Tarne Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Things at the airport must be getting bad if Terry Liddiard, ex Manx Airlines CEO posted this to a bunch of politicians regarding their Open Skies policy (Basically EasyJet cutting off FlyBe's profitable routes) Manx Airlines boss warns of danger On the plus side, it's great for the consumer at the moment with £16.99 EasyJet fares to Liverpool and Gatwick for the Winter. On the down side, if FlyBe pull out of the island, we lose a crap load of jobs and loads of frequency. I guess people will vote with their feet, as I don't expect the politicians to do anything about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellanvannin2010 Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Sadly, lots of posters on manx forums will be only too happy if Flybe pull out of the Island but look around who is there to replace them?. Easyjet will never do the routes or the frequency and the only niche airlines left in the UK are high fare full service airlines like Eastern/BMIRegional. It is my understanding that Easyjet have been subsidised by the airport to set up these routes to Liverpool and Gatwick ( by not paying landing fees). This might be justified if no one flies on the route or only on an infrequent basis eg Luton, but is patently nonsense when the route is served by 4 flights a day by another carrier and as a taxpayer I object to it most strongly. Hopefully, Flybe will take the fight to Easyjet, otherwise get used to a daily or less air service to get off the rock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trueblood Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 nm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trueblood Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 He makes a very valid point re. Easyjet and passenger nos. The butter is just getting spread thinner and ain't reaching the edges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Wright Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 travelled on easyJet yesterday from Liverpool at short notice £50 each plane less than 30% full Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IOMRS97 Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I've used Easyjet several times, with a decent load factor every time. I like the aircraft and the prices and wouldn't dream of travelling with any other airline on a route served by them. I have two more trips booked for this year, both continuing with Easyjet to other destinations. Couldn't afford to do it with the competition... Edited to add - I can carry a bigger bag as hand luggage on Easyjet so I don't need to check-in hold luggage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 It is my understanding that Easyjet have been subsidised by the airport to set up these routes to Liverpool and Gatwick ( by not paying landing fees). If your understanding is true then it is scandalous. Anyone else know anything about this? If true it should be the subject of a legal challenge by FlyBe as an anti-competitive measure. Furthermore if I were them I would threaten to pull off every other route to IOM for good measure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tugger Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 There's no competition law in the Isle of Man, although I agree it is an outrage if true Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hagar the horrible Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 There's no competition law in the Isle of Man, although I agree it is an outrage if true No anti brown envelope legislation on the IOM either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Mexico Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 It is my understanding that Easyjet have been subsidised by the airport to set up these routes to Liverpool and Gatwick ( by not paying landing fees). If your understanding is true then it is scandalous. Anyone else know anything about this? If true it should be the subject of a legal challenge by FlyBe as an anti-competitive measure. Furthermore if I were them I would threaten to pull off every other route to IOM for good measure. There's no competition law in the Isle of Man, although I agree it is an outrage if true It's quite common for airports to subsidise new routes or new carriers on routes or even expanding an existing service with extra flights in this way. There are EU rules on this as to what is and isn't allowed (Ryan Air fell foul of them once I seem to remember). How much those rules apply here I wouldn't know, but given that the other end of these flights is in the EU, they may have some relevance - EU rules certainly apply for other things such as cancelled flights, even though the Island isn't part of it. I do wonder if there is a bit of unnecessary panic over these Easyjet Gatwick flights. After all Flybe haven't stopped operating from Liverpool, despite the competition. I suspect a lot of the Easyjet Liverpool traffic is new business, both on and off the Island. The low fares make it very attractive to make extra trips, perhaps only for a few days. Given the timings, the same may be true of the new Gatwick route as well. Even if they attract some passengers away from Flybe, those probably will be students and tourists, who will be lower revenue fares in any case. Of course the fact that a lot of the business that Easyjet seems to attracting is new throws the wider airport figures into a very stark light. Easyjet's one flight a day is responsible for nearly 10% of air traffic at Ronaldsway, so you can imagine just how much worse they would be without it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merkin Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I used to dislike flybe but since they started playing fair, i've come around to them. Much like one forgives an old friend for a period of rudeness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trench12 Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 flew in from liverpool yesterday am on flybe........21 pax on flight.............cant see how they can carry on with those sort of figures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lxxx Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I always used to grumble about the flybe costs to Gatwick and as a business traveller I use them quite often. Hoever since BA have come on board I checked the flights the other day and ended up going with Flybe as they were about 40% cheaper than BA's price, so they have obviously sharpened their pencil on that route, which to be honest is good for competition as they used to have it all their own way over the past 12 months. I can also see the point that people make about Flybe leaving the island so you would hope that our government have taken some very good advice on this and not gone for the glory card by using short term gain over long term planning..... ...however that would necessitate our elected officiials having some sort of commercial nous and common sense, something which (if past evidence is anything to go by) is evidently lacking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manxbloke2 Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 There's no competition law in the Isle of Man, although I agree it is an outrage if true No anti brown envelope legislation on the IOM either yes there is. Please expand on what you're getting at. I'm sure the legal teams of both Easy Jet and Fly Be would be very interested to learn more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cambon Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 If flybe limited their LGW flights to two a day (first and last flights) it would be even more profitable. Same with Manchester and Liverpool. If flybe play their cards right they could actually make even more out of the Manx public by reducing frequency and price, whilst still filling flights. I agree open skys is a dangerous policy, but it even brought BA back, so it is not totally a bad thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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