notwell Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Are there any other purely booking agents operating in the British Isles who operate a scheduled service as a pseudo airline with liveried aircraft etc. or is this one unique? How far we have fallen. With Manx Airlines we had a genuine operator of modern, reliable aircraft based at Ronaldsway with a network of routes on and off the Island, locally crewed by local people, maintained in their own dedicated maintenance hangars by their own engineers employing in total over 500 people paying local taxes NI etc. Since then, we have had a motley variety of large airlines who chuck us the odd flight when it isn't more profitable to fly somewhere else, operators on the edge of shutdown by financial problems or the CAA or both, one that did a runner to avoid its aircraft being seized and the "booking agency" model of various operators, foreign aircraft and crew leading to the kind of disruption we have here. Someone needs to get a grip and do something. Well said. More recently of course Government effectively got rid of flybe base, by lusting after Easy in a misguided attempt to cater for the 1.75 million passengers and rising we now have ................... Oh wait ! Flybe were (and arguably still are) in a bit of a mess which meant they had to undergo a rationalising of operations and how the cost base was made up. Nothing to do with Easyjet. Excuse making. I'm not a fan of open skies for the record. Having said that we only have one route flown on by more than one operator anyway. So perhaps we are not really in the grip of an open skies issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 To be fair when we had Manx Airlines all people did was moan about them. People moan about everything. MF would be a bit thin otherwise. It doesn't mean that Manx didn't give a good service. It was out of sight better than what we have now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paswt Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 The service wasn't bad but the cost could be eye watering for a last minute ticket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notwell Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 To be fair when we had Manx Airlines all people did was moan about them. People moan about everything. MF would be a bit thin otherwise. It doesn't mean that Manx didn't give a good service. It was out of sight better than what we have now. City Wing actually give a decent service in my experience. Times have changed though. Had Manx Airlines been about today I've no doubt they'd be as painful as the other airlines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Non-Believer Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 I flew regularly on the "red eye" for quite a few years. Cooked breakfasts and other hot meals all part of the service, sir. Around £280 Heathrow then Gatwick return at the time. You pays your money and takes your choice? Eta typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yee haa yessir! Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 If they're flying 737s instead of those tiny Lot things are they selling loads of cheap one way seats? Not the case as I was searching for flights in April and there the same price Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbie Bobster Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 If they're flying 737s instead of those tiny Lot things are they selling loads of cheap one way seats? Not the case as I was searching for flights in April and there the same price This is quite sad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asitis Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 Are there any other purely booking agents operating in the British Isles who operate a scheduled service as a pseudo airline with liveried aircraft etc. or is this one unique? How far we have fallen. With Manx Airlines we had a genuine operator of modern, reliable aircraft based at Ronaldsway with a network of routes on and off the Island, locally crewed by local people, maintained in their own dedicated maintenance hangars by their own engineers employing in total over 500 people paying local taxes NI etc. Since then, we have had a motley variety of large airlines who chuck us the odd flight when it isn't more profitable to fly somewhere else, operators on the edge of shutdown by financial problems or the CAA or both, one that did a runner to avoid its aircraft being seized and the "booking agency" model of various operators, foreign aircraft and crew leading to the kind of disruption we have here. Someone needs to get a grip and do something. Well said. More recently of course Government effectively got rid of flybe base, by lusting after Easy in a misguided attempt to cater for the 1.75 million passengers and rising we now have ................... Oh wait ! Flybe were (and arguably still are) in a bit of a mess which meant they had to undergo a rationalising of operations and how the cost base was made up. Nothing to do with Easyjet. Excuse making. I'm not a fan of open skies for the record. Having said that we only have one route flown on by more than one operator anyway. So perhaps we are not really in the grip of an open skies issue. Flye removed the base from the IOM simply because they could not sustain four based aircraft as passenger numbers were falling due to others being deliberately attracted to the routes. The new CEO (coincidentally an ex Easy director) employed a strict cull of any base which did not support four aircraft and the IOM fell into that category. As a result a lot of local