Mayor calls for locals to support Aer Arann

RobitTV

The Mayor of Waterford, Councillor Mary Roche, has called on the people of Waterford to support Aer Arann, the passenger airline at Waterford Airport, as it goes through a period of Examinership.

The Mayor stated her firm belief in the importance of the airline to business and tourism in Waterford and praised the services that Aer Arann continues to provide to and from the South East.

According to the Mayor, the key routes to London, Manchester and Birmingham are critical to business investment in this region.

“In my recent round of discussions with large businesses based in Waterford, the importance placed upon direct access to key air routes is striking,” Cllr Roche said.

“I am assured that it is business as usual at the airport and that all Aer Arann flights in and out of Waterford will continue through the Examinership. As Aer Arann uses the Examinership process to seek new investment, it is very encouraging to hear that the routes at Waterford Airport are among the best performing in their network and that Waterford is central to the future plans for the airline.”

Beeker

And long may it last!

deisedevil

Thank god for that. My job and many others would depend on it.

Plastikman_eire

Couldnt agree more. The Waterford-Luton route is a life saver for me, if that was gone I'd be up sh.it creek.

hardybuck

I wonder how often she has used it herself. It is very expensive.

Not The Real Scarecrow

hardybuck wrote: »

I wonder how often she has used it herself. It is very expensive.

Sure what would it matter to her, it wouldn't be coming out of her pocket.

Do hope the place stays going though.Very handy for waterford and good for the city.

SillyMcCarthy

While I agree that it is marvelous to have such a facility on our doorstep
however I would have to agree that it is expensive.

Psychedelic

Of course it would be coming out of her pocket, unless she was using it on official Mayoral/city council business.

I think it's fairly lousy to try get in a dig at her for encouraging us to use the airport. If she has or hasn't used it much herself so what, she is speaking in her capacity as Mayor and you would not expect her to say anything different, whether she has ever used the airport herself or not.

AdMMM

I was booking flights to London for my parents a few weeks a go and they really wanted to fly out of Waterford. They really couldn't justify the cost seeing as it was working out at €190 return for both of them while flying Ryanair from Cork worked out at €45 return for both.

I'd certainly like to support the local airport but I'm not going to shell out 4 times more money on tickets for the pleasure of getting that warm fuzzy feeling of supporting local business.

hardybuck

Psychedelic wrote: »

Of course it would be coming out of her pocket, unless she was using it on official Mayoral/city council business.

I think it's fairly lousy to try get in a dig at her for encouraging us to use the airport. If she has or hasn't used it much herself so what, she is speaking in her capacity as Mayor and you would not expect her to say anything different, whether she has ever used the airport herself or not.

So you favour a "do as I say, not as I do" approach? Some leading by example wouldn't go astray.

I'd love to use the service, if money was no object.

fricatus

hardybuck wrote: »

So you favour a "do as I say, not as I do" approach? Some leading by example wouldn't go astray.

Maybe she hasn't needed to go to the UK recently!

The mayor can't do everything by example, but Christ it would be some dereliction of duty if she didn't come out and tell people to support the city's airport!

Beeker

AdMMM wrote: »

I was booking flights to London for my parents a few weeks a go and they really wanted to fly out of Waterford. They really couldn't justify the cost seeing as it was working out at €190 return for both of them while flying Ryanair from Cork worked out at €45 return for both.

I'd certainly like to support the local airport but I'm not going to shell out 4 times more money on tickets for the pleasure of getting that warm fuzzy feeling of supporting local business.

Not always the case. If you book ahead you can often get cheap flights with Aer Arann. I got a €49 return to Luton in June from Waterford. Landed and home in 10 min..can't beat it:)

Psychedelic

hardybuck wrote: »

So you favour a "do as I say, not as I do" approach?

No. I just don't think it's fair that people are criticising her when they don't even know if she uses the airport. For all they know she could use it on a regular basis. It's just a cynical attitude to have, "ah look at her sure she don't even use it herself".

Anyway the point I am trying to make is that she is encouraging us to use the airport, yet people are still finding a way to criticise her.

hardybuck

Psychedelic wrote: »

No. I just don't think it's fair that people are criticising her when they don't even know if she uses the airport. For all they know she could use it on a regular basis. It's just a cynical attitude to have, "ah look at her sure she don't even use it herself".

Anyway the point I am trying to make is that she is encouraging us to use the airport, yet people are still finding a way to criticise her.

Thats why I said 'I wonder how many times she has used it', I wasn't making any presumptions. She may not be aware how uncompetitive the prices are.

On another note, someone said to me that the Manchester service isn't viable for anyone wanting to go see Man Utd play-is this the case? With John O'Shea over there so long you'd think they'd have plenty using the service if it was available.

Psychedelic

hardybuck wrote: »

Thats why I said 'I wonder how many times she has used it', I wasn't making any presumptions. She may not be aware how uncompetitive the prices are.

Ah right, that's fair enough.

hardybuck wrote: »

On another note, someone said to me that the Manchester service isn't viable for anyone wanting to go see Man Utd play-is this the case? With John O'Shea over there so long you'd think they'd have plenty using the service if it was available.

I would say a lot of people use it for going to see Man Utd and other teams play. I went to a Liverpool game a few years ago using the airport - got a train from Manchester to Liverpool. There was a big group of us going and we could've flown Dublin-Liverpool for much cheaper but everyone preferred to go from Waterford for the convenience. It was an expensive luxury though that everyone could afford back in '07 when everyone had jobs. Speaking of John O'Shea, the game I went to see was the one where he got a 93rd minute winner.

Sikie

Aer Arann never flies at anytime which has ever worked for me to either going to a business meeting or to get a connecting fly to one. Unfortunately it has always been either Dublin or Cork to get the connections. So the best thing to happen has been the M9 not Aer Arann

nickybutler

I got some pretty good flights last night, 1 week return to luton for middle of october for two people €156 all up with bags included and i dont need to drive all the way to cork or dublin, save on petrol and parking. Not to mention the hassle free of it all.

giles lynchwood

Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted,to little to late.

savic04

No Manchester flights on a Saturday or Tuesday pretty much rules out a lot of united Games. If it had sat morning flights, it wud be full for united or even Liverpool fans. U always have to stay 2 nights or 3 nights for a Sunday kick off..

brendansmith

The major is a woman?? When did this happen?

conolan

giles lynchwood wrote: »

Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted,to little to late.

It's not too late. Aer Arann will exit examinership with new investment. Personally I think they need to change the name, never know how to spell it.
have used the service twice, but I more often travel to Germany/Spain than UK.
A few years ago went to Lorient. That was a joy, small airport to small airport.