Flybe and bmibaby face off at Cardiff Airport
17.03.08
Two of Britain's leading budget airlines are preparing to battle at Cardiff Airport. Flybe, which claims to be Europe's biggest regional budget airline, has said that it would win the battle with bmibaby, which hots up later this month.
On March 30 Flybe launches new routes from Cardiff Airport; three services a day to Edinburgh, two to Glasgow and one to Newcastle. It already operates flights to Jersey and Belfast. Rival bmibaby already flies to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Jersey and Belfast, meaning the airlines will battle on a number of key routes from Cardiff.
Flybe’s chief commercial officer Mike Rutter said: 'It’s not sustainable for there to be two low-cost airlines on domestic (routes).Ultimately we will come out on top, it’s just a matter of time.’ He said in the long-term Flybe would focus on business routes and he expected bmibaby to concentrate on leisure weekends in European cities, rather than UK flights.
The airline is reported to exploring operating flights from Cardiff to Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Brussels, with an announcement expected in June. Mr Rutter even claimed that Flybe was trying to secure the Bay City Rollers for the March 30 launch so ‘they can play Bye Bye Baby!’
But bmibaby managing director Crawford Rix said: ‘We have competitors - Mike’s copying my network! There is a great future at Cardiff for us. We don’t all have to fly the same routes. There are plenty of opportunities out of Cardiff for us all. bmibaby is at Cardiff to stay and we are looking to add aircraft in the near future.’
Both airlines agreed on one thing - that passengers would be the winners as they were tempting flyers with cheap seats, at least in the short term.
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