Eastern Airways

[Starflyer]

Embraer 145 runway performance at SOU will almost certainly make any change to the jet on LBA-SOU impractical - at least until the runway extension at SOU takes place.

 

[Seasider]

I thought BAConnect used EMB145's out of SOU?

 

[Starflyer]

Yes, they did. They had performance limitations at SOU even then and the rules have become more stringent with the addition of extra safety-based stopping margins on landing and rejected take-offs which make those performance issues even more limiting today.

 

[Finger66]

Thanks Starflyer. My earlier comment was a little bit tongue in cheek anyway for a variety of reasons. So many airlines don't even seem to think LBA exists, even though there is the demand. Eastern probably aren't in any position to expand whether now or in the short term. After all the recent turmoil I will be more than happy to see our SOU service retained, even if just at 2 a day as currently. In the wider spectrum I hope Loganair and Eastern can become stronger independent airlines as following the Flybmi collapse and the expected Flybe Virgin Stobart Connect International Airways expected cuts there will be some useful routes up for grabs. This could just mean some improved aircraft utilisation for both but especially Eastern. Worse case now is if T3 and LM went bump, and BE cut back massively, what does the UK domestic market have left. Absolutely sod all.

 

[lbaspotter]

I don't know if this is planned or not but Eastern Airways are using Embraer 145, G-CIYX on the Leeds/Bradford - Southampton route, It positioned in from London Luton yesterday as EZE952P and its done both this mornings and now this evenings rotations.

 

[imagineif]

I don't know if this is planned or not but Eastern Airways are using Embraer 145, G-CIYX on the Leeds/Bradford - Southampton route, It positioned in from London Luton yesterday as EZE952P and its done both this mornings and now this evenings rotations.

This will be the case for the coming weeks, E145 on the LBA-SOU . Saab needed elsewhere.

 

[Finger66]

Might give some good pax appeal having a jet on the route for a bit. Presumably a bit too expensive to keep it going though. Unless of course they want to add in a Munich and Cork rotation between the two SOU rotations. Ooh, there's that alarm clock again

 

[Starflyer]

That'll be fun on a wet runway day at Southampton.

 

[lbaspotter]

Eastern Airways US based owners Bristow Group have has issued a warning that the company faces insolvency unless it is able to implement a financial turnaround.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/a...icopter-operator-bristow-warns-on-fut-457523/

 

[Bigman]

Aaahhhh...Bistow. Nice gravy!!

 

[Finger66]

Goes nicely with pork choppers lol! No great surprise that such a public statement has been made as we have all known things have been quite precarious for a while. Something has to be done on APD for domestic flying to help revive the flagging domestic market. We could very easily now be losing SOU, NQY and DUS depending on how things pan out with BE and T3. Doesn't leave a right lot does it!

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Whilst I am a climate change sceptic, even I can see the case that to help achieve the controls we need, the banning of all internal u.k. domestic flights is maybe one step we may need to take.
You could make case for raising APD on internal flights to discourage this market.
Certainly bringing air and rail fares in to line has to be a priority.
Its a far bigger issue then routes/passengers from LBA.

 

[Finger66]

It's a far bigger problem than planes polluting the atmosphere or potentially creating climate change. Any business failure is not good for the economy but in a field/area we are so passionate about perhaps taxes should be fairer across all forms of transport and industry. In the UK we already have a ridiculously crowded surface infrastructure so surely time for an "Air" of optimism to be in the "wings"

 

[Jerry]

the banning of all internal u.k. domestic flights is maybe one step we may need to take.

There would need to be some sort of criteria ie ease of access to rail connections or limiting the number of daily flights on a specific city pair ie EDI to London.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Rail over plane? Doesn't diesel chuck out as much muck as aircraft? Last year the government cancelled electrification to Bristol from London to save less than £200 million having spent much more than that preparing the track and stations. Instead the bi-mode trains will run on diesel in the Bristol and Bath areas which is what all trains* do in the south-west, the biggest government region by area in England.

* except between Swindon and the Severn Tunnel which is being electrified to enable London and Cardiff to be connected by electric trains.

We don't have electrified railways at all in the south west apart from the South Wales route mentioned above let alone something like HS2, so city pairs involving the south west would not help climate change if air links were reduced or abolished.

Istanbul has just opened a new airport with the capacity to handle 200 million passengers a year. Are they worried about climate change? Is China? Is India? It's no good tiny little UK doing something if much of the rest of world does its own thing.

 

[White Heather]

Whilst the average train can carry more people than the average aircraft (especially on domestic routes), trains are no cleaner than aircraft. As LocalYokel points out, diesel trains do the same damage by way of pollutants as diesel vehicles - and more given they are bigger engines with bigger emissions, and folk seem to forget that whilst electric trains are clean, the electricity they run on has to be produced somewhere - and mostly at power stations that are far from clean. In fact they are amongst the worst culprits for pollution.
The reality is that there is no clean way of transporting people around the country or the planet. One of the reasons that domestic routes are struggling these days is that new technology has to a large extent made it unnecessary to travel to meetings. Telekits are now the in thing - allowing meetings to take place between people located in different places and without the need to travel. When I was working we were banned from travelling to meetings other than as a last resort or to attend a conference. Telekits and other forms of tech based meetings were compulsory in most cases.

 

[a300boy]

Might not prefer a train if it’s your house they are knocking down to build a railway line and what about the other house owners who will now have the line for a close neighbour ?

 

[Bigman]

Re trains from Leeds...Bristol, Exeter and Edinburgh - hourly, Glasgow - 2 hourly, Aberdeen - a few a day, Southampton - none. Could explain why we only have Southampton left on the regional domestic front, barring a few Newquays

 

[a300boy]

Not for long if the owners of Eastern pull the plug.

 

[lbaspotter]

Things are not looking good for US based Bristow Group which owns 60% of Eastern Airways. As its now warning it might have to file for Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/n...for-chapter-11