The £3.8 million UK government funding is a significant investment in supporting the Londonderry - London route. Based on bmi regional using a 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145 on the route and its 13 return weekly frequencies that will equate to 1,300 seats a week, 67,600 seats a year or 135,200 seats for the full two-year funding term. With 2,704 one-way flights scheduled to operate during this period that works out as over £1,400 of support per flight, or £28 per seat.
The new combined contract will operate from February 1, 2015 until January 31, 2017 and may be extended for a further period of a maximum of one year, following the initial two year period, subject to a satisfactory review undertaken after the initial period of 18 months of operation.
