An interesting battle has started at on the London City Airport to Dublin routing, with three carriers going toe-to-to-toe with FlyBe, British Airways and incumbent CityJet fighting over passengers on the route.
So lets do a bit of background.
The incumbent CityJet has been through the mill recently, but has gone on the attack with a 9 time a weekday service between the two points. Yes, 9 times a day during the week.
CityJet 9 times a week day service – source, CityJet.ie.
Next up is relative newcomer to the route, and one of London City Airport’s biggest carriers – British Airways (operating as BA CityFlyer) who operate a five time a weekday service between London City and Dublin:
British Airways London City Airport to Dublin – Source – BA.com
Finally, there’s the new addition to London City Airport, who has just started operations there… and that FlyBE who fly four times a weekday :
FlyBE London City Airport to Dublin. Data Flybe.com
So, there’s a fair bit of competition on the route, with a total of 18 flights a day between the British and Irish Capitals.
In terms of equipment, each operator has gone down a different line:
- CityJet operate an “all jet” Avro 85 service, with a capacity of 95 passengers aboard their panes in a 3-3 formation
- British Airways use Embraer 170/190s with 76 seats aboard a E-170 (2 class configuration), 98 E-190 (2 class configuration)
- Flybe use Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 aircraft with 78 seats aboard (and the only Turboprop operator on the route).
How does it break down? Does 1547 seats a day between the two cities sound a lot?
Notes: Based on listed capacites at airline websites. Assuming BA Cityflyer use a E-170.
Considering that this used to be a five times a day service operated by CityJet – offering 665 seats (7 flights a weekday) – that’s a jump of 882 extra seats between the two cities.
Is that sustainable? I doubt it.
Each airline is baying for blood on this route. CityJet is the one in the corner fighting the two newcomers as it tries to rebuild itself, with British Airways and FlyBe muscling in to grab a piece of the action that is the London City – Dublin market.
Whilst there is room for two carriers on this route, a 3rd carrier could be too much with the amount of seats on offer.
But on the flip side, there are some good deals to be had between the two cities, with lead-in prices starting from £75… with two days before departure.
For those who wish to work in either city, good point to point flights can’t be underestimated. However, I get the feeling there maybe too many flights here.
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This seems like the perfect route to operate with a prop plane. Flybe should be able to undercut the other two operators prices as their fuel use on this short route should be significantly less. Passengers prefer jets but they also prefer cheaper prices.