Waterford Airport in Danger of Closing!?

dark crystal

I would love to use Waterford airport more, but the costs are so prohibitive, it's ridiculous.

Looking to go over to London in August with the kids and it's coming up with a price of €680!!

They also seem to consider my 12 year old daughter an adult too....

Given those prices, it's no wonder people look to using other low cost airlines instead of staying local.

decies

Book earlier prices better , they often have sales as well. Think they provide a great device , one of the few things we have left to be honest .

dark crystal

decies wrote: »

Book earlier prices better , they often have sales as well. Think they provide a great device , one of the few things we have left to be honest .

I also think it's a great service and would much prefer to fly from Waterford, but I'm looking to book 3 months in advance and the prices are still exorbitant.

I could go on a package holiday for the prices they are quoting for a simple flight to London.

Surely they need to compete a bit more with the bigger airlines...I know they could never hope to match Ryanair, but I suspect many more people would choose to fly from Waterford if they brought their prices down a bit, especially given the financial situation at the moment when people are looking to save every cent they possibly can.

calvin_zola

could waterford not get a DHL or Fedex on its side to help extend the runway and concentrate on cargo business aswell as a regional airline

Neworder79

I'm sure 300 other airports across Europe never thought of that...Sorry don't mean to be sarcastic, but these companies aren't in the business of building runways. They have huge hub operations focused in a few major cities across Europe, with the odd feeder link to major cities.

Dublin and Cork have relatively small freight operations. Shannon, despite great runway, location and access infrastructure is still working on becoming a cargo operation. Knock had on and off cargo operations but nothing successful. WAT has no major air freight reliant industry that I know of, or other advantages that make it stand out (proximity to continent perhaps).

Truth is it's a highly competitive industry where marginal regional airports across Europe are actually competing with each other for access to aircraft and routes. Many are PAYING airlines like Ryanair to bring passengers in through local authority grants.

Waterford needs to manage it's cost base, see what support is still available from Government and local authorities to maintain what it has. Work on achievable incremental growth and generating revenue. Focus efforts on getting a well known regional airline brand with marketing clout, like Flybe, in and develop a few key routes. The one "advantage" the short runway has it can to some extent protect smaller operators from the tougher low cost jet competition.

I think Tourism/Failte Ireland should also be mandated to work with the main regional gateways and spend a portion of their budget on integrated marketing of those airports to inbound tourists also.

Silverado

Have you noticed with both this and the last Ash Crisis that Waterford Airport seems to escape? Its probably because we are located in a spot which isn't affected very much, or perhaps I'm wrong. However, if the wind is northerly because of a stationary area of High Pressure in mid Atlantic such as happened in the last Ash Crisis we seemed to remain fairly unaffected.

Could this be a reason to build the extended runway? We could then take the aircraft which can't land anywhere else.

decies

I thought that was due to the twin prop planes that operate out of it?

dayshah

Silverado wrote: »

Have you noticed with both this and the last Ash Crisis that Waterford Airport seems to escape? Its probably because we are located in a spot which isn't affected very much, or perhaps I'm wrong. However, if the wind is northerly because of a stationary area of High Pressure in mid Atlantic such as happened in the last Ash Crisis we seemed to remain fairly unaffected.

Could this be a reason to build the extended runway? We could then take the aircraft which can't land anywhere else.

Fly to Waterford, the country's only airport with a fully functional snow shield.

Silverado

decies wrote: »

I thought that was due to the twin prop planes that operate out of it?

The experts indicate that turbo prop engines are just as vulnerable to volcanic ash as jet engines. My understanding is that turbo props are just a form of jet engine with propellors.

Max Powers

Aparently the head of Waterford South east airport had a meeting with Varadker last night and it was 'productive'. He also said on the radio that the Irish Times had another article saying Waterford might not be in danger as we never got any PSO subsidies for flights. All this is in Waterford/South Easts favour, but it doesnt guarantee that the West politicians wont get their way and the government will play politics instead of common business sense.

wellboytoo

irish_airports_catchment.png

Why Waterford airport should not close.

Bards

Extract from http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/minister-critical-of-bid-to-tackle-south-east-job-crisis-156339.html

"With visitor numbers projected to rise to 250,000 over the coming years, the minister said the long-term future of Waterford Airport, which currently supports over 560 jobs in the region, must be secured.

