Return of Flybe ?

[Butts]

I had an E-Mail from the successors to Flybe indicating they now hold the Data on me that the old outfit had.

Are they about to rise like sphinx from the ashes ?

 

[YorkshireBear]

They already have planes re-liveried, slots payed for and have started recruiting staff (may already have staff). I believe they have a few of the Dash props only at this stage and planning to start out of Birmingham as a hub initially. I'll go try dig out the articles.

 

[TravelDream]

I think it's an odd decision to retain the flybe name.

flybe hardly had a good reputation (flymaybe for their regular passengers) and, obviously, the news of their bankruptcy was all in the news further tarnishing their name.

 

[Butts]

I think it's an odd decision to retain the flybe name.

flybe hardly had a good reputation (flymaybe for their regular passengers) and, obviously, the news of their bankruptcy was all in the news further tarnishing their name.

I always found them to be quite reliable between Edinburgh and Birmingham and their 2 by 2 Seating was always a bonus.

Embraers are sadly missed between Edinburgh and Cardiff.

Also managed to make most of the Western Isles (Including Beach landing at Barra) on the great rewards scheme they ran.

Orkney and Shetland as well.

 

[Irascible]

They seem to have more than just the branding, the first reliveried aircraft flew into the old Flybe's hangar in Exeter for a bit. The new base is in Birmingham I think ( old HQ was also at Exeter, once upon a time they were Jersey European ), so it's not really a revival. IIRC the plan is to go all Q400. Talked to a couple of ex Flybe pilots who're somewhat ambivalent about the whole thing.

 

[mmh]

I think it's an odd decision to retain the flybe name.

flybe hardly had a good reputation (flymaybe for their regular passengers) and, obviously, the news of their bankruptcy was all in the news further tarnishing their name.

Established brand names are worth a lot. Far harder to develop a brand from scratch. If someone was to open a chain of shops called Woolworths, it would have a high chance of being successful.

 

[Acfb]

They've announced a load of routes today mainly from their bases of Belfast City and Birmingham airports: https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/simpleflying.com/new-flybe-launch-network-revealed/amp/.

Seems quite bold on routes with existing competition particularly from Belfast (Loganair, Aer Lingus, BA etc)

 

[Titfield]

I would venture to suggest a very big risk booking with Flybe. Pay by credit card so you have comeback and make sure you have a back up plan on the day!

 

[Tetchytyke]

Seems quite bold on routes with existing competition particularly from Belfast (Loganair, Aer Lingus, BA etc)

The Dash-8 is more expensive to run than the ATR-72 too, which is why the old Flybe had started to move away from the Dash-8 towards Stobart ATR-72s.

I give the new Flybe 18 months tops.

 

[TravelDream]

I still think it's an incredibly odd decision to retain the flybe name.

There is an article on the Daily Mail site which sounds pretty awful for the company.
''Collapsed Flybe will return to the skies next month: Airline will operate 530 flights a week across 23 routes two years after it fell into administration with loss of 2,400 jobs''
is hardly the headline anyone would like to launch a new company.

Collapsed Flybe will return with 530 flights a week across 23 routes

Collapsed airline Flybe has announced it will return to the skies next month with 520 flights a week across 23 routes, two years after it went into administration.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Butts]

Starting up later this month - I've had an e-mail.

No Embraers just those crap Dash Jobs

Fares from £29.99 - surprised they have got a few Heathrow Slots.

 

[TheGrew]

For most of the old network the Dash 8s made more sense from an operational perspective. Yes jets are marginally quicker but it isn't really noticeable until you hit something like 500nm and above. The dash 8 is also the second fastest commercial turbo prop (after the saab 2000).

 

[TravelDream]

The Dash is far more economical for the types of routes flybe used/ will use them on.
It's also a lot cheaper to lease. It's a no brainer really.

The Heathrow slots are actually British Airways'. When BA bought bmi way back when, the European Commission required them to offer their slots to competitors on certain routes where BA and bmi had been in competition.
A quick Google tells me the applicable routes are Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Nice, Cairo, Riyadh and Moscow. Obviously it's just the first two which flybe would have any interest in.
If the airline uses those slots of the prescribed route for three years, they them become their property and not BAs. If the route stops before three years, they revert back to BA (as what happened with old flybe).

On flybe, I still find it bizarre they are using the name and brand of an airline that went bankrupt and few have positive memories of.
I do wish them all the best though.

 

[Bletchleyite]

On flybe, I still find it bizarre they are using the name and brand of an airline that went bankrupt and few have positive memories of.

Yes, I must admit I'd have gone for a totally new brand rather than have the "FlyMaybe" association. They weren't well regarded.

 

[jopsuk]

Heathrow-Leeds Bradford seems a very odd use of a Heathrow slot, given that Simple Flying states "no direct competition" there's very strong indirect competition for London-Leeds in the form of rail. 3x daily is only of use for connections if those 3 flights are at convenient times

 

[Tetchytyke]

Heathrow-Leeds Bradford seems a very odd use of a Heathrow slot

Depends where they got the slots from. Until the pandemic, BA were flying twice daily Leeds/Bradford to Heathrow.

Wouldn't be surprised if Flybe are just babysitting the slot.

My experience of domestic BA is that a good 80% of passengers transit to international flights at Heathrow.

 

[AlterEgo]

Heathrow-Leeds Bradford seems a very odd use of a Heathrow slot, given that Simple Flying states "no direct competition" there's very strong indirect competition for London-Leeds in the form of rail. 3x daily is only of use for connections if those 3 flights are at convenient times

Almost nobody flies from Leeds to arrive in London. The railway from Leeds doesn’t go directly to Heathrow for connections.

