Flybe

[CM.]

I think there has been too much nonsense concerning BE. All I hear are negatives and more negatives. Time they disappeared from LBA unless anyone can give me a sound business reason why they should still be operating here.

As they’re atleast providing a link to LHR? And Belfast City? They might not be always the most reliable airline but atleast they are willing to give LHR a shot aswell as providing some competition and more flights to Belfast.

 

[752]

I think there has been too much nonsense concerning BE. All I hear are negatives and more negatives. Time they disappeared from LBA unless anyone can give me a sound business reason why they should still be operating here.

Because BHD is a massive market/money maker, clearly, that's why they're here..

 

[A400]

I think there has been too much nonsense concerning BE. All I hear are negatives and more negatives. Time they disappeared from LBA unless anyone can give me a sound business reason why they should still be operating here.

And why do you think they should leave fully?

I think most people agree their reliability hasn’t always been great in recent week s but that’s a problem with the airline and not the airport.

We should be grateful for any airlines that fly into LBA

 

[whoshotjimmi]

I flew back to Leeds from Belfast City yesterday (Thursday) morning on Flybe. Specifically, Marathon's E175. It's a shame they can't keep it honestly. It was a great little plane and Flybe has gone a little way to restoring my faith.

I've been back and forth to Belfast quite frequently recently and the route has some significant issues, some of which have the potential to be resolved by Flybe in a way that the likes of Aer Lingus and easyJet will not be able to do.

Pre pandemic, there were 4 or 5 flights a day to Belfast. Currently, with passenger numbers still significantly muted, there are 7 or 8 flights to Belfast a day.

This makes zero sense. And it will make less sense when easyJet increases to 5 a week from January.

Ignore the massive overcapacity (that, incidentally, is doing nothing to lower prices), the Aer Lingus and Flybe flights pretty much mirror each other. In the morning, both flights leave within half an hour of each other. And these are the quietest flights of the day. This is having the effect of splitting the load and the prices aren't competitive enough to encourage others to use the service who might not otherwise. There was about 25 on each flight this morning. Stupid. I know that environmentalism isn't highest on the agenda in this forum but you can at least appreciate why people get upset when two planes depart to the same destination at the same time with not enough passengers between them to fill a single plane more than two thirds of the way.

If Flybe is absolutely committed to flying to Belfast and London (ignore the current issues with the route) from LBA, and Aer Lingus is also committed to its Belfast route, it has got to be worth Flybe introducing a 2 aircraft base at LBA. Aside from the obvious crewing layovers etc, it would offer Flybe an optimal schedule on both routes, with the flight times complementing the Aer Lingus flight times, spreading the departures throughout the day and offering a competitive pricing structure rather than this nonsense they seem to have embarked upon currently. At the very least, it would spread passengers across the day, which would give each individual flight a better chance of being profitable. If it is done right, and with the right marketing, in the best case scenario, it will encourage more people to travel.

An earlier am departure to Belfast and a later pm departure to Leeds will also increase the options for single day travel. Single day travel, for both business and leisure, is already well feasible from Belfast to Leeds but isn't necessarily as feasible from Leeds to Belfast. This might reduce the need to overnight in Belfast, again helping to spread the passenger loads and PERHAPS encouraging some businesses to make the trip rather than meeting online, as they will not have to pay exorbitant hotel bills. Online meeting = £0. Day trip + meeting = £80. Overnight stay + meeting = £180. Looming recession. Cost of living. Inflation. None of that makes a trip look good when it could be done for free. (It would also help me out, but that's by the by.)

Going this way with it would also provide potential for opening up future opportunities to step in where the likes of Jet2 has dropped off. Amsterdam, for example. Someone mentioned Bergerac. They could also look at the likes of Jersey if and when Jet2 remove aircraft capable of operating there or review previous operations such as Dusseldorf and Newquay as and when the time is right. I'm sure there will be reasons why they have made the choices they have made but it just doesn't seem to be optimal currently.

And, frankly, since Flybe disappeared, Aer Lingus and easyJet have horned in on their racket. It simply ain't gonna be as lucratively profitable for them any more. Not unless they do something radically different. They cannot expect to return, do things the same again and expect a better result, especially as so much has changed.

 

[752]

Think for next Summer, Flybe could have a good opportunity to grab some market share back / go back into some successful past routes, from LBA, NQY is screaming out for another link, JER could be one to look into now Jet2 are reducing their presence from LBA and many other UK bases, IOM weekly in my opinion would work. & now Jet2 have pulled off AMS, if Flybe could secure slots, that would be a good one for them pick up.

 

[jason1-11]

Just checked-in for tomorrows Flybe LHR - LBA flight. I wonder how may hardy souls will be travelling with me?

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Think for next Summer, Flybe could have a good opportunity to grab some market share back / go back into some successful past routes, from LBA, NQY is screaming out for another link, JER could be one to look into now Jet2 are reducing their presence from LBA and many other UK bases, IOM weekly in my opinion would work. & now Jet2 have pulled off AMS, if Flybe could secure slots, that would be a good one for them pick up.

