Flybe

[Bigman]

Summer 2011 now on sale. We have lost the Tuesday and Saturday ABZ/EXE but apart from that naff all changes.

 

[michael]

Hello

Does anyone have a contact number at Flybe that may have a bit more clout than bog standard customer service plebs? Let's just say I have one not very happy wife who can make no sense of customer services!!

Many thanks

 

[Aviador]

Try http://www.saynoto0870.com and type Flybe in the "search for alternative number". You'll get a full selection of direct numbers.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

FlyBe Gatwick Service

I flew to LGW last Wednesday early evening flight- 15 pax, and back on the last flight on Friday- approx 50 pax but two flights combined.

I use the service every couple of months and has yet to have what I would consider to be a satisfactory load factor.

LbaYorkie

 

[lbia]

Re: FlyBe Gatwick Service

I would say the average for the morning and evening flights is around 40 passengers, the lunch service only goes with around 20 or 30 passengers. Weekday flights are often pretty low but it has healthy loads around the weekends.

I think it is doing ok, and i'm sure there will be some sort of funding as it is a key route to have. I think it will stick around in the medium term.

 

[lbaspotter]

Re: FlyBe Gatwick Service

Hi

Don’t be to down hearted about the passenger loads on the Gatwick route. Flybe do a good job on this service and can afford to run the service as is due to the fares they are charging and from what I hear they get very good onboard sales as well. I also note that you travelled over the holiday period. Might this be another reason for it to be quite? Business pax who normally use the service have been on there holidays or at home for the last 2 weeks hence the drop in passengers using it.

I guess you would be one off the first of many people to complain if flybe were to drop the route altogether and LBA was left with no link to London again? I know I would join in with you and plenty other people would do too. Which i hope this dosn't come to frankly.

We all know what happened when bmi dropped the Heathrow link, I dont think we want to see flybe pull the Gatwick service. 3rd time around might be even harder to attract an airline to open a new link to London, So instead of talking down the service lets not for the sake of the route.

Well that’s my thoughts on this issue.

 

[Aviador]

Re: FlyBe Gatwick Service

So instead of talking down the service lets not for the sake of the route.

No disrespect LBAspotter but no amount of 'talking up' or 'talking down' a route will save it from the chop " if " an airline wishes to do just that.

Flybe are either making the route work or they are willing to give it more time before they give it the chop.

Obviously we all hope the route is proving a success. Unfortunately the number of 'bums on seats' doesn't always show the full picture. It isn't always clear cut as to whether a route is a performer or non performer just on the basis that passenger figures aren't perhaps as high as we might wish.

 

[lbaspotter]

Re: FlyBe Gatwick Service

So instead of talking down the service lets not for the sake of the route.

No disrespect LBAspotter but no amount of 'talking up' or 'talking down' a route will save it from the chop " if " an airline wishes to do just that.
.

And like you say Aviador "If" is the big word on this subject.

Like I said in me earlier post I would rather see flybe stick it out and stay on the Gatwick route rather than them chop it and then lose the London link. From what i saw and hear Bridgepoint stuck there neck to get an airline to re-instate the London service after bmi pulled Heathrow route. Flybe could have just turned around and said no to Bridgepoint. "As We already have a route from LBA to nearby Southampton"

So as a LBA forum and as aviation enthusiasts who support LBA shouldn’t we, 1. Yes discuss the issues on here but 2, Also look at ways of supporting routes that airlines are known to be struggling passenger wise and could do with a boost. That’s all.

 

[Aviador]

Sorry LBAspotter have I mist something because I fail to see where anybody has "talked down" the service?

One person suggested that the route 'might' not be sustaining "satisfactory loads" doesn't make any of us support the route any less.

 

[lbaspotter]

One person suggested that the route 'might' not be sustaining "satisfactory loads" doesn't make any of us support the route any less.

But I never said that non of us are not supporting the service.

All i'm saying is i hope they dont drop the route due to low passenger usage. And if they do drop it LBA will be back to square 1 again, Then we will all come on here saying how we or LBA could have supported the service more.

