Key route functions again.     

Southampton Airport is celebrating the return of KLM, as noted in last week’s BTN, with a once a day service operated by an Embraer 175.  Timings are critical and whilst it offers 44 two-way connections the Southampton outbound 17:20 arriving 19:35 programme is rather late for KLM’s Far East departures.  The other direction the 16:40 departure (16:50 arrival) allows for a day’s business but is too late to connect with cruise ships when they return. 

It is a major step forward in the airport’s rehabilitation after the demise of Flybe.  Last year Amsterdam was the airport’s third busiest route at 178k passengers, not far short of Edinburgh (182k) and above Glasgow (170k), both now in the hands of Loganair.  In its heyday Amsterdam was worth nearly a quarter of a million passengers.  How much traffic depends on holiday ship activity is not known but all the routes included cruise passengers.  The airport’s catchment area covers Dorset, Hampshire and parts of Sussex.  Travellers will have to decide whether Heathrow is a suitable alternative. 

Manchester was in 2019 the most popular destination for the airport (198k) with Eastern up and running soon to be joined by Blue Islands.

Our friends at anna.aero, the airline route analyser, have made a fascinating study on the Amsterdam service.

www.klm.com

www.southamptonairport.com