Air Southwest's addition of another layer to its business offering completes a raft of initiatives from the airline, which is also building an ambitious route structure.
With one third of Air Southwest”s passengers on business, the carrier is targeting premium traffic, chief executive Jim Cameron tells ABTN.
The recent Business Plus Bonus scheme - where passengers are able to claim one free premium return for every ten trips booked - adds to the introduction of the flexible Business Plus fare earlier this year with its ability to use several Air Southwest airport lounges.
”Business Plus has gone very well for us so far - we felt that there was something missing within our product range which was mainly to do with flexibility,” Air Southwest chief executive Jim Cameron told Business Traveller.
”Around one third of our passengers are business travellers and that [Business Plus] is what they were looking for. That was number one, and number two was looking around for business lounges they could use.”
To that end Business Plus customers can use lounges at Air Southwest airports with the exception of Newquay, which will come on stream in late summer. The facility at the carrier”s homebase of Plymouth is now finished, while passengers at Manchester and London Gatwick can use the British Airways lounges.
The perennial oil question that is haunting all airlines clearly dominates Air Southwest”s thinking too, but the carrier”s use of Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft across relatively short flight sectors (average 40min) contributes to a fuel-efficient operation.
”We”ve had to introduce a ”3 fuel surcharge but I would like to think it [oil price] is a bubble - there”s a lot of confusing information out there and experts have different views,” said Cameron.
”We do feel we are under a certain amount of attack from environmentalists, but rail into Cornwall has a 17 per cent load factor by the time it gets there - in competitive terms with our load factors we are environmentally efficient.”
Air Southwest does have an increasingly strong competitor in the guise of Flybe, whose acquisition of BA Connect has given it considerable regional muscle. Both airlines are rivals for UK west country passengers with Flybe operating from Exeter and Newquay and Air Southwest from Plymouth and Newquay among others.
Flybe also has a substantial base at Southampton for UK and European services, while Air Southwest has added Glasgow, Newcastle, Dublin and Cork at Plymouth and Newquay. From December, the airline will start operating to Grenoble.
Of course Air Southwest doesn't have it all its own way on routes to Cornwall. British Airways also operates to Newquay from London Gatwick with a jet operation, but the relatively short flight distance does not necessarily impact on overall journey times. Indeed, many would argue that the fuel saving using turboprops on routes of 40 minutes to one hour outweighs the relatively short extra flight time.
Both carriers are clearly targeting the business traveller as well as leisure passengers by operating into Gatwick with its onward connecting potential.
Simon Warburton