Flybe

[Moo2009]

I bet Leeds East was in front of LBA on this one

 

[scottrhino]

Does this also mean that we lose the Belfast route as well??

 

[Aviador]

I wouldn't think so as it's a long standing route from LBA. It just means no further growth for the foreseeable future.

 

[whoshotjimmi]

When I posted last month regarding why Flybe would consider basing two aircraft at LBA, I asked how it could possibly be made to work and did not have any belief that it would happen, particularly after their brand new shuttle idea had failed so spectacularly.

Whilst this has now been confirmed by the apparent decision to operate from DSA rather than LBA, I can at least see method in their madness. The aircraft that they will be operating will need to have good load factors and the routes that I suspect we will see appearing (Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Paris etc) would have, to a large extent, replicated Jet2 at LBA. In a straight contest, Flybe would never park up and beat Jet2 on their own turf - Yorkshire folk are too bloody minded for that sort of thing. After all, Flybe have been on both sides of that argument at LBA before. Indeed, they managed to see off Jet2 themselves on the Belfast route before being roundly humiliated by Eastern, twice, on their flagship Southampton route.

There may actually be more positives from this than we may be thinking. Direct competition on marginal routes with an airline that is hardly known for its reliability may have been too much for LBA - particularly with the aircraft in question - and, actually, it may even mean a better deal for us penny-wise Northerners as incumbent airlines on competing routes may find an opportunity to lower their prices.

There are two disappointing things from my point of view:

Based E-Jets with later arrival times into LBA may have fared better with our fickle weather (all flights in and out of DSA today are operating without delay) and Flybe are yet to really set up a route into LBA and give it the time to succeed. Then again, pretty much every time they have, it has been one of the worst performing on the Flybe network.

One final point. The Yorkshire Post article I have quoted in other threads has also suggested that all spare Flybe aircraft now have a home. So, for the time being at least, no expansion for LBA.

 

[scottrhino]

Thanks whoshotjimmi. Just posted almost the same argument under your other post. Perhaps they knew they couldn't compete on these routes and opted for a new start up elsehwhere. Perhaps the problem with Flybe is the reason they have performed so badly at LBIA with new routes. Longevity, poor selection of routes (other European destinations would have faired better from LBIA) such as London City, Aberdeen (another established airline on the route) and aircraft type although the E175 would have been a nice fit.

 

[Bigman]

I cannot actually see anything anywhere to say which routes they will be operating. Well done Donny for having the acumen to sort new routes out. LBA...get your act together before it is too late!!!

 

[lbaspotter]

8 new DSA Routes to be announced next week, November 10th when flybe put there summer 2016 flights on sale. Looks like LBA well and truly missed the boat on this one! You win some and lose some.

 

[scottrhino]

Dare I argue though that apart from perhaps one extra route these are the same replications we see from other LBIA operators. The posts when talking about new 'destinations' speak about Eastern Europe, Mainland European cities and Scandanavia. Well done to Doncaster for reaching out to their area but we would have been ever so disappointed if we had these route offerings just like when Vueling was announced it was another operator on the BCN route and not a Madrid flight. Lets just hope that other airlines do come in and fulfill our requirements but I don't/didn't see Flybe ever reaching these dizzy heights through LBIA.

 

[cmj]

Whilst this has now been confirmed by the apparent decision to operate from DSA rather than LBA, I can at least see method in their madness. The aircraft that they will be operating will need to have good load factors and the routes that I suspect we will see appearing (Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Paris etc) would have, to a large extent, replicated Jet2 at LBA. In a straight contest, Flybe would never park up and beat Jet2 on their own turf - Yorkshire folk are too bloody minded for that sort of thing.

The key difference is that Flybe often offer connections onto other carriers - that would make me prefer Flybe over Jet2 for Paris (that we only have a point to point route to a major hub such at CDG really is pretty poor).

 

[stars&sids]

Sadly for Leeds/Bradford it looks like Donny has won that one then. Oh well. I wonder how much they have paid flybe for its 8 new routes?

Pretty rich comment that, perhaps we might ask the same question of LBA & Ryanair / Monarch ?

 

[Seasider]

Wait for 12 months, then comment. Depending on where they fly to, they will have difficulty in filling over 100 seats. The only chance of that, is to fly "to the sun" and take some of the money Thomson is making.

 

[Bigman]

Let's see what routes they come up with first and then we can pick it all to pieces.

 

[Aviador]

Wait for 12 months, then comment. Depending on where they fly to, they will have difficulty in filling over 100 seats. The only chance of that, is to fly "to the sun" and take some of the money Thomson is making.

In many respects Doncaster is only doing for the Sheffield City Region what Leeds Bradford is trying to do for the Leeds City Region with regards to clawing it's own catchment areas passengers back from Manchester airport (and East Midlands in Doncaster's case.)

It is a huge kick in the teath for Leeds Bradford as LBA is now concentrating on short to medium haul with very few airlines left out there to chase.

Doncaster airport is on the map now. It doesn't need a support group like us to campaign for better facilities and it's got a proactive company running it who have built the facilities it needs. It's got a decent length runway. It's got Cat 3 ILS and it's got a half decent terminal designed for the job.

 

[752]

How long will the DSA base last? With the E195 jets soon to leave the fleet, maybe this is just an exercise to base the aircraft at an airport, willing to give Flybe the best price and maybe not with a secure future.

Maybe LBA didn't want this as airlines coming and going from an airport isn't a good look to customers?!

As we know it can take years to build up good loads on services e.g. BA - LBA -LHR route and with Monarch building its customer base after 3 years of flying from LBA.

It will be interesting to see what Flybe come up with as 8 destinations and 2 aircraft means high frequency destinations. If there are un routes, Flybe must have competitive prices to compete with FR, LS, ZB, TOM at LBA, TOM at DSA and FR, LS, TCX, TOM at EMA.

 

[ChurchFenton]

Whilst not officially confirmed, the Wiki page for DSA indicates Flybe will be operating to Aberdeen, Alicante, Amsterdam, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Jersey, Malaga and Paris.

 

[Bigman]

So not Belfast then. Seems like they must be happy with our one remaining route.

 

[Bigman]

I wonder where this will leave KLM out of Humberside? Might even take some punters off MAN and EMA, particularly to Paris.

 

[User001]

With Manchester having 25 daily flights to Belgium and the Netherlands next year, as well as 6 daily AMS from LPL, 5 daily from LBA and now extra flights from DSA to AMS, there will without doubt be some cuts after next year.

The capacity from this region to that region has gone bloom in Crazy!

 

[Aviador]

I agree with you on that one and the chop is more likely to fall on this side of the Pennines than over the hill.

 

[Bigman]

My first thought is that it might just give Jet2 a convenient excuse to drop their Paris and Dusseldorf flights, which have gone down hill over recent years.