Seaplane plan for west meets with 'fierce opposition'

Victor

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0107/1224261823276.html

Seaplane plan for west meets with 'fierce opposition'
GORDON DEEGAN

THE PROMOTER of plans to commence a scheduled commercial seaplane service for tourists in the west of Ireland said yesterday he “is taken aback by the ferocity of opposition” against locating in Lough Derg.

Director of Habourair Ireland Ltd, Ronan Connolly said: “There has been total overkill on this . . . We are talking about a nine to 12 seater sea plane.”

Harbourair Ireland Ltd has three planning applications before local authorities in Galway and Clare to develop facilities to allow it land a seaplane in Lough Derg, Galway city docks and the main harbour serving Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran Islands.

The service will also serve Foynes in Co Limerick in its first phase. But Habourair’s plans for a berthing facility at Mountshannon in Lough Derg have provoked vehement local opposition.

Local opposition was underscored yesterday as the Department of the Environment made a submission to Clare County Council stating “birds are likely to be disturbed and possibly injured by the operation of seaplanes in Mountshannon bay”.

The bay is located in a special protection area for birds.

The department, along with An Taisce, is demanding that the council request a comprehensive study from Harbourair on the impact the seaplane will have on protected birds and other wildlife in the area.

Separately, the Lough Derg branch of the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland has told the council: “It is unclear how any operation of a float-plane in the area indicated could ever be safe.

“The area indicated is one of the busiest boating areas on the Shannon and the proposed operating area lies directly across the approaches to Mountshannon harbour.”

Mr Connolly said the planning applications for Galway city and Inis Mór attracted no objections , in contrast to the application for Lough Derg.“Tourism is in serious decline and you would think that initiatives like this would be welcomed.”

Mr Connolly said that it was “nonsensical” to claim the seaplane would disturb birds in the area. “The planes won’t be disturbing birds at all . . . A lot of the objections from a factual point of view don’t hold up.”

Mr Connolly said the cost of processing the planning applications and foreshore licences was about €250,000.

He said that it would cost between €75 and €100 for a one day return ticket between the various destinations.

A decision on the application is expected later this month.

Cookie_Monster

The bay is located in a special protection area for birds.

Seems simple enough then.

Just move it somewhere else surely if this is the issue.

At €75-100 per day ticket I don't see this doing too well anyway

Very much an Aviation & Aircraft crossover, but interesting.

As for how well it does? Well, we'll see. I'd hope they do quayside-to-quayside services between Dublin and Galway myself. Imagine getting off the LUAS at the Point then just over an hour later you're getting off in Galway? Aer Arann-like journey-time with city centre to city centre service sure looks mighty attractive.

Sponge Bob

there is talk of one of these off the prom in Galway but that is not only an SPA but it is a SAC as well.....so they need twice the paperwork . If they go to Barna they need no paper work

loyatemu

Deleted User wrote: »

Imagine getting off the LUAS at the Point then just over an hour later you're getting off in Galway?

is there space for a plane to take of from Dublin Port?

antoinolachtnai

you can land 'em anywhere really if you have a bit of calm or maybe not so calm water. You don't need that much distance and the trick is that you are always landing into the wind. Not generally a lot of use if you need to land after dark however.

dowlingm

loyatemu wrote: »

is there space for a plane to take of from Dublin Port?

That is how LCY got started - it's harder to get a Dash-7 these days though! :D:D

garfieldsghost

loyatemu wrote: »

is there space for a plane to take of from Dublin Port?

Even if there was space and they reached an agreement with the port authority, the plan could still be scuppered by the IAA. The airspace over Dublin city is tightly regulated because of its close proximity to the airport. I'd say that air traffic control at Dublin Airport wouldn't be too happy having to deal with what they'd consider to be pesky light aircraft cutting into their flight patterns.

Also, the director of Harbourair said they'd be using a "nine to 12 seater sea plane," which sounds like they're using a Cessna Caravan or something similar. If that's the case, these aircraft could be subject to further restrictions when flying over urban areas because they only have a single engine.

Victor

And the tall chimneys and thermal plumes around the docks may also be an issue.

antoinolachtnai

These services are for tourist-type activities. You would not be looking at running any sort of permanent all-weather service on them. You could do it in Dublin Bay if you really wanted to, but it would be hard to really work out a business case for it.