Flybe: Exeter - Bergerac

Exeter (EXT) to Bergerac (EGC) in the Dordogne is a new route that flyBe (BE) will be launching from next spring. The airline will link the two cities up to three times weekly from 26 March 2012, using its 78-seater Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 aircraft.

flyBe Q400 at Manston, UK

The flight is yet another of flyBe's flights to the French hinterlands that are based mainly on UK traffic to sunny climes, that also form a mainstay of some of Ryanair's summer routes too. Anyway, the traffic on this route will be almost entirely leisure, consisting mostly of second-home owners and your average Devon and Cornwall holidaymakers. The flights allow extended weekend trips but aren't best timed for weekend-only breaks. In reality, however, this route is probably not one that has many passengers travelling on weekend breaks. That last statement was based entirely on my opinion.

1..4.../ BE3793/ EXT08.15-10.55EGC/ BE3794/ EGC11.20-12.00EXT

.....6./ BE3793/ EXT12.25-15.05EGC/ BE3794/ EGC20.20-21.00EXT

While it is true to say that flyBe will not have any direct competition on the route, flights to Bergerac are already widely available in the UK, in the south from London Gatwick and Southampton with flyBe and from Stansted and Bristol airports with Ryanair. flyBe will by no means be alone in the market.

Exeter (EXT) vers Bergerac (EGC) est une ligne de la compagnie flyBe qui sera lancée à partir du 26 mars 2012 avec un appareil Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 de 78 places, avec initialement deux rotations par semaine, ce qui deviedra en mai trois rotations hebdomadaires. flyBe vise surtout le marché de loisirs britannique du sud-ouest, mais deux autres compagnies volent déjà vers d'autres destinations en Grande-Bretagne.

British Airways: London Gatwick-Nice

London Gatwick (LGW) to Nice (NCE) is a new route that is shortly to be reintroduced by British Airways (BA), which currently provides service to Nice from both London Heathrow (LHR) and London City (LCY). From 25 March 2012, the route will be operated three times daily with a mix of short-haul Airbus and Boeing Aircraft, such as the Boeing 737-400 and the Airbus A319.

British Airways will be aiming this route largely at leisure passengers, as     their two other routes from Heathrow and London City will most likely absorb most of the business traffic. A clue that the flights a more leisure oriented is the schedule, with the same number of flights operating on weekdays and at the weekend. The flights are frequent, permitting day trips to Nice or London Gatwick and any other length of trip besides.

1234567/ BA2622/ LGW07.40-10.40NCE/ BA2623/ NCE11.25-12.25LGW

1234567/ BA2624/ LGW13.05-16.05NCE/ BA2625/ NCE16.50-17.50LGW

1234567/ BA2626/ LGW19.20-22.20NCE/ BA2621/ NCE07.05-08.05LGW

It is clear that this is an offensive move against easyJet (U2), who are British Airways' only direct competitor on the route. At the time this route will launch next March, the orange low-cost airline will have 22 weekly flights to Nice, only one more than BA, with 21. However, when we consider all London airports, BA will be ahead overall, with 77 weekly flights, compared to easyJet's 43 (LGW, LTN and STN), which reaches 50 during the peak summer months. BMI comes a paltry third with 7 weekly flights, between Heathrow and Nice. 
Londres Gatwick (LGW) vers Nice (NCE) est une nouvelle ligne de la compagnie British Airways (BA), qui débutera le 25 mars prochain avec 3 vols quotidiens, effectués avec des avions court-courriers tels que l'Airbus A319 et le Boeing 737-400. Surtout destinée aux passagers loisirs, British Airways aura un concurrent majeur direct sur la ligne, easyJet (U2), qui détient le monopole depuis plusieurs années. British Airways vole aussi vers Nice depuis Heathrow et Londres City.

