Aer Arann increases flight services from Waterford

RobitTV

Aer Arann customers in Waterford are set to enjoy greater flexibility and frequency from May 30th with the introduction of additional London Luton and Galway flights.

The airline will offer an additional flight from Waterford to London Luton four days a week and the Waterford-Galway service will now operate every day except Saturday.

From May 30th flights to London Luton from Waterford will be available three times daily on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. The regular double daily service will continue to operate on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Flights from Waterford to London Luton start from €59 one way including taxes.

Commenting on the new services Aer Arann Corporate Affairs Director Andrew Kelly said “We recognised the demand by passengers in Waterford for an extra Luton service. In addition, we noticed the strong load factors on the Waterford –Galway flights currently in operation and responded accordingly by adding these additional services.

The London Luton service from Waterford is one of our busiest routes and therefore we anticipate that the increased frequency will perform well. In addition, we believe that without a motorway, there is a need for a fast, accessible link between the south east and west of the country and we are filling that gap with these additional domestic services” he added.

Also commenting on the additional services Graham Doyle, Waterford Airport CEO said, “The move is big news for Waterford Airport, demonstrating the demand for additional services to London and to the west of Ireland.

As always we will be selling the concept of convenience for the people of the South East who can be at the airport in a very short period of time and can now avail of a service taking them to and from the West of Ireland in just 40 minutes six days per week and an option of eighteen return flights to London Luton per week”.

baronflyguy

Glad to hear the frequency of flights on the Waterford-Galway Route is expanding.
Website says Route will operate between May 30th and Aug 29th.
So it is just a summer season extension on the routes.

scout353

But Aer Arann have joined the others and now charge for luggage on any route other than internal flights!

They have upped the allowance to 20kg but now charge €8 per journey. This is the per kilo charge for overweight as well!

old gregg

It would be nice if the prices dropped just a little bit for the London trips. I use it quite often and would love if it came in at a comparable price to a Ryanair skip across the water. No big deal though.

Still and all, you'd miss the bare-bones experience of Suckling Airways from the old days

ziedth

I have only flown out of Waterford once and that was to Portugal a few years ago.

Pity they couldn't keep up those routes as handy doesn't describe how god it was.

hardybuck

Is anyone aware of what is holding back the proposed runway extension at the airport? Is it purely a lack of investment or funds available from the Govt and the airport themselves, an issue regarding planning permission or are other operational factors at play here?

Forgive my simplistic views on this, but surely the land is there, essentially all we are talking about laying down a length of tarmacadam and hiring a few extra staff.

Decision makers need to understand that they can't expect the Govt to look after everything for them, this requires a few key local individuals to make it happen. I think the Waterford Crystal project is a good example of what can be done when locals take matters into their own hands. In an ideal world a project like this could be taken on annually or every couple of years.

gscully

old gregg wrote: »

It would be nice if the prices dropped just a little bit for the London trips. I use it quite often and would love if it came in at a comparable price to a Ryanair skip across the water. No big deal though.

Still and all, you'd miss the bare-bones experience of Suckling Airways from the old days

It'd be nice if their London timetable was football-friendly on a Saturday. If I wanted to do a one-day trip to see Arsenal play (shut up Ziedth!) there's no chance of doing that due to their timetable. Similarly if anyone fancied a day's shopping in London on Saturday, the timetable is not very helpful.

Sinall

It's great about the additional flights being added, but it's a real pity that they are now charging for luggage - it was one of the things that I really liked about Aer Arann and which always made me feel like it was good value somehow. I live in London now and fly back to Waterford every month or so.

ziedth

gscully has a point there,

Not for his terrible choice in club but you'd wonder why they don't have a package for want of a better word that would get you over and back to London on a Saturday for a match.

Leave early and back very late kind of thing.

gscully

ziedth wrote: »

gscully has a point there,

Not for his terrible choice in club but you'd wonder why they don't have a package for want of a better word that would get you over and back to London on a Saturday for a match.

