Eastern Airways

[White Heather]

Eastern may be expensive, but I suspect that this allows them to operate the routes profitably with lower passenger numbers that Flybe. If they are using Saab's then all the better. It would be nice to see them on the Aberdeen route too. I just wish Eastern would bring back the route to Bristol.

 

[lbaspotter]

50 Seat SAAB 2000s are presently planned on all SOU rotations, not JS41s

Well I think you'll find after checking the Eastern Airways website booking engine its showing both the Leeds - Aberdeen and the new Leeds - Southampton routes as been operated by BAe Jetstream 41 aircraft not the Saab 2000.

Yes i agree that the Saab 2000 aircraft currently operates the 1x daily direct Southampton - Aberdeen route, But this will change to been a 2x daily route option with flights between Southampton - Aberdeen operating via Leeds in both directions using the smaller BAe Jetstream 41 come the schedule changes in January 2014.

 

[GMN]

Apologies for trying to provide some further positive news, was just going by what is slot co-ordinated rather than what had been put on the airline's website...my bad!

In reality Eastern are having real crew issues at the moment, so I would be intrigued to see what turned up - I would suspect it would be changable in response to booking demand.

 

[lbaspotter]

Apologies for trying to provide some further positive news, was just going by what is slot co-ordinated rather than what had been put on the airline's website...my bad!

No need to apologise GNM. As it look we have both posted what is shown currently on 2 different systems.

 

[michael]

Does anyone know how Eastern are performing on the Southampton route?

 

[Aviador]

Does anyone know how Eastern are performing on the Southampton route?

Hi Michael

By all accounts the route is performing well for Eastern Airways.

 

[Seasider]

It should be! Even if the Dash 8 was only a third full, it equates to practically a full plane on the J41. Unless they are going across to MAN.

 

[Bigman]

I hear that they are getting around 11-16 per flight so far. I would be interested to know what the 'break-even' load factors would need to be. Over to the experts!!

 

[eastcoaster]

That should be a commercial secret so I guess we will never know. If they pull the flight then we know it wasn't enough.

 

[lbaspotter]

Just wait for the passenger stats to released. Then we will see how many pax are been carried on the Leeds to Southampton route and work out an average to see how many pax have been lost since the Eastern took over from flybe last month.
I'm sure some pax might will have also moved over onto the British Airways London Heathrow shuttle's seen its a cheaper option now.

 

[rmac]

About a year ago I wanted to fly to Southampton from Edinburgh. It was much cheaper to fly to Heathrow, then straight onto a bus from Term 5 to Southampton in about 2 hours, no problem.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

I needed to get to Aberdeen later this month, but Eastern were very expensive. Believe it or not it is significantly cheaper for me to take the train to MAN, stay overnight at an airport hotel,fly up with BMI Regional and back with FlyBe than it is to fly from LBA. It's annoying as I only live in Otley! Suppose they need some competition!

 

[rmac]

I do not know the Flybe (Loganair) fare from Leeds to Glasgow however it is just over 3 hours to get to Aberdeen. Get the coach from Glasgow airport into the bus station then change to the Megabus or CityLink coach to Aberdeen. These coaches are very comfortable and fast! If that helps!!

 

[whoshotjimmi]

I needed to get to Aberdeen later this month, but Eastern were very expensive. Believe it or not it is significantly cheaper for me to take the train to MAN, stay overnight at an airport hotel,fly up with BMI Regional and back with FlyBe than it is to fly from LBA. It's annoying as I only live in Otley! Suppose they need some competition!

They did have competition by the way of Flybe for a while. They saw them off easily on the route. Clearly, Leeds - Aberdeen customers are of a certain type.

 

[lbaspotter]

Seems like Eastern Airways are up for the battle against Flybe this winter season after all.

As I noticed today on the Eastern Airways website that they still have 3x daily flights on sale on both routes from Leeds to Aberdeen and Southampton this winter 2014/15 season. Even more encouraging news was that I noticed that some of the early morning outbounds and later timed evening inbound flights are nearly fully booked up. I suppose this because they better timed for Yorkshire based business passengers compared to the newly announced non-based flybe flight timings?

