Flybe

[lbaspotter]

Hi All

LBIA have now officially commented on there facebook page this afternoon about the news that Flybe.com has now comfirmed that its cancelling its Leeds/Bradford to London Gatwick route as off March 1st 2011

Souce: http://www.facebook.com/OfficialLeedsBradfordAirport#!/OfficialLeedsBradfordAirport

The Flybe LGW route will be available until 31st March 2011. Leeds Bradford is looking to replace the London service as soon as possible.
Please contact Flybe on: 01392 268500 for further details.

Looks like there are already talking to other airlines about getting a replacement service.

 

[stevolba]

haha, lbaspotter you just beat me to it sad news but every cloud has a silver lining, lets wait and see who replaces it

 

[eastcoaster]

I would'nt hold your breath regarding a replacement for Gatwick. As of April 1st, all aircraft landing at Gatwick will be charged one landing fee only. That of a Boeing 747-400. This has happened at Heathrow for years now in the peak times. It is now uneconomical for any airline with a small aircraft to even break even when they are charged several thousand pounds to land there. Cheap airfares will be non existent, unless you can offer an aircraft with upwards of 200 to 300 seats. This will never happen as FlyBe average load factors were less than 50% oversll. ie less than 35 a flight. So in line with all other domestics from the UK to Heathrow and Gatwick, the flights will simply be lost to the train.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

The only carrier who will ever make a go of London domestics is BA, simply because only they have the route network from Heathrow to feed such domestic services. Point to point travel is not going to generate enough passengers, onward travel possibilities are essential.

So only hope is for BA to operate to LHR and chances of that are very slim.

Alan

 

[eastcoaster]

LBAYORKIE absolutely right, and as you say, very slim indeed.

 

[lbaspotter]

Hi all

I've just recived the following email from flybe's Customer Relations. It looks like the route was doing well according to flybe with them carrying over 50,000 passengers on the route last year, But they are blaiming the axing of the route on the owners of London Gatwick airport for increaseing landing fees for regional airliners.

Unfortunately we have had to suspend the service between Leeds Bradford airport and London Gatwick which starts from the 1st of April. Flybe carefully reviews the viability of all our routes on a regular basis, looking both at passenger numbers but also at external cost pressures. This is done not only to monitor where we can offer increased regularity on a given route but also where passenger numbers make a flight environmentally as well as economically harder to justify.

Leeds Bradford to London Gatwick is a new development route that served the south coast of England, South London and passengers travelling onward to international destinations. In the first few years of any such new route, increased costs have a disproportionate impact compared to longer, more established routes.

The suspension of this route is a direct consequence of the policies being implemented by Gatwick to limit the number of smaller, regional aircraft landing at their airport. Their decision to raise substantially the landing fees for regional aircraft - while implementing significantly smaller rises for larger, more polluting and noisier long-haul aircraft - will hit hard the regions of Yorkshire and the Humber who rely on air links to the capital.

More than 50,000 passengers flew from Leeds Bradford to London Gatwick with Flybe in 2010. They have now been deprived of a link to the capital because of the charging regime being adopted by Gatwick’s new owners.

Flybe remains committed to operating its remaining routes at both London Gatwick and Leeds Bradford airports and our ongoing commitment to serve regional UK economies.

We do apologise for the inconvenience caused by this, but it is not a decision we have taken lightly.

Regards
Customer Relations

 

[ryan]

Seems like a bit of an excuse to me! As far as I'm aware, they haven't cancelled any other Gatwick routes. Rather like the Ryanair style - "it's not our fault, it's Irish Tax/Airport Charges/Government taxes/Other" (delete as appropriate). Not once has Ryanair said they cancelled a route because they failed to attract the passenger numbers they predicted!

Hopefully they'll find a replacement soon, but personally I think the only viable option would be a BA flight from either Heathrow or Gatwick. Flybe has shown that point-to-point won't work (they'd keep it going if it was profitable!), but with BA, at least it'll tie in with their European/worldwide network.

 

[whoshotjimmi]

Balderdash.

"FlyBe remains committed to its remaining routes at London Gatwick" says it all really. The fact that it is not an established route is irrelevant. How, exactly, is it meant to become established if it gets pulled? Does that also mean that FlyBe will not attempt new routes from Gatwick? I don't think so. There is a whiff of Martin O'Leary about that E-mail......

