@SeanM1997

22 March 2022 Flybe have announced its first routes - 23 in total, operating from 16 airports including 12 in the United Kingdom. Belfast City and Birmingham are its initial bases and Belfast has over half of the routes served. However, is there a missed opportunity for Flybe? Based on the initial new routes, Flybe will face competition on 16 of the 23 routes including 11 out of 12 serving Belfast City. Of the 19 that are to operate year round, just 3 do not face any competition: Amsterdam - East Midlands Belfast City - East Midlands Leeds/Bradford - London Heathrow Here lies problem number 1 for Flybe - they are targeting routes already served. There is a benefit to this strategy, the market is known, customers are already flying the routes and Flybe can enter with attractive fares to shift consumers from one airline to another. Yet, serving routes with an existing carrier is unlikely to bring deals with airports for better fees. After all, why would airports subsidise a second carrie...

Ryanair are to not serve Northern Ireland from 31 October 2021, after axing City of Derry in January 2021 and curtailing its 8 Belfast City routes on 12 September 2021 (previously on sale until 30 October 2021). Ryanair are now leaving a third airport in Northern Ireland - Belfast International, where it serves six routes. This leaves the country without a direct service with the low cost carrier. Ryanair have been in the Northern Ireland market for over a decade and have served a variety of domestic and international routes during that time, however, the airline are not the largest in Northern Ireland - with easyJet serving more routes and passengers than Ryanair. However, 2021 has been a turbulent year for Ryanair in the Northern Ireland market. How has 2021 impacted Ryanair's Northern Ireland operation? Ryanair ended its City of Derry to Edinburgh and Liverpool routes in early 2021 due to a row with the UK's Civil Aviation Authority regarding Brexit-related policy.  Edinburg...

17 June 2021 easyJet have loaded 12 new domestic routes for Summer 2021, serving 16 airports across the United Kingdom. As noted in my previous article ( easyJet expands UK domestic - where next? (seanm1997.blogspot.com) ), even before the collapse of Flybe in March 2021, easyJet has been the number 1 domestic carrier by seats in the UK - connecting major airports including London Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh and B elfast International, and has recently grown its UK domestic operation. easyJet have long served one key market in the UK domestic market - connecting major cities and conurbations. Belfast (International) has been key to this. Being on a separate island to Great Britain has allowed easyJet to grow its Belfast operation in recent years and with the collapse of Flybe, easyJet became the largest domestic carrier from the Northern Ireland capital. In 2019, the airline launched Manchester - Jersey and in 2020 launched Edinburgh - Birmingham and Glasgow - Birmingham, whilst in ...

12 June 2021 Image 1: Stobart Air Late on the evening of 11th June, Stobart Air notified Aer Lingus that it is terminating its franchise agreement with Aer Lingus with immediate effect. As a result, all Aer Lingus Regional flights operated by Stobart Air are cancelled. Overnight, Managing Director of Stobart Air, Andy Jolly sent an email to employees regarding the termination of flights. In the email, it states 'Esken has yesterday evening, 11JUN21, stated that it is now clear that Ettyl is unable to conclude the transaction to acquire Stobart Air UC on the original terms, or to obtain an alternative funding package within the required timescale. Esken has therefore exercised its right to terminate the contract with Ettyl for the transaction with immediate effect.' The email concludes by stating, 'Accordingly all EI [Aer Lingus] franchise and BA [British Airways] wet-lease flying is terminated - with immediate effect all flights are cancelled - and the Board of Stobart Air ...

COVID-19 has led to many restrictions on international travel across the world, with a stronger demand for staycations and domestic travel. In the UK, many airlines have added new domestic flights in 2021 including Aer Lingus Regional, BA CityFlyer, Blue Islands, Eastern Airways, easyJet, Jet2 and Loganair. However, Ryanair have done the opposite - cutting all their domestic routes including flights from Belfast International, City of Derry, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London Stansted and Manchester. Could we see Ryanair return to the market? Ryanair vacated the UK domestic market due to the UK Civil Aviation Authority due to regulatory changes post Brexit (1). This has meant UK registered aircraft are required for domestic and non-EU routes. This was a blow for many airports - especially City of Derry, where Ryanair had flights to Edinburgh and Liverpool. Loganair stepped in and replaced Ryanair at City of Derry, adding a Liverpool route and increasing its existing Glasgow flights, whilst A...

On 5 March 2020, Flybe ceased operations, leading to many routes across the United Kingdom being cut. At Belfast City, Flybe had 70.3% of total seats and 80.3% of movements with a total of 679,927 scheduled departure seats. However, this gave Belfast City an opportunity - to be less reliant on one carrier and to spread its operations across many. First came Loganair - adding flights from Aberdeen and Inverness followed by Eastern Airways launching Southampton flights. In July 2020, BA CityFlyer announced a London City route from September 2020 before Stobart Air added 6 routes from Belfast City under the Aer Lingus Regional brand - Birmingham, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Exeter, Leeds/Bradford and Manchester. This led to the first base at Belfast City following the collapse of Flybe - albeit at reduced frequencies. Finally in 2020, Loganair announced a new route from Dundee, the first route which was not previously served by Flybe. Yet it was in 2021 when Belfast City really f ound their...