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New routes from Teesside Airport

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FQTV

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Majorca is still popular after high summer (and sunny!)

The Balearic season starts in earnest on the 1st May, and half term at the end of May is a major demand period. As I say, it’s the start date that’s slightly odd, not the end date.

While the no-frills carriers are less likely to slavishly follow the traditional aviation season schedule change dates, and to commence and suspend routes on those dates, they do tend to follow a pattern - keeping ski routes going into April; increasing frequencies to Christmas Market destinations after October half term and until the ski demand picks up etc., etc.

So, there’ll be a reason why the Ryanair routes aren’t starting until June, which is unusual for anyone, and joking apart it’s likely to be resource driven one way or another.
 
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Mojo

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Could possibly be based upon demand / expectations? I imagine a lot of people got their fingers burned this year with holidays being cancelled and accordingly people will be much more cautious. I know for instance I would normally have had all my holidays booked by now for the entirety of 2021 but am not booking anything this year for next before July.
 

FQTV

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Could possibly be based upon demand / expectations? I imagine a lot of people got their fingers burned this year with holidays being cancelled and accordingly people will be much more cautious. I know for instance I would normally have had all my holidays booked by now for the entirety of 2021 but am not booking anything this year for next before July.

Airlines, with massive capital assets, don’t work like that, and the whole raison d’être of the no-frills carriers is to generate demand - often where none went before.

And, quite apart from that, huge numbers of people who had trips cancelled this year have already piled into Whitsun half term, which has to a certain extent caused the algorithms to push fares for that week sky-high.

The cheapest fare on Ryanair from Newcastle to Palma on Saturday 29th May is currently £231.99. The algorithms do kite-fly, and that flight is far from full, but that’s where their revenue management system thinks that the yield is.

That they’re not putting additional capacity to effectively the same market suggests resource.
 

Mojo

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Airlines, with massive capital assets, don’t work like that, and the whole raison d’être of the no-frills carriers is to generate demand - often where none went before.
Given that most planes in the world are currently parked up and going nowhere I’m not quite sure that argument works right now! The fact is that despite skyrocketing share prices in all airlines right now, nobody quite knows how things will look for the travel sector next May. Especially for the launch of a new route.

When I did see it I thought it was an unusually short season, it is probably for this year only, perhaps to tie in with as you said a delivery of new planes, or for some other reason
 

FQTV

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Given that most planes in the world are currently parked up and going nowhere I’m not quite sure that argument works right now! The fact is that despite skyrocketing share prices in all airlines right now, nobody quite knows how things will look for the travel sector next May. Especially for the launch of a new route.

When I did see it I thought it was an unusually short season, it is probably for this year only, perhaps to tie in with as you said a delivery of new planes, or for some other reason

The argument works more acutely than it has possibly ever done - airlines must fly their aircraft or they haemorrhage money.

There is not a carrier in existence at the moment that isn’t working to get every single frame airborne as soon as is legally and economically possible; and in the meantime, they’re also doing everything possible to get cash in, even for flights that they potentially have little to no hope of ever operating (Virgin, ahem).

While individual travellers may be reticent, the travel industry knows that all it can do is keep selling; to do anything else would be suicidal.
 

DarloRich

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Yes and Loganair as well are joining the fray at Teesside Airport offering services to Aberdeen, Belfast, Newquay, Dublin and Jersey next year. If you're in the right part of the world you may even be treated to a YouTube advert featuring the Mayor, Ben Houchen, and Loganair's chief ex (you should also be able to find it here if you're not lucky enough to live on Teesside)! Wonder who paid for it though.... It is though slightly odd that three of those destinations (Belfast, Aberdeen and Newquay) are already being served by Eastern Airways and you have to think that even pre-pandemic those routes, whilst they might be able to sustain one airline, would struggle to sustain two. I still can't help but feel that there must be some interesting behind the scenes manoeuvres going on with taxpayer money on these new services with an eye to the election coming.

Also joining Ryanair is TUI who are running a summer service to Palma from Teesside Airport. Now, to be fair the Mayor and the airport, these are both good things. My view is that summer services serving popular destinations are only a good thing as they're the most likely to actually be popular and useful so I'm pleased that he has managed to lure them back. Righting a wrong of the previous airport management who, if I recall, basically chucked TUI out during their phase of trying to run the airport down despite the route being popular and profitable.


Tory boy Houchen ( nephew of FA Cup final diving header specialist and former Hartlepoh united manager Keith Houchen ) is placing a lot of political capital behind this expansion. It seems to be a core strand in his re election drive. No one seems to be asking the kind of questions you raise about "support/encouragement" for these routes for some reason.

