May open a can of worms, however… :diablo:
Every time it seems that Flybe start a competitive route against Eastern, the latter pull out of said route, eg.
ABZ-BFS when Flybe started ABZ-BHD;
NWI-EDI;
now NWI-MAN
STN-MAN also?(That may have been different competitor).
What will happen if Flybe start routes out of ABZ on Eastern’s network?
Depending on who you believe, BEE only pulled out of starting NWI-ABZ when EZE agreed to pull NWI-EDI, & BEE “agreed” to not start (at least for now) an ABZ route.
Could this eventually force EZE to re-evaluate its strategy of high freqs/high fares, as surely businesses will ultimately choose an airline with lower fares?
I certainly do not have an axe to grind with EZE, as they took on many “dropped” ABZ routes that other airlines left behind.
Always surprised that there is a distinct lack of competition on EZE route network (NWI excepted).
By: Mark L - 1st June 2006 at 14:56
The whole basis of the Eastern operation is that it is not competing against anything other than a slow and expensive train network. Its use of the Jetstream is perfect for the routes that it serves, but if FlyBe come along, with nearly half the seat mile costs, they can afford to reduce the price, and can usually afford to match the frequency to some level as well.
I’m sure there are one or two more, but the main routes they do compete on are those in which they still retain a significant frequency advantage, such as SOU-LBA, and SOU-NCL/ABZ. Once one or both of their Unique Selling Points (Route, and Frequency) are duplicated by another operator (currently mainly FlyBe doing most of that) then Eastern dont really have much choice but to pull out, as they have little chance of competing.
Their future can only be secured by ensuring that they remain on the routes that best fit their business model, and that essentially means niche routes with little or no competition. Which is what they appear to be doing 😉
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June 1, 2006 at 1:59 pm