I have often wondered if BA somehow secretly are in cahoots with easyJet or control them in some unknown way. There used to be such a stink in the press all the time, when easyJet was really getting going in the late 90s and early 2000s. Now everything is calm and quiet, and everybody seems to be happy.

Maybe, since BA let go of the regional routes, they just don't care any more about non longhaul routes. It's a shame BA couldn't do a better job with making regional routes profitable, as well as flights from airports like Bristol or those in Scotland. Any thoughts?

Short answer - no

Long answer a variation on same theme - re regional flights, BA is a major shareholder in flybe

If they were I am sure the competition authorities would be preparing to hairbrush them until they were red-sore.

It's a standard thing in business. When easyJet were the new kid on the block they were brash and keen to rock the boat. Now they're an established carrier with a major operation and probably not too keen to cause much upset in the industry. They've also carved out their niche which is fairly different from the BA of today so there's little reason for them to go after BA.

Hairbrush supplied by Pucci?

Originally posted by sigma
"They've also carved out their niche which is fairly different from the BA of today so there's little reason for them to go after BA."

~ Well at Gatwick your right. Easyjet have modern planes, less prone to go tech, a high % of on time departures, the ability to buy add-ons such as extra leg-room seating, priority boarding, the ability to change your ticket to an earlier flight for free if there are seats......

And of course the ability to buy as many toasties / coffees / `Gins that you have cash for.

The only downside I have is that the seat backs are a little short.

EZY have blown B.A. out of the water at Gatwick.

We shouldn't forget that EZY started with 2 classic 737s leased from BA franchise partner.... GB airways!

Then bought Go Fly,the lo cost carrier BA sold in a management buy out.

The British Regional and Brymon Airways routes did rather well until BA bought them in house and added British Airways overheads. The Jetstream 41 fleet became a loss maker overnight and it went crashing downhill all the way from there.

And sold Go to EZ

I do wonder about the ongoing viability of Flybe. I have yet to take any flight out of SOU on one that is more than 50% full, except a recent one to AMS on the early Monday morning flight.

I flew to DUS today, mid afternoon, flight gets in at 17:00 - this flight is now the only daily flight from SOU to DUS and there is no longer one at all to FRA either. Thought it would be reasonably busy with folks needing to get to this key German business region for early Monday morning....but there were just 34 of us on a 78 seater plane.

From my experience and being a regular on the AMS, ORY, DUB, DUS and MAN routes from SOU these loads are very typical for Flybe.

Its not a major share holder, its a minor share holder. Less than 15% - http://web.archive.org/web/200802251...ws/0703/02.htm

Flew SOU-MAN-SOU about 4 times last year and i would say there were probably 10 empty seats each time. If it wasnt so expensive i would use the flight more often.

Well, I was thinking, easyJet tickets are hardly cheap anymore, as someone has posted in another thread. So they're not really a competition to BA anymore, as well, the way they're going. I just thought BA might have had a hand in it all somewhere. Or maybe the managements of both have come to a mutual agreement, or mutual understanding!

All the other regional players seem to have melted away, except Flybe, an airline that I rate among the worst. What about Eastern? It maybe just fills a niche that no-one else wants to.

Over in Geneva, near where I am based, easyJet has been the main player for a number of years. But SWISS are very much into expanding their presence in GVA at the moment. BA is also present, except that LGW is only served during the Winter months. So here, they compete directly with EZY, and I reckon offer better fares for the service provided.

Really? That's news to me. I can get return flights on Easyjet from London to Lyon or Marseille for under �60 return all in. Tell me where I can find BA revenue tickets to either of these destinations for that kind of money. last I looked, the very cheapest BA fares on those routes were over twice that price (�133 and up).

There are some factors that have changed quite a bit since the early 200s for Easyjet: Easyjet has matured and is now more established and wants to promote a more business-friendly image. The high jinks of the Stelios era, when Easyjet was establishing/consolidating itself and needed all the publicity it could, made sense at the time but do not correspond to the current positioning of Easyjet.

Still second largest, though a bit academic given how much the largest shareholder owns!