News: Flybe head east
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Flights > News > # 1101 (05/12/2006)
New flights to Germany and Croatia are the highlights of the latest phase of Flybe’s summer schedule for 2007.
Flybe released the first part of its schedule in September, and the final phase will be announced when the regional specialist completes its takeover of BA Connect.
Flights from Birmingham to Hamburg in Germany take off in late March, with Dubrovnik and Split in Croatia following in May. The summer schedule also sees the first flights from Newcastle and Edinburgh to Limoges and Bergerac respectively as Flybe continues its expansion into France.
There will be additional services to three French destinations, Avignon, Nice and Rennes, from Exeter.
Flybe’s chief commercial officer, Mike Rutter, said: “The announcement of new bases in Croatia and Germany are some of our most important new schedule announcements to date, demonstrating our aggressive expansion policy in the UK and across Europe.”
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Comment:
Croatia
These exciting new routes to Dubrovnik and Split are bringing Flybe into one of the few parts of Europe where there is little existing competition from other no-frills airlines. Following on from BmiBaby's announcement last week of new flights from Birmingham to Lisbon and Marseille, it looks like we are finally starting to see a bit of risk-taking amongst the airlines based in Britain's second city, a move which we think is long overdue.
Whilst Croatia's stunning Adriatic coast presents numerous destinations which are extremely attractive in their own right, these latest route announcements also show that with the right combination of aircraft and airport deal, there are few limits to the cities which can be added to an airline's route map.
We expect BmiBaby will be watching these developments closely, as there are still a number of notable European cities which do not have direct links with Birmingham. Now that Flybe have also started to look at destinations in the former Eastern Bloc, will we finally start to see long-awaited flights from Birmingham to cities such as Warsaw and Budapest? Will they also be looking at adding bases such as Southampton and Exeter to the list of airports who offer the enticing Czech capital, Prague, on their departures boards?
Hamburg
There is still a certain amount of confusion for BA Connect customers who are looking to book flights beyond January 2007, as it is not entirely clear which routes new owners Flybe will keep, and which ones they will axe. The implication of this announcement is that Flybe would have announced flights to Hamburg anyway, in a similar manner to the flights from Birmingham to Hanover they started last month.
It will be far more interesting to see whether Flybe launch more flights to Germany from their other bases, where such routes don't currently exist. With the airline having expanded so much from Southampton in recent years, will they add Hamburg to the flights they are already operating from there to Düsseldorf and Hanover?
The addition of the new Embraer 195 jets to the Flybe fleet will certainly enable them to compete effectively against both rival low-cost airlines and the regional commuter operations of Lufthansa and their subsidiaries, but we're not so sure about whether or not Flybe would be able to secure slots at busy German hubs such as Frankfurt and Munich, or any of the heavily congested Berlin airports, beyond those they will inherit from BA Connect.
France
The new flights to Croatia might grab the headlines, but Flybe’s rapid expansion into France should not be overlooked. The airline seems to have enjoyed considerably more success here than they have on their routes to Spain and Portugal, many of which have been cut back in the face of intense competition, especially at Birmingham.
So what gives Flybe the edge on the regional flights to France? One of the key differences between France and Spain is that flights to Spain still tend to be much more concentrated on densely packed coastal resorts. On these routes, where there are usually several airlines competing with each other, price is the most important factor, and even though Flybe are very competitive, there is usually another airline which can do it cheaper.
When it comes to picking flights to France, there are many more possible destination airports to choose from, and these are spread out throughout the country. Many of the French airports Flybe operate into cannot be used by rival airlines, because the runways are simply not long enough to handle Boeing 737 or Airbus jets. The other key advantage Flybe have with using smaller aircraft is that they do not have to find so many passengers to fill them.
Many of Flybe's flights to France, especially those which operate from southern cities like Exeter and Southampton, are very short when compared with most other UK to Europe flights. Again, Flybe's fleet has an extremely important advantage here. With all the ongoing discussions about the environmental impacts of aviation, the usage of the Q400 turboprop, which does not have to climb as high as other airlines’ jet aircraft, enables Flybe to operate routes which are both economical for them, and relatively benign environmentally.
