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Post by devonian on Dec 30, 2013 18:45:44 GMT
Yes, that's a pretty fair summation I think. I'd heard that the problem lay with Network rail not wishing to lose valuable nighttime hours for track maintenance.
Let's hope that some other airline is attracted - probably a continental one rather than UK.
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Post by lordgumboiljnr on Dec 31, 2013 23:13:20 GMT
Further to all the previous comments, it appears to me that there is a distinct lack of advertising. Most folk find out about routes from Southend by what is reported in the local papers and let's face it, one heck of a lot of people do not buy it and do not read the free editions. I recall seeing a few years ago a hoarding in Southend advertising a new service from Luton and as this was opposite a fast food outlet and would have been seen by thousands as they queued, or chewed their way through the drive in. Yes, there was much advertising by Stobart's before the airport was truly up and running, but that approach has long gone. In any industry selling to the public, advertising can be paramount, those that do often succeed,sometimes with an inferior product, those who do not, even with a better product often go to the wall. Recent history at Oxford and to an extent at Cambridge sends out a strong message. It surprises me how so many local folk do not know what goes on around them. Some dimwits I heard of who live within shouting distance of the airport flew to Barcelona from Gatwick as 'nobody told them they could go from Southend' incredible, but true. It has to be in their face as it were.
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Post by mikkie4 on Jan 6, 2014 22:59:54 GMT
EZY have confirmed that they will be using the A320 next winter on the TENERIFE flights from SEN
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Post by aurigny72 on Feb 10, 2014 23:02:56 GMT
It now looks like Krakow is the latest route to be axed by EZY, no more flights after September 18th according to their website booking system, dont know if it will be back next year and operate just as a Summer only service, somehow i doubt it. Well that makes four routes ditched by EZY now and no sign as yet of any replacement routes. Lets hope that there will be some good news when the terminal extension is opened very soon.
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Post by aurigny72 on Feb 11, 2014 9:53:44 GMT
Just read on one of the FB Southend Airport group pages,a passenger recently flying back from a sun holiday to SEN remarked that the Cabin crew were openly talking about new flights to Turkey and the Greek islands coming soon, well lets hope the CC are correct, would be great to have some positive news from Eastjet and im sure these routes would be popular, although they leaving it rather late to announce new sun routes to start this coming Summer.
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Post by tagron on Feb 12, 2014 8:56:45 GMT
Turkey and the Greek Islands I believe are summer markets only,so I agree they seem to be leaving it late if there really is a plan for a S14 operation. On the other hand, Tenerife was announced with less than three months notice last year.
Any of the EZY destinations in that area would require an A320 (with the possible exception of Corfu). This is because the MTOW of the EZY A319 is set too low to permit full payload operations on these sector lengths, irrespective of runway considerations.
The most distant of the EZY destinations in the area (excluding Cyprus) is Antalya AYT. The great circle distance SEN-AYT is 1548 nms, compared with 1611 nms for SEN-TFS which is a weight limited operation and benefits from winter ambient temperatures for take off. Whether they would offer AYT as a SEN destination is an interesting consideration. For sure they would have to use an early morning (0630/0700) departure in the summer to avoid the risk of high surface temperatures and I would have thought the same would apply to any other routes to Turkey and the Greek Islands.
But this is all just a rumour of course, so enough of speculation.
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Post by expressflight on Feb 12, 2014 11:47:34 GMT
I would be surprised to see EZY announce anything for this summer to the Greek islands, let alone Turkish destinations, but I shall be equally surprised if they don't announce a couple of additional routes of some sort in order to maintain adequate utilisation of the four based aircraft.
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Post by EGMCfollower on Feb 12, 2014 13:37:29 GMT
I think the time has past for any new summer 14 routes as the majority of families book their holidays the previous year. I imagine perhaps more use of the A320 to serve some more winter sun destinations, as expressflight says, they will want to utilise all the based aircraft too.
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Post by tagron on Feb 12, 2014 23:54:14 GMT
There may still be some scope for additional routes for S14 to achieve complete utilisation, but perhaps not as much as one may think. I haven't checked the entire programme, but I note that the SEN aircraft is still planned on a W-pattern through Berlin on six days per week. SEN-SXF-FCO-SXF-SEN seems to fit. It suggests that from mid-June the overall capacity offered by EZY from SEN could reduce by about 7%.
I cited AYT in my post above because it is one of the routes listed as having "potential" in SEN's Routes Online page. That surprised me because SEN-AYT would be a challenging route operationally with very few aircraft able to operate it unrestricted in summer.
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Post by EGMCfollower on Feb 18, 2014 10:53:14 GMT
EasyJet now have Tenerife on sale from the 16th September which means a longer season presumably.
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Post by tagron on Mar 7, 2014 11:00:52 GMT
A couple of aspects of the TFS A320 operation interest me. It has been reported that because of weight restrictions 10 seats are left unsold. But it seems to me that there could be a pronounced difference in the RTOW achievable in December compared with end April due to the likely variation in noonday ambient temperatures. So perhaps the 10 seats is not a fixed figure. Is it an average, a maximum or a minimum ? Can they flex the number of seats they sell to late bookers on the basis of forecast temperatures say two days before departure ? I note they have moved the Saturday departure to 0705 in September and I would guess this is to get the best possible RTOW, the Saturday service presumably being the outbound flight most in demand.
I am hearing that the A320s are involved in a fair number of positioning flights in and out of SEN rather than just being reserve coverage for SEN as was once reported. Maybe this goes with the territory for an airline such as EZY with so many separate bases, but it cannot be good for the route economics. It leads me to wonder whether this situation will continue or whether we can expect to see a larger A320 presence at SEN in the next winter schedules. Its worth noting that TFS is the most distant of the Canaries destinations, so operations to Lanzarote, Las Palmas or Fuerteventura would be marginally less restricted.
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Post by airportman on Mar 28, 2014 12:26:04 GMT
Record braking day yesterday when the outbound A320 Faro flight uplifted 177 passengers which was a record held by BAF CL44 GAZIN of 170 out to Ostend 42 years ago today 28/03/1972.
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Post by devonian on Mar 28, 2014 14:18:48 GMT
That's impressive. I assume it didn't have to tech stop on the way?
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Post by airportman on Mar 28, 2014 16:42:18 GMT
No direct to Faro
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Post by expressflight on Mar 30, 2014 8:58:59 GMT
EasyJet now seem to be selling A320 capacity on a number of other SEN routes. Today's ALC, GVA and VCE departures are all on the A320 with over 175 seats sold on each. This would indicate a change of policy whereby previously the A320 was used only on the TFS route except as cover for unservicability or delays on other routes, but is now sold in advance up to its 180 seat capacity on any SEN route where demand merits it.
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