Flybe

[Aviador]

Did they? I must have missed that post. I know at the moment it's available via LCY but after March it's not. It is definitely looking like it's been canned.

I could have sworn that's what i'd read.

 

[Tinkerman]

I'll echo the above. DUS is long gone from CWL.

 

[Jerry]

There's a news post on the airports website saying that Flybe have extended the Geneva flights until 15th April. I think this is a bit of spin from the airport because i'm pretty sure that they had already been extended and 15th April was the last flight till W17/18.
I'm not sure when the ski season ends but if the April dates are out of the season could they be using them to see if the flights sustainable as a leisure/city route throughout the summer? Maybe for S18?

https://www.cardiff-airport.com/news/2017/01/30/flybe-extends-winter-ski-route-from-cardiff/

 

[TheLocalYokel]

There's a news post on the airports website saying that Flybe have extended the Geneva flights until 15th April. I think this is a bit of spin from the airport because i'm pretty sure that they had already been extended and 15th April was the last flight till W17/18.
I'm not sure when the ski season ends but if the April dates are out of the season could they be using them to see if the flights sustainable as a leisure/city route throughout the summer? Maybe for S18?

https://www.cardiff-airport.com/news/2017/01/30/flybe-extends-winter-ski-route-from-cardiff/

Looking at easyJet at BRS, they seem to be operating most of their winter ski schedule up to 16 April 2017.

I suggested for a number of years that Geneva was a surprising gap at CWL in winter (it used to be flown until recession time) and I was not surprised to see Flybe take it on once they established their CWL base.

I've used GVA as a way into Switzerland on a number of occasions in summer and its underground rail terminus makes most of Switzerland easily accessible. I've reached both the Bernese Oberland and Lucerne from GVA by train in around three hours and I reached Montreux along the lake in about an hour. The railway station is simplicity itself to use, as are the wonderfully efficient Swiss railways. The airport though is not one of my favourites - I don't find it very passenger-friendly.

I would have thought that GVA is worth a go in summer from CWL. easyJet at BRS manages up to 22 weekly flights in winter and up to 12 in summer which gives an idea of the market.

Crystal Lakes & Mountains (part of TUI) uses easyJet as their carrier from BRS on a number of their holidays. If Flybe could get that sort of business then it would underpin a summer GVA route.

 

[Jerry]

Crystal Lakes & Mountains (part of TUI) uses easyJet as their carrier from BRS on a number of their holidays. If Flybe could get that sort of business then it would underpin a summer GVA route.

Thomas Cook City Escapes also does packages for routes like that. There has been a few times when i'm checking in for the AMS flight and people have been holding booking details with their name on it and as CWL gets more routes they hopefully will become more popular.
Geneva would be a nice 1 weekly route like Verona and maybe bring it up to 2 weekly if it is successful. I'm not sure who they are but i believe a Mountain and lakes company takes an allocation of seats on the Verona flight maybe they could do the same for Geneva.
In the end it does come down to aircraft. If Flybe could look at basing another Dash 8 in 2018 maybe to takeover more of the domestic routes like EDI and JER then that could release the Embraer's to fly more European routes like Geneva.

 

[Jerry]

I've been having a look at the Flybe schedule for summer 17 especially with regard to aircraft utilisation and i've found that on Mondays 1 Embraer lands at 14.30 from MXP but then doesn't depart again till 20.40 for EDI which is a 6 hour 10 mins gap and on a Thursday 1 Embraer lands at 13.10 from CDG and then doesn't depart till 20.05 to EDI. With these gaps there could be the potential to fit in 2 extra weekly flights say Geneva on a Monday and Malta on thursday. Just wondering if there could be a reason for the gaps?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I've been having a look at the Flybe schedule for summer 17 especially with regard to aircraft utilisation and i've found that on Mondays 1 Embraer lands at 14.30 from MXP but then doesn't depart again till 20.40 for EDI which is a 6 hour 10 mins gap and on a Thursday 1 Embraer lands at 13.10 from CDG and then doesn't depart till 20.05 to EDI. With these gaps there could be the potential to fit in 2 extra weekly flights say Geneva on a Monday and Malta on thursday. Just wondering if there could be a reason for the gaps?

In previous summers the 195s have had a full schedule of work each day. Can't think of a reason for these gaps.

Maybe the airline does have something in mind to fill them. Malta's probably too far though, certainly for the Monday gap. Even on Thursday taking into account turn-round time at CWL after landing from CDG, a return trip to Malta with turn-round time there followed by turn-round time at CWL again before departing for EDI would be very, very tight, perhaps not even possible.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Malta is about 3-3 1/2 hour flight. Based on those times, taking out the 30 minute turnaround times i'm working it out to be a 2hr20 flight each way on a Monday and 2hr40 flight each way on Thursday. As comparison BE allow 2hr30/35 for FCO, 2hr30/40 for FAO, 2hr and 2hr5 for MXP and 2hr5 for VRN. Interesting spot. It could well be nothing, but scope for a new med route or increased frequency.

 

[Jerry]

I'm wondering if FCO was or is scheduled for the Thursday slot? Tues Thurs and Saturday could be a possibility for it and they could be waiting to see what the ticket sales for the other 2 days are like. Malta would also fit in that slot but I would've thought for it to work then someone like Thomson would be needed to take a chunk of the seats.
The Monday slot could be used for an extra Verona? Or maybe an extra Berlin flight. Munich and Milan both have rotations on that day.
Though new routes would be nice maybe it's to late to introduce them?

