapidly when Germanwings took over but with less seats to fill I wouldn't blame Flybe for at least giving it a go. I couldn't see Flybe trying Stockholm, SAS started with 736/8's which were obviously too big for the route then after a few chops and changes Blue1 717's were introduced and frankly if it can't be made to work with a 717 then I don't see how Flybe could do any better. With the added capacity on CPH it's easier to route people through there.

 

[User0001]

I think flybe have been very welcome at BHX, it certainly would have been a quiet summer (and thus far winter) new routes wise had they not expanded.

I do think the aircraft size flybe operate is a perfect mix for BHX, and I do think the routes they have gone for are quite good, given flybe do have a niche market for aircraft size vs Volume.

My words of worry were not aimed at BHX in any way shape or form, I just think flybe seem to be 'rushing' back into expansion. The amount of routes announced this year would have been a mammoth task for a well-to-do airline, let alone a 'last throw of the dice' airline like flybe are trying to shrug off. In time, we may look back and wonder what the fuss was about, but, if history teaches us one thing, a mass launch of routes usually preceeds a cull of routes too.

Them and bmi regional, to me, seem to be, 'lets try anything', and while that's great in the short term, as we have seen and likely to see again, its not so great in the long term.

 

[Brum X]

From another website:

Flybe appear to have scrubbed their 3 x weekly summer twilight flights to Palma. The Ibiza and Reykjavik are going ahead on Jun 29, but the night Palma flights have disappeared from the online timetable and booking engine?

 

[Ray Finkle]

Not really a surprise given the schedules they have.

KEF and IBZ are now up and running.

Flybe Celebrate Launch of Twilight Flights to Reykjavik and Ibiza

Flybe, Europe’s largest independent regional airline, has celebrated the start of its new summer ‘twilight’ flights to Reykjavik Keflavik and Ibiza that will operate through to 7th September, 2014, flights to Reykjavik reverting at the end of October to a daylight schedule for the winter.

Full article: http://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/meta ... ights.aspx

 

[Ray Finkle]

Reported elsewhere Berlin 5x weekly from October :good:

 

[Ray Finkle]

BHX-TXL is now on the route map and if you follow the link it's bookable starting October 26th, daily except Wed & Sat. Great to see Berlin replaced so quickly :hatsoff:

 

[Brum X]

BHX-TXL is now on the route map and if you follow the link it's bookable starting October 26th, daily except Wed & Sat. Great to see Berlin replaced so quickly :hatsoff:

This is good news and shows real commitment to BHX from Flybe, there 88 seat aircraft are perfect for these city routes and perfect for BHX.

:good:

 

[Ray Finkle]

Conformation of Berlin. Flybe seem to do very well to Germany out of BHX, hopefully next year we could see Hamburg up to double daily. It's going to be interesting to see what happens with DUS when Germanwings take over. Short term I'd imagine it'll be okay but long term when the CRJ's leave will Germanwings deploy a larger Airbus to BHX, after all it appears we're not exactly a favourite of theirs?

BIRMINGHAM (BHX) – BERLIN TEGEL (TXL)
Mon/Tue/Thur/Fri/Sun

Dep BHX 0940 arr TXL 1225 Dep TXL 1250 arr BHX 1350
Operated by 88-seat Embraer 175

http://www.flybe.com/corporate/media/news/1407/22.htm

 

[Brummiegem]

Whilst going about my usual business last night I noticed an all white Q400 parked on a stand on the old T2.(embarrassingly I don't know what it is known as now).Anyway it was too dark to see a registration.
Is this aircraft being prepared to leave the fleet,or,was it due to leave the fleet but given a reprieve due to the busy schedule?
Just out of curiosity more than anything else.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Just had a look at Jethros and it seems there were three Q400's WFU between Jan and Mar this year, G-JEDR, G-JEDT & G-JEDU. It says G-JEDR re-entered service in Jul this year and is painted all white so it could well have been that?

http://www.jethros.org.uk/fleets/fleet_ ... /flybe.htm

 

[Ray Finkle]

A couple of minor tweaks for the winter timetable. BOD has been reduced from 5 to 4x weekly but TLS sees extra flights going up to daily.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Continued expansion for 2015

Three brand new routes to Berlin Tegel, Hamburg and Olso are set to launch from Birmingham Airport next month with Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline, as their 2014-15 winter schedule gets underway.

The five times weekly service to Berlin Tegel and daily services to Hamburg and Oslo will commence from Sunday 26th October through to Friday 27th March, cementing Flybe’s position as Birmingham Airport’s biggest carrier.......



