WX ends ORY-LCY
Feb 26, 2017, 7:43 am
#46
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I think that history is important here. Bear in mind that till very recently, BE was never interested in London at all. It built itself explicitly as a regional point to point airline. Despite not having a hub per se, its main historical airport has been Southampton, with two other big bases in Exeter and Cardiff. Then it added more bases later (BFS, GLA, etc) but none in London and its slots at LGW were only for domestic flights, and they have since sold them to U2. They only started to add flights from LCY about 2 years ago (I think late 2014 or early 2015) and that has been explicitly to focus on business routes.
IIRC, SOU was not BE's historical airport (not in JE days). The development of SOU started when BE LCC-ised. Before that, IIRC, it already had a base at BHX, which is still now its largest base. The base at Exeter also pre-dates LLC-isation.
Feb 26, 2017, 2:46 pm
#47
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We are getting way OT now but, actually, BE does have a base in LON: that base is SEN.
IIRC, SOU was not BE's historical airport (not in JE days). The development of SOU started when BE LCC-ised. Before that, IIRC, it already had a base at BHX, which is still now its largest base. The base at Exeter also pre-dates LLC-isation.
IIRC, SOU was not BE's historical airport (not in JE days). The development of SOU started when BE LCC-ised. Before that, IIRC, it already had a base at BHX, which is still now its largest base. The base at Exeter also pre-dates LLC-isation.
Feb 28, 2017, 11:35 am
#48
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Brexit?
Flew my monthly ORY-LCY-ORY this week (it used to be monthly). It is perfect for me due to living near Versailles and most meetings being around Excel/Canary Wharf. This week I really noticed the loads were way way down. The Monday morning flight was only 75% full (+/-) and toadays afternoon flight was empty (never understood why this flight exists).
My colleagues in the UK were mentioning that some of the financial institutions where starting with some fairly big reductions in the Canary Wharf area, supposedly as an effect of Brexit (maybe also just an excuse for fat cutting as well....). Numbers in the thousands...
On the one hand, this might have a negative effect on LCY with fewer people willing to pay top dollar for the Monday morning/Thursday-Friday evening flight. On the other - I can't imagine the big banker boys moving out of town, and if they relocate a lot of their business to Dublin/Frankfurt/etc. they will need to travel there regularly.
Please let AF stick some Hop! on LCY... Please.
Flew my monthly ORY-LCY-ORY this week (it used to be monthly). It is perfect for me due to living near Versailles and most meetings being around Excel/Canary Wharf. This week I really noticed the loads were way way down. The Monday morning flight was only 75% full (+/-) and toadays afternoon flight was empty (never understood why this flight exists).
My colleagues in the UK were mentioning that some of the financial institutions where starting with some fairly big reductions in the Canary Wharf area, supposedly as an effect of Brexit (maybe also just an excuse for fat cutting as well....). Numbers in the thousands...
On the one hand, this might have a negative effect on LCY with fewer people willing to pay top dollar for the Monday morning/Thursday-Friday evening flight. On the other - I can't imagine the big banker boys moving out of town, and if they relocate a lot of their business to Dublin/Frankfurt/etc. they will need to travel there regularly.
Please let AF stick some Hop! on LCY... Please.
Mar 1, 2017, 2:16 am
#49
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I hope WX has some nice contracts coming up because all we hear of are route closures. After their failure to take over Stobart Air, who are now collaborating heavily with FlyBE, I wonder what their strategy is.
LCY-ORY; LCY-NTE; DUB-CDG (reverting back to Air France in the W17 timetable) are all gone or going....a reduction in LCY-AMS (though offset by increases in LCY-DUB)....
Have I missed any?
EDIT: seems like the strategy is actually clear after all
The SN news is new to me, though...
Dublin-headquartered airline CityJet is axing jobs at its London City Airport base as it increasingly positions itself as a wet lease operator.
CityJet employs about 60 crew members at London City Airport, and has entered into a consultation process with staff there. It did not specify how many jobs might be cut, but stressed it will retain its London City Airport base, where it is one of the biggest airline operators.
CityJet’s strategy is aimed at having at least 80pc of its aircraft operating on wet lease and charter services this year.
CityJet is now the biggest wet lease operator for Scandinavian carrier SAS, having bought its Finnish Blue1 subsidiary in 2015, and its Danish subsidiary Cimber in January. CityJet has also secured a wet lease contract to provide services to Brussels Airlines from this spring.
LCY-ORY; LCY-NTE; DUB-CDG (reverting back to Air France in the W17 timetable) are all gone or going....a reduction in LCY-AMS (though offset by increases in LCY-DUB)....
Have I missed any?
EDIT: seems like the strategy is actually clear after all
The SN news is new to me, though...
Originally Posted by Irish Independent
Dublin-headquartered airline CityJet is axing jobs at its London City Airport base as it increasingly positions itself as a wet lease operator.
CityJet employs about 60 crew members at London City Airport, and has entered into a consultation process with staff there. It did not specify how many jobs might be cut, but stressed it will retain its London City Airport base, where it is one of the biggest airline operators.
CityJet’s strategy is aimed at having at least 80pc of its aircraft operating on wet lease and charter services this year.
CityJet is now the biggest wet lease operator for Scandinavian carrier SAS, having bought its Finnish Blue1 subsidiary in 2015, and its Danish subsidiary Cimber in January. CityJet has also secured a wet lease contract to provide services to Brussels Airlines from this spring.
Last edited by irishguy28; Mar 1, 2017 at 2:24 am
Mar 1, 2017, 1:47 pm
#51
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The news of the jobs cut is very sad for the WX staff at LCY, many of whom were lovely people. I'm sure this must be devastating to many of them.
Mar 10, 2017, 3:37 pm
#52
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No more AF code-share on WX metal
News posted today in AgentConnect : end of the code-share agreement WX/AF on March 26.
Mar 12, 2017, 1:51 am
#53
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Mar 12, 2017, 3:20 am
#54
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Looks like this is another one destined for history in the near future. I'd better hurry up and do a flight with them before they disappear (did a few when they were AF coded about 7-10 years ago). Shame really, because there's nothing nice left among British airlines (unless you count bmi Regional or Eastern Airways).
Mar 12, 2017, 6:14 am
#55
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Like you, I won't miss their Avro.
Mar 13, 2017, 6:19 am
#57
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NCL is indeed a WX-operated route, but this is a franchise route, not a code-share (this flight is not sold under WX code AFAIK). So you're fine as either the franchise agreement is maintained or AF will put its own planes on it
Apr 9, 2017, 3:25 am
#59
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I would imagine that those sad old aircraft that WX flew gobbled fuel with their 4 engines. I would far rather fly to and from Orly than that behemoth of a Roissy - except that it always seems to be Orly that gets clobbered worst of all in the regular as clockwork ATC strikes.
I noticed months ago tha WX was dumping the route, and sadly I suspect that they will be swallowed by someone bigger before long. People constantly ask me why I always fly to Paris when there is the train. My answer is - where do I park at Kings Cross? It's expensive enough at LHR. LCY is like anything else a victim of its own success - it is now making a pint pot take a quart. Still it is so easy to get to central London with the DLR connecting to the Underground, indeed I once got from LCY to LGW in 50 minutes which impressed me.
I wish that there was a service from either ORY or CDG to LGW rather than rely on the Orange Peril.
Apr 9, 2017, 7:27 am
#60
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Slightly OT, but at the same time AF is ending all collaboration with WX, KL is starting a new collaboration with WX.
http://www.blog.cityjet.com/klm
http://www.blog.cityjet.com/klm