[AMcWhirter]

Today’s piece … but still no news on whether or not Flybe will acquire modern, reliable jet aircraft for its feeder services.

Flybe to rebrand as Virgin Connect

[cwoodward]

I understood that they had Embraer 175 aircraft on order ?

[Poshgirl58]

Don’t know about any orders for E175 but they are appearing more on routes from BHX. Looks like they’re also staying with the plan to phase out the E195, at least from BHX, as last flight is 5 January 2020.

Given yesterday’s “glitch” in announcing suspension of the early Monday morning EXT-LCY for January, who knows!

[DiamondDad68]

Not much new in the name here. Flybe purchased BA Connect in 2006/2007

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BA_Connect

[AMcWhirter]

Last year we reported that Flybe was to phase out certain jets.

Flybe to return all Embraer 195 aircraft

But this year the airline decided to phase out all its jets in favour of its Dash-8 turbo-props. And that is why so many of those longer routes to Southern Europe have been cancelled for the winter season.

Unless Flybe acquires reliable and modern jet aircraft it is hard to see the above routes returning because the flight time with Dash-8s would be excessive.

Most travellers here prefer jets to turbo-props and that’s been the case since the late 1960s/early 1970s when BEA was prompted to withdraw its Vanguard turbo-props from UK domestic routes in face of jet competition from BUA and British Eagle.

Flybe to drop 23 routes, will phase out the Embraer jets

Note that the above list of cancellations does not include the other routes cancelled/suspended in recent weeks as we have reported.

Flybe makes further cuts, axes all Doncaster flights

Flybe confirms route suspensions from Birmingham and London City

[capetonianm]

Most travellers here prefer jets to turbo-props and that’s been the case since the late 1960s/early 1970s when BEA was prompted to withdraw its Vanguard turbo-props from UK domestic routes in face of jet competition from BUA and British Eagle.

True … but those DHC-8s are horribly noisy and vibrate a lot. Probably ideal for short island hops up to half an hour, but I can remember a flight to Perpignan on one and it was a horrible experience.

The Vanguard suffered from excessive vibration, and there was usually a sort of syncopated beat as the engines seemed out of synch. The powerful RR Tyne piston engines made it a great cargo carrier, fast and with massive capacity, but most passengers didn’t like it.

The Viscount on the other hand was a lovely aircraft to fly on, large picture windows, RR Dart engines with no reciprocating parts, and flew low and slow. Sadly it became uneconomical when the early jets came into service, carrying twice as many people at twice the speed for a lower fuel burn.

[AMcWhirter]

You bring back old memories capetonianm.

Much of my early flying was on Anglo-Scottish routes involving BEA’s Vanguards and those BUA 1-11s.

The Vanguard was so rough and noisy (when seated over the wings) that BEA used to accommodate first class in the rear cabin.

At weekends BEA sold its domestic Vanguard flights as one-class.

There was no seat selection at that time. Savvy weekend passengers would be first in line and when boarding was called they would board by the rear (at those airports not using an airbridge like EDI) and grab a seat in first class.

[TominScotland]

Memories, indeed

Talking of the Vicount takes me back to the late 1970s/ early 1980s and flying standby with BMI from Belfast (BFS) to Gatwick. The service operated in competition with the Shuttle and was usually undersubscribed for the early morning service – a leisurely hot breakfast on offer during the 90+ minutes in the air.

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