@SeanM1997

Following the loss of Ryanair in early 2021 and the travel restrictions imposed during the COVID-19, City of Derry Airport looked to be suffering. It had lost its two busiest routes (Edinburgh and Liverpool), with charter flights to Palma de Mallorca cancelled for the summer due to uncertainties in travel restrictions. This left the airport with just one airline (Loganair) and two routes - Glasgow and London Stansted for 2021. However, the airport has turned its fortunes around and have recently announced a series of new routes and increased frequencies, with Loganair today announcing a new City of Derry to Edinburgh route from May 2022. In March, Loganair announced a third route to Liverpool, with four weekly flights, increasing to seven weekly in late June and were further increased to nine weekly flights in peak summer. Whilst this was less seats than offered under Ryanair, it did involve more flights and were more attractive to those wanting to be flexible with their travel. Additi...

Following the collapse of Flybe in March 2020 and liquidation of Stobart Air in June 2021, many routes between Ireland and the United Kingdom were left unserved. However, Ryanair have recently added an abundance of routes from Irish airports to the United Kingdom, closing the opportunity for a new Aer Lingus Regional airline to have a major presence in the market. Image 1: Ryanair Over recent months, Ryanair have announced a series of routes including: Knock - Edinburgh (commenced in September 2021) - previously served by Flybe Knock - Manchester (commenced in September 2021) - previously served by Flybe Shannon - Edinburgh (commenced in September 2021) - previously served by Stobart Air Shannon - London Luton (commences 7 October 2021) - previously unserved Dublin - Cardiff (commences 31 October 2021) - previously served by Flybe Shannon - Birmingham (commences 1 November 2021) - previously served by Stobart Air Image 2: Ryanair's recent Ireland - UK additions Ryanair have put on ...

It is now 18 months since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the UK-US aviation market has changed beyond imagination. Norwegian Air, who's largest base was London Gatwick, has given up on long haul flying (1), Delta Airlines cancelled plans to serve London Gatwick and Manchester, American Airlines and United Airlines left Manchester, British Airways cut two US routes from London Heathrow and Virgin Atlantic consolidated its London operation at London Heathrow. Its fair to say, the sector was torn apart in 2020 and 2021, however, with the vaccine rollout, borders reopening and increasing pressure to return to normality, the sector is demonstrating signs of recovering and new players entering the market. Since 2 August 2021, the United Kingdom has allowed vaccinated visitors from the United States to enter the country without quarantine, with a pre-departure and Day 2 test only. This allowed airlines including British Airways, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic to record surge ...

Virgin Atlantic have announced four new routes from across the United Kingdom, including a return to Edinburgh - as the long haul carrier looks to capitalise on the increase in passengers to the Caribbean and leisure destinations. Today (11 August 2021), Virgin Atlantic announced four new routes to start in Winter 2021*. These are: - London Heathrow to St Lucia - 3x weekly flights starting 18 December 2021 - Manchester to Montego Bay - 3x weekly flights starting 6 November 2021 - Edinburgh to Bridgetown (Barbados) - 2x weekly flights starting 5 December 2021 - Edinburgh to Orlando International - 2x weekly flights starting 30 March 2022 London Heathrow to St Lucia: Virgin Atlantic cut its London Gatwick to St Lucia route in 2020 after the  Saint Lucia Tourism Authority said it “could not meet the proposals from Virgin Atlantic” which led to the decision to withdraw its UK service(1). This is Virgin Atlantic's only route into St Lucia and enlarges the long haul carrier's n...

Ryanair have announced 2 aircraft and 12 new routes from Newcastle. Over recent months, Jet2 and TUI Airways have announced an additional aircraft for Summer 2022, and with Ryanair launching a two aircraft base - it demonstrates the increased demand and competition from the North East Airport. In September 2020, easyJet closed its 3 aircraft base in Newcastle - leaving the airport with no based low cost carrier. Ryanair has filled the void and allowed the airport to have three dominant airlines competition in the Newcastle leisure market. Ryanair will launch one of the 12 routes on 31 October 2021, with three weekly flights to Kraków in Poland. This is Ryanair's third Polish route from Newcastle - joining Gdańsk and Wrocław. From 27 March 2022, Ryanair will base its two aircraft in Newcastle and launch 11 further routes - Chania (Greece), Fuerteventura (Spain), Gran Canaria (Spain), Ibiza (Spain), Lanzarote (Spain), Menorca (Spain), Milan Bergamo (Italy), Paphos (Cyprus), Riga (Lat...

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 ...

16 June 2021 Ryanair announced a new route from Turin to Edinburgh with flights commencing 6 November 2021. The announcement was one of 15 new routes from Turin, where Ryanair plan to base 2 Boeing 737 aircraft from 30 June 2021. This comes just a day after Wizz Air announce a new base in Naples, also in Italy. This route will compete directly against Jet2. In 2019 (the last full year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic), 4,515 passengers travelled between Edinburgh and Turin. In Winter 2021/22 (w/c 7 February 2022), both Jet2 and Ryanair will operate one weekly flight between Edinburgh and Turin. Flight timings: FR 5929 TRN 0615-0740 EDI (Saturdays) FR 5928 EDI 0805-1130 TRN (Saturdays) *Timings and frequencies correct at time of publication Photo: https://corporate.ryanair.com/media-centre/stock-images-gallery/

10 June 2021 Wizz Air have today announced the launch of its first domestic routes within the United Kingdom - Cardiff and Doncaster/Sheffield to Jersey, both operate 2x weekly flights between 9 July 2021 and 6 September 2021. Therefore, I look into whether Wizz Air should launch other UK domestic flights? 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. Wizz Air are one of the most ambitious airlines in Eur ope, starting out in Eastern Europe and serving a 'Visiting Friends and Relatives' market, to expanding in Western Europe and serving leisure-orientated routes. In 2020, Wizz Air announced 2 new bases in the UK - Doncaster/Sheffield and London Gatwick, with a third, Cardiff, launching in June 2021. This has taken Wizz ...

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...

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 Belfast 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. In 2021 the airline re-introduced previously cut routes including London Gatwick - Aberdeen and Edinburgh - Jersey and has added new routes to Bournemouth (from Belfast and Edinburgh), Inverness (Belfast) and Newquay (Glasgow, London G...