Flybe to move Newquay route to Heathrow from April 2019

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)

  • openfly
    Participant

    BBC Spotlight news announced this morning that FlyBe is moving it’s NQY-LGW to LHR from next April. Good news for the Cornwall and Devon fliers. Plus it makes a good connex to the Scilly Isles.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    That’s if Flybe survives the low revenue winter months.
    Rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic comes to mind.


    Olneyflyer
    Participant

    I would love to know where they are getting the slots from. I cannot imagine in light of their financial difficulties that they would have purchased them. Nor can they transfer them from the Scottish routes they have.


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    Olneyflyer – Can the remedy slots be transferred ? I ask because Little Red also used them for its LHR-MAN-LHR operation.

    @Newquay_Airport tweeted this morning that the route to LHR will continue to be subsidised after it transfers from LGW.

    Here’s last month’s statement about the extension of the subsidy.

    https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/local-news/newquay-london-flights-secured-another-2063828


    Olneyflyer
    Participant

    I was under the impression that the slots had to be used in predefined routes mainly to Scotland otherwise any airline could have used them to fly anywhere including outside of the UK. You make a good point about Manchester and it may be that I have misinterpreted the use for these slots.


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    One would expect more details to emerge in the future.

    I am told that bookings for the new route are expected to be available by the end of this month. No details are currently displayed on Flybe’s website.

    Flybe transfers Newquay route to London Heathrow


    canucklad
    Participant

    Really hope Flybe can weather their current storm.

    I said in the other thread how much they contribute to EDI’s route network.
    I didn’t realize just how important they are to the communities of Southampton, Cardiff , Newquay , East Midlands and even Birmingham


    ontherunhome
    Participant

    Based just 10 miles or so from Cardiff airport, I use Flybe as and when I can. They are a good airline when things go right. The issue I have is frequency on routes, so that they are viable for business trips. I will often try and fly back into Cardiff, but maybe out from LHR, or even Bristol, which is an airport I hate. The Paris service is very useful, and one I send staff on regularly, avoiding the trudge over to Bristol or LHR. I do hope they carry on, we the travelling community should support them.

    On that note, some of their fares, especially with interline arrangements are crazy prices.

    Let us see what the new loyalty programme looks like.

    On the LHR slots they hold, they must be worth more than the airline. if they do survive I believe at some point the slots become theirs to do with as they wish. Then they can sell at market rates. Anyone know if this is true?

    Thanks.


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    [quote quote=905803]I said in the other thread how much they contribute to EDI’s route network.[/quote]

    Absolutely, canucklad.

    You may already have seen this piece about how EDI favours international over domestic services.

    Edinburgh criticised for favouring international airlines


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    [quote quote=905808]On the LHR slots they hold, they must be worth more than the airline. if they do survive I believe at some point the slots become theirs to do with as they wish. Then they can sell at market rates. Anyone know if this is true?[/quote]

    Flybe’s LHR slots which it uses for services to Edinburgh and Aberdeen are remedy slots which were used by Virgin’s Little Red.

    Flybe did not have to pay for them.

    It could be that the Newquay route also uses remedy slots because Flybe does not, unlike Little Red, operate between Heathrow and Manchester. So it means some of these remedy slots were vacant although they were supposed to be restricted to specific routes.

    More details are awaited.

    A statement issued by Flybe in 2016 explains why Flybe decided to operate its existing two domestic routes from Heathrow.

    Flybe explains that the slots “will not be purchased” and “will therefore not be brought onto the balance sheet.”

    https://www.flybe.com/media/news/1612/20


    capetonianm
    Participant

    Taxpayers are to subsidise a new air link between Cornwall Airport Newquay and Heathrow.

    From 31 March 2019 Flybe will shuttle the 210 miles from the Cornish airport, which is shared with RAF St Mawgan, four times a day.

    Around 170,000 passengers are predicted to use the service each year. Over the first four years of the link, the Department for Transport and Cornwall Council will each pay up to £1.7m, representing a subsidy of £5 per passenger – or £10 for a round-trip.

    Each departure will receive almost £300 in subsidy. The prediction assumes that three-quarters of seats on each flight will be filled.


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    capetonianm
    Participant

    I thought they were trying to get themselves out of a pickle, not into one.


    Flightlevel
    Participant

    +1
    Do remedy slots last that way forever?
    They’ve used them correctly as VS did before, however the “remedy” may now be over?
    It seems dictatorial to tell a private company to operate a specific way?

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