Blue Islands

[TheLocalYokel]

BRS-JER

Following Flybe's withdrawal from BRS-JER next month, Blue Islands has announced a Saturday rotation from 29 March next year.

Currently Blue Islands operates BRS-JER 2 x daily Mon-Fri and daily on Sundays with ATR 42 aircraft.

http://www.businesslife.co/BusinessNews ... ol-flights

 

[superking]

Iread on another forum that a atr 72 is going to be used out of brs.
I have seen nothing offical any where so will see if that happens.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Following Flybe's withdrawal from BRS-JER next month, Blue Islands has announced a Saturday rotation from 29 March next year.

Currently Blue Islands operates BRS-JER 2 x daily Mon-Fri and daily on Sundays with ATR 42 aircraft.

Iread on another forum that a atr 72 is going to be used out of brs.
I have seen nothing offical any where so will see if that happens.

The first rotation operates today, scheduled arrival at 1300 although the Jersey Airport website is showing a 45 minute delay to the departure. Mayfly shows the aircraft as an ATR 42 as it does for next Saturday.

I'm pleased that the rumours about easyJet starting a BRS-JER haven't so far come to fruition. It would have been single daily at best and almost certainly not even that in winter. It would have seen off Blue Islands with their very useful morning and afternoon daily rotations.

http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/media-c ... lands.aspx

Nice touch of pr by the airline.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe- ... y-35280134

Blue Islands is to become a Flybe franchise. Aircraft will be painted in Flybe colours and tickets sold through the Flybe website but Blue Islands will remain an independent airline. The change is expected this coming May.

 

[Marko1]

As Brs has a strange relationship with flybe over the years I wonder whether the route will continue or be dropped as flybe did itself . Let's hope not

 

[TheLocalYokel]

As Brs has a strange relationship with flybe over the years I wonder whether the route will continue or be dropped as flybe did itself . Let's hope not

Yes, there is a strange history with hints that at times it has been acrimonious.

I believe that it may go back to the time when Flybe began flying to Bergerac, Bordeaux and Toulouse in 2004 (there were other existing Flybe routes as well) only to be trumped by easyJet who came onto Bordeaux and Toulouse a couple of years later. easyJet was also flying to Belfast International against the much longer established Flybe route (from the days it was Jersey European) to Belfast City.

Flybe dropped the three French routes when easyJet began to operate BOD and TLS.

In 2007 when Flybe bought BA Connect they dropped all the BRS BACon routes saying they were uneconomic. The five-aircraft (E45s) BACon BRS base was closed.

In a submission to a Competition Commission investigation (circa 2008) reviewing competition between adjacent non-BAA airports (in this case BRS, CWL and EXT), the report stated, BRS said it understood that Flybe had made a strategic decision and what was a surprise to the BRS team was the fact Flybe pulled off on some key routes ‘where they knew, and British Airways had admitted, they were making money’.

In the same Competition Commission investigation report it was stated, Upon EXT starting to grow in the market place from 2004 onwards (driven by Flybe’s presence there), BRS approached Flybe about moving its operations there. BRS offered inducements such as substantially reduced airport charges. However, Flybe thought the advantage of having EXT as its home base was significant and therefore only expanded at BRS as opposed to moving all their operations. Subsequently BRS, however, sought to buy EXT, which the airline had opposed.

Flybe subsequently returned to the BHD route (which it has axed in 2007) in 2011 after Ryanair had pulled out following its decision to abandon all its BHD routes. However, part way through 2012 Flybe itself pulled out citing poor loads on the BRS-BHD route. It seemed odd because its EXT-BHD route was experiencing lower loads than the BRS route (which weren't that low really) but was kept on.

During the past decade Flybe has also tried Isle of Man and Jersey (against Blue Islands for a while on JER) but eventually gave them up - in fairness they had two separate attempts at IOM but finally gave it best at the end of summer 2013.