 

[Marko1]

Rome goes three weekly from sept. Tues, thurs and sat

 

[Jerry]

That Thursday flight should fit into that 8 hour slot looking at the times but I don't understand why they just don't do it 3 weekly throughout the summer? There is an aircraft available.
Ideally the Monday slot could be taken up by a weekly Geneva then the 3rd Rome on the Thursday.
I can't think of any other routes that would fit except maybe DUS for the Monday slot but I can't see DUS coming back. Could they do say IBZ weekly? If they aren't going to do Rome 3 weekly then could Malta be done April to September or is it too late to release a route like that?

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Malta won't fit in the schedule. It's min 3hr each way. Add on 30 mins turnaround from previous arrival in CWL. 30 min turnaround downroute, then 30 min turnaround on return to CWL. IBZ or MAH should be a winner

 

[Jerry]

Malta won't fit in the schedule. It's min 3hr each way. Add on 30 mins turnaround from previous arrival in CWL. 30 min turnaround downroute, then 30 min turnaround on return to CWL. IBZ or MAH should be a winner

Actually looking at the gap in the Monday then IBZ or MAH would only just fit so might not be doable either probably looking for something in the 2 hour range maybe something like Prague because i can't see Flybe doing BCN or GRO. Personally i think that they'll bring Rome to 3 weekly to fill the thursday gap and probably use it to advertise the route.

 

[Jerry]

Dusseldorf is now on sale. It's weekly on a Saturday and also available via LCY the rest of the week.
CWL-DUS 15.10-17.50 DUS-CWL 18.35-19.15. It starts 1st April.
At the moment though there is no aircraft to fly it! Just like Cork on Sunday! As the CWL Q400 is doing GLA around that time. Judging by the schedule i believe there could be a new routes/routes to come. Either 2 new routes on the weekend one flown by a Q400 on the Saturday and 1 by an Embraer on a Sunday to cover both routes or from a Flybe base that operates both types of aircraft and the only one i can think of that would fit would be MAN. A 12 or 7 weekly MAN would mean that on Saturday and Sunday those flights could be covered by those types of aircraft. Hopefully more flights will be released today!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It's certainly a conundrum. Hopefully, all will become clear very soon.

Good news that DUS is back. I think there have been rumours that it would re-appear.

 

[Jerry]

It's certainly a conundrum. Hopefully, all will become clear very soon.

Good news that DUS is back. I think there have been rumours that it would re-appear.

Yes it is good news even at 1 weekly. Yes it is a bit baffling as to what is going on but hopefully Flybe will release any flights sooner rather than later.

 

[Jerry]

I have a question about lead times for routes and i'm going to use Flybe as an example so please bear with me!

Flybe have 2 slots vacant at CWL on a Monday and Friday for the E Jet that does EDI. The jet will do CWL-EDI-CWL-MXP-CWL. I'm assuming that uses 1 crew. It lands back from Milan at 14.30. It is then not due out until 20.40 for the second daily EDI flight. There is a gap of 6 hours 10 mins between flights which i assume they will use. At the moment there is no flight on either days.
With a short lead time until the start of the summer what is the better type of route for them to fill it with. A holiday bucket and spade route like PMI? Or say a new city route like Prague? Would a city route need a longer time to advertise to get passengers or would it be the more package holiday route that would need longer?
Sorry if the question is a bit long.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

There will be no new routes. Just schedule changes. Let's just give it a few weeks rather than continually speculating on new routes every day

 

[superking]

A bit of tweeking with the routes will happen. all airlines leave gaps for what ever reason. if a problem with the e190 flybe has a problem covering them,as we have seen in the past airframes come from other bases that have gaps. also flybe would do better to get the routes it operates now with better load factors on some routes as existing routes with higher load factors pay better than new routes flying round half empty.I would rather see existing routes with good load factors than new routes struggleing.

 

[Jerry]

Flybe's daily schedule per aircraft for S17. Part 1.
Dash 8 Q400
Monday to Friday with the exception of Friday 14th April and Mondays 17th April, 1st May, 29th May and 28th August when there are no flights to LCY operating on those days.
CWL-LCY 07.45-09.00
LCY-CWL 09.30-10.30
CWL-BHD 11.30-12.40
BHD-CWL 14.00-15.10
CWL-LCY 15.55-17.10
LCY-CWL 17.40-18.40
CWL-GLA 19.25-20.40
GLA-CWL 21.05-22.30
Saturday
CWL-LCY 08.00-09.15
LCY-CWL 09.45-10.45
CWL-BHD 11.30-12.40
BHD-CWL 13.15-14.25
CWL-GLA 15.15-16.30
GLA-CWL 16.55-18.20

JER-CWL 13.10-14.05 this is operated on a JER based Q400
CWL-JER 14.50-15.45

CWL-DUS 15.10-17.50 at the moment it is down as a Q400 but origin of aircraft is unknown.
DUS-CWL 18.35-19.15
Sunday
CWL-BHD 10.40-11.50
BHD-CWL 14.00-15.10
CWL-LCY 15.55-17.10
LCY-CWL 17.40-18.40
CWL-GLA 19.25-20.40
GLA-CWL 21.05-22.30