 

[Starmill]

Has the new Flybe got any codeshare agreements?

 

[najaB]

Has the new Flybe got any codeshare agreements?

Not that I'm aware of. The relationship with SkyTeam died with Flybe 1.0.

 

[jopsuk]

Almost nobody flies from Leeds to arrive in London. The railway from Leeds doesn’t go directly to Heathrow for connections.

right, but- connections are only of use if timed conveniently, and without code-share connections are a bit rubbish anyway

 

[Stathern Jc]

Had an e-mail this morning from "flybe Limited" saying they are now up and running, not sure when the first day was but presume this week.
Destinations mentioned were Leeds, Belfast, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh, with flights from £34.99 one way inc taxes.

Currently the only destination listed from Inverness is Belfast, and selecting a random date in May showed no available flights.
Loganair still operate on that route. Are flybe "buying back" routes which Loganair (and others?) took over when the original flybe failed? Can't see why Loganair would want to play ball with that. Or are flybe starting off duplicating services set up to replace those which their earlier namesake left in abeyance??
Early days, and it will be interesting to see how things develope for the longer domestic flights.

Coincidentally, this afternoon Flightradar24 showed flybe Flight BEE412 from BHX to BHD with Dash 8 G-JECY. That's the first one I've noticed.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I shan't be rushing to fly with them. Just like I tried hard to avoid them previously, I dare say it will only become relevant if I want to go to the west country or something like that in future and find that they're the only people who operate at the time or price I want

 

[Tetchytyke]

Or are flybe starting off duplicating services set up to replace those which their earlier namesake left in abeyance??

I believe that they're actively competing on these routes. And unless they secretly have Elon Musk funding them, I suspect they'll run out of money before EasyJet/Loganair/Emerald do.

The whole thing is bizarre. Who fondly remembers Flybe? They were as depressingly awful as the low cost airlines but without actually being low cost.

Loganair have their faults, but the service here is infinitely better since they replaced old Flybe.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Apr 2022 ==

right, but- connections are only of use if timed conveniently, and without code-share connections are a bit rubbish anyway

The times are pretty good for connections. The evening flight south connects nicely into the bank of evening departures for America and the Middle East, and the morning flight northbound connects nicely from the bank of early morning long haul arrivals.

Not being able to check bags through is definitely a hindrance, although my experience of Loganair's codeshares is that its normally quite a bit cheaper to book the legs separately and invest in decent travel insurance.

 

[Butts]

Who fondly remembers Flybe? They were as depressingly awful as the low cost airlines but without actually being low cost.

I for one do. For many years they were the only operator between Glasgow/Edinburgh and Birmingham with fares readily available around the £25/£30 mark.

They also had a great rewards scheme that enabled me to visit many of the Islands at great prices - Shetland/Orkney/Barra/ and many others.

On some routes they flew modern Embraer 175/190 Aircraft.

On the routes Loganair have replaced them on a lot of the fares have ballooned utilising clapped out Embraers and ATR's.

 

[najaB]

On the routes Loganair have replaced them on a lot of the fares have ballooned utilising clapped out Embraers and ATR's.

I don't think it's entirely fair to dump on Logan Air for having an older fleet. They could have spent a lot of money on new aircraft, but as we've seen that didn't work out so well for Flybe 1.0. Their ATR-72s are all under 6 years old, and I understand they plan to phase out the ATR-42s as -72s come available on the lease market.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Loganair have replaced them on a lot of the fares have ballooned

Loganair don't do the no-frills pricing model, hold bags are included for free, which makes them more expensive if you're only travelling with hand luggage.

But with bags, my experience here is that there's absolutely no difference in price. Same between EasyJet and Loganair; I'm travelling next week with a hold bag and there was a fiver between EasyJet and Loganair to London.

I wouldn't describe the ATR-42 and ATR-72 they use here as "clapped out".

 

[Starmill]

Loganair provides free coffee and biscuits too. OK it's a small thing but the point is that they're not chasing the super budget market. If the prices were about the same you'd choose Loganair.

 

[Butts]

Loganair provides free coffee and biscuits too. OK it's a small thing but the point is that they're not chasing the super budget market. If the prices were about the same you'd choose Loganair.

Just as well with the amount they charge - remind me of Eastern Airways are they still going ?

An example BHX-ABZ and INV-BHX in October has cost me north of a £140 for the two flights- booked well in advance with a discount.

On Flybe (booked before they collapsed) it would have been £50 each tops and more likely to be £30/40 each.

I agree about the hold baggage / drinks remarks - but a lot of people just fly with hand luggage and the size is limited on a lot of their Fleet.

The old Flybe Coffee and a biscuit was about £3.

 

[najaB]

Just as well with the amount they charge - remind me of Eastern Airways are they still going ?

Yes, they are.

An example BHX-ABZ and INV-BHX in October has cost me north of a £140 for the two flights- booked well in advance with a discount.

On Flybe (booked before they collapsed) it would have been £50 each tops and more likely to be £30/40 each.

Flybe collapsed, Loganair didn't. I wonder if those cheaper fares had anything to do with it?

 

[Starmill]

Just as well with the amount they charge - remind me of Eastern Airways are they still going ?

An example BHX-ABZ and INV-BHX in October has cost me north of a £140 for the two flights- booked well in advance with a discount.

On Flybe (booked before they collapsed) it would have been £50 each tops and more likely to be £30/40 each.

I agree about the hold baggage / drinks remarks - but a lot of people just fly with hand luggage and the size is limited on a lot of their Fleet.

The old Flybe Coffee and a biscuit was about £3.

Not a massive shock that they became insolvent then really is it.