Eastern Airways launches London Southend to Newquay flights

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• Barrel for Scraping says:

  11 Jan11 January 04:25

  The other surprisingly convenient airport is Southampton where the station is a very short walk to the tiny airport terminal.

• Lumma says:

  11 Jan11 January 05:14

  Central London to Newquay sea front it’s probably only saving an hour versus getting the train and an off peak train ticket will cost similar to the cheapest flights. (£80 Paddington to Newquay)

  Only 7kg allowed on the HBO tickets too

  • Barrel for Scraping says:

    11 Jan11 January 05:47

    LHR-NQY made more sense as it meant people could connect to onward flights but that route was short lived. Presumably though the aim isn’t just to get people from London on the flights – is there much demand from Essex to Cornwall? We’ll see.

    • JDB says:

      11 Jan11 January 08:00

      The Heathrow route was operated as a PSO route, but not sure the government was willing to extend the subsidy.

      • Nick says:

        11 Jan11 January 13:26

        Gatwick is the PSO route now. Tbh I’m not really sure it’s needed any more, it’s not much shorter than taking the train – and with a £30 seatfrog it’s not an uncomfortable journey.

• Auryn says:

  11 Jan11 January 06:47

  London City – Newquay would be great and actually save time.

  • Barrel for Scraping says:

    11 Jan11 January 06:54

    It wouldn’t save time if you lived in Southend. The direct bus from Liverpool Street to LCY stopped when the DLR opened. So you’d have to get the train from Southend to Liverpool Street, tube to Bank and then DLR to LCY.

    On a more serious note I recall there was a service from LCY at one point, can anyone remember the fate of it?

    • Lumma says:

      11 Jan11 January 07:01

      To get to LCY from Southend you’d be better off getting the DLR from Stratford or West Ham or Limehouse

      • Barrel for Scraping says:

        11 Jan11 January 08:11

        I was just trying to work out the route in my head and forgot about Stratford. That would be the quickest and easiest. I hope online maps and journey planners suggest that route and not the one via Liverpool Street

        • Lumma says:

          11 Jan11 January 10:15

          If at Liverpool Street and you need to get to LCY, I’d recommend getting the Elizabeth line to Woolwich, then getting the DLR back across the river at Woolwich Arsenal.

    • Graham D says:

      11 Jan11 January 07:36

      Air Southwest operated NQY-LCY back in around 2010 which didn’t last too long.

      And Flybe/Stobart Air operated NQY-SEN about 5 or 6 years ago too.

      • flyforfun says:

        11 Jan11 January 09:35

        I flew Air Southwest back then from LCY to NQY and back. It was fantastic!!

        I’ve taken the sleeper train from Paddington to Penzance were I slept less than I do in an economy seat on a red eye flight -bar the couple of hours it stops in Exeter. The 5 hr daytime return was painful.

        Driving from East London out to the Southwest requires an hour or more just to cross London.

        When we took the flight from LCY it was a joy. Up at a civil hour. Easy as always at LCY. The flight I think stopped at Southampton, Exeter or Plymouth before a short hop to Newquay. Picked up bags and hire car and we were in St Ives by the late afternoon. The return was equally relaxing. Checking out of our hotel after breakfast, lunch by the water in Newquay and then back the airport. Home for dinner with out being stuck on a train for hour or car for even longer.

        I may look at SEN as an option for a break and see if the travel there saves time or not. I’ve flown once from there before as the really cheap flight offset the cost of parking and fuel. Couldn’t take the train then as it was a late return and it was cutting it fine with the last train.

• Tilly71 says:

  11 Jan11 January 08:04

  Eastern already fly LGW – NQY, can’t see this new route lasting long

  • Barrel for Scraping says:

    11 Jan11 January 08:13

    Depends on the demand. LGW has a catchment area of Sussex and is easier for people from south London or live close to the Thameslink line. Southend is better for those in Essex and north east London. It’s probably more convenient for The City too, unless near St Paul’s where LGW would be easier.

• ADS says:

  11 Jan11 January 11:41

  I just did a dummy booking for a couple of dates in May … looks like it will be operated by an ATR rather than a Jetstream (as per photo)

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Airways#Current_fleet

• Londonsteve says:

  11 Jan11 January 22:06

  I can see the point of this service. As BfS mentions above, it’s a totally different catchment area to Gatwick, Essex is on the polar opposite side of London to the M3 involving a long and unreliable half circuit of the M25, while at busy times of year the drive to the south-west can be agonisingly slow. Taking the train from Paddington is obviously an option but you first need to get to PAD (I think that’s the National Rail code!) involving a train and a change to the Elizabeth Line, then you’re in for the long 5 hour ride to Cornwall on those ghastly, bumpy IETs with rock hard seats. And the train fares are anything but cheap. I’d rather fly every time.

• Londonsteve says:

  11 Jan11 January 22:11

  I recall BA flew LHR-NQY years ago. That had the obvious benefit of offering seamless transfers to anywhere in the world. I wonder why the route didn’t last, was the Cornish market too small with a lack of disposable income?

  • Eileen says:

    13 Jan13 January 00:10

    Totally that and the additional charges for hold luggage can be so expensive that when flying out of Heathrow, to fly up there would often cost £120+ so the train or even driving up is then a much more affordable option, especially if for a family.

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