 

[michael]

Could Flybe not have considered a similar arrangement to the Exeter Aberdeen service ie Aberdeen - LBA - LGW. It seems to work well for Exeter, surely something like that would have been worth looking at? Or if not for Flybe could this arrangement work from, for instance, Glasgow for BA? ie GLA - LBA - LHR? ardon:

 

[eastcoaster]

An intermdeiate stop is the biggest off put for any passenger, unless it's on a long haul flight. If BMI did GLA-LBA-LHR it would be the best thing that ever happened to BA as everone would give BMI a wide berth and use the direct BA GLA-LHR service. Multi sector flights play havoc with crew sector hours not to mention the increase in cost for operating the flight.

[warning]The thread was starting to go off topic so we have moved some posts to the Potential Routes thread.

Moderator & Administrator team[/warning]

 

[Aviador]

I was told yesterday that the airline did look at the possibility of using Manchester based crews to operate the route but it was decided this wasn't going to save sufficient money to allow the route keep the route going.

 

[Bigman]

The route was operated by Manchester crews.

 

[Aviador]

The route was operated by Manchester crews.

No it was operated by night stopping Gatwick crew.

 

[lbaspotter]

I have to agree with Aviador on that as well.

Flybe Gatwick flights were operated by London Gatwick based crews that over nighted here in Leeds just like they do with there Newquay service as well.

 

[pug]

Seems like a bit of an excuse to me! As far as I'm aware, they haven't cancelled any other Gatwick routes. Rather like the Ryanair style - "it's not our fault, it's Irish Tax/Airport Charges/Government taxes/Other" (delete as appropriate). Not once has Ryanair said they cancelled a route because they failed to attract the passenger numbers they predicted!

Firstly, try and think of another LGW to regional route they operate which doesnt have to compete with trains, also factor in nightstopping crew costs and the rising tax on the passenger on shorter domestic flights. The flights have been doing better than the Ryanair routes to DUB which were chopped. Also FR have pulled out of routes and highlighted passenger figures being the problem. Remember HUY to DUB for one example?

 

[lbaspotter]

Well the local press have finally got wind off what flybe are doing with the Gatwick route at last. Its about time as well. It took them long enough

Source: http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co....k_blamed_as_flights_from_Leeds_Bradford_exed/

Flybe says rise in landing charges is reason behind end of service to London
9:22am Tuesday 15th March 2011

Flybe’s chief commercial officer Mike Rutter

By Chris Holland »

Flybe is axing its popular service between Leeds Bradford International Airport and Gatwick at the end of the month – severing airborne links between West Yorkshire and London.

The move comes after a year which saw more than 50,000 passengers using the three-flights-a-day service.

It means business travellers will have no direct flights to the capital for the second time in two years.

Airport chiefs are seeking to find a replacement operator.

Business leaders have expressed their concern at the move, saying that if LBIA is to develop as a truly regional airport it needs direct links with London.

Flybe is withdrawing the service it launched in 2009 after stepping in to provide a LBIA-London link after following BMI’s decision to axe its service from Leeds Bradford to Heathrow in March of that year.

The Gatwick flights will cease on March 31.

The Exeter-based airline, which operates four other services from LBIA, has blamed the rise in landing charges at Gatwick for its decision.

A spokesperson said: “Flybe carefully reviews the viability of all routes on a regular basis.

“The suspension of this route is a direct consequence of the policies being implemented by Gatwick to limit the number of smaller, regional aircraft landing at their airport.

“Their decision to substantially raise the landing fees for regional aircraft – while implementing smaller rises for larger, more polluting and noisier long-haul aircraft – will hit the regions of Yorkshire and the Humber hard.

“More than 50,000 passengers flew from Leeds Bradford to London Gatwick with Flybe in 2010. They have now been deprived of a link to the capital because of the charging regime being adopted by Gatwick’s new owners. Flybe remains committed to operating its remaining routes at both London Gatwick and Leeds Bradford airports.”

Harold Robinson, president of Bradford Chamber of Commerce, which represents around 1,100 local businesses, said the decision to axe the Gatwick service was a major blow.

He said: “This is bad news for Bradford businesses. At a time when road congestion is worsening and the rail network is stretched to capacity, one would think that air travel is the way to go.”

 

[lbaspotter]

BBC Leeds website and local regional TV News programme BBC Look North are both reporting about the axed Flybe Gatwick service today.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bradford-west-yorkshire-12750914

Leeds Bradford Airport: Flybe axes London Gatwick service
16 March 2011 Last updated at 06:35

Leeds Bradford Airport is to be left without flights to London after Flybe announced it was to axe its Gatwick service at the end of the month.

Flybe said Gatwick's decision to raise landing fees would hit the Yorkshire region hard

The airline said it had been forced to pull out because of increased landing fees for regional airlines at Gatwick.

"Their decision... will hit hard the regions of Yorkshire and the Humber who rely on air links to the capital," a Flybe spokesman said.

Leeds Bradford Airport said it was seeking to replace the London service.

