Eastern Airways is to launch a new service from LBA-Inverness from 26th April 2006.
The route will be operated by Jetstream 41 aircraft and it is supported by the Scottish Route Development Fund.
By: EGNM - 24th February 2006 at 00:11
Thinking of it, it must only be 5 years or so back that BA Citiexpress operated a Squadron of upto 6 x JS41s ex LBA:-
Aberdeen (3x Daily)
Southampton (4x Daily)
Isle Of Man (1/2 x Daily)
Bristol (3 x Daily)
London Gatwick (3x Daily)
Dublin (6x Daily)…
ABZ, SOU and IOM were taken on with the Transferral of the JS41s to Eastern, whilst the rest were dropped. The Dublin run was a response to RYR dropping to 1x Daily (now back to 3x Daily) and Aer Lingus dropping the F50s upon their retirement (EI Codeshare), and the BRS has since been taken on by Air Southwest.
The Gatwick entity was a totally differant concept to what people seem to be suggesting now – as a link into the BA transfer network, rather than a low-cost destination.
By: lbaspotter - 23rd February 2006 at 19:13
Hi
Well its another Scottish destination added to the list from LBA. It makes use of the aircraft that use to operate the Isle of Man service which of late has been sat around doing knothing.
It had been metioned a couple of times just of late that Inverness Airport were looking at airlines to start this service to LBA.
(Eg Airliner world in December 2005 issue.)
Next new route to be announced from LBA is a German destination.. Hope this is true. We have been waiting long enough.
Anyway heres the official press release issued by Eastern Airways.
Eastern Announce New Leeds Inverness Service
February 2006Regional airline Eastern Airways has announced the launch of a new service between Inverness and Leeds Bradford from this spring.
The six days a week service, which will commence on Monday 24th April, will be operated by a 29 seater Jetstream 41 aircraft with the one hour twenty minute flight departing Leeds Bradford at 10 15 and returning from Inverness at 12 05.
Eastern’s Director Scotland Graeme Ross commented. “Our service between Aberdeen and Leeds Bradford is well established and popular with both business and leisure travellers and we are confident that the Inverness departure will follow a similar pattern.
Leeds is one of the United Kingdom’s largest cities, a major financial centre with a range of management consultancies and law firms and from the leisure perspective, the airport is the gateway to the Yorkshire Dales and James Herriot country, the spa town of Harrogate and, of course Leeds, a fabulous shopping destination!
“For those travelling in the other direction, Inverness is becoming an increasingly popular destination and many blue chip organisations have bases in the north of Scotland. And for the tourist, aside from the chance to meet the Loch Ness Monster, the area boasts some of the most beautiful scenery to be found anywhere in the world.
“We firmly believe the new route will very much complement our existing direct services from Inverness to Birmingham and Manchester and will of course significantly increase connection opportunities to onward destinations from both Inverness and Leeds Bradford.”
Alex Johnson, commercial and marketing manager at Highland and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) said: “We are delighted to have secured a new cross-border UK route at Inverness with support from the Scottish Executive’s Rote Development Fund. Eastern Airways is a well established operator at Inverness and the introduction of a service to Leeds Bradford will increase the range of travel options for people both in the Highlands and in the English regions.”
Online fares on the new service will start at £99 return (www.easternairways.com), including taxes and charges.
By: EGNM - 23rd February 2006 at 16:00
Easterns IOM route was lost as a consiquence of the MAN and LPL price wars on the IOM run between BA Citiexpress / Euromanx / Emerald / Aer Arran over the last 2 years. Passengers were choosing fares starting at a base of £25 over base Esater fares of £99.
Nice to see another destination fill the void left by the IOM, and ultimately with JS41s back on the ABZ it is a step forward rather than backwards (albiet a small one at that!)
By: Pembo330 - 23rd February 2006 at 15:17
Don’t, you’ll make me jealous! 😀
By: LBARULES - 23rd February 2006 at 15:11
Well apparantly just lately the IOM route wasn’t very succesful at all, hence why it was dropped.
What the loads were exactly I don’t know to be honest.
So that makes new destinations to be introduced from LBA this year that weren’t operated last year, INV, FCO, BGY, PSA, MAH, BJV, PFO, HER, RHO, EGC, WAW. Not bad!
By: Pembo330 - 23rd February 2006 at 15:05
An interesting choice of routes.
How unsuccessful was the IOM route Tom? I used to work for a company that used that route a fair bit; you’ll probably remember I took it a couple of times and it always seemed reasonably popular (by Eastern standards).
By: LBARULES - 23rd February 2006 at 14:56
Not a route I will be using, but excellent news all the same :).
Hopefully will be more successful than the recently suspended IOM route :).
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February 23, 2006 at 2:40 pm