Bristol: EasyJet Route News & Base Updates

[TheLocalYokel]

New routes

Five new routes began over the weekend 18/19 April and the following are the CAA passenger figures:

Porto 1276 passengers, ave 127.6, load factor 81.8% (A319)

Gibraltar 1450, 120.8, 77.4% (A 319)

Bilbao 828, 103.5, 66.3% (A319)

Isle of Man 625, 44.6, 28.6% (A 319)

Arrecife, competes with Ryanair so it's not possible to establish easyJet's performance.

Over such a short period of time the figures don't tell us much except that the Isle of Man isn't likely to attract the sort of load factors normally seen on easyJet routes at BRS. There was surprise in some quarters when the IOM route was announced given the size of easyJet's aircraft.

 

[kraktoa]

IOM will probably benefit from being a stop over on BFS route. Thats what British midlands did all those years ago....in the 90s.

Porto, with the best will in the world is a 2 nights destination. I did the flight 2 weeks ago. Friday out, sunday in. Perfect.

 

[Aviador]

Easyjet operate between Liverpool and the Isle of Man as well so they must think the route pays.

 

[jfy1999]

Flybe also flies to IOM from LPL, so they have the competition which BRS does not seem to have?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Jersey European flew 3/4 x daily between BRS and BHD until 2003 (by which time they were morphing into Flybe). One of the daily rotations used to call at IOM en route to/from BHD.

Eastern (J 41s) took on the route in 2004 and flew daily for five or six years but pulled out when Manx2 started up the road at Staverton to IOM with cheaper fares. Flybe then tried it on two separate occasions at 3/4 x weekly but never really managed to get regular monthly load factors much above the mid 30s.

My wife and I flew BRS-IOM-BRS three or four years ago with Flybe on a Q400. Loads both ways were around 30.

The history of the route suggests that a 319 even at 4 x weekly is an optimistic call, especially as it's advertised as a summer and winter route. easyJet's record shows they've usually got things right at BRS so far as loads are concerned. If they get this route right my admiration will certainly go up a notch or two.

 

[kraktoa]

Dont think they will even break even with a 29% load. Dont understand why they would even consider it as a loss leading venture. With a population of approx 80,000 and tourism potential unlikely to rise drastically i can see some squirming at EZY HQ.

Is IOM a duty free place. Is it someplace that the booze cruisers and ciggie brigade are likely to go in the future?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Dont think they will even break even with a 29% load. Dont understand why they would even consider it as a loss leading venture. With a population of approx 80,000 and tourism potential unlikely to rise drastically i can see some squirming at EZY HQ.

Is IOM a duty free place. Is it someplace that the booze cruisers and ciggie brigade are likely to go in the future?

I think a lot of eyebrows were raised when the route was announced - mine were. I expect the monthly load factors will rise a bit from 29% in the summer months.............but next winter?!

 

[Aviador]

I don't believe it is a duty free island. I know at Leeds at least the flight passes through domestic arrivals unlike flights from places like Jersey and Guernsey which pass through international arrivals and the associated customs paraphernalia.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

IOM might be struggling but some other routes seem to be doing very good business.

Glasgow

All three northbound flights on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are sold out with two out of three southbound sold out on each of these days.

Edinburgh

Two out of three northbound flights on Wednesday are sold out and all four northbound on Thursday are sold out, with two out of three southbound on Thursday sold out. These routes are regularly selling out on many rotations.

Paris CDG

This route continues to sell out with the Thursday outbound and Thursday, Friday and Saturday inbound all sold out. It's to be hoped that would-be passengers are aware of the bmi regional option.

Amsterdam

The single daily outbound on Wednesday and the two outbounds on Thursday are all sold out. KLM seem to be doing well too as nearly 34,000 used the AMS route across both airlines in April, a rise of 11% over the previous April.

I didn't have time to check any more routes.

 

[kraktoa]

I don't believe it is a duty free island. I know at Leeds at least the flight passes through domestic arrivals unlike flights from places like Jersey and Guernsey which pass through international arrivals and the associated customs paraphernalia.

Jersey and Guernsey should pass through the CTA channels so that they can be checked for customs purposes like Dublin. Not international arrivals as passport checks are not required. CTA arrivals bypass the passport checks but enter the same baggage hall as international arrivals so that they have to pass through the red or green channels at customs.

I think Leeds airport Border Force are wrong. IOM should also pass through CTA channels and customs for cash declaration purposes.

 

[big g]

The IOM only exists as there was a gap in the schedule and it made sense to have the aircraft in the air than on the ground. One thing EZY are not looking for is to make a profit from the flight.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Isle of Man

The seat selector suggests that this holiday weekend will see better loads. Tomorrow's outbound is showing 101 seats taken so far and Sunday's outbound is showing 87 seats taken.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

BRS-IOM

The loads seem to be seeing an improvement as time moves on.

Tomorrow (Friday) sees the seat selector showing 129 seats taken (82.7%) for the BRS-IOM leg, with the latest fare set at £139.49.

Sunday's BRS-IOM leg shows 104 seats so far taken with a latest fare of £69.49. More seats will undoubtedly be taken by Sunday.

 

[superking]

BRS-IOM

The loads seem to be seeing an improvement as time moves on.

Tomorrow (Friday) sees the seat selector showing 129 seats taken (82.7%) for the BRS-IOM leg, with the latest fare set at £139.49.

Sunday's BRS-IOM leg shows 104 seats so far taken with a latest fare of £69.49. More seats will undoubtedly be taken by Sunday.

isnt the i o m tt races on at the moment,to give it higher loads. i would like to think they are not on.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

isnt the i o m tt races on at the moment,to give it higher loads. i would like to think they are not on.

That's a good point. A check suggest that the TT races are on next week with I think practice at the moment.

Nevertheless, there were some loads over 100 in May before the TT event if the seat selector is any sort of guide. May's stats will be interesting. I'd like to think that the load factor for the month might have risen to between 40% and 50%.

 

[kraktoa]

How do you get to the seat selector page in EZY website without actually buying a ticket? Just out of curiosity.

 

[Marko1]

Does anyone know if the number of a320s is planned to be increased for peak summer or is to remain at the current five?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

How do you get to the seat selector page in EZY website without actually buying a ticket? Just out of curiosity.

Visit the easyJet website and select the route and date(s)/sector(s) you are interested in. Proceed to page 2 and click on the dates. Then to go to page 3 and at the top of the page you will see 'choose seats'. Click on this and a display will appear showing the number of available seats.

To get the best results try to leave it until the day before the flight(s) by which time most people will have checked in. The seat selector is not one hundred per cent accurate of course in calculating the loads but it gives a very good general impression.

Does anyone know if the number of a320s is planned to be increased for peak summer or is to remain at the current five?

I asked this back in the winter and a poster with a user name that included easyJet's flight code said there would be at least six 320s based in summer 2015. This particular poster doesn't seem to have visited this website since 12 December last year when he/she provided this 'information'.

 

[ezy_brs]

and that particullar poster has returned 6 months on and will hold his hands up and admit he got it wrong! At the time of posting this said poster was advised of 6 based A320s for the summer but EZY OPS obviously changed their mind and continued with the 5. That said poster got it wrong but got the 12 based a/c correct! Just with an extra A319!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Good to see you back and thank you for the clarification.

Still an excellent presence by easyJet this summer.