Newquay and Plymouth Airports - their rise and fall - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

London City air route from Devon and Cornwall scrapped

Devon and Cornwall are to lose one of their air links with London, a local airline has announced.

Air SouthWest is scrapping its service between Newquay and Plymouth and City Airport.

The twice-daily route was launched last year but Air SouthWest said it had not paid its way.

The last City Airport flights would be on 21 May, the airline said. The company's four daily flights to London Gatwick would continue, it added.

[devon_metro]

Was very pleasing news at 07:57 in the morning.

Amusingly I thought of 'woody' and a number of his comments regarding FGWs^▸ (First Great Western) profits being knocked. 

[Super Guard]

 

[vacman]

what a shame, oh dear hehehehehehehehe

[woody]

More info here- http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Plymouth-8217-s-London-air-link-axe-blamed-high-costs-low/article-2110532-detail/article.html.
It an ill wind(even a volcanic one) that does not blow some good.

[grahame]

It is almost always sad when a transport link is reduced / closed down - it takes away an opportunity and can have a serious effect not only on the obvious users of the route, but some of the hidden ones too.  You won't find me cheering at the loss of a service even one that happens to compete with the mode I would typically choose to use. However, there is a need for a shakeout from time to time - a rejigging / rebalancing of services.

I'm out of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) at the moment - flew yesterday, long haul.  There are at least three flights a day from London (Heathrow) to the airport that I landed at, and all three of them were at the arrival gates along side each other.   Yet the plane we were in was only between 25% and 40% full (interesting, higher occupany rate in business and first judging by numbers given to me by flight crew).  Now this situation has me wondering at the effect on the economics, the environment, etc, really justify all three flights.   With a 7 hour journey, and a major timezone change, I can't imagine the (say) hour or so between each of the planes makes a major difference.

[vacman]

I have no sympathy for ASW, they chose to take on the big boys and they got hurt! Their advertising was specificly aimed at the railways with adverts that were distasteful to say the least, whilst FGW^▸ (First Great Western) simply sat quietly and didn't bite back. They played with fire and got their backsides burned!

[woody]

This comment from a reader of the Plymouth Evening Herald seems to hit the nail on the head.
 " Load factors on any route are not the defining figures.

Yield is the important calculation, ie the amount an airline makes in profit from a route.

If an airline's costs are high to operate a route then fares rise to try to compensate but this is a tricky calculation because if the fares are set too high people won't travel.

The London City route is a particular problem because that airport sets very high charges for airlines.

ASW might have charged what some people believe to be high fares but if they did they weren't high enough to overcome the airport's charges.

Don't look at this route in isolation. London City has lost a number of routes and carriers in the past year, almost all serving airports much bigger and busier than Plymouth.
James, South West"

[Bob_Blakey]

Transport experts (!) are frequently quoted as saying that for overland point-to-point journeys of less than (approximately) 250 miles, train almost always beats plane given reasonable linespeeds (100mph+) for a significant part of the journey.
On that basis this looks like a fairly inevitable result.
Point-to-point timings for Plymouth-London sectors are roughly the same and prices seem also to be comparable when 'walk-up' rail fares are involved - when advance purchase is possible rail wins easily on price.
Given its relative isolation and distance from the main Cornish business centres I have never been convinced that Newquay-London City services would be viable.
I suspect the Newquay/Plymouth-Gatwick services will survive purely because of the onward journey opportunities.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Parent company to sell Plymouth-based Air Southwest

Plymouth-based airline Air Southwest is to be sold.
Sutton Harbour Holdings said the decision to sell the airline had been taken to enable it to "resource activities more effectively".
The airline's operating profits fell by ^600,000 last year and it was announced earlier this month it was scrapping its London City route.
Revealing its annual results, Sutton Harbour Holdings said Plymouth City Airport would not be sold.
Air Southwest was launched in 2003.

[woody]

Plymouth airline Air Southwest is to be sold after a tough year for transport sector
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Plymouth-airline-Air-Southwest-sold-chairman-announced/article-2215732-detail/article.html
 Hard to say what the ramifications of this decision will be at this stage but owners Sutton Harbour Holdings are a property development company first and transport provider second.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Study reveals drop in passengers using Newquay Airport

There has been a continuing drop in the number of people flying to and from Cornwall, according to Newquay Airport.

A study by the airport has shown a 19% fall in passengers over the past two years. However, the airport said the decline rate does appear to be slowing.

It added that the drop is in line with other regional airports, which have all been affected by the economy and the volcanic ash disruptions in the spring.

About 329,000 people are expected to use the airport this financial year.

By the way: while I was trying to decide where to post this latest item of news on the subject of Newquay Airport, I found there were already several previous topics on the subject.  As some of them fitted together, fairly neatly, in terms of chronology, I've taken the opportunity to merge them here - while keeping the original topic headings, just for clarity, as usual! 

CfN. 

[JayMac]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Plymouth-based airline Air Southwest sold

Plymouth-based airline Air Southwest has been sold to Eastern Airways.

Air Southwest employs about 150 people and flies to UK^▸ (United Kingdom) regional airports as well as the Republic of Ireland and the Channel Islands.

Owner Sutton Harbour Holdings made the decision to sell in May after the airline's operating profits fell by ^600,000.

Air Southwest will continue to fly under its existing brand and staff will be employed by Air Southwest .

The airline was created in 2003 when British Airways withdrew flights to the South West.

Humberside-based Eastern Airways employs 420 staff and operates a fleet of 30 aircraft serving 21 destinations in the UK, Ireland, Norway and France.

Nigel Godefroy, chief executive of the Sutton Harbour Group, said: "Being part of a larger airline will bring stability to Air Southwest and that is good news for air travel to and from the far South West, and for Plymouth and Newquay airports."

Richard Lake, managing director of Eastern Airways, said: "Air Southwest is well regarded by its customers and we want to ensure we retain that loyalty by continuing to offer excellent service and value for money."

[woody]

The company, which was sold by Plymouth's Sutton Harbour Holdings to Eastern Airways at the end of last year, has today announced changes to its operational schedule and will cease flying from Newquay and Plymouth airports to London Gatwick from February 1.
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Air-Southwest-scraps-flights-Pymouth-London/article-3082115-detail/article.html

[Timmer]

Looking at the comments section at the bottom of the above report, the people of Plymouth aren't very happy about this.