ARN might be relatively empty. My experience with SVO, KBP, TXL and CPH are at least 70% load. Monday, Friday and Sunday flights are particularly busy. KBP and SVO is never empty... C class might be almost or even completely empty.
CPH-VNO has always been close to or full (70%+) in my (admittedly one year old) experience.
First and most important - Happy New Year to everyone!
Load factor would be intriguing data. My understading is that in the Baltic States already for some time Eastern (Moscow, Kiev etc) routes work better than Western ones. But oh well, they made eg. many RIX-TLL-RIX flights on quiet Christmas days when most others had very limited work in Tallinn.
I have also heard that due to the crisis SOME Latvian civil servants are not allowed to travel anymore. I do not know how extensively this applies, but it should additionally influence the yield.
Anyone has a recent figure on the load factor of BT? I know this is not very academic, but I have done some 14 legs on BT to RIX over the last month and to be honest I would say the load factor has been between 5-30% on every flight. 30 being the exception.
What aircraft type are they using? In September I traveled ARN-RIX-ARN on a Fokker. Those flights were pretty full. Ok, I know it's a few months ago but still.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SK_RSJ
Anyone has a recent figure on the load factor of BT? I know this is not very academic, but I have done some 14 legs on BT to RIX over the last month and to be honest I would say the load factor has been between 5-30% on every flight. 30 being the exception.
(And no, BT still doesn´t have a single clue on EBP even if EB is their programme too, lounge at RIX constantly claiming I need a EBG card...).
I have only flown them four times in November and then all my flights HEL-RIX-CPH and back had a load of 50-100%
What aircraft type are they using? In September I traveled ARN-RIX-ARN on a Fokker. Those flights were pretty full. Ok, I know it's a few months ago but still.
Mainly F50 but ocassionally 737. In december I was one of about 5 pax on a 737 RIX-ARN. C was empty and I grabbed the exit row D seat with the unlimited leg room and reclining seat.
Was on the morning departure ARN-RIX on Dec 6 and back home on the late departure on the 7th. Both was on a 737 and both was nearly full, well over 80% load.
Load factor would be intriguing data. My understading is that in the Baltic States already for some time Eastern (Moscow, Kiev etc) routes work better than Western ones. But oh well, they made eg. many RIX-TLL-RIX flights on quiet Christmas days when most others had very limited work in Tallinn.
For OV, the routes from TLL to SVO and KBP made money, but there wasn't enough demand. When they placed the order for their new (smaller) planes, they specifically cited the SVO route as a "thin" route that would be better served with a smaller aircraft. I believe SVO was reduced by one flight per week for winter.
The most popular routes have been to CPH (lots of feeder flights for SK) and LGW (though LGW was scaled back recently... not enough British stag parties perhaps?).
I have flown the CPH-TLL route a number of times in 2008 and it always seems to have a large E+ (err.. Economy Plus or whatever it's called.. the one with free food) and the flights are quite full.
I've been doing more flying on LH (on the once-daily LH 3178/3179) and it's always been full, probably with connecting traffic via FRA. I wish LH would add a morning flight from TLL to allow more connections via FRA. They had this a few years ago (I believe the aircraft overnighted in TLL).
I've been doing more flying on LH (on the once-daily LH 3178/3179) and it's always been full, probably with connecting traffic via FRA. I wish LH would add a morning flight from TLL to allow more connections via FRA. They had this a few years ago (I believe the aircraft overnighted in TLL).
Apparently OV is cancelling the FRA flights (together with VIE and HEL at least) due to its financial situation - maybe this will encourage LH to add a second frequency. Maybe a CRJ one, I don't see the demand for two daily mainline jets.
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Not sure how much one vote counts, but I am gonna call LH Estonia on Monday and try to convince them on this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FlyingFinn
Apparently OV is cancelling the FRA flights (together with VIE and HEL at least) due to its financial situation - maybe this will encourage LH to add a second frequency. Maybe a CRJ one, I don't see the demand for two daily mainline jets.
The best times were when there was LH MUC-RIX late evening flight and a return flight RIX-MUC was early morning. Connections to anywhere in the world in one of the best airports in Europe. This in addition to RIX-FRA day flight was brilliant.
Regarding recent BT flight loads, here are a few observations from my flights in recent times:
BT618 AMS - RIX 06Dec08: Around 30 pax aboard the 737. According to the FA I chatted with the outbound had around 70 pax.
BT305 RIX - AMS 06Dec08: Almost a full 737 in economy. Not many people in biz.
BT328 HEL - RIX 11Jan09: 4 pax aboard the F50. This is the ungodly 5.25 AM departure, which doesn't seem very popular. I still hope they won't shelve this as it allows good connections to some early morning flights at RIX without requiring an overnight stay.
BT257 RIX - HAJ 11Jan09: Around 40 pax aboard the F50, C had 3 or 4 pax. This was a surprise - I thought this would be a very empty flight and was expecting the route to be withdrawn by summer. Let's hope I'm wrong.
Rumors from travel agencies are that by March, 2009 airBaltic might leave EuroBonus program. So far neither airBaltic, nor SAS comments it.
Admittedly one single VNO-ARN in the cheapest economy fare bucket isn't going to make a huge difference to my filled-with-low-numbers EB account. Still, I'm wonder what will happen regarding points on my VNO-ARN BT trip in early April if the rumors prove true. My guess is I just won't get them if that's the case...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FlyingFinn
...
BT328 HEL - RIX 11Jan09: 4 pax aboard the F50. This is the ungodly 5.25 AM departure, which doesn't seem very popular. I still hope they won't shelve this as it allows good connections to some early morning flights at RIX without requiring an overnight stay....
I'd rather have an overnight stay than a 5.25am flight ... sounds like a 3am wake-up call, depending on how close you are to the airport.
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