Eastern Airways takeover of Aor Wales??

Well I am now living in Exeter again after a few years up north (I really miss LBA!), and I can tell you that the problem with 6Gs ORK link is not the stop on the way but the fact that NO ONE knows about it!!

I fly quite a bit, I read this forum, I try to keep informed of what is going on in the travel trade partly for work and partly because I am interested, and this is the first I have heard of a flight from EXT to ORK!! As far as I was concerned EXT is FlyBe-Land, oh yeah and Skybus.

Air Wales really do know how to keep a secret.

En-route stops are not too bad, I used to fly WOW from PLH a lot last year and the stop in BRS was really not a problem, and it meant another takeoff and landing, cool… 🙂

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2 / 3 / 4 / 8 do have some subsistance in the claims, however with an airline still not turning oprofit yet, can they afford the capital to invest and put too much risk into double daily runs on BHD?

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And do you know why the airline, now in it’s 6th year, is still not making a profit? Because they don’t advertise enough, therefore people don’t even know about their flights let alone book them, so 6G scrap the route less than a month in, removing any slim chance the route had of becoming successful. They also try to go for the niche market- you said yourself BVA would be ideal for Disneyland. Fine, but not that many people go to Disneyland and back every day to make it profitable, and for anyone else wanting to go to Paris who don’t want to visit Disneyland, CDG is much more conveniant for the same price. Also, the stops are just stupid. Honestly, if you lived in Exeter and wanted to go to Cork, would you check in 2 hours before you had to fly, wait round, board a plane, take off, fly 15 minutes, land again, wait some more, take off, then fly for hour+, then land etc……or, would you drive to BRS (which isn’t that far), check in 2 hours before, board the plane, take off, and fly, getting to you destinatiobn much quicker with less hassle? I know which I’d choose. And WAT-Rennes? Aer Arann have had that covered for ages! Theres only so much capacity an airport like WAT needs on one route, and it’s already go it, without Air Wales. And the first BRU service would not work without business pax, it had to have business pax, and they knew that, they just didn’t listen and operated the flight on the days they had extra capacity. All these blatently obvious common sense decisions, which they had market research and analysts to help them with came from top management. So yes, I do think that given management training I probably could do a better job running Air Wales.

On the airwales website Rennes and Waterford routes are no longer Bookable!!!!

1. Opinion, not fact. Twice daily services do usually suit the buisness community, correct, however a twice daily routing may not have had the demand for pax carrage, and thus a once daily service provided a Brussles link that was anticipated.

5. If they don’t like it, they wouldn’t book it. I presume they would prefer a one-stop service than non at all!

6. Rennes from JER? Possably so. Regional connections to France are as essential to JER as to the UK, also I personally do not know the inbound JER toursim potential from France to Jersey. Was it possably in colabertion with a local travel agency as many UK runs are? Rennes indeed could be looking to cash in on the success of the like of Aer Arann with their L’orient routes – after all who would have thought they would have so much luck with these runs?

7. BVA is ideal for Disneyland. Perhaps Air Wales were looking to take their share of this market?

2 / 3 / 4 / 8 do have some subsistance in the claims, however with an airline still not turning oprofit yet, can they afford the capital to invest and put too much risk into double daily runs on BHD?

At the end of the day it is all too easy to run an airline from your PC Chair! Try working with it on a day to day basis, and look at some of the unforeseen issues that arise!!!

I do not work for Air Wales, but have had regular involvement with staff running the show on a day to day basis, all of whom come across as a professional bunch!

I dont think anyone has a problem was Air Wales’s front line staff

The main reason AIr Wales come into criticism is their scheduling and route network. Here’s some examples:

1. CWL-BRU (the first time), served 4 times a week when, to attract politicians and business traffic it needed to be twice daily on weekdays with an extra Sunday evening flight
2. Aberdeen. Initially served on a sensible schedule through Liverpool. Then it was served through Newcastle. However, at the end it was only served on 3 days a week. Business travellers want to choose from the five working days when they can do business, not three
3. London City. The same as Aberdeen. At the end it was only served on Mondays and Fridays
4. Plymouth. Over the past few months, until they dropped the airport all together, they kept altering, cancelling and reinstating flights like there was no tomorrow
5. Exeter-Newquay-Cork. I dont think many Exeter passengers will be impressed by having to stop in Newquay
6. Rennes. Did they really think they would make JER-Rennes work? And is there really any chance of Waterford-Rennes working or is it just to compete with Aer Arran
7. Paris BVA. I know the serice will not now start, but did they really think once daily services to Paris BVA could compete with the cheaper bmi baby service to the more convienent Paris CDG?
8. Belfast City. What a missed oppurtunity to provide a decent service for business travellers