 

[Aviador]

Does anybody know if Eastern Airways have any contracts with businesses to operate flights to Aberdeen and Southampton? BMI Regional used to do this with the banks prior to the recession from what I gather. It may explain why they are continuing the flights on into the winter. Otherwise maybe they just think it will work for them? In any case Flybe still have a lot of proving to do after their last efforts on the Southampton route especially. Many of their former customers will be reluctant to use them after the amount of cancellations they endured the previous time they operated the route.

 

[lbaspotter]

Well I was told recently (don't know if it's true) that Eastern Airways get paid a subsidy by the Scottish government to operate the Aberdeen-Leeds-Southampton service so it doesn't matter if the aircraft are operating either empty or half full as they get paid whatever the loads..

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Well I was told recently (don't know if it's true) that Eastern Airways get paid a subsidy by the Scottish government to operate the Aberdeen-Leeds-Southampton service so it doesn't matter if the aircraft are operating either empty or half full as they get paid whatever the loads..

I don't see how that could be done legally. It's not a PSO route, neither is it a start-up route about which EU state aid regulations were clarified earlier this year.

 

[whoshotjimmi]

I would also be tempted to question why the route requires subsidy, seeing how another airline is able to operate on the same route on a broadly similar service pattern. There may well, however, some form of contract at Eastern with the oil companies which is where I suspect the majority of the business comes from.

Having said all that, if Eastern are unable to run the service profitably at the massive fares they charge, they probably shouldn't be on the route at all.

 

[lbaspotter]

Looks like Eastern Airways have altered the schedule timings on both its Aberdeen and Southampton routes. Because as from October 6th it would seem they are going remove one of the based BAe Jetstream 41 aircraft and instead base one of its Embraer 135's regional jets at Leeds/Bradford for the winter 2014/15 season. This must mean they are really in for the fight against Flybe new 3x daily Dash 8 shuttle service's.

The Eastern Airways based jet aircraft will operate the morning and evening Southampton service along with the mid morning/afternoon Aberdeen return service plus both Sunday services.

Winter Schedule.

Leeds/Bradford - Aberdeen
EZE4712 - LBA 07:00 > ABZ 08:10 - JS41 = MON, TUE, WED, THU, -----------------
EZE4701 - LBA 08:55 > ABZ 09:45 - E135 = MON, ------------- THU, FRI, -----------
EZE4718 - LBA 18:05 > ABZ 19:20 – JS41 = MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI, -----------
EZE4718 – LBA 20:20 > ABZ 21:10 – E135 = --------------------------------------- SUN
Aberdeen - Leeds/Bradford
EZE4713 – ABZ 08:45 > LBA 10:05 – JS41 = MON, TUE, WED, THU, -----------------
EZE4706 – ABZ 16:10 > LBA 16:55 – E135 = MON, ------------- THU, FRI, -----------
EZE4719 – ABZ 16:45 > LBA 17:35 – E135 = --------------------------------------- SUN
EZE4719 – ABZ 19:55 > LBA 21:05 – JS41 = MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI, -----------
Leeds/Bradford - Southampton
EZE4700 – LBA 06:40 > SOU 07:25 – E135 = MON, TUE, WED, THU, -----------------
EZE4713 – LBA 10:35 > SOU 11:45 – JS41 = MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI, ------------
EZE4706 – LBA 17:15 > SOU 18:00 – E135 = MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI, -----------
EZE4719 – LBA 17:55 > SOU 18:40 – E135 = --------------------------------------- SUN
Southampton - Leeds/Bradford
EZE4701 – SOU 07:50 > LBA 08:35 – E135 = MON, TUE, WED, THU, -----------------
EZE4718 – SOU 16:30 > LBA 17:45 – JS41 = MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI, -----------
EZE4707 – SOU 18:30 > LBA 19:15 – E135 = MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI, -----------
EZE4718 – SOU 19:15 > LBA 20:00 – E135 = --------------------------------------- SUN