Leave early and back very late kind of thing.

They would probably be guaranteed a full cabin...even if Spurs were playing

old gregg

the biggest issue I'd have with relying on a flight out of Waterford to get me to London in time for an early event is the threat of fog.

I was on a flight last October that was unable to take off due to fog and we were all bussed to Cork. Nothing unusual there and it did not impact on my plans cos I'd allowed for it but there were some folks who missed a rugby game at Twickenham cos of the delay.

gscully

old gregg wrote: »

the biggest issue I'd have with relying on a flight out of Waterford to get me to London in time for an early event is the threat of fog.

I was on a flight last October that was unable to take off due to fog and we were all bussed to Cork. Nothing unusual there and it did not impact on my plans cos I'd allowed for it but there were some folks who missed a rugby game at Twickenham cos of the delay.

There can always be mitigating circumstances, at any airport, but I'd still like the facility to exist. I'd love to go to the Emirates for a game, but with a young family, I don't want to stay overnight. I'm sure there are many like me. Families could even spend a day in London Zoo or wherever and get home to their own beds. It's a no-brainer. I might just have to email Aer Arann!

scout353

hardybuck wrote: »

Is anyone aware of what is holding back the proposed runway extension at the airport? Is it purely a lack of investment or funds available from the Govt and the airport themselves, an issue regarding planning permission or are other operational factors at play here?

Forgive my simplistic views on this, but surely the land is there, essentially all we are talking about laying down a length of tarmacadam and hiring a few extra staff.

Decision makers need to understand that they can't expect the Govt to look after everything for them, this requires a few key local individuals to make it happen. I think the Waterford Crystal project is a good example of what can be done when locals take matters into their own hands. In an ideal world a project like this could be taken on annually or every couple of years.

Stand to be corrected but IIRC the planning permission and funding was granted for the runway extension about two years ago but a local landowner was holding up the development as he wanted serious compensation!

Haven't heard much about it now but with that gravy train now over, perhaps they can move forward though they've probably missed the boat (pardon the transport pun) now because they didn't draw down the funding!

hardybuck

scout353 wrote: »

Stand to be corrected but IIRC the planning permission and funding was granted for the runway extension about two years ago but a local landowner was holding up the development as he wanted serious compensation!

Haven't heard much about it now but with that gravy train now over, perhaps they can move forward though they've probably missed the boat (pardon the transport pun) now because they didn't draw down the funding!

What level of funding are we talking about here? I'd imagine the airport like works like any other private enterprise and must be expected to raise a large amount of the funds themselves.

As for the landowner, he should probably be subject to a CPO, which would take place for any other large infastructural project such as a road being built.

Beeker

old gregg wrote: »

the biggest issue I'd have with relying on a flight out of Waterford to get me to London in time for an early event is the threat of fog.

I was on a flight last October that was unable to take off due to fog and we were all bussed to Cork. Nothing unusual there and it did not impact on my plans cos I'd allowed for it but there were some folks who missed a rugby game at Twickenham cos of the delay.

Its very very rare that a flight is cancelled or diverted at Waterford due to fog. Last October was an exception due to essential maintenance work on navigation equipment at the airport.

deisedevil

hardybuck wrote: »

As for the landowner, he should probably be subject to a CPO, which would take place for any other large infastructural project such as a road being built.

As far as I know, even in those situations where there is a CPO it can still take ages to resolve. Same happened when building Dungarvan Bypass and a homeowner held it up for ages and on the new road just past Leamybrien when a homeowner held it up for what seemed to be a year to 2 years. The road was good and wide until it reached his house and very suddenly narrowed back into old road. So could it still be the case that landowner is holding it up?

wmpdd3

Found some lovely flights to Galway for a weekend in June....€12.99 each way!.....€101.73 including taxes and charges.

http://www.aerarann.com/skylights/cgi-bin/skylights.cgi


Oh well delighted the servce exists but work would have to be paying....

ziedth

That is what really annoys me about travel by plane, €12.99 e/w but IRS actually over €100 they should be made say €50 each way.