.......“Flybe’s expansion of their route network further strengthens the airline’s commitment to Birmingham, which is now the airline’s biggest base. This year, we have seen Flybe add three new aircraft to its fleet, meaning there are now 12 here in total and we’re already looking forward to continued expansion in 2015,” he added.

Full article: http://www.routesonline.com/news/29/bre ... irmingham/

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there ray, great news on these new routes, but still no Madrid, what's going on, ideal opportunity to serve Madrid, and still no one wants to get a route there....andyc

 

[Ray Finkle]

I think there are alot of people that would very much like to see Madrid added and Flybe probably have the ideal sized aircraft for it.

 

[thunderchild]

Flybe's summer 15 has been released; the bad news is that Florence, Cologne and Reykjaik appear to have gone and there is no mention of Alicante and Ibiza either. With Icelandair coming to the scene it's perhaps not a surprise Reykjavik has gone although given the strong loads for Florence and the fact they extended it into winter it's disappointing that this one won't be coming back. However the schedule is far from complete so I should imagine (and hope) that there will be some further future updates.

Helsinki anyone????

 

[Brum X]

As you said, the schedule is far from complete, so id expect a few more destinations to be added later.

Some have suggested the issue with Florence is probably payload on the E175 out of florence, maybe runway is causing issues. I have noticed that even on BHX 3003 metre runway, these small jet aircraft make some noise when taking off and also use a good section of the runway, sometimes as much as the Ryanair 737s, so this could be one reason.
Id rather leave Icelandair with KEF, shame about Cologne though if its gone, however Berlin is up to 6 days a week so that is really good news. :good:

 

[Ray Finkle]

It's a shame about Florence as it saw good loads and prices never seemed to be rock bottom but it's not the first time I've heard it suggested that it's a bit of a stretch for the 175, just one of those things. No surprises about KEF really with Icelandair due soon and even less surprise about Cologne where the loads didn't exactly set the world on fire.

Bordeaux now seems to disappear for the winter but returns in March, Waterford looks as though it'll be on the 175, Jersey goes 3x daily Mon-Fri and AMS stays at 4x daily. Good to see Newquay return, I wonder if we may see double daily for the peak summer weeks. Hamburg stays at 7x weekly which I thought may have seen an increase but Germanwings are back up to 6x weekly.

I guess the sunshine routes could well be added at a later date unless they've now decided they can make more money elsewhere. I'd be surprised if we don't see a couple of new routes over the coming months and as said hopefully Helsinki will be one of them.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Tomorrow sees the start of Hamburg, Berlin and Oslo, the bad news is Oslo seems to be down to 4x weekly for the winter season but there are increases elsewhere as seen in the article below. Looking at the Flybe site the first Hamburg flight is totally sold out and interestingly FR24 is showing Germanwings using an A319 to/from Hamburg tomorrow rather than the usual CRJ.

Take Off From Birmingham!

Avoid the hassle of the bigger London airports and instead travel with us from Birmingham for your next getaway.
As our largest hub, we now offer flights direct from Birmingham to a number of popular destinations across the UK and Europe. If you haven’t flown with us recently here’s what’s new from your local airport.

NEW ROUTES
Toulouse, France - up to 5 flights per week, for travel
26th Oct 14-27th Mar 15
Cologne, Germany - daily flights for travel 26th Oct 14-28th Mar 15
Berlin Tegal, Germany - up to 5 flights per week for travel
26th Oct 14-27 Mar 15, going up to 6 flights per week from 3rd Dec 14
Florence, Italy - up to 5 flights per week for travel 26th Oct 14-28th Mar 15
Reykjavík, Iceland - up to 3 flights per week for travel
26th Oct 14-28th Mar 15
Porto, Portugal - up to flights per week for travel 26th Oct 14-28th Mar 15
Oslo, Norway – up to 4 flights per week for travel 26th Oct 14-27th Mar 15

EXTRA FLIGHTS
To give you more choice we’ve also added additional flights to some of our most popular routes:
Amsterdam - now flying up to 4 times per day
Dusseldorf - now flying up to 4 times per day, with additional Sunday flights available
Hanover - additional weekday flights added
Lyon - daily flights now available, including Saturdays
Milan - daily flights now available
Knock Ireland West - now flying up to 5 times per week
Stuttgart - up to 2 flights per day during the week, daily flights at weekends

It's free advertising so I'm assuming it's ok to post the article in full?

http://www.flybe.com/offers/2014-10-bir ... efault.htm