Eastern Airways becomes latest UK regional airline to fail; Aberdeen and Newquay were top airports

UK regional airline Eastern Airways ceased operations on Monday 27 October. According to planespotters.net the carrier had a fleet of 14 aircraft; four Embraer E190s (with 100-114 seats), two Embraer E170s (with 76 seats), three ATR 72s (with 70/72 seats) and five BAe Jetstream 41s (with 29 seats).

In recent years the airline has carried around 150,000 passengers annually on its own scheduled services with average annual load factors between 43% and 53% as reported by the UK CAA. This is down from over 200,000 in the pre-COVID years. At the start of the W17/18 season Eastern became a franchise carrier for Flybe. When Flybe ceased operations in early March 2020, Eastern resumed flying under its own name once more.

Aberdeen and Newquay were leading airports this summer

Analysis of Cirium schedules data shows the airline operating five main routes in September 2025:

• Newquay to London Gatwick (348 kilometres), 12-weekly
• Aberdeen to Teesside (304 kilometres), 6-weekly
• Aberdeen to Wick (150 kilometres), 6-weekly
• Aberdeen to Humberside (420 kilometres), 5-weekly
• Newquay to London Southend (418 kilometres), 5-weekly

There were also weekly flights from Teesside and Humberside to Jersey, and between Teesside and Humberside. As a result, Aberdeen, and more recently Newquay, have been the airline’s top airports for scheduled services. The airline’s most recent new route was the 5-weekly service between Newquay and London Southend which launched on 3 April 2025.

The Newquay to London Gatwick service had started on 15 December 2021 after the airline won the PSO (Public Service Obligation) contract for the route.

25 scheduled routes launched in last five years

Since 2020 the airline has launched over 20 new scheduled routes which, for various reasons, were mostly discontinued by this summer. These include:

• 22 June 2020: Southampton to Belfast City, Manchester and Newcastle (replacing Flybe)
• 29 June 2020: Teesside to Aberdeen (replacing Flybe)
• 6 July 2020: Teesside to London City and Newquay
• 9 July 2020: Leeds Bradford to Newquay
• 7 September 2020: Teesside to Southampton
• 14 September 2020: Teesside to London Heathrow
• 23 October 2020: Manchester to Newquay
• 24 May 2021: Southampton to Gibraltar
• 27 May 2021: Cardiff to Belfast City
• 28 May 2021: Birmingham to Gibraltar
• 19 July 2021: Southampton to Dublin
• 6 September 2021: Aberdeen to Newcastle
• 15 December 2021: Newquay to London Gatwick
• 1 April 2022: Humberside to Newquay
• 11 April 2022: Aberdeen to Wick
• 30 March 2023: East Midlands to Newquay
• 14 April 2023: East Midlands and Southampton to Paris Orly
• 21 April 2023: Cardiff to Paris Orly
• 1 April 2024: East Midlands and Southampton to Paris CDG
• 3 April 2025: Newquay to London Southend

Arguably the most ‘exotic’ of these routes were the relatively long services to Gibraltar, launched from Birmingham and Southampton in May 2021. Apart from Gibraltar there were also new international routes to Dublin and Paris (initially Orly and then moved to CDG)

ACMI operations for KLM since last summer

Since the start of the summer 2024 season Eastern Airways had an ACMI agreement with KLM that involved the airline operating KLM’s routes from Amsterdam to Humberside and Teesside as well as some frequencies on other Amsterdam routes to the UK. These were operated by two E190s. For winter 2024/25 a third E190 was added and then a fourth for summer 2025.

This summer Humberside, Teesside and Bristol were the main KLM Amsterdam routes served using Eastern’s aircraft. However, according to Cirium data the E190s were also used on the Dutch carrier’s Amsterdam routes to Newcastle (553 departures since end of March 2024), Leeds Bradford (412), Norwich (346), Manchester (283), Southampton (217), Birmingham (170), Glasgow (150), Cardiff (51), Hannover (61) and Exeter (four).

This winter (November 2025) KLM’s routes from Amsterdam to Humberside, Teesside and Bristol are now being operated by KLM Cityhopper’s Embraer E175s and E190s.

What were all the aircraft doing this summer?

Using operations data from flightradar24.com, the last movements of each of the airline’s 14 aircraft have been determined.

E190 (G-CMZI) Last week of flying was 2-8 October: NCL – AMS – MME – AMS – MME / MME – AMS – MME – AMS – NCL – AMS – MME – AMS – HUY / HUY – AMS – BRS – AMS – BRS / BRS – AMS – LBA – AMS – BRS – AMS – BRS – AMS – HUY / HUY – NQY – LGW – NQY / NQY – LGW – NQY – LGW – NQY / NQY – LGW – NQY – HUY / then to Norwich on 14 October 2025.

