Re: CHEAP FLIGHTS TO CORFU

[JohnJ]

Hi there,
            Someone was asking if Airtours had any properties in Arillas.  It may not be obvious but Airtours own Panorama holidays which in turn own Manos, who have many properties in Arillas such as The Rainbow complex ( Dionosys 1 and 2 and Nafsika), Tri adelphia,  Leonidas, The bakery apartments, Makris, Kokinnoss etc.
Regards
John

[Joe]

and we have just merged with My Travel/Airtours, might be a good news situation after all.....

[Eileen]

and we have just merged with My Travel/Airtours, might be a good news situation after all.....

As customers can this really be good for us Joe?  Correct me if I'm wrong but I always believed that competition was healthy and helped stabilize if not keep prices down.

I wonder how many individual flight operators are actually flying to Corfu nowadays.  I can only think of Thomas Cook, Xl, TUI and thank goodness for the latest on the block GB airways...anyone know anymore?

Eileenxx

[Joe]

and we have just merged with My Travel/Airtours, might be a good news situation after all.....

As customers can this really be good for us Joe?  Correct me if I'm wrong but I always believed that competition was healthy and helped stabilize if not keep prices down.

I wonder how many individual flight operators are actually flying to Corfu nowadays.  I can only think of Thomas Cook, Xl, TUI and thank goodness for the latest on the block GB airways...anyone know anymore?

Eileenxx

To be fair that comment came from a purely selfish point of view, if Manos comes into our envelope then we will have more flights and accommodation in Arillas so it will be easier to get to see my Mum and my discounts, sorry. We won't be able to keep all the properties though as I'm sure the Monopolies & Mergers Commission will have something to say about it.

At first I felt the same as you about prices and yes less choice is bad for the customer but the fact is the short haul market couldn't support 4 major players and consolidation had been on the cards for the past year. There are still 2 other large operators and all the independents to compete with as well as Jet 2 who are starting package holidays soon. Our prices are also driven by demand which is almost impossible to manipulate so I doubt we will start to see unnaturally high prices coupled with the fact that 2 separate companies will now be operating as one will lead to reduced overheads, I think it will all balance out in the end, one thing I'm sure though the public will get a better more varied product now this has happened There does seem to be a lot of experience and knowledge being brought together. In truth I can't see the Airtours name disappearing.

Prices will rise (they always do) but I don't think the jumps will be anymore than we expect year in year out. There are some great deals to Corfu this year, unfortunately as mentioned in this thread flights are not going to be cheap, with Fuel Tax, APD and reduced capacity but that should just be for the early part of the year, once July August kicks in the holidays go up in price but the seat only's will fall when extra aircraft are thrown onto the routes.

There you go I have answered your question with a "yes" and a "no" how helpful

[Eileen]

[

To be fair that comment came from a purely selfish point of view, if Manos comes into our envelope then we will have more flights and accommodation in Arillas so it will be easier to get to see my Mum and my discounts, sorry.

No problem with that whatsoever I'm sure we would all feel the same!   I know that I would!

I understand what you are saying, of course I am not saying that Thomas Cook are guilty of this, but all the operators are surely not driven by demand.  If so then we would not have family/friends or colleagues who try to book a package holiday to Corfu to be told that there is no availability and they are then pointed towards other destinations ie. Bulgaria.
There is demand there but sadly the fact is that for many tour ops the lure of bigger profits in emerging holiday markets is too strong.

Thats good new about Jet2.   Rome is the nearest destination to Corfu that they fly to...but who knows they might decide to fly further East towards our favourite place!

Eileenx

[Joe]

The process to a great extent is driven by demand but yes of course this does need to be pre-empted. Properties have to be bought before the summer and filled, even with the best-laid plans mistakes can be made and gaps need to be plugged. I was probably speaking a little to generally my comment was aimed more towards Corfu which has always been effected in this way, the massively varying priced that people have mentioned paying on this forum are a testament to that.

Looking through the screens now I can see the same properties in Arillas with the same flights £250 more expensive one week than the next. Compared to previous years there is not a lot of availability in Corfu this year, last year did not perform well so it may be difficult to get holidays at certain times. In the busy months there will be options in other properties (Galini??) so if it looks like extra capacity is needed there is a backup but having empty rooms just doesn't seem to be an option at the moment. I will agree this may 'manufacture' the prices a little but so far things do not look any more expensive on the package front anyway as Thomas Cook is pretty dominant in Arillas and the prices always seemed quite reasonable. Just to re-iterate I don't work for the holiday's part so I'm not on a sales pitch, my involvement with people's holidays ends when they step onto the tarmac at Corfu Airport.

I mentioned above that Corfu didn't have a brilliant year, however Arillas, San Stef (just) and Sidari were all up so I hope that lifts the doom and gloom a little. I'm sure San George did well to but that's Thomson's territory. Kavos had a shocker and a lot was shut by September, before we all jump for joy we need to remember that the type of holiday that Kavos provides brings in a lot of money to the economy and if its suffers its not good for anyone.

[Eileen]

As in past years, accommodation wise that is, there will be a lot of property available in Corfu this year , the problem is the cut backs that have been made to the actual flights going in.  That of course has the knock on effect of the on screen availability looking tight, but in all reality it's only because there are less flights to go around for us punters.

