Flybe criticised after scrapping Norwich - Amsterdam flights
14.01.08
Regional budget airline Flybe has been accused of letting down its Norwich passengers after pulling the plug on its key Amsterdam route without warning, the Eastern Daily Press reports.
A spokesman for the company told the newspaper that the route had not been running from earlier this month because it had only ever been part of the winter schedule, which normally ends in March, and had not run last summer. Flybe spokesman Stacey Pinkus said it had not yet been decided whether to reinstate it for next winter.
However, Richard Jenner, managing director of Norwich International Airport, confirmed that since Flybe brought in the route at the end of October 2006, flights had been continuous throughout the year. He said that he understood the route had been permanently axed out of the blue.
Mr Jenner told the newspaper: 'Flybe decided to pull the service as they were not really getting the numbers or fares they wanted. To be honest it comes as no surprise to us as this was a route we advised them against in the first place.'
'Amsterdam flights from Norwich are already well established by KLM who run four jet flights a day while Flybe only ran one turboprop service and a very small proportion of people took that. 16,000 people flew from Norwich to Amsterdam using Flybe last year compared to 140,000 KLM passengers on the same route.'
'I don't think it will really affect passengers too much as the Flybe route was primarily used for leisure flights, it wasn't appropriate for business use or those using Amsterdam as a hub for other destinations who would use the same airline they were going on with.'
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg it | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
To book norwich airport hotels or norwich airport parking at the lowest price, click on these links to two great norwich airport parking and norwich airport hotels price comparison websites.