In recent years the only Flybe presence has been on winter ski flights on behalf of tour companies but this winter the airline doesn't feature.

That's the history of the relationship for much of this century so far as I can determine. Whether it will have any effect on the current Blue Islands Jersey route remains to be seen. I can't believe that the route would be left uncovered for long; someone would step in.

 

[Aviador]

It will be a shame to see another livery disappear completely - or will it?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It will be a shame to see another livery disappear completely - or will it?

It will be a shame but one wonders whether this is a move to bolster the financial strength of Blue Islands. If it keeps them flying albeit wearing someone else's coat it's worth the loss of the livery.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The franchise agreement with Flybe has now been confirmed and will take effect from June this year. The Blue Islands aircraft will be Flybe branded with Flybe flight numbers although Blue Islands will continue as an independent airline with its own AOC.

So the Flybe livery will once again be seen at BRS.

http://aviationtribune.com/airlines/eur ... ent-flybe/

 

[Marko1]

Given flybe s history with Brs I wonder how long till they drop the Bristol route ?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Given flybe s history with Brs I wonder how long till they drop the Bristol route ?

It will still be Blue Islands responsible for the route. Their aircraft and crews will still operate the route albeit branded as Flybe and with all the support that the larger company brings to the party.

A couple of years ago there were strong rumours that easyJet was going to operate BRS-JER. At the time I hoped it would not happen because it's a certainty that easyJet would not operate 2 x daily as Blue Islands do and they might not have operated at all in the winter.

I was very surprised that easyJet began BRS-IOM rather than JER.

I think it's a safe bet to say that if Blue Islands did pull out - there are some who think the Flybe agreement is a final try at maintaining a viable Blue Islands company - the route would not be left without a carrier for long.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The Flybe franchise that starts on 6 June has so far only included Jersey-Southampton with Guernsey-Southampton the next on the list according to the Blue Islands website. No timescale given as to when the other routes will come under the Flybe brand, including Bristol-Jersey.

I note that today bmi regional has announced a Saturday Bristol-Jersey rotation commencing towards the end of June. It's a lunchtime departure about an hour ahead of Blue Islands' service to JER.

 

[sierrafoxtrot]

I got an email today to say BMI Regional are staring a BRS to JER service, this may have an impact?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I got an email today to say BMI Regional are staring a BRS to JER service, this may have an impact?

I wouldn't have thought so. It's only a once weekly rotation (Saturdays) and doesn't begin until late June.

 

[Aviador]

Back in the early 90s in the region of a thousand passengers would fly out to Jersey from the average regional airport.

 

[NOSIGWX]

Back in the early 90s in the region of a thousand passengers would fly out to Jersey from the average regional airport.

Absolutely. I worked for a regional airline in the 90's & on a summer Saturday we would operate charter flights from Dundee, Prestwick, Stansted, Southampton & Sheffield city amongst others. The ramp at Jersey would usually be packed throughout the day & often well into the night.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Timings

Timings seem to have been altered in recent days with a lunchtime and mid afternoon rotation instead of the usual morning and teatime rotations.

Next week there is only one rotation on Tues, Wed and Thurs which is in the middle of the day with the booking engine showing all BRS-JER legs as full on those days. In June the timetable seems to settle down again at 2 x daily Mon-Fri (daily on Sat and Sun) but the morning rotation has been moved to mid morning.

Still no sign of this route being moved to the Flybe franchise umbrella.

 

[big g]

The change in scedule is due to one of their aircraft going in for maintenance checks,

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Blue Islands BRS-JER

From 6 June the franchise kicks in with all bookings via the Flybe website. It's a bit awkward if you want to fly one way before 6 June and the other way on or after 6 June as they have to be booked separately on the Blue Islands and Flybe websites respectively.

Next week's Mayfly is also showing the flights with a BE flight number.

 

[sierrafoxtrot]

The first Blue Islands ATR has been painted in Flybe colours, we may see this at BRS soon, still want to get some shots of Blue Islands before it goes