Professey Chin

Id love to know exactly what these taxes & charges break down to.
Although a midweek morning flight from galway seems to be €1 with €28.99 taxes & charges.I want honesty dagnabbit.
This is why I always got confused in some American places where I kept forgetting they don't have to show sales tax on prices

scout353

deisedevil wrote: »

As far as I know, even in those situations where there is a CPO it can still take ages to resolve. Same happened when building Dungarvan Bypass and a homeowner held it up for ages and on the new road just past Leamybrien when a homeowner held it up for what seemed to be a year to 2 years. The road was good and wide until it reached his house and very suddenly narrowed back into old road. So could it still be the case that landowner is holding it up?

Again IIRC the issue was not so much with the CPO of land but with allowing works traffic through his land in order to actually get at the site!

merlante

These new services really show that flights are actually making money for Aer Arann, and that they are not providing some kind of charity service for Waterford. Many people around the country think that all regional airports are heavily subsidised, but Waterford, with the absence of a PSO, must be paying it's way at this stage, or at least requiring minimal government investment. These new flights will presumably make the situation even rosier, if not in the short term then in the medium to long term. Easyjet, probably the largest airline out of Luton, do flights to a many popular holiday destinations and it is often possible to get flights to places like Greece via Luton from Waterford for the same price as Aer Lingus out of Dublin plus the train. With 3 flights to Luton every day now, there is no longer any fear that you could be waiting in Luton airport 8 hours for your connection.

The flight to Galway is nice. A colleague of mine found a flight next month for 80 odd euro incl. taxes. That's a great deal. Galway is not currently practical from Waterford by rail, and if it was, would it cost any less than 30-40 euro anyway? For 80-100 euro you can get to Galway in 40 mins or something. I think the reason the Galway flight is there is just to allow them to reposition their aircraft at certain times in Galway/Waterford, and they might as well take passengers with them. Win win.

As to the runway extension. I personally think that a runway extension could expose Waterford disasterous competition from Ryanair. I think Ryanair would come in, run a loss for as long as it takes to kill the Aer Arann flights, and then pull out, secure in the knowledge that we will all take more Ryanair flights ex-Cork or Dublin, and that Aer Arann will be put back in its box. I believe Aer Arann cut back flights in Cork for this reason, and why wouldn't they? Ryanair is so big they can run losses indefinitely on certain routes to kill the competition. O'Leary has said many times that he sees no future for Aer Arann, and I think he wants to be a part of taking away that future.

gscully

merlante wrote: »

As to the runway extension. I personally think that a runway extension could expose Waterford disasterous competition from Ryanair. I think Ryanair would come in, run a loss for as long as it takes to kill the Aer Arann flights, and then pull out, secure in the knowledge that we will all take more Ryanair flights ex-Cork or Dublin, and that Aer Arann will be put back in its box. I believe Aer Arann cut back flights in Cork for this reason, and why wouldn't they? Ryanair is so big they can run losses indefinitely on certain routes to kill the competition. O'Leary has said many times that he sees no future for Aer Arann, and I think he wants to be a part of taking away that future.

You make a very good point there. I love seeing big planes, and long to see the day when a Boeing or an Airbus fly into Waterford, but not at the loss of Aer Arann which has been good to Waterford and helped rebuild the airport long after Ryanair fcuked off.

merlante

gscully wrote: »

You make a very good point there. I love seeing big planes, and long to see the day when a Boeing or an Airbus fly into Waterford, but not at the loss of Aer Arann which has been good to Waterford and helped rebuild the airport long after Ryanair fcuked off.

Indeed, it would be great, but we probably don't need it for now. For as long as Aer Arann, and certain other airlines, find it convenient to use planes that do not require a larger runway.

