Virgin Connect officially announced for 2020

In 2020 Flybe will become Virgin Connect, your new go-to name in regional flying.

As Flybe, we have been connecting passengers across the UK and Europe for 40 years and as we embark on an ambitious transformation, Virgin Connect will continue our work as Europe’s Largest Regional Airline.

As part of the extended Virgin family, Virgin Connect will reflect the innovation and entrepreneurship of Virgin's wider brands, putting our customers first and offering better value.

Providing great customer experience is at the core of Virgin Connect's DNA and will be one of the many ways in which we will differentiate ourselves in the regional market upon rebranding next year.

https://virginconnect.co.uk/

"From here on in ………."

But we cant actually tell you any details yet

They have been better waiting and telling us everything rather than announcing a name that the majority had guessed anyway. (but your welcome to sign up for our newsletter https://twitter.com/flybe/status/1184092687525384192 )

The waiting continues …

David

A rather underwhelming unveiling of the new name.

Personally I would have preferred to see the name and the branding announced together. I am assuming that the horrendous branding on the interim website is not representative of the final product.

It’s nice to see some news on this though.

I think it’s going to be fascinating to see what they have planned from a network perspective and also the p2p perspective.

I could see distinctions between the branding / product depending on what they are aiming for. Remember Virgin Connect is owned 30% by VS, 30% by Stobart and 40% by Cyrus Capital.

For example, they have 4 “hubs”’to aim for at LHR, MAN, AMS, CDG with major operations by VS, DL, AF, KL. I could see the product offering to, from, and between those points as being the full fat Virgin Connect product, perhaps with new aircraft in time.

Meanwhile, I could see the traffic to, from and between the other points in the legacy FlyBe network that survive being operated by the Stobart part of the business (perhaps without the branding).

Whether this works, time will tell. I assume the mid-term intention is for Cyrus to Exit the consortium (with a tidy profit) enabling VS and Stobart to own 50% each.

It would be fascinating to be an observer in the high-level meetings where they are discussing strategy..
So many ways this could play out... opportunities for innovation vs the underlying economic realities.
From the high-level vision to the customer experience.
With so many players at the management level, across several airlines, I imagine there is some conflict and challenges ahead..,

I suspect that the partners have coalesced around the key strategies and have decided to put people in to run the operation that can do it effectively. The decision for the CEO to be from VS is very key here.

I do suspect there is an expansion strategy here and I can see the new planes coming with the 220s and I can see that announcement coming once the brand has been cemented!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3tv8VQh2Fk ... e45u4bzppl

Nice concept livery designs here on instagram by https://instagram.com/dynamiconeofficia ... ga4ohqz4f1

Some encouraging text from the recent Shai Weiss interview:

Brian Kelly: So Little Red didn’t work. Why do you guys feel convinced about Flybe?

Shai Weiss: It’s a very fair question. First of all, let me just go back. Businesses, not pilots, are allowed to make mistakes and it’s only what we learn from it. So we, of course, studied what happened with Little Red. Little Red was called Little Red. It flew from Manchester into Heathrow.

Shai Weiss: It was before we understood the importance of Manchester to Virgin Atlantic, which we’ve now really amplified our presence there and have more plans into the future. And the cheeky answer to the difference between Little Red and Flybe is eight and a half million passengers. It flies today with around 75 planes in the domestic market at about 80% and above load factor.

Shai Weiss: It’s a company that is 40 years old, has had a rough patch. We’re going to show it a lot of love, get it back on track, rebrand it, and then really orient it towards feeding into Manchester and Heathrow to our long-haul routes, but also growing the domestic market, which is so necessary. So I think that that’s the idea. And of course, it’s not Little Red.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/virgin-at ... rovements/

Flybe and Loganair have also made up with their code share restarting...

Flybe tweeting they have a new 737-800 simulator......

Flybe tweeting they have a new 737-800 simulator......

I'm trying not to read too much into that as their academy does work for other airlines besides their own. I suspect used 737-800's is scarce at the moment due to the MAX issues and Boeing has officially ended 737 Next Generation production fairly recently.

As an aside, Flybe operated a handful of 737-300's for a short while in the mid-2000's.