News: Flybe to scrap its Spanish flights from Birmingham
Flights > News > # 1131 (20/12/2006)
Regional budget airline Flybe is set to axe all its flights from Birmingham to Spain in early January. The airline will cancel its flights from Birmingham to Alicante and Malaga on January 7 and 8 respectively.
The airline is pulling out of a heavily saturated market, where they face competition from airlines such as BmiBaby, Monarch Scheduled and Thomsonfly, as well as traditional charter operators. There has been no comment from Flybe over the future of flights from Birmingham to Madrid and Barcelona currently operated by BA Connect. Flybe is due to take over BA Connect on January 1.
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This seems like a rational move by Flybe, who can compete so much more effectively on high-density shuttle routes within the UK, where they can offer the best frequency, and niche European destinations where there is less competition. Flybe uses smaller aircraft than most of its competitors, which enables it to run more regular services and get its planes into smaller airports that other airlines cannot use.
The market for flights to Spanish Mediterranean destinations is driven much more by price than any other factor, especially when it comes to families travelling on holiday. Flybe might operate a very fuel efficient fleet, but smaller aircraft tend to lead to higher charges on a per passenger basis, because Spanish airport managers would far rather sell restricted slots used by an Airbus A319/320 or Boeing 737, than allocate the same runway and apron space to a plane which might only carry half as many passengers.
Whilst we’re sure that Flybe’s existing flights to Spain from bases such as Norwich, Southampton and Exeter will remain secure, as it does not face any direct competition on these routes, we would hope Flybe will bring back flights from Birmingham to somewhere in Spain in the near future. We’re not confident Flybe would want to retain BA Connect's Birmingham to Barcelona route, especially now that BmiBaby have announced daily flights, in addition to Thomsonfly’s existing flights from Coventry to Barcelona, but we would expect to see the Spanish capital Madrid retain a direct link with Birmingham, not just because it is an important business and leisure destination in its own right, but also because of the onward connections it offers to Latin America.
We also hope that the new Embraer 195 jets will enable Flybe to look at other Spanish cities which are not currently served by direct flights from Birmingham. British Airways might have axed its London to Seville flights in the face of heavy no-frills competition from Ryanair, but would this Andalusian hotspot offer the right mix of business and leisure potential to enable Flybe to make a route there work from Birmingham? Other cities which might offer this opportunity might include Bilbao and Valencia.
Easyjet couldn’t make cheap flights to Bilbao work from Bristol, but Flybe can attack this route without having to fill so many seats, not to mention the fact that Birmingham offers a far bigger customer base than Bristol. Meanwhile, Valencia has seen an extensive growth in its route network over the last two years, with interest in the city set to grow further as it becomes the focus of attention for next year’s America's Cup sailing event. Although Ryanair and Thomsonfly offer cheap flights to Valencia from East Midlands and Coventry respectively, Flybe could still operate this route from Birmingham without having to face direct competition.
We would also have to consider the possibility of Granada as a new Flybe destination from Birmingham. Although it might not offer the business travel potential which the larger Spanish cities can generate, Granada offers a much less congested alternative for reaching inland southern Spain than Malaga, as well is being a stunning city break destination in its own right.
We’re sure that BmiBaby will have given Granada a good look, as will have Monarch Scheduled, who already offer cheap flights to Granada from London Gatwick.