Of course, it must be highlighted the Air Wales success stories, like CWL-DUB, comepeting against Ryanair, and CWL-NCL. However, as shown above, Air Wales need to improve there network and scheduling. Hopefully they can make a success of CWL-BRU this time around 🙂

for Eastern or Air Wales?

If you mean Eastern then I don’t think it has that much significance – far less obvious that Air Wales.

I’m suggesting for Air Wales

A name change would be inevitable

for Eastern or Air Wales?

If you mean Eastern then I don’t think it has that much significance – far less obvious that Air Wales.

We’ll if you dont know why we are not the biggest fans of Air Wales management then have you been living in a cave recently?

Yes I have seen you aren’t the biggest fans but all I want to know to see is how a few enthusiasts can back-up and put pay to some of the quotes which appear on these forums?

Once people get into the industry it becomes slightly frustrating to see those with no pofessional involvement in the industry ridecule and judge how operators work. Avaition is a cut-throat world and some of the comments that get posted do nothing but create annimosity that can be viewed by anybody publically.

I do not work for Air Wales, but have had regular involvement with staff running the show on a day to day basis, all of whom come across as a professional bunch!

We’ll if you dont know why we are not the biggest fans of Air Wales management then have you been living in a cave recently?

22 seat aircraft, if these rumours are true (we havent any other evidence or source of rumour), then perhaps Eastern would re-consider retiring the J31s or would just bump it up to a 41.

The ATRs would most likely be sold on and replaced by Saab 2000s, Eastern love them for some reason and are snapping them up quickly,

A name change would be inevitable

related to a comment of mine?

If true, its sad that Wales will be losing it’s own airline. Air Wales is by no means perfect, and management is a shambles,

Sorry, but could you please explain why (obviously in your PROFESSIONAL opinion) how you can justify any management to be a shambles?

I am just interested as I read more and more postings on forums such as these, telling us about how badly these companies are run – I would just like to see some justification.

Eastern are retiring their Jetstream 32 fleet

Yeah, but I’m not sure the many thousands of passengers inconvenienced by the delays and chopping and changing of routes would agree with you LGKR

Your right, Air Wales passengers would benefit alot, and I’m sure that the combined airline would attract alot more people than Air Wales & Eastern gets currently

and might even see them operating some bigger a/c types such as the AT4.
LGKR

Remember, Air Wales’ ATR-42s are going tech on a regular basis, and are a key problem in causing delays & cancellations. If I were Eastern, I’d sell the ATRS and use the cash to help pay for some new ones, or even a different type of a/c altogether. It’ll be a gradual process- replacing a fleet of 5 ATRs is a costly business, but it’ll pay off in the end.

If true, its sad that Wales will be losing it’s own airline. Air Wales is by no means perfect, and management is a shambles, but it does (intermittently) provide a number of key scheduled services from CWL, and other airports. I would hope a name change would take place, as Air Wales serves Wales and the southwest, not the east of the UK. And most importantly of all, I hope that the new airline will retain a strong presense at CWL. If anything, this could be highly beneficial to the airport; Eastern are likely to concentrate on the domestic routes, handing Aer Arann the reigns on regional routes to Ireland, France & Belgium.

After all that, where are the rumours coming from?

ps. The WAG said the CWL-Valley route would be served by a roughly 22 seater plane, which could mean Easterns Jetsteam 32 (18 passnegers).

Yeah, but I’m not sure the many thousands of passengers inconvenienced by the delays and chopping and changing of routes would agree with you :rolleyes: !!!

It would be a great move for Eastern Airways if it goes ahead, they are a professional little outfit (if only the ticket prices would drop abit!!) and might even see them operating some bigger a/c types such as the AT4.

cheers,

LGKR