Brits in #Crete Petition for Winter Flights with UK
There is a petition doing the rounds in Crete to demonstrate just how much interest there is for winter flights between the UK and #Crete by #Easyjet and #Ryanair for #Brits living in Crete.
Both airlines currently run services to the Island of Crete as part for their Summer Schedules. EasyJet focusses on Heraklion, while Ryanair has its local base at Chania.
The petition is a good move in principle. But the economics of flying in the northern European winter are turbulent. I recall it was not so many years ago that the #Virgin Airways Christmas annual charter to and from Heraklion took a great deal of effort to organise and make a goer. And, it is not just the Brit community. Greeks have similar needs if they have family in UK and Crete.
Both EasyJet and Ryanair already know consumer sentiment about winter flights from both the UK and Crete perspectives. Economists run the planning departments at EasyJet and Ryanair and next year's summer schedules are now being finalised. If winter flights were on the horizon I would look for signs they are planning for them - such as extending further the length of the summer schedules period.
If I were a petitioner I would be asking of Ryanair how their "base" in Chania fared this summer (with one aircraft stationed there) and whether it could be utilised during the winter months for a UK flight instead if it was to be mothballed for the period.
If you missed the news last month, Olympic Air will stop flying on the Heraklion-Athens-Heraklion route from Oct 13th? Will the same happen to Chania later on?
And then there is #Aegeanair which is a competitor to Easyjet and Ryanair on UK routes. This may or may not have any bearing on whether winter flights between UK and Crete are a goer.
We can but have hope that the EasyJet/Ryanair petition to establish winter flights between UK and Crete will have some impact since Aegean has turned its attention to focussing on routes between Crete and Russia. Then for Brits living in Crete they may not feel quite so isolated.
Both airlines currently run services to the Island of Crete as part for their Summer Schedules. EasyJet focusses on Heraklion, while Ryanair has its local base at Chania.
The petition is a good move in principle. But the economics of flying in the northern European winter are turbulent. I recall it was not so many years ago that the #Virgin Airways Christmas annual charter to and from Heraklion took a great deal of effort to organise and make a goer. And, it is not just the Brit community. Greeks have similar needs if they have family in UK and Crete.
Both EasyJet and Ryanair already know consumer sentiment about winter flights from both the UK and Crete perspectives. Economists run the planning departments at EasyJet and Ryanair and next year's summer schedules are now being finalised. If winter flights were on the horizon I would look for signs they are planning for them - such as extending further the length of the summer schedules period.
If I were a petitioner I would be asking of Ryanair how their "base" in Chania fared this summer (with one aircraft stationed there) and whether it could be utilised during the winter months for a UK flight instead if it was to be mothballed for the period.
If you missed the news last month, Olympic Air will stop flying on the Heraklion-Athens-Heraklion route from Oct 13th? Will the same happen to Chania later on?
And then there is #Aegeanair which is a competitor to Easyjet and Ryanair on UK routes. This may or may not have any bearing on whether winter flights between UK and Crete are a goer.
We can but have hope that the EasyJet/Ryanair petition to establish winter flights between UK and Crete will have some impact since Aegean has turned its attention to focussing on routes between Crete and Russia. Then for Brits living in Crete they may not feel quite so isolated.