IOM

I have just had to rebook my London flight in August on Easyjet. Already on certain days the return ticket fare is £250 and this is before I add seats which I could book myself on BA/Loganair. Same thing happened when flybe went into administration the so called 'budget' airline was charging £600 for a return flight to Liverpool. How anyone can think this is the answer is beyond me! A real deterioration in air services for London for the sake of the island someone needs to get round to resolving this very quickly . Madness!

I heard Brian Kelly on Manx Radio this morning I really dont think he understands the London market. He says Gatwick is a more natural fit and he supports the loss of the Heathrow flights based on the fact they do more short haul flights. I would make make the following comments 1) A lot of travel to London is for people who live and work in the London area why else did London City get circa 4500 passengers a month pre pandemic. For people living in north London and out to Bedford/Amersham , and the west of the country Gatwick is a long onward travel 2) A lot of short haul travellers don't go through Gatwick they use either Liverpool or Manchester 3) Gatwick is already served by the current Easyjet service so another there is not required better either Heathrow or London City 4) He went on to say Heathrow flights since November have been largely empty has he not realised the borders were closed until a few weeks ago! Total and utter nonsense. Sadly with people like him peddling his sort of misinformed view it will be harder to put in place the right long term solution for the Isle of Man.

I agree I often used the BA London City service it was excellent and had good links into the centre of London and around. Also a quick turnaround after landing. On one occasion just after Christmas it was the only flight to land at London City all day the cross winds were very bad but the pilot said he was determined to make it work. It was a near perfect landing too a real professional. The problem is that this was effectively subsidised because Microgaming underwrote it unless someone does something similar it may be a non starter especially as BA are only operating Embraer 190s with 96 seats. The issue is that Easyjet are putting 156 seats a rotation in and two rotations of that a day is too much volume hence why only one flight a day is justified. Watch the ticket price rise rapidly though for a very poor service operating at very odd times. It will need somebody to think outside of the box to find a solution but this needs urgent action it is going to turn into a big problem very quickly in my view.

Well lets hope somebody has a plan because as it stands its a right mess.

If you look Guernsey have been effectively subsidising their London route by around £50m a year because they recognise its strategically important to keep the island connected. The Loganair subsidy would have been a fraction of that. Yes Easyjet are happy to fly to London with a once a day service at random times each day. And given they are supposed to be a low cost airline already some return flights in August/September are costing £182 on some days. Be careful what you wish for. Lets hope someone sorts this mess out the island needs regularly timed frequent services to London not a once a day service not even based on island.

Yawn!

I don’t know the specific details but perhaps BA only wanted to operate IOM to London rather than creating a hub serving Liverpool, Manchester and London together which is what Loganair will do . It means they can interchange crew and planes by route . Maybe in future it might include Birmingham as well . If that proves to be the case then the investment now may well be worthwhile .

Glad to see some posts are a little more positive about the London Heathrow route now ! The island needs strong links to the capital with a strong onward set of connections this will be really valuable in the future if it can be maintained.

Indeed the last loss posted was nearly £10m but expected to be much higher as you say . The underwriting option makes far more sense and ensures the island remains connected . Actually I think you will find some patients have undergone specialist treatment in London . And during the lockdown London City provided the connection to London to ensure key workers could get to the island to have no link at all to London would not make any sense . And the agreement with Loganair works because they will manage the routes to Liverpool,Manchester and London as a hub with aircraft that are at least island based . Anyway I would be fascinated to hear what other alternative plans there could be from those who don’t like it !

Arriving at some sort of agreement with a trusted operator was the sensible solution I would like to hear any form of alternative credible plan . Anyone who needs to go across for hospital treatment will I am sure be grateful ! And bear in mind Aurigny have posted losses of nearly £10m to ensure they as an island have connectivity . I doubt the underwriting costs will be anything like that .

So which airline does ‘like’ the Isle of Man ?

So leave the Isle of Man with no air connections then ? Or see what EasyJet come up with I know what will happen there !

Underwriting is the principle of ensuring the airline meet the minimum costs of operating if you listened Baker said they were sharing the benefits so Loganair are doing something! And how many Easy jets have you seen?

Well that maybe the case but at least Loganair have made the effort to try and serve the island. I fully recognise that there has been some government incentive but in these unprecedented times I think that is necessary to serve the island and keep it connected. Its been remarkable the number of 'low cost' Easy Jet fights I have seen on the island since March which shows how committed they are to the Isle of Man! And I say 'low cost' as they were the airline who remember back in March were charging over £600 return fares to Liverpool!