Flybe's three flights a day service will cease on 31 March.

Flybe said: "The suspension of this route is a direct consequence of the policies being implemented by Gatwick to limit the number of smaller, regional aircraft landing at their airport.

"Their decision to raise substantially the landing fees for regional aircraft, while implementing significantly smaller rises for larger, more polluting and noisier long-haul aircraft will hit hard the regions of Yorkshire and the Humber who rely on air links to the capital."

It said more than 50,000 passengers flew from Leeds Bradford to London Gatwick with Flybe in 2010.

"They have now been deprived of a link to the capital because of the charging regime being adopted by Gatwick's new owners," Flybe added.

Nobody from Gatwick was available for comment on Tuesday night

 

[masere]

The problem with the Gatwick route was on top of the flight cost you had to pay the Gatwick Express fare (£17 when I last used it 4 years ago). From Heathrow I simply bought a one-day travelcard at less than half that and hopped on the tube into London, and could of course still use it to get round the capital for the rest of the day. That's why when the LHR route was cancelled I started getting the train. I missed the flying, but booking train tickets in advance was cheaper than flying to LGW and taking the GE. It's ok for businessmen or the rich I guess, but for the rest of us who have to watch our pennies it wasn't feasible to fly anymore. I doubt EasyJet will take over so looks like it's the end of the link for good.

 

[lbaspotter]

Hi all

Just read the very intresting following artical in this tonights, Yorkshire Evening Post. They have manged to get a reply from London Gatwick's airport owners and they are fighting back at flybe regarding the axeing of the Leeds/Bradford service.

Source: http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co....ack_at_being_blamed_for_service_axe_1_3193784

Airport hits back at being blamed for service axe

Published on Friday 18 March 2011 10:40

GATWICK Airport has hit back at an airline’s claims that its rising charges have caused the axing of daily Leeds to London flights.


Flybe will end its three-flights-a-day service from Leeds Bradford Airport to Gatwick on March 31.

As reported in yesterday’s YEP, the airline says that regional aircraft using Gatwick have been hit by larger rises in landing fees than long-haul flights. Flybe said that abandoning the London-bound service was a “direct consequence” of the “substantially” increased landing fees.

The YEP understands that the rise in landing fees is 60 per cent.

The service from Leeds Bradford Airport has been used by 50,000 passengers over the last year.

But Gatwick Airport has hit back at the airline’s claim. A spokesperson said: “With demand for air travel set to increase, we need to make the most efficient use of our single runway and existing infrastructure.

“In setting the airport charges at Gatwick for the next year, we have only increased the aircraft landing fees during the busy summer period when travel demand is at its highest and capacity at the airport at its most restricted.

“We have removed landing fees at Gatwick during the quieter winter period to encourage greater all-year-round use.

“Gatwick continues to charge lower landing fees for smaller, quieter, less polluting aircraft, such as used on regional services.

“This pricing structure reflects Gatwick’s ongoing commitment to encouraging more environmental travel.

“Naturally we are disappointed by Flybe’s business decision to remove the Leeds Bradford to Gatwick service, particularly given domestic travel from Gatwick remains competitively priced. Indeed, in terms of airport charges it is cheaper, by almost £4 per passenger, for an airline to fly to the UK regions from Gatwick than, for example, to France from Gatwick.”

A spokesperson for Flybe told the YEP: “Lifeline routes from the UK regions to London rely on a year-round sustainable timetable and are impossible to run for just a few months in the winter.”

 

[yenkcoh]

so London airports remain the preserve of those in the South or International passengers using them as a hub . International flying from Leeds bradford is now restricted to Schipol .... the dutch must be laughing..... Whilst Schipol is a great hub it also maintains domestic flights in Holland , as does Paris CDG etc etc Not so the brits

When BMI pulled the Leeds service , the basic economic reason purely lie in their owners Lufthansa finding better international value for the slots . Last time BMI tried to use city it was before the completion of the DLR link and therefore a pain . Even after pulling the leeds flight BMI maintained its lower price Manchester service in direct competition to BA .

there is a train every half an hour thats true , east coast government owned overpriced , dirty and sod all use if you want to fly on .... need to travel last minute and before 9 am ... 360 return first class 290 second .... value . never. At least on a Manchester to London train you get coffee that was made this century , not with east coast..... and some brekky

I like flying ... prefer it to the train and in most cases can undercut on price and door to door times are very similar. Try parking at Leeds station after 730 am !!!!!! So that will be a taxi or bus to leeds then .....

The real problem for LBA remains its awful transport links ..... there is a rail line within quarter of a mile .... thats the future , make a branch to the airport.

Better transport links means more passengers , less trailing over the pennines !