Why your tax money is funding 11 obscure new UK flights (but five will earn Avios!)

Back in the Autumn statement, the Government announced a £7m plan to fund 11 new regional air routes that will start during 2016

The Regional Air Connectivity Fund – which, you would think, is the sort of thing which would have been scrapped rather than created during a period of spending cuts – is blowing investing taxpayers money in 11 new air routes.

In my experience, airlines are not short of a willingness to give new routes a try using their own money.  After all, as long as they have the aircraft, the fixed costs involved in starting a route are not huge.

These are the 11 routes which you will be financing for the first three years of their life:

Dundee to Amsterdam (Flybe) 

Derry to Dublin (Citywings)

Carlisle to Belfast (Stobart Air)

Carlisle to Dublin (Stobart Air)

Carlisle to Southend (Stobart Air)

Norwich to Exeter (Flybe)

Norwich to Newcastle (Linksair)

Oxford to Edinburgh (Linksair)

Southampton to Lyon (Flybe, rationale being ….?!)

Southampton to Munich (Flybe, ditto)

Newquay to Leeds-Bradford (Flybe)

Oxford to Edinburgh, two incredibly poor cities, will obviously benefit hugely from this subsidised connection.  In terms of pure genius, however, Carlisle to Southend must be the winner:

Who is flying the route?  Stobart Air

Who owns Southend Airport?  Stobart Air

Who owns Carlisle Airport?  Stobart Air

Triples all round, as Private Eye would say. You can further details on the gov.uk website.

The vague relevance of this to HfP is, of course, that you will be able to earn and spend Avios points on Southampton to Lyon, Southampton to Munich, Norwich to Exeter, Dundee to Amsterdam and Newquay to Leeds-Bradford due to the tie-up between Avios and Flybe.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)