people lost their jobs or had difficult re location issues and searches for other posts. We are now where the alternate report which was supplied to Government said we would be, loss of routes and crumbs for other operators. The open skies policy is a nonsense for the past twenty five years we have seen airlines come and go at the airport trying to make the uncertainty of routes work. ( not shithouse rumours my best friend is a senior Flybe Captain and trainer) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 The service wasn't bad but the cost could be eye watering for a last minute ticket Agreed. But it can be now too for a last minute ticket. Aviation in general was more expensive then in real terms. Part of the problem is that the low cost carriers have cherry picked the busy routes and left peripheral destinations like ours far less economic to operate a decent service to. We were spoilt in those days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Times have changed though. Had Manx Airlines been about today I've no doubt they'd be as painful as the other airlines. Makes a big difference having base, maintenance and possibly a spare aircraft you can slot in on demand. They were very keen to maintain the service because it was their entire focus, not an afterthought in a massive international network. Whether you could trim the costs to make it pay in today's cut throat market is another matter. Something needs to change though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notwell Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Are there any other purely booking agents operating in the British Isles who operate a scheduled service as a pseudo airline with liveried aircraft etc. or is this one unique? How far we have fallen. With Manx Airlines we had a genuine operator of modern, reliable aircraft based at Ronaldsway with a network of routes on and off the Island, locally crewed by local people, maintained in their own dedicated maintenance hangars by their own engineers employing in total over 500 people paying local taxes NI etc. Since then, we have had a motley variety of large airlines who chuck us the odd flight when it isn't more profitable to fly somewhere else, operators on the edge of shutdown by financial problems or the CAA or both, one that did a runner to avoid its aircraft being seized and the "booking agency" model of various operators, foreign aircraft and crew leading to the kind of disruption we have here. Someone needs to get a grip and do something. Well said. More recently of course Government effectively got rid of flybe base, by lusting after Easy in a misguided attempt to cater for the 1.75 million passengers and rising we now have ................... Oh wait ! Flybe were (and arguably still are) in a bit of a mess which meant they had to undergo a rationalising of operations and how the cost base was made up. Nothing to do with Easyjet. Excuse making. I'm not a fan of open skies for the record. Having said that we only have one route flown on by more than one operator anyway. So perhaps we are not really in the grip of an open skies issue. Flye removed the base from the IOM simply because they could not sustain four based aircraft as passenger numbers were falling due to others being deliberately attracted to the routes. The new CEO (coincidentally an ex Easy director) employed a strict cull of any base which did not support four aircraft and the IOM fell into that category. As a result a lot of local people lost their jobs or had difficult re location issues and searches for other posts. We are now where the alternate report which was supplied to Government said we would be, loss of routes and crumbs for other operators. The open skies policy is a nonsense for the past twenty five years we have seen airlines come and go at the airport trying to make the uncertainty of routes work. ( not shithouse rumours my best friend is a senior Flybe Captain and trainer) I dont disagree with what you say but let's not pretend flybe isn't an outdated and over sized regional carrier. The IoM was part of a much bigger picture. Don't forget flybe sold their slots to easyjet at Gatwick for 20m. The decision to move from the island is much deeper than you state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 City Wing actually give a decent service in my experience. You would have to knock me out to get me on one of their flights. I would rather swim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hboy Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 City Wing actually give a decent service in my experience.You would have to knock me out to get me on one of their flights. I would rather swim. I'm with you. They only fly to shit places that poor people need to go to. I'd rather swim or go by hanglider than fly by that shithouse airline to an airport 200 miles away from where anything is happening. I'm amazed they're still flying out of the IOM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 I'm with you. They only fly to shit places that poor people need to go to. It's not where they land that puts me off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lfc84 Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 This is on the citywing facebook page: If you were on the plane you'd understand why they are grounded now, the full truth about from Thursday belfast flight hasn't came out yet. Shouldn't have taken of and wasn't allowed to land in belfast despite being 2 foot off the runway in belfast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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