Can one cost effectively run early flights from a non base location
SAS have abandoned their bases in 2 airports in Norway. One of them serves the county's 3 largest city Trondheim and the other serves the oil capital of Norway Stavanger. Since Norwegians are early risers there remains question over if there still will be first wave flights out of these airports.
Low costs don't run first wave out of non base locations ince then they would have to overnight crew in hotels. That is one of the reasons Ryanair have(had) over 80 bases around Europe. A low cost principle is every crew home in own bed at night.
Now SAS is what is called a network airline that offers a certain amount of service. However as such it is not a very profitable one.
The argument is that crew from other bases can overnight in hotels for a first wave departure but this rises the cost considerably. Not only the accommodation and food costs but also the crew on the last flight in can't really fly the first flight out because their rest period will be to short. And if they fly an earlier flight in and park the aircraft the most expensive asset the plane is not utilized to its full potential.
What are the costs that can be saved with not having a base. Very litle if you follow the low fares principles of that a base can really be just a room where the flight crew can meet and get the information they need before the flights. In practice its a place where the crew works from so they are expected to get there on their own accord and overnight when they stay over there at their own expence.
Yes there is also requirments for overnight maintenance and cleaning but really only light maintenance and if you have many flights there anyway you would need some engineers to meet the plane on turnover and a small parts store.
When it comes to rostering there is really not much to save with having fewer bases. Maybe a few less standbys but automated rostering systems nowaday handles the complexity of rostering crew for planes in multiple bases quite easily. If you want to see an example the mobile app MoonCBook have an Automatic Rostering module under Crewing and its free for anyone to download including data for a well populated sample company MoonCAir.
So even if SAS are closing these airports as bases they still plan to fly a good few flights to/from the them so the saving potential is quite low. And if they plan late flights in and early flights out and need to overnight crew it can fast become a cost increase instead. Alternatively there will be many disapointed potential customers that can no longer take the early flight Trondheim Oslo to get to meetings first thing in the morning. There might be a potential here for the airline Norwegian.
Low costs don't run first wave out of non base locations ince then they would have to overnight crew in hotels. That is one of the reasons Ryanair have(had) over 80 bases around Europe. A low cost principle is every crew home in own bed at night.
Now SAS is what is called a network airline that offers a certain amount of service. However as such it is not a very profitable one.
The argument is that crew from other bases can overnight in hotels for a first wave departure but this rises the cost considerably. Not only the accommodation and food costs but also the crew on the last flight in can't really fly the first flight out because their rest period will be to short. And if they fly an earlier flight in and park the aircraft the most expensive asset the plane is not utilized to its full potential.
What are the costs that can be saved with not having a base. Very litle if you follow the low fares principles of that a base can really be just a room where the flight crew can meet and get the information they need before the flights. In practice its a place where the crew works from so they are expected to get there on their own accord and overnight when they stay over there at their own expence.
Yes there is also requirments for overnight maintenance and cleaning but really only light maintenance and if you have many flights there anyway you would need some engineers to meet the plane on turnover and a small parts store.
When it comes to rostering there is really not much to save with having fewer bases. Maybe a few less standbys but automated rostering systems nowaday handles the complexity of rostering crew for planes in multiple bases quite easily. If you want to see an example the mobile app MoonCBook have an Automatic Rostering module under Crewing and its free for anyone to download including data for a well populated sample company MoonCAir.
So even if SAS are closing these airports as bases they still plan to fly a good few flights to/from the them so the saving potential is quite low. And if they plan late flights in and early flights out and need to overnight crew it can fast become a cost increase instead. Alternatively there will be many disapointed potential customers that can no longer take the early flight Trondheim Oslo to get to meetings first thing in the morning. There might be a potential here for the airline Norwegian.
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