Flybe to Belfast City

[john2408]

Have to agree with you 'Pug', i think there may be something else, with the BHD flights being only 4 weekly, possibly another destination for the other 3 days.

[pug]

Unless the airport are going to make a big press sum up like they did last year with the Tony Lavan interview. Strikes me as very strange that the news is not on the airport website (though it is on the 'new routes' section)
and none of the local papers have reported on it (far as im aware, perhaps they just didnt put it online?)

I would have though that this route was more significant than the AGP route with it being a regular scheduled servce...

We can just hope for more!

[john2408]

Everyday i read thisishull,Grimsby, and Scunthorpe web pages (i know i should get out more!) and i have noticed Flybe, flashing adverts on all these sites, it seems alot of advertising for just 3 destinations. We will see.

[john2408]

When the news of the Belfast was first reported. it was also reported on the DSA site by a punter. from Scunthorpe, no one else made any comments, it has now been deleted! It seems like they did'nt like the news.

[pug]

They did say that AGP would be it for this year, it makes me wonder what sort of deal MAG are giving out, i know they got the huff with NWI but that was over the ADF charges there i think...

I dont expect any more for this summer now (though open to surprise) but im sure that if they do well with these then more will follow.

Its an important time for HUY to get back in the race for when the pick up happens... It would be great to have a based operator of some sort, or even two if im going to get carried away!

[d2]

if belfast from dsa is only half full at best, what makes huy think they can do any better?

[pug]

You mean what makes FlyBE think they can do any better?

DSA is in a crap place for business flights, still BE can make flights with low load factors work, economical aircraft and all that.

Will have t wait and see, obvious where BE are interested in at the moment is it not?

[kirmingtonuser]

Brymon/Maersk also flew from Humberside to Dublin during 1992 and 1993, but only on Saturdays and Sundays. I flew to Dublin in October 1993, shortly before the aircraft was withdrawn from Kirmington. The flight carried a BA flight number and 9 passengers (yields had fallen off after the withdrawal was announced. ) Earlier, passenger numbers had been quite good, 13 or 14 per flight, but the route cannot have carried more than 1,500 or so per annum.
Perhaps this augers quite well for the low-cost business model, because Ryanair must have been averaging about 110 passengers per flight on the DUB/HUY route in competition with Finningley. It had the makings of a 70,000 per annum route.
It is interesting that the 1992/3 offering was also skewed (7 versus 2) to Belfast rather than Dublin. Are there more route development subsidies available for UK domestic routes ?

[d2]

if DSA is in a crap place, it aint done LBA any harm has it? that must be the worst airport to get to in the country.

[d2]

HUY extended their runway in 1992 with the promise of big things to come & what happened? last year they had what, 400,000 pax? they've had 18years to get airlines & holiday companies based & haven't. DSA been going 6 years had nearly 900,000 pax. its clear where the airlines want to fly from. with easyjet on board this year pax will be over 1,000,000 again. what's HUY's estimated pax for this year? now i'm a supporter of both before any1 shouts me down, but from an outsiders point of view, to say DSA is in the wrong place is about as rite as saying LBA is easy to get to.

[Humberside]

With regards to the newspaper website Flybe adverts all I ever see them promoting is the Malaga route. Hopefully by early next week they will have been updated to include BHD. Nice to see the airport advertising again after a few quiet years.

But the lack of a press release from the airport is bizarre. There's been a small piece in the local edition of the Yorkshire Post, a mention on the radio and that it. If no-one knows about it there is no way BHD will work. Being honest with its far from optimal schedule and DSA-BHD to contend with, success is far from ensured. So it's great that Malaga is being promoted but forget Belfast and it could be a rather short-lived service

And it's not just a case of ensuring Belfast is kept. Should it be a success one would hope Flybe would look at other similar destinations like Dublin, or maybe even Paris or Germany. But should Belfast fail then all HUY will ever be for Flybe is a Saturday only airport

And finally lets face it, should Jet 2 ever come in the Flybe Malaga service will be gone.

Feb 20, 2010 16:13:28 GMT @d2 said:

what's HUY's estimated pax for this year?

I think it will be around the same as 2009 because of no Thomas Cook between January and April this year compared to 2009. Summer (May to Oct) will probably be marginally higher though this will vary on a month to month basis. And assuming BHD continues at 4xWeek alongside ABZ and AMS November/December should see small increases.

[pug]

if DSA is in a crap place, it aint done LBA any harm has it? that must be the worst airport to get to in the country.

Bad argument, just look at how many people live within the 30 mins of LBA! Might be a pig to get to for anyone outside of West Yorkshire, but i would suggest you check up on exactly how large the potential catchment area for LBA is then you may realise why it is still punching far below its weight, that will change however...