I agree with you on the summer holiday flights. Stopping those was a clear sign the former owner wanted to close the airport and post CV19 I think they will work. The smog monsters do like a holiday to the sun ;) Ryanbus have nothing to lose. I suspect they will be getting "support/encouragement" and if they doesn't work they cut the routes with minimal loss.
 

FQTV

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Quite understandably, the Eastern Airways route between Teesside and Heathrow has been suspended during the current restrictions.

However, it seems that Eastern won’t be resuming it, and instead a Loganair operation has been loaded from March.

Whilst I’m still unconvinced that it’s a fundamentally sustainable route, the Loganair operation will, at least, offer interline connections at Heathrow - so there will be bag transfer and connection protection with other airlines when bookings are all one ticket.
 

ainsworth74

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If Leeds Bradford couldn't sustain a Heathrow service for very long I fail to see how Teesside can?

Because the airport is basically the Mayor's main campaign item (the other two things that stick in my mind, a second Tees crossing and redeveloping the steelworks site are very short on shovels impacting ground) and he is therefore willing to spend taxpayer money to ensure it appears successful because, after all, there's an election coming up.

Cynical? Moi? :lol:
 

DarloRich

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I hope the Heathrow link works. The problem is there aren't the ICI/British Steel/Petro chemical executives to shuttle around anymore so i wonder where the people will come from to use it.

However, as @ainsworth74 says this is a central part of the Mayors election campaign so will need supprting until then!
 

FQTV

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It now transpires that the Eastern Airways routes from Teesside to Belfast and Teesside to Alicante will not operate in future.

Loganair will operate the Belfast route, and Alicante is one of the previously-announced Ryanair route launches.

The announcement has been accompanied by some Mayoral ‘spin’ which, even by his usual standards, seems to have a particularly tenuous association with any obvious rational logic.
 

TUC

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It now transpires that the Eastern Airways routes from Teesside to Belfast and Teesside to Alicante will not operate in future.

Loganair will operate the Belfast route, and Alicante is one of the previously-announced Ryanair route launches.

The announcement has been accompanied by some Mayoral ‘spin’ which, even by his usual standards, seems to have a particularly tenuous association with any obvious rational logic.
So you are saying that both routes will still run, but with different operators? If so, what's the problem?
 

FQTV

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So you are saying that both routes will still run, but with different operators? If so, what's the problem?

The context is the concern. The airport has been brought back into public ownership, but there’s a lack of transparency about a number of the operational decisions and announcements.

The situation is exacerbated somewhat by a similarly opaque relationship between Eastern Airways and Loganair.

To the casual observer, it may not be all that apparent that some of these things don’t look quite right at the moment, and that the lack of response to enquires about what’s going on tends not to help.
 

Glenn1969

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My personal view is it will be between 1 and 2 years before aviation can be considered without some kind of restriction

If this is the case can airports like Leeds Bradford and Teesside survive that long?
 

darloscott

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The context is the concern. The airport has been brought back into public ownership, but there’s a lack of transparency about a number of the operational decisions and announcements.

The situation is exacerbated somewhat by a similarly opaque relationship between Eastern Airways and Loganair.

To the casual observer, it may not be all that apparent that some of these things don’t look quite right at the moment, and that the lack of response to enquires about what’s going on tends not to help.
There is no relationship between Eastern and Loganair you can be sure of that. In fact quite the opposite, they don't get on at all!
There does appear to some arrangement/agreement between TVCA and Eastern that we are not fully aware of in that Eastern seem to be used as a 'kickstart' route developer to start routes in the hope of developing them enough to attract other operators to take them on, which is what has happened in the case of Loganair coming in and taking on Belfast, Dublin, Heathrow, Newquay and their own flights to Aberdeen.
 

FQTV

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There is no relationship between Eastern and Loganair you can be sure of that. In fact quite the opposite, they don't get on at all!

Airlines have all sorts of behind the scenes discussions, some of which they wouldn't want others to know about, and some of which others can't know about. For 'safety', some of these take place via third parties these days, following burned fingers in the past.

As it stands, and particularly since the demise of flybe, a number of route 'developments' across the UK have rather coincidentally simultaneously involved both Eastern and Loganair, which is why a number of observers are increasingly interested in why that might be.

Public assertions of loggerhead competition are sometimes for PR purposes only.

The 'route-proving' assertion of the mayor with regard to Eastern operations is an interesting one. There are possibly a number of other ways that an auditor might describe the arrangement.
 
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