Flybe

[Jerry]

The concern for potential passengers now would be is there a guarantee future flights would operate, it’s bound to cause some nervousness which in turn may place all routes, no matter how profitable they are at risk. I certainly hope there is a positive and swift result to Flybe, be it a takeover or a merger as its one hell of a large regional airline to lose, not just for Cardiff but for the UK as a whole.

Yep I've seen a few tweets asking Flybe if there flight will be operating.
Just got to hope that someone will buy them or invest in them.

 

[bluebols]

Keeping a close eye on Flybe, the cash injection today from selling the hangar is going to give them breathing space but its not looking great. If they go the same way as Primera, Monarch etc, then CWL will be looking for alternatives for their routes. I reckon Edinburgh, Jersey, Paris and Dublin will be filled with no problems. Possibly Glasgow but all the rest will bite the dust. Lets hope for an upturn or a sale.

 

[Jerry]

Keeping a close eye on Flybe, the cash injection today from selling the hangar is going to give them breathing space but its not looking great. If they go the same way as Primera, Monarch etc, then CWL will be looking for alternatives for their routes. I reckon Edinburgh, Jersey, Paris and Dublin will be filled with no problems. Possibly Glasgow but all the rest will bite the dust. Lets hope for an upturn or a sale.

There is an article in the BBC from a Peter Philip's saying that the Welsh government should step in and provide some sort of guarentee to new owners.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46225146

 

[Jerry]

That's what it wants is flybe survives.I think the survive will be big time down to Exeter airport.I read on another forum they bought the maintenance hanger in Exeter today. That will sort of help short term but not a fix for the airline..With that in mind it looks like it will sell things in bits and if that happens I fear for the routes they operate and the airline in bgeneral.

They got £5 million for that i believe which should help in the short term. Hopefully as well Cardiff Airport and the Welsh Government might help as well in whatever way as they are important not only to Cardiff but to Wales.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

There is an article in the BBC from a Peter Philip's saying that the Welsh government should step in and provide some sort of guarentee to new owners.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46225146

What kind of guarantees does he think they should be offering? More money shelled out to keep the Airline at CWL? As much as it would really harm CWL, the operation needs to be commercially viable. I can see CWL seeing some cut backs, maybe back down to 2 based aircraft and some flights operated by non-based aircraft. I imagine certain routes do actually perform quite well, and the recent analysis posted a while back isn't a true reflection of CWL's or BE's overall performance but some route chopping could be on the horizon, personally I think ORK and the German routes will be contenders for the chop. A based Q400 and 1 or 2 E75 would be more economical in terms of flights, provided the different crew setup is also viable.

 

[Jerry]

What kind of guarantees does he think they should be offering? More money shelled out to keep the Airline at CWL? As much as it would really harm CWL, the operation needs to be commercially viable. I can see CWL seeing some cut backs, maybe back down to 2 based aircraft and some flights operated by non-based aircraft. I imagine certain routes do actually perform quite well, and the recent analysis posted a while back isn't a true reflection of CWL's or BE's overall performance but some route chopping could be on the horizon, personally I think ORK and the German routes will be contenders for the chop. A based Q400 and 1 or 2 E75 would be more economical in terms of flights, provided the different crew setup is also viable.

I'd imagine some sort of marketing support like they provide for Qatar Airways.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

For routes that are already established? That doesn't seem right.
QR and VY had marketing support, but these were for new routes. An Airline taking over any of BE's routes just needs to tell people they are now operating the routes, which shouldn't need a big marketing campaign. I haven't really seen much advertising of FR's routes.

 

[Jerry]

Yes. If it helps secure those routes future and the airlines future that is operating them. They are vital business and tourist connections to Wales. Just as important as Doha. It's essentially an investment for the future. Hopefully though if this person is correct it won't be needed.
https://www.headforpoints.com/2018/11/17/why-flybe-will-not-go-bankrupt/

 

[Foxlimayankee]

It's one thing securing the future of routes, it's another paying for them to be operated because they aren't commercially viable on their own. If they aren't commercially viable on their own then the question needs to be asked, how much are they actually contributing to the economy of Wales if they aren't bringing in the numbers, and what other options are there for access into Wales?
I'm optimistic about the survival of BE, but I'm also realistic in that CWL will likely see some minor changes.

