At the end of July Loganair pulled off the Newcastle-Aberdeen route in favour of serving the granite city from Teesside.
On Tuesday came news that Eastern Airways would be taking over the route effective September 6. It will operate one flight a day (except Saturday) and deploy a smaller Bae Jetsteam 41 prop aircraft.
Schedules call from a mid-afternoon departure from Aberdeen with a return from Newcastle in the late afternoon.
Humberside-based Eastern Airways is a niche airline specialising in regional routes. It is the latest of several airlines who, in recent times, have tried but failed to make a success of the Newcastle-Aberdeen route.
Eastern must be hoping it can succeed by deploying a smaller aircraft and charging fares which appeal more to corporate than leisure users. Indeed Eastern will be charging more than Loganair. This fact was noted by local business man “Teesside Traveller”.
Eastern go from charging around £71 one way to Aberdeen from Teesside to £84 from Newcastle.
Clearly unsustainable for 2 operators on MME-ABZ but lets see what now happens to Loganair's pricing in the coming weeks. https://t.co/nBxZzKRtU4
— TeessideTraveller ✈️ (@TeesTraveller) August 17, 2021
Eastern’s lowest one-way basic fare is £84.99 but availability is limited. Travellers may find themselves paying £119.99 for the standard rate or £229.99 for the flexible rate.
One might expect the first two to have onerous restrictions but even the so-called “flexible” fare is non-refundable. According to its website all of Eastern’s fares on this route are non-refundable.
Eastern Airways explains the rationale behind its “flexible rate” fare as follows:
“This fare cannot be refunded but there is no limit on the number of times it can be changed.
“Operating small aircraft as we do means we cannot overbook.”
So it’s a complex matter and all about yield management and attempting to make a route profitable.
Finally bear in mind that Eastern will be dropping its Teeside-Aberdeen route along with its Teesside-Southampton service.
