Headline fare reductions of £250 on short air services in Scotland inevitably arouse attention, until the true implication of such action in small, seasonal markets of services that are vital to securing year round connectivity, economic development and social cohesion are fully understood.
But the long term implications for the viability and sustainability of Scotland’s vital air links will be not be helped by such short term opportunism.
In a Press Release of June the 8th 2017, FlyBe announced a £20 million loss for the latest financial year. That followed the departure of two senior Directors, CEO and Financial, in the last 12 months.
Read more: £50 tickets after price war on Scottish islands flights
It also referred to the airline “struggling with a glut of aircraft and fierce competition on fares”.
Against such financial challenges, FlyBe is now floundering, looking for captive markets to exploit its excess capacity potentially through predatory pricing in an attempt to stem losses and ingratiate shareholders who have seen substantial losses of capital value with shares now valued at £0.35p compared with a £2.95 launch price.
They see Scotland as just such a short term target, but only committing to a 12 month trial.
Although FlyBe has operated extensively in Scotland for a number of years, including through Franchise arrangements with Loganair, it does not seem to have learned the basic economic reality of operating in small, if vital, seasonal markets.
Read more: £50 tickets after price war on Scottish islands flights
Its smallest owned aircraft is the circa 78 seat Dash 8 – 400 series aircraft. That is more than twice the capacity of the mainstay of the Loganair fleet the SF340 which is better suited to the markets concerned.
Scotland needs guaranteed networks with frequent services optimised to schedules meeting both the point to point and connecting requirements of passengers. Loganair has understood that basic principle well for over 40 years. Flybe is still learning, but could prejudice Scotland’s air links and the positive impact and viability of the Scottish Executive innovative Air Discount Scheme and some Public service Obligations operations in so doing.
The Scottish Executive, particularly those responsible for monitoring and supporting air services, should look closely at the situation and not let apparently attractive headlines on cheap and often restricted availability fares, distort the long term economic needs of the country.
Read more: £50 tickets after price war on Scottish islands flights
The consequences of not doing so will be short term gain for long term pain and loss of connectivity and opportunity for Scotland.
Laurie Price is a former government aviation adviser and ex chief aviation strategist for global consultants Mott MacDonald
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here