 

[Jerry]

I suppose it depends on what the airport and Welsh government wants to acheive. It is noticeable that the out of the 3 German routes we had in Summer 2018 only Munich the hub airport is still onsale and that always seems to have Alitalia and Etihad codeshares on i believe.
On another forum it has been mentioned that Flybe can cancel the delivery of the scheduled E175s with penalties if they can't get finance for them. So if they do that then the Q400 could be in CWLs future as there would be only 11 E175s to go around.

 

[Matthew Davies]

I can vividly remember the last time Flybe went through a restructuring exercise. BE stated that CWL was fine then it went down to EDI AND GLA, then Loganair took over the EDI route then they left completely with Cityjet picking the big 4 routes. You cant help but think the worse, although I do hope that they can sort themselves out. I will just pose this question though, if BE were to shut up shop at CWL who would have the capacity to take over?

 

[Jerry]

I can vividly remember the last time Flybe went through a restructuring exercise. BE stated that CWL was fine then it went down to EDI AND GLA, then Loganair took over the EDI route then they left completely with Cityjet picking the big 4 routes. You cant help but think the worse, although I do hope that they can sort themselves out. I will just pose this question though, if BE were to shut up shop at CWL who would have the capacity to take over?

I do think though that the relationship between the airport and Flybe now is different though you can never be 100% sure especially if Flybe was taken over by say Easyjet but i do think the Cardiff base would be safe. They might change some things like aircraft but I'd be surprised if they upped and left.
If they did leave I'd imagine that Ryanair would be the airports first airline to call.

 

[Seasider]

Ryanair wouldn't be interested in any of the Flybe except DUB/FAO.

 

[Jerry]

Ryanair wouldn't be interested in any of the Flybe except DUB/FAO.

I'm guessing it would depend on what the airport offers them and I'm sure some would say they wouldn't even be interested in Dublin because of their Dublin route at Bristol. Hopefully Cardiff won't end up in that situation.

 

[superking]

Ryanair wont get smaller aircrafts to do UK domestics.They bought Buzz from KLM a few years back and one sorted out they got rid of domestics and smaller aircrafts,i think BAE 146. Buzz operated out of BOH and I think STN. Routes operated out of BOH are not operated any more. Faro would be good as already ops from CWL, don't know weather they would op DUB from CWLThat might get tranfered to BRS like they did last time when Ryanair fell out with CWL.
CWL would better to find a airline that operates aircrafts in about the 100 seat range. Airports running a airline don't work at all,you only need to look at SEN to verify that one with Stobart.

 

[superking]

We are talking here as thou Flybe has alkready shut. Lots of things can happen to keep Flybe operateing. Bad practice when its condemned some thing and some body when nothing has happened as yet and if it does.
Human nature thing I suppose.
But if they do close hope they get the staff sorted out ok.

 

[Jerry]

Ryanair wont get smaller aircrafts to do UK domestics.

I don't think anyone is thinking they will get smaller aircraft. If they did operate say CWL-EDI it'd be on a 737 800 but at much lower frequency than what Flybe provides now.
The reality is for Cardiff there isn't an airline can either provide the same prices as Flybe or actually are willing to operate from Cardiff. The likes of Eastern Airways and BMI are expensive Ryanair wouldn't be able to provide the same frequencies and Easyjet and BA don't want to operate from Cardiff.
I do hope Flybe survive and go on to be stronger!

 

[Seasider]

There isn't an airline in this country that could operate half of Flybe's services.

For the British consumer Flybe need to survive as a lot of air services will not operate.

 

[rollo]

Spot on there Seasider

 

[bluebols]

There must be a case for slashing APD for flights within the UK, this would help massively and also relieve the congested motorways of a small percentage of traffic.