Welcome back to one of my favourite regional airports in the South of England- Southampton "Eastleigh" Airport!
In the South of England, there are four main regional airports in the South/South-West: Bournemouth, Southampton, Newquay and Exeter.
Southampton was for a long time the busiest of the four airports. However in March 2020- their main airline Flybe went into administration. The airport has bounced back with help from Loganair and Eastern Airways. KLM has picked up the popular Southampton to Amsterdam route and easyJet has recently announced an entry with some domestic routes. The channel islands are big business for Southampton Airport with routes served by both Blue Island and Aurigny Air Service.
Just shy of 631,500 passengers passed through Southampton Airport in 2022. 1,781,500 passengers passed through during 2019.
I passed through security pretty quickly, despite my bag being pulled for a random check. I had plenty of time though.
The cafe's were both pretty busy, so I decided not to grab a drink or cake and await for me to be on the flight over to Newcastle.
My flight was the third arrival that morning, two ATR-72 from the Channel Islands had arrived and my flight was the first of three Loganair ERJ-145 connecting Southampton to Scotland (Aberdeen via Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh).
Loganair LM534 (SOU-NCL)
My flight to Newcastle was operated by a Loganair Embraer ERJ-145, registered G-SAJN. This aircraft entered service in February 2000 to British Midland Regional (BMI Regional) as G-RJXD. After the airline folded in February 2019- the plane was transferred and reregistered to Loganair where it remains in service named as "Clan MacInnes".
Walking into the Loganair Embraer E-145, I noticed a massive difference- the seats had tartan fabric head covers. This was not present on my previous "pandemic flights" in August 2020 or May 2021, so it was nice to see this touch was now in place.
I took my place in Seat 17A, my favourite seat on the ERJ-145 as its behind the wing, with a good view of the engine as well, a dream for any Avgeek- also being on the left side meant I had a dual window/isle seat as it was the side with a single seat rather than the dual rows on the right side of the ERJ.
There was nothing in the seat back pocket other than the mandated safety card. I don't know if Loganair has ever had reading material on their planes, but it is something airlines aren't really investing in the 2020s. The pandemic, environmental awareness and airlines feeling "a need" to cost cut anything non-essential has all but brought inflight magazines into the history books.
We pushed back as the first of three Loganair ERJ to depart, fitting as this was the first one to arrive. The Channel Island ATR flights had gone out by now and an Irish Aer Lingus Regional ATR-72 had parked up from Belfast.
We taxied over to the Runway and turned right on the shorter taxi down the runway. We got to the end of the runway and did a 180-degree turn to face the direction of departure, a more than common practice at Southampton Airport.
All that's left to say is Loganair LM534- You are clear for take off!!!
This little "pocket rocket" made the departure out of Southampton with little effort, soaring into the skies over Hampshire, we made course for the North-East of England and our destination NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE!
It didn't take long to get to our cruising altitude for the 50 minutes we'd be airborne on this run from one side of England to the other.
I enjoyed my views of the engine from my seat toward the back of the plane.
Whilst it was quiet, I opted to visit the toilet and I sneaked my GoPro in with me to grab some "loo review" type photos to post on this Flight Report, don't say I don't spoil you guys!
Normally I wouldn't feel a need to photograph the loo for these, but how many flying Embraer ERJ-145 are there in Europe these days.
The sole cabin crew member onboard did her onboard service duties handing out a selection of water, a hot drink (tea or coffee) alongside some Scottish shortbreads & Tunnocks caramel bars. I quite enjoyed the snacks given out, it was a nice touch and a step ahead of what British Airways would offer on a similar flight.
The rest of the flight went uneventful, after the plane began descending it was a straight forward arrival into Newcastle International Airport, we arrived and parked on a remote stand just off the domestic arrivals, so we'd only require a short walk into the arrivals area.
Overall a very nice flight, it was nice to enjoy a proper Loganair experience and I will remain very happy to fly them again in future within the UK, especially if I can get a good price out of Southampton. I am interested to see how Loganair reacts to easyJet coming in against them on the Glasgow-Southampton service.
And that concludes this domestic flight report between Southampton and Newcastle, this flight would proceed to carry on Northbound for Aberdeen, where the service originated from that morning.
And for me?
I was about to Rock & Roll All Night in Newcastle!
Bonus : Click here display hide
Newcastle Hijinks- June 2023!
The first bit was to get a Day Ticket for Zones A-B-C on the Newcastle Metro system for all their trains. This is in my view the best way to get around Newcastle, Sunderland and Tynemouth. First bit was to get to Newcastle Central Station which takes about 30 minutes from leaving Newcastle Airport, it is a short walk to the Metro station for NCL Airport.
One of the first things I did was to go to a Museum I hadn't been to as of yet, which was Newcastle's DISCOVERY Museum.
Quite a diverse museum showing off history of the Newcastle area from the Roman era to modern day Newcastle, a look at how Pop Culture has influenced the 20th-21st Century in Newcastle.
A dinner at the Newcastle Hard Rock Café was a must given my plans for the evening, I got a wonderful surprise to find that they were offering people attending the event in question were being given 20% off their meals, which I was included. So that was wonderful!
The key feature of my night was going to the Utilita Arena to see KISS on their END OF THE ROAD Tour, this was the first of five UK gigs they did during the Summer of 2023. Oh it was a brilliant gig and amazing night, absolutely loved it!
The following day (before my flight home) I opted to head out to the coast of the North East and visit Tynemouth. I had seen Tynemouth from above when flying in before, but it was cool to go out and see the town from the ground.
I love the Vintage decoration of the Tynemouth train station, they've kept that aesthetic going from the olden days.
I didn't get the best weather, but it was nice to wonder aimlessly around Tynemouth and grabbing some really nice photos of the area.
I even walked across the Pier up to the large Lighthouse at the end of the River Tyne, how many ships past and present have used this Lighthouse to get into Newcastle via the Tyne.
I even popped into a rather nice local pub just at the end of the main town Highstreet and enjoyed a nice cool drink of Newcastle Brown Ale.
Using my Metro card for Zones A-B-C, I found I could go on a free Public Transport Ferry from North Shields to South Shields, taking a ride across the River Tyne- I've done similar Ferry rides in London, Liverpool and Hamburg.
Nothing special and its a regular gig for the locals on the Tyne, but it was nice to go ahead and enjoy this.
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Verdict
Loganair
6.8/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi3.0
Meal/catering7.0
Southampton - SOU
8.5/10
Efficiency10.0
Access8.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness9.0
Newcastle - NCL
9.5/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness10.0
Conclusion
Loganair was a pretty good product, whilst their prices can be off putting for the leisure traveller, it is a good solid flight experience and it can be great if you really want to fly from Southampton Airport and not make the prolong treck over to London Heathrow or London Gatwick. Loganair seems to be holding its own and found its Regional Niche following the demise of Flybe and I am hoping there will be future trips with them by me in the future.
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Thanks for sharing this LM flight, interesting that they operate a domestic flight within England (albeit continuing to Scotland). I always liked the ERJ-145s (except maybe the tiny overhead bins) when they used to the the stalwarts of CO Express. With the shift to E-Jets across regional fleets, they are becoming a rare species here in the US as well. Catering is very good for a 45-min flight and the tartan antimacassars are a very Scottish touch.
If you come to the UK from the US or another long distance destination, I would recommend giving Loganair a flight, simply to experience an ERJ flight in Europe.
Interesting to see a Loganair flight outside of Scotland! LM are definitely on my bucketlist--they seem like a cool little carrier (not all that little actually)! The snack is impressive for a sub-one hour flight
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