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Good news as Loganair, Eastern and Blue Islands pick up many Flybe routes

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There are three pieces of good news today for ex-Flybe customers.

Loganair to start flights on 16 ex-Flybe routes

Scottish airline Loganair has announced that it will pick up 16 Flybe routes.  The routes will be phased in over the next three months although the bulk will be up and running from next week.

All flights will operate from existing Loganair bases at Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Newcastle.

Loganair to launch flights on 16 Flybe routes

Here are the routes Loganair is launching:

  • Aberdeen – Belfast City, Birmingham, Jersey, Manchester
  • Belfast City – Aberdeen, Inverness
  • Cardiff – Edinburgh
  • Edinburgh – Exeter, Manchester, Newquay, Southampton, Cardiff
  • Exeter – Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle
  • Glasgow – Exeter, Southampton
  • Inverness – Belfast City, Birmingham, Jersey
  • Jersey – Aberdeen, Inverness
  • Newcastle – Exeter, Southampton
  • Manchester – Aberdeen, Edinburgh
  • Southampton – Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle

It isn’t clear where Loganair is sourcing the aircraft to operate these routes, unless it is picking up some Flybe aircraft and crew.  If it isn’t, we may see some quick pruning of some second-tier existing Loganair routes.

Here is a review of my Loganair flight from Glasgow to Barra, landing on the beach!, last year.

Here is our review of the Clan Loganair loyalty programme.

British Airways codeshares with Loganair on some routes, so it is possible that some of these routes which could connect to mainline BA flights will eventually be bookable on ba.com too.

You can find out more on the Loganair website here.

Blue Islands to pick up Flybe Channel Islands services

One of the unfortunate casualties of the Flybe collapse is its franchisors Eastern Airways and Blue Islands.  Both of these airlines let Flybe sell seats on their behalf and flew in aircraft with Flybe livery (see image below).

Blue Islands, which operates from the Channel Islands, has been particularly badly hit because it has no booking engine of its own.  It is able to carry on flying but cannot sell tickets at the moment.

Blue Islands will honour all tickets issued by Flybe.  The airline has its own licence so is able to continue flyings its fleet of six ATR turboprops.

The following routes will continue, now branded as Blue Islands and not Flybe:

Jersey to London City, Southampton, Bristol, Exeter, East Midlands, Guernsey

Guernsey to Exeter, Southampton, Newquay

The airline has also offered to pick up the Newquay to Heathrow (soon to be Gatwick) route, which operates under public subsidy, and Exeter to Jersey and Guernsey.

Eastern Airways continues to fly despite Flybe collapse

Eastern Airways continues to operate and adds 3 routes

Eastern Airways is also very keen to stress that its Flybe-branded franchise flights ARE still operating.  It is only guaranteeing the current timetable until Sunday, however.

It is also taking over three Flybe routes – Aberdeen to Birmingham, Southampton to Manchester and Southampton to Newcastle.

An announcement will follow next week about future services.  As with Blue Islands, there is currently no way of booking an Eastern Airways flight online.  It is likely that Eastern has not been paid for tickets purchased via Flybe recently.

Eastern Airways currently flies or has announced the following routes.  This includes the three new routes above:

  • Teesside – Aberdeen, London City, Southampton, Cardiff, Dublin, Isle of Man, Belfast City
  • Aberdeen – Newcastle, Humberside, Wick, Birmingham
  • Anglesey – Cardiff
  • Belfast City – Teesside
  • Birmingham – Aberdeen
  • Cardiff – Anglesey, Teesside
  • Dublin – Teesside
  • Humberside – Aberdeen
  • Isle of Man – Teesside
  • Leeds Bradford – Southampton
  • London City – Teesside
  • Manchester – Southampton
  • Newcastle – Aberdeen, Southampton
  • Southampton – Leeds Bradford, Teesside, Manchester, Newcastle
  • Wick – Aberdeen

Comments (43)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Owen Rudge says:

    So we’ll have competition between Loganair and Eastern on ABZ – BHX! Not sure how long that’ll last, but certainly better than having no flight at all on what does seem a busy route on the times I’ve used it.

    • RussellH says:

      Unlikely I know in a society that worships the God of Free Markets, but if both airlines really want to fly the route, then surely someone should be taking them both aside and putting them into a regulated joint venture that works to the benefit of those who do really need to travel that route.

      Same fixed fares, same Ts+Cs, complete ticket validity on either airline, sensible timetable (none of the Loganair dep 0755 and Eastern dep 0805, with nothing at 0700 or 0900 nonsense). They can compete on customer service if they want, but the service is never going to be a moneyspinner, so it will run primarily for the benefit of people who **need** to travel on a fairly regular basis. Potential le3isure pax looking for cheapo fares should be prepared to revert to the old standby model, rather than the LCC model which seems to have been, in part, responsible for the FlyBE mess.

  • NigelthePensioner says:

    It will be interesting to see the government’s response to a rescue package for Belfast City airport. Without the Flybe routes its not a viable proposition. However it is 30 minutes handier for Belfast City centre than Aldergrove is. It may well get financial help to attract other players onto the lost routes……however if it’s Lyin’ Air or nothing, then its back to the Birkenhead Belfast ferry for me!!

  • Hairbrush says:

    Blue Islands were a superb airline when they used to sell their own seats. They offered * simple fares * free changes * free hold luggage * free lounges for all passengers (their own in Jersey and Guernsey, with hot and cold soft drinks, comfy chairs and newspapers). All this was lost when they became a FlyBE franchisee. In the Channel Islands, we wait with interest to see which of these benefits they reintroduce once they have their mothballed booking system back up and running and remove the FlyBE livery from their planes.

  • Oli says:

    Air France confirm on their home page that AF ticket holders booked on cancelled Flybe operated flights will be automatically rebooked on AF operated flights. If there are no AF operated flights to the destination, they will rearrange alternative travel options.

    Good thing i booked my upcoming Flybe flights on the AF website where they were cheaper anyway.

  • Billy says:

    So Eastern are going into competition with Loganair AGAIN. It’s like they never learn…

  • Alex Sm says:

    Who will pick up _London_ to Guernsey routes?

    • Stu says:

      Aurigny already serve London (Gatwick & Stansted)

      • Alex Sm says:

        Yes, but not SEN…
        Anyway, I booked new flights with Aurigny (same dates, better times, but double the price of FlyBe though!). And no refuelling stop on Jersey but you can’t have it all!
        Spoke to Amex last night – they are happy to refund the original flights but are zipped-mouthed on covering the price difference wih new flights

  • Tony says:

    Any news on Stobart’s routes from Southend or are they in administration being part of the consortium who took over Flybe?

  • Michael C says:

    Still no solution for Manx patients travelling to hospitals in England: FlyBe had the contract for this. You’d have thought a) they could have given a small hint to provide an alternative, and b) the Manx Govt. would have a plan B…

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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