A British Airways A319 taxiing at Geneva

Vueling: Barcelona-Marseille

Barcelona (BCN) to Marseille (MRS) is another of the endless routes that Vueling (VY) will be throwing at France next March, hoping a few will stick. The jury is out on this one though. From 25 March 2012, the Spanish low-cost airline will be launching a four-times-weekly route between the second-largest cities of both France and Spain with its standard of fairly-cramped-but-not-horrendous 180-seater Airbus A320 aircraft.

Vueling's flights are usually aimed at the leisure market, or sometimes also at business passengers on routes where its parent company Iberia (IB) does not operate. In this case, traffic is most likely to be leisure-oriented, including passengers visiting friends and family. With the current schedules, weekend breaks in either city are quite feasible.

1.3.5.7/ VY1508/ BCN11.00-12.05MRS/ VY1509/ MRS12.45-13.40BCN

Out of Vueling's new routes, this route faces quite possibly the most competition, as two other Spanish airlines also operate the route. Air Nostrum operates the 50-seater CRJ-200 aircraft for Iberia on its five-times-weekly route to Marseille, while Spanair operates a wide variety of aircraft on this route, which it serves four times weekly. Marseille (MRS) vers Barcelone (BCN) est une nouvelle ligne qui sera lance par Vueling (VY) lors de sa prochaine expansion en France, le 25 mars 2012. La ligne sera effectuée quatre fois par semaine en appareil Airbus A320. Les passagers devraient être en bonne partie des voyageurs loisirs. Les concurrents sur la ligne sont Iberia et Spanair, qui volent 5 et 4 fois par semaine respectivement.

easyJet: Lisbon-Bordeaux

Lisbon (LIS) to Bordeaux (BOD) is a new route to be launched by easyJet (U2/EZY) as part of its new base in Lisbon. The new route will be launched on 18 April 2012 and will most likely be operated with Airbus A319 aircraft, which are equipped with 156 seats.

If airlines seem to be opening a lot of bases at the moment around Europe, it's just because easyJet and Ryanair (FR) seem to be trying to outdo each other. After a latency period of a few months, Ryanair recently opened a base in Manchester (MAN), with new ones planned to open in Wroclaw (WRO) and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden (FKB) in time for the summer. easyJet has similarly announced new bases in Lisbon (although this was announced more than a year ago), Toulouse (TLS) and Nice (NCE), no doubt in order to compete more closely with Vueling (VY), another low-cost airline which has been edging its way into the French regional market and has had an aircraft based in Toulouse since summer 2011, and Air France (AF), which plans to open regional bases in these cities in the coming year.

The flight has quite a scope to attract business passengers. Although the flight is not very frequent at four weekly rotations, easyJet has been known to tempt business passengers and has a few enticing benefits. Mainly cost though. Not much else. The flight will probably suit leisure and VFR (Visits to Friends and Relatives) passengers much more, as the schedule permits weekend breaks.

1.3.5.7/ EZY7637/ LIS07.05-09.55BOD/ EZY7638/ BOD10.25-11.15LIS

The competition is twofold: both Air France (AF) and TAP (TP) operate the route. Well not really. Neither operate the route on their own behalf. Air France leaves it to its subsidiary Régional to operate the route with their 50-seater Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft, while TAP leaves it to its subsidiary PGA/Portugalia to operate the route with their 50-seater Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft, which probably becomes very confusing.

Lisbonne (LIS) à Bordeaux (BOD) est une nouvelle ligne qui sera proposée à partir du 18 avril prochain par easyJet (U2/EZY) depuis sa nouvelle base à Lisbonne. Les vols seront effectués quatre fois par semaine avec un appareil de type Airbus A319 de 156 sièges. Les vols easyJet attirent de plus en plus de passagers affaires, donc il est possible que ces vols seront au détriment des compagnies (Air France et TAP) déjà installées sur la ligne dont les vols sont conçus surtout pour attirer des passagers de ce type. Tout de même, avec des horaires utiles pour un séjour en weekend, ces vols attireront sûrement des passagers loisirs. De plus que les vols sont beaucoup moins chers que la concurrence jusque-là.

An eayJet Airbus A319 taxis to the runway at Geneva