E190 (G-CMWI) Last week of flying was 29 September to 5 October: MME – AMS – MME – AMS – NCL – AMS – MME – AMS – MME / MME – AMS – MME – AMS – NCL – AMS – MME – AMS – HUY / HUY – AMS – HUY – AMS – GLA – AMS – HUY – AMS – BRS / BRS – AMS – LBA – AMS – BRS – AMS – BRS – AMS – HUY / HUY – AMS – HUY – AMS – GLA – AMS – HUY – AMS – MME / MME – AMS – MME – AMS / AMS – MME – AMS – NCL – EMA – HUY / then to Norwich on 16 October 2025.

E190 (G-CLYU) No flights during last three months. Currently in Norwich.

E190 (G-CLSN) Last week of flying 20-26 October: NQY – LGW – NQY – MME / MME – HUY / / HUY – BQH – AMS – SOU / SOU – LPL – NQY – LGW – NQY / NQY – LGW – NQY – LPL – SOU / SOU – NQY – LGW – NQY – HUY / then to Saarbrücken on 27 October 2025.

E170 (G-CMPI) No scheduled flights in last 3 months. Flew from Humberside to Exeter on 7 August.

E170 (G-CMLI) Last week of flying was 6-12 October: NQY – LGW – NQY – SEN – NQY – HUY / / / / HUY – AAL – LSI – HUY / / HUY – ABZ – HUY / then to Saarbrücken on 15 October 2025.

ATR 72 (G-CMFI) Last week of flying was 31 August – 6 September: HUY – ABZ – WIC – ABZ – MME – ABZ – HUY / HUY – ABZ – HUY / HUY – ABZ – HUY / HUY – ABZ – WIC – ABZ – MME – ABZ – HUY / HUY – ABZ – MME – ABZ – HUY / HUY – MME – ABZ – WIC – ABZ – MME – HUY / HUY – JER – MME – JER – HUY / then to Dinard on 17 October 2025.

ATR 72 (G-IACY) No scheduled flights in last three months. Flown to Dinard on 24 September 2025.

ATR 72 (G-IACZ) Last week of flying 18-24 October: NQY – LGW – NQY – NWI – BRS / BRS – BOH – ADX – ABZ – NQY / NQY – LGW – NQY – SEN – NQY / NQY – LGW – NQY – LGW – NQY / NQY – LGW – NQY – LGW – NQY / NQY – LGW – NQY / NQY – LGW – NQY – DNR / aircraft still in Dinard.

J41 (G-MAJK) Last week of flying 18-24 October: / / / ABZ – LSI – ABZ – LSI – ABZ / ABZ – LSI – ABZ – LSI – ABZ / ABZ – LSI – ABZ / ABZ – LSI – ABZ / aircraft still in Aberdeen.

J41 (G-MAJL) Last week of flying 14-20 October: ABZ – LSI – ABZ / ABZ – LSI – ABZ / ABZ – LSI – ABZ – LSI – ABZ / / / / ABZ – LSI – ABZ / flown to Humberside on 14 October 2025.

J41 (G-MAJT) Last week of flying 20-26 August: ABZ – LSI – ABZ / ABZ – LSI – ABZ – LSI – ABZ / ABZ – LSI – ABZ – LSI – ABZ / / / ABZ – HUY / aircraft still in Humberside.

J41 (G-MAJU) Last week of flying 18-24 October: / HUY – ABZ – WIC – ABZ – MME – ABZ – HUY / HUY – ABZ / ABZ – LSI – ABZ – LSI – ABZ / ABZ – LSI – ABZ – LSI – ABZ / ABZ – LSI – ABZ / ABZ – LSI – ABZ / flown to Humberside on 26 October 2025.

J41 (G-MAJY) Last week of flying 20-26 October: HUY – ABZ – WIC – ABZ – MME – ABZ – HUY / HUY – ABZ – WIC – ABZ – MME – ABZ – HUY / HUY – ABZ – WIC – ABZ – MME – ABZ – HUY / HUY – ABZ – WIC – ABZ – MME – ABZ – HUY / HUY – MME – ABZ – WIC – ABZ – MME – HUY / / HUY – ABZ – WIC – ABZ – MME – ABZ – HUY / aircraft still in Humberside.

Lesser-known airport codes: ADX – Leuchars, BQH – Biggin Hill, LSI – Sumburgh.

The Sumburgh routes are operated to support the North Sea oil and gas industries.