Flybe to axe all domestic flights from Gatwick
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#1 - by Baltimore on Fri May 31, 2013 at 17:57 GMT
Flybe is to axe all of its Gatwick flights, having sold its arrival and departure slots at the London airport to easyJet for £20 million. It announced to the London Stock Exchange this morning (31st May) that it will pull out of the airport, from where it has operated for 22 years, on 29th March 2014. It will mean the loss of flights from the London airport to Belfast City, Guernsey, Inverness, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Newcastle and Newquay.
Flybe blamed its decision to pull out of Gatwick on the airport's pricing regime, which, it said, had led to a 102 per cent rise over the past five years. It added that Air Passenger Duty was also a factor. Funds generated from the sale of the slots will be re-invested in Flybe's remaining 159 routes.
EasyJet said it would use the 25 pairs of slots it has acquired to launch new routes from Gatwick and to add additional flights on its most popular existing routes. Further details will be announced at the end of this year.
(courtesy of travelmole.com) -
#2 - by LN-KGL on Fri May 31, 2013 at 19:32 GMT
But both the sale of the LGW slots to U2 and the close down of its LGW flights at the end of W13/14 was revealed on May 23rd. Here you'll find the flybe presentation:
http://www.flybe.com/corporate/investors/presentations/Flybe-Fit-to-Compete-May-2013.pdf -
#3 - by Baltimore on Fri May 31, 2013 at 19:47 GMT
...and your point is? The sale and close down may have been revealed on 23rd May, but it's now 'official' to the extent that Flybe have made an announcement to the London Stock Exchange. I'm sorry if you think that my post is superfluous. Perhaps you are overlooking the fact that not everyone who vists the P-M website is an aviation expert and that the Flybe decision (which hasn't previously been reported in the Gatwick Forum) may be of passing interest to those who aren't quite as well informed as you obviously are... Oops, forgive me if I take a moment to remove my tongue from my cheek!
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#4 - by LN-KGL on Fri May 31, 2013 at 21:22 GMT
Oops ... -
#5 - by Baltimore on Fri May 31, 2013 at 21:39 GMT
Time to call it quits, me thinks. -
#6 - by whitehatter on Sat June 1, 2013 at 02:59 GMT
It's actually current news as the sale was proposed, but the various consents and pricing have just been closed. Until now it was a MOU-type arrangement but the deal is now put in place so formal notice could be made to the Stock Exchange and other parties that BE can expect the closures and cash payment to impact on their business on the formal dates given.
I think there might have been a competition issue they had to walk past a warm regulator or two first as EZY hold a substantial number of slot-pairs now.