HUY extended their runway in 1992 with the promise of big things to come & what happened? last year they had what, 400,000 pax? they've had 18years to get airlines & holiday companies based & haven't. DSA been going 6 years had nearly 900,000 pax. its clear where the airlines want to fly from. with easyjet on board this year pax will be over 1,000,000 again. what's HUY's estimated pax for this year? now i'm a supporter of both before any1 shouts me down, but from an outsiders point of view, to say DSA is in the wrong place is about as rite as saying LBA is easy to get to.

Have to say i would agree with you, but only if you were talking in the contect of NOW and not THEN! I think you will find that growth at HUY after the runway extension was huge in comparison with its contemporaries at the time (NWI, EXT, BOH, BLK and even MME) but as i say that was THEN.

What happened then? Well, HUY have played on the side of caution, they do have a fairly limited catchment area, and growth must be sustainable. As an example, just look at what has happened at MME! I can tell you that XL made a profit from their one season at HUY, that was while they were competing against DSA in its second year, so what does that say about the strength and loyalty of the HUY catchment? Compare that to DSA who will have EMA, MAN and LBA to contend with, look at Sheffield in relation to EMA and MAN!

I have no doubt that Easyjet is the boost DSA have been looking for, and has a good chance of working, but do you honestly think it would have happened had they stayed put at EMA? Also observe how FR have gone for bases at EMA and LBA rather than a big base at DSA, why do you think they did this?

As for saying DSA is in a crap place, i realy said for BUSINESS FLIGHTS. I said myself that BHD is a strange choice of destination from HUY, but if it definately wont work then why would BE bother? If it doesnt work from DSA then why is it still operating now that the funding has finished? As i said, economical aircraft! If they can get a reasonable load from HUY then i dont see why it wouldnt be any different?

I have a good feeling about HUY's future growth, and i fully believe that they will start to attract more interest from companies more inclined to base at HUY for the leisure market, as has been shown by XL, whatever happens at DSA doesnt realy matter, HUY still serves a catchment area of 1 million pax within a 45 minute drive, many of whom loyal to HUY.

Anyway, im still bored about talking about this stuff now, will most likely be quoted by someone and told to update my 'Microsoft Airport Manager' just to try and belittle my argument. Whether people agree or not i get alot of info from various sources, not saying its all correct of course, but i have the right to my opinions, and people have the right to tear them apart within reason. Many people cant however, hence getting the above said about me. Hey Ho.

[d2]

well ive got to say, LBA & EMA are welcome to mr O'Leary & Ryanair, cos it's very likely that if the said man gets a better offer from another airport or doesn't get what he wants from LBA or EMA he'll up sticks & leave before they know it. as i said, i'm a supporter of both HUY & DSA, but when HUY have had 18years to expand & sustain that growth, but haven't, there must be something amiss. pax figures for 2009 don't lie. 335,149 for HUY, 834,644 for DSA. As Peel have admitted themselves, they tried to expand too fast at first. DSA is a threat to the likes of LBA & EMA in the future, but its a young business & as i know who set my own business up 3 years ago, it takes time to get established & get you're name known. as no end of business people have told me, if you can survive the disaster of the last 18mths you can survive anything. DSA has a future & i'm sure that eventually they'll get the domestic routes they are looking for.

[d2]

i never said anything about YOU. as you said people are entitled to their opinions. as a regular observer on both HUY & DSA forums, i have felt compelled to say something about some of the comments made about DSA in some of these forums. i do detect a hint of jealousy among certain people on here about DSA's potential & pax figures. there is NO reason why ALL the airports in this region CAN'T have a very successful future. look at heathrow, gatwick, luton, stanstead, london city. i know we've not got the same potential pax around here, but it proves a number of airports in 1 area can survive & do extremely well.

[pug]

Im not denying that, and that comment was not aimed at you so please dont take it that way.

From my point of view its certainly not jeleousy at all, ive been against DSA from day one, mainly because of the effect it wuld have had on SZD more so than HUY. There are some incredibly smug comments from the DSA side when they get good news, i dont see any coming from HUY side of things though do you?

As paying customer i have used both airports, both of which have their merrits, but i look at things from a different perspective. Yes im probably bias and the people i hear things off may have skewed my opinion but i do believe i look at things from a common sense perspective.

I would say that LBA and EMA will not be too bothered about DSA, they have the lions share of the market and Bridgepoint will ensure that LBA continues to grow. It will be much harder for DSA to make its mark than those two. You said yourself BHD doesnt do too well from DSA, what does that say to other airlines?

As for the drop in pax, the number lost by HUY is actualy about the same if not less than the actual number lost by DSA. I believe it has a chance to become a successful regional airport for South Yorkshire under the correct guidance, but to say its a future threat to its bigger neighbours, particularly with green taxes to contend with, is exaggerated at the very least.

but when HUY have had 18years to expand & sustain that growth, but haven't, there must be something amiss

I shall tell you something. By all accounts, had the airport not gone down the XL route, there is a very big chance that HUY would be significantly busier now. Might seem cryptic to you, but from what ive been told by a few people (airline and airport) that caution played against them in this occasion.