No matter what marketing strategy anxious independent apartment owners think up they are up against the lack of/expense of flights for diy travellers.

Despite it's notoriety it's a shame to hear about Kavos, the youngsters keep bums on seats and increases the demand for flights to Corfu.  But it was always bound to happen, as with pubs & nightclubs here at home there comes a time when the young set get bored with a scene and move on elsewhere.

Theres only one thing for it Joe...get together with Nancy at Corfuescape and use both your expertises to create an  inbetweeny service for the packagers and the peeps who cannot be bothered with the hassle of full blown diy holidays!  In fact going back to previous postings on this thread, maybe Corfu regulars and diehards would maybe happy for someone to organise an alternative route to Corfu via Italy or wherever for a short stay thus adding a bit more adventure & flavour to the year in year out holiday in Corfu.

Another thing to consider is the hassle of getting there 'out of season'.  What we need is someone who has a good knowledge of airports etc and can collate all the information on the various routes and methods of getting to Corfu from all points in the U.K!

In between times you could maybe still earn your bread and butter at TC, but it would not leave much time for your own hols!...then again you would have to do a lot of out on the field or should it be up in the air research!

Eileenxx

[Joe]

No matter what marketing strategy anxious independent apartment owners think up they are up against the lack of/expense of flights for diy travellers.
Eileenxx

I know nothing is ever easy but Corfu has a good seat-only market being so close to home and the LGW flights is only going to help with this

In between times you could maybe still earn your bread and butter at TC, but it would not leave much time for your own hols!...then again you would have to do a lot of out on the field or should it be up in the air research!

Oh god, don't give me anything else to do I'm still trying to write that damn FAQ yet achieving very little.

[Eileen]

LGW new route will certainly help the market, or at least help fill the space left by flights taken off the route by other airlines. Hopefully it will be well used in order for BA to justify operating a reduced service out of the summer season.  I for one would certainly consider using it for out of season trips to Corfu.


Up here in Scotland we are not very well served with flights to Corfu, indeed to Greece in general.  Up here we have to travel to Glasgow, or down to Newcastle, not really a problem for me as it's the same journey whichever way I go!

LOL, I wondered what happened to your FAQ, I thought that perhaps once you thought about it the list of FAQ's just got longer and longer.

Eileenxx

[Eileen]

This morning I checked the price for 2 tickets for my daughter and grandson flying with XL using the Tesco code.
A couple of hours later when I got around to booking the tickets it turned out the the Tesco code was oversubscribed.  I did have the option of holding off until tomorrow or monday when the code would more than likely be available again, but as there are only a few seats left I decided to book today.  However I did a little googling around first and found another code, this time it is MOD which gives a discount of £10 each.  O.K not as good as Tesco's £15 but still it leaves a bit more in your pocket!

Eileenxx

[harold]

I received an email yesterday or friday from Lovecorfu.It seems a new Matlese Airline will be operating all year round flights from the UK to Corfu for a return of 120 euros have just pasted the post.                                                                                                                                               We would also like to take this opportunity to tell you about a new Maltese airline that we hope will fly direct to Corfu from the UK and also from many other European airports.  The cost of this flight will be approximately 120 euros return with a service both winter and summer.  In order for this airline to operate we require some guarantee that seats will be booked, how many passengers would travel and how many times per year this service would be used.  If you are interested please send an email to Harry's secretary at the address below.

If you would like to receive a free copy of the newspaper please can you email your postal address to luvcorfu_angela@yahoo.com

Harry Tsoukalas – Hilary Paipeti

Company Directors

Luvcorfu Properties

[vivian]

sent mine Harold,sound good if it takes off. Viv

[Eggy]

Sent mine to Harold.
I've met Harry T a few times in the past. He seems very passionate about Corfu and it's people.
Also I believe they both have a large say in the production of the Corfiot amongst other interests.
(It's his family on "Rick Steins Corfu Escape" to be televised later in the year)
Negg

[mumsy2]

Hi,  I've e-mailed too.  Hope we manage to do the trick!.  Marie.

[Joe]

I will make sure to send an email later today, I would like nothing better than the above to be true.

The only thing that concerns me is the stated price of €120 (£90) return, no matter how I look at that when taking into account, taxes, landing fees, APD and fuel charges this airline would be operating at a major loss, even selling the first 5 seats at this price would make the whole route unprofitable and the a/c would need to be full on every flight. Of course I could be completely wrong and I'm sure people better placed (and on higher wages) than me are working this out but the whole Corfu flight situation is difficult. Believe it or not the route is already overloaded in Summer and when we do the winter Ad-hoc's filling four Christmas flights proves difficult and expensive.

I'm not trying to put a negative spin on this, I more than anyone want these flights to become a reality and would give them my full support but I know what a pain in the a#@e this route is. Eileen mentioned previously about aircraft double dropping, the figures for this on a Corfu route may have made it commercially viable on a limited basis, I can't wait to see how this turns out and I do wish them all the best.

I have to go to Glasgow Airport with work tonight, I'm flying out of here this evening with Aldo the Cuban pilot (lovely guy). It just struck me that I'm 30 in April and I've never been to Scotland yet I've lived in the north of England all my life, it better be nice

Joe