 

[Aviador]

Agreed. I doubt LBA would ever see LGW again " if " Flybe were to withdraw the route. Let's hope it continues to grow and strengthen.

 

[dispext]

I wish BA would code share and feed onto their European and WW LGW network on the Flybe route. They did it with bmi to LHR

 

[ryan]

Are there 3 flights a day Monday to Friday and 1 on a Saturday and Sunday? That seems to be the current timetable. Please correct me if not, then I can make a more accurate estimation! For the month of October (November/December are a bit funny due to snow closures), there were 4615 passengers on the LBA-LGW route. With 146 flights in October (assuming 3 M-F and 1 S-S as mentioned earlier), this means that there was an average load factor of 39% - or 31 people per flight.

As positive as you can be about a route, there's no denying it has terrible loads! I'd recommend they drop to two per day, and see how that goes. The main downside is that it's really a point-to-point route. At least when BMI were operating the LHR route, you could connect into the rest of their network, and also numerous other Virgin/Star Alliance routes. Having said that, when I travelled on the BMI service, there were ELEVEN passengers on it - on a 150 seat A319! (and the cabin crew still didn't manage to serve every one ) I think it would be better for the business travellers if there was a LBA to London City flight, as they could be in the centre of London a lot quicker than what Gatwick offers.

 

[dispext]

really depends where in london you want to be, its only 30 mins to victoria/london bridge. And the DLR to central London is 20 mins I think

 

[Aviador]

I'd recommend they drop to two per day, and see how that goes.

I would go along with that and then maybe utilise the middle slot for a run up to Aberdeen or down to Guernsey perhaps.

 

[ryan]

Something I've just remembered, Leeds has a half-hourly train service most days, taking only about 2 hours, city centre to city centre. No airline can compete with that! The same reason why BMI are cutting Manchester services - very good train services! I predict that in a couple of years, apart from a couple of BA flights to Manchester for connection purposes, the will be no other domestic services to London from English airports. I am a huge fan of aviation, but no one can compete with the speed - centre to centre journey times - and comfort of trains when travelling within the country (on North-South routes at least - the West Country and Scotland are slightly different!).

 

[pug]

I hear yields are good on the route, could be wrong though. LGW also provides access to the rest of the south-east, where rail travel loses on convenience, so a city the size of Leeds (added to the financial sector) can sustain a flight to London. I would even go so far to suggest that LCY could work now, with LHR having gone since the last attempt.

 

[White Heather]

There is no doubt that the rail services were to blame for falling passenger numbers on the BMi route to LHR, and that, combined with the high landing fees at LHR, killed the route (although I still fail to see why BMi continued with their operations from MAN, which also has excellent train routes to London and a frequent BA shuttle to compete with). However, there is still a demand for flights to the capital and I think that given the right aircraft type and fare structure, a service to LCY could now do well, as pug suggests. Whether they could sustain both LGW and LCY is another matter - personally I doubt it.
Ryan you are correct about the frequency of train services, but very few do the trip in 2 hours. The majority are around 2hrs 20 minutes, assuming there are no problems with overhead lines, people pinching the copper signalling wires, leaves on the line, incidents on the line etc. There have been a few occasions in the past few months where there were very few trains operating to London, and at times like that, we would be left with travel by car or bus should we lose our air links to the capital again.

 

[jason1-11]

I feel Flybe have done a good job on the route in relation to frequency, timings, aircraft type, cost structure and importantly marketing. In London the route has appeared in regular Flybe adverts in the Evening Standard and there is even a billboard at the end of my street mentioning it in their January sale.

The truth is domestic traffic ex Leeds has been falling at an alarming rate your months now and if the route does fail, it's for the want of trying.

 

[john2408]

Looking at Flybe dropdown, it looks like big expansion. flights to ALI.AMS.BRU,DUS,FARO.HAJ.KOI.AGP.NQY,NCE.PMI,LSI. I hope its all correct.