UK low-fare carrier Flybe is to introduce new flights from Newquay and Ireland West Airport Knock to Manchester this winter, maintaining these important links which are due to be dropped by Air Southwest and bmibaby in the coming months. The airline will offer a four times weekly schedule on both routes from October 30 and plans to serve both markets on a year-round basis.
Air Southwest currently provides five flights per week between Newquay and Manchester, via its Plymouth base, but revealed earlier this month that it is to suspend all operations in September. Meanwhile, low-cost carrier bmibaby has four weekly rotations to Manchester from Newquay and four from Ireland West Airport Knock, but is closing its base at the northwest UK airport at the end of the Northern Summer schedules.
These new air services from Flybe will minimise any disruption to business and leisure travellers and ensure a continuation of flights on the two routes. “Flybe’s decision to commence operations from Newquay to Manchester is timely and a great boost to the airport,” said Al Titterington, Managing Director, Newquay Cornwall Airport. “We are confident that there is a demand for air services to/from Cornwall and this announcement demonstrates that belief.”
With its headquarters in Exeter, Flybe is already well established in the southwest UK and currently offers regular flights from Newquay to both Edinburgh and London Gatwick, while it is currently the largest carrier at Manchester by weekly seat capacity. According to official UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data, 40,990 terminal and transit passengers travelled between Newquay and Manchester in 2010.
Flybe’s international expansion has been similarly welcomed in Ireland and maintains what Ireland West Airport Knock officials claim is “essential connectivity”, continuing a route that has been served for the past ten years by bmibaby. According to CAA data, 47,604 terminal and transit passengers flew on the service in 2010. Flybe introduced its first flights from the Irish regional airport last year with a connection to Edinburgh, a route it currently serves five times per week.
“Our Manchester service has long been one of our most established routes from the airport and I am sure the uninterrupted continuation of our Manchester service will come as welcome news to the thousands of people who use this service for visiting friends and relatives, travelling to football matches and also those who use it for business purposes,” said Joe Gilmore, Managing Director, Ireland West Airport Knock. “We are well aware that there is a huge West and North West of Ireland diaspora based in the Manchester region.”
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