We're actually not in bad company. London city airport carries 2.8m passengers per year with a runway of 1,508m, which is only marginally larger than Waterford's, of 1,433m. London airport has the additional restriction that it requires a steeper glideslope for noise abatement reasons (according to wikipedia). Both airports are pretty much confined to using the same type of planes. The good news is, planes such as the ATR 72, used by Aer Arann, seem to be used widely enough by regional flights around the world.

The best we can really hope for in Waterford, is really good links to one or two key hubs. We have good train access to Dublin, which will improve if they ever build a metro to the airport. Access to Cork is unfortunately only by bus or car, but it's better than nothing. Access to Luton is excellent, because there are a lot of cheap airlines operating out of Luton and because if you are going long distance, it may be worth your while switching airport in London to Heathrow (particularly if no direct flight exists from Dublin anyway). The icing on the cake would be a daily flight to Amsterdam, which would effectively open up half the world in 2 hops. Even a few flights a week would do, and flights to places like Tokyo, Shanghai or Moscow could be booked to coincide.

We don't need a lot of flights just good links.

Beeker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyPgb7itwys

Bodan

Good news, i wonder what the time of the new flights will be.

Beeker

Bodan wrote: »

Good news, i wonder what the time of the new flights will be.

In from Galway at 13:40 and out to Luton at 14:00.
In from Luton at 17:15 and on to Galway 17:35, Mon,Thur, Fri and Sun.

Bodan

Beeker wrote: »

In from Galway at 13:40 and out to Luton at 14:00.
In from Luton at 17:15 and on to Galway 17:35, Mon,Thur, Fri and Sun.

Thanks Beeker. The return flight mid afternoon is handy.

looksee

If you look at the luggage prices carefully they are not really a problem, and add a further service for long distance passengers who would have a lot of luggage.

Dum_Dum

looksee wrote: »

If you look at the luggage prices carefully they are not really a problem, and add a further service for long distance passengers who would have a lot of luggage.

They are a problem: they didn't exist before and now they do.

merlante

Dum_Dum wrote: »

They are a problem: they didn't exist before and now they do.

The argument is, I guess, that since the average tickets price will be the same in the future as in the past (assuming they want to remain at their current level of competitiveness), then the price minus the bag will tend to be cheaper than the normal price in the past and the price plus the bag will tend to be more expensive. That way they are actually putting the decision in the hands of the traveller.

However, from a psychological point of view, the free bag was good karma from Aer Arann. No matter how much the price of a ticket was, you could always say, "well at least there's no rubbish about online checkins and bags, etc." Now Aer Arann resembles the other airlines that bit more. Which means they become more directly comparable, which means that the higher base ticket price becomes all the more noticeable. I think on balance they should have left it the way it was, but that the change should not result in higher prices across the board.

sunnysoutheast

merlante wrote: »

Indeed, it would be great, but we probably don't need it for now. For as long as Aer Arann, and certain other airlines, find it convenient to use planes that do not require a larger runway.

We're actually not in bad company. London city airport carries 2.8m passengers per year with a runway of 1,508m, which is only marginally larger than Waterford's, of 1,433m. London airport has the additional restriction that it requires a steeper glideslope for noise abatement reasons (according to wikipedia). Both airports are pretty much confined to using the same type of planes. The good news is, planes such as the ATR 72, used by Aer Arann, seem to be used widely enough by regional flights around the world.

BA fly an A318 in/out of London City, in all business-class configuration, to New York with a refuel in Shannon.

146s and Avro RJs are also cleared - Cityjet fly these from Dublin. These flew out of Waterford a while back in that sadly short-lived expansion in flights to Portugal and Spain. Surprised nobody has found it worth their while flying these to destinations such as Schiphol, Frankfurt etc. to connect, unless there's a shortage of suitable planes to lease.

BTW it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience landing at London City on a windy day.

SSE