Bergerac would be good- Jet2 are filling 733's so a minimum of 2 flights a week would work, plus its a good sector length for a fast turboprop like the Dash 8.

 

[jason1-11]

5 onboard today's BE752.

 

[SierraHotel]

A loss making slot sitter. How much longer do we predict this service will continue?

 

[LBAYORKIE]

There must be a good reason for them to keep flying this route. Either its a slot sitter or they think its going
to be a good earner when they have an agreement in place with one of the alliances. Im told the soonest an agreement can be in place is 6 months from when they started operations.

 

[KARFA]

A loss making slot sitter. How much longer do we predict this service will continue?

not long. this was very much BE of old, start a route and then ditch it within a few months before there is any chance of it getting established.

i have said this before, but i still do not understand what BE v2 is doing, they seem to be repeating all the same mistakes of BE v1 and somehow expecting a different result.

 

[LBA4EVER]

Even with minus one of the alliances it still puzzles me why loads are so low on the Flybe LBA-LHR route, we are talking about a leeds to london route here, its not like there flying to some remote destination in Scandinavia!
If their belfast route is doing ok and LBA can sustain 5 to 8 flights a day with 3 carriers then something is seriously going wrong, are people just unaware of the route or have many been put off by endless cancellation of flights?

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Even with minus one of the alliances it still puzzles me why loads are so low on the Flybe LBA-LHR route, we are talking about a leeds to london route here, its not like there flying to some remote destination in Scandinavia!
If their belfast route is doing ok and LBA can sustain 5 to 8 flights a day with 3 carriers then something is seriously going wrong, are people just unaware of the route or have many been put off by endless cancellation of flights?

No self respecting travel agents will book a customer on a BE flight when theres a connection to be made, plus theres very little point to point traffic- and what there is is probably put off by all the messing about with the schedule.

 

[Len Fish]

Even with minus one of the alliances it still puzzles me why loads are so low on the Flybe LBA-LHR route, we are talking about a leeds to london route here, its not like there flying to some remote destination in Scandinavia!
If their belfast route is doing ok and LBA can sustain 5 to 8 flights a day with 3 carriers then something is seriously going wrong, are people just unaware of the route or have many been put off by endless cancellation of flights?

You can’t get from Leeds to Belfast by train in two hours!

 

[LBA4EVER]

You can’t get from Leeds to Belfast by train in two hours!

Good point!

 

[Finger66]

You can’t get from Leeds to Hounslow in an hour by train. As I have said before not everyone needing to fly to LHR is going to central London. There are plenty of outer London areas/towns close to LHR. I have started to see a few LBA-LHR point to point bookings now for our business clients. All that said how long can they sustain loads of 5 pax. More train strikes coming though. Could be some good self marketing again. I think they have to give it long enough see if any interline/codeshare deals improve things

 

[KARFA]

You can’t get from Leeds to Hounslow in an hour by train. As I have said before not everyone needing to fly to LHR is going to central London. There are plenty of outer London areas/towns close to LHR. I have started to see a few LBA-LHR point to point bookings now for our business clients.

and yet BE has low loads offering point to point, and when BA operated the vast majority were connecting not doing point to point. so i would suggest there isn't sufficient demand for people wanting to get from north leeds to hounslow. it is not sustainable on point to point traffic and cannot compete with rail.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

and yet BE has low loads offering point to point, and when BA operated the vast majority were connecting not doing point to point. so i would suggest there isn't sufficient demand for people wanting to get from north leeds to hounslow. it is not sustainable on point to point traffic and cannot compete with rail.

Absolutely agree.

 

[whoshotjimmi]

To be fair, I travel to West London and Reading quite regularly for business and for leisure. IF flights cost in the region of £40, it would be just about comparable with driving or getting the train in terms of overall cost and travel time and I'd definitely consider it.

But that's IF the flights cost £40 (I'd argue that's too much already) and IF everything was perfect.

For me, there are currently not enough flights at the right times to make it useful (see my day trip comments about Belfast), the price is rarely £40 close enough to departure to make it cost effective, Flybe's reliability is still a little bit dodgy, the situation at Heathrow Terminal 2 is nothing short of ridiculous and, honestly, I've only got stuck in one proper traffic jam on a motorway in 2 years. I'd also like to be able to drive my car to LBA, park it in the car park for no more than £10 for the day, fly there, do what I need to do, fly back and drive home. They cannot offer that and LBA doesn't offer dynamic travel options that encourage it.

Forget point to point DEMAND for a minute, who would currently WANT to choose Flybe to Heathrow over the other options? Like I said before, they can't expect to do things the same as before and expect it to work.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

There arent enough people travelling to west London and to be honest £80 return isnt going to be viable either. Not with landing fees and the passenger tax at normal levels.