Mr Hogan said that it "is very important from an access point of view that Waterford Airport is supported and that its product development is enhanced". "

merlante

Interesting to see Phil Hogan taking the credit, despite the Department of Transport report recommending keeping funding for Waterford whilst withdrawing it only for Galway and Sligo. The government are just going to follow the report to the letter.

Still nice to see big Phil talk looking beyond the Kilkenny boundaries for a change! (He's a "national" politician now.)

wellboytoo

Still nice to see big Phil talk looking beyond the Kilkenny boundaries for a change! (He's a "national" politician now.)

Mmm leopard spots...... I have a long memory

Sully

Wouldn't it be in his benefit though, in terms of Kilkenny, to ensure the airport remains open?!

Bards

anyone remember Kilkenny Co Co. recommending that the Airport be relocated to Ballyhale?

old gregg

Bards wrote: »

anyone remember Kilkenny Co Co. recommending that the Airport be relocated to Ballyhale?

much in all as I occasionally enjoy flying out form an airport that's 10 mins from my house I do see a certain logic in having the airport in a location that's will be more attractive to people from the region.

Not sure about Ballyhale as such but I wonder if maybe back in the day when an airport was first proposed it may have been better to locate it at some point that draws on Waterford, South Tipp, Kilkenny, Carlow and Wexford with a decent public transport link in and out.

Irrelevant now but just a thought.

merlante

Sully wrote: »

Wouldn't it be in his benefit though, in terms of Kilkenny, to ensure the airport remains open?!

Sure would. But somehow, this logic has not always applied in Kilkenny. Talk of 'moving' the airport, etc., was hilarious back in the boom times. A lot of cutting your nose to spite your face in the south east.

I think with the country in such dire straits, people realise now that the party is well and truly over and the only chance Kilkenny or Wexford or any other part of the south east has of future prosperity is to secure and retain certain infrastructure in Waterford city, because if it ain't there it's not going to be anywhere. (e.g. airport, university, etc.)

merlante

old gregg wrote: »

much in all as I occasionally enjoy flying out form an airport that's 10 mins from my house I do see a certain logic in having the airport in a location that's will be more attractive to people from the region.

Not sure about Ballyhale as such but I wonder if maybe back in the day when an airport was first proposed it may have been better to locate it at some point that draws on Waterford, South Tipp, Kilkenny, Carlow and Wexford with a decent public transport link in and out.

Irrelevant now but just a thought.

I've heard this suggested many times but if you look at a road map, there is nowhere else in the south east that is central enough on the road network to cater for all the major towns.

The only problem that there ever was with the location of the airport, aside from problems with fog, etc., was the lack of road infrastructure bypassing Waterford and the need for an upgrade of the last 6 miles of road. This was a long, long time in coming but it's there now. The only real complaint was how long it took.

Fighters Planet

The airport is being run by an idiot
If the board of Waterford Airport want it to survive then a MAJOR shake-up of management is required

shanemul

Fighters Planet wrote: »

The airport is being run by an idiot
If the board of Waterford Airport want it to survive then a MAJOR shake-up of management is required

And where do you get this from??

Fighters Planet

A friend of mine used work there
Seriously, this place will close down unless someone who actually wants to o something is put in charge

fricatus

Fighters Planet wrote: »

A friend of mine used work there
Seriously, this place will close down unless someone who actually wants to o something is put in charge

Well in fairness the place has been reported to cost a lot more than comparable airports to run...

However are there any concrete examples of real decisions (in the public domain and verifiable, mind) that support that opinion, other than just your friend's word?

Fighters Planet

No shortage of examples

old gregg

Fighters Planet wrote: »

No shortage of examples

PM a mod and if they stand up then off you go

old gregg

proof?

Neworder79

I was surprised WAT took so long to bring forward their runway plans, they really should have had the design ready with a local senior minister pushing the project while in office. Planning application should have been in ahead of the funding as those applications always attract objections and years of delays. All capital grants were frozen in 2008 when the airports cost review begun.

However how do you know the had no plans, seem to remember them promoting their masterplan a few months back? Detailed design might have been part of the funding package. Also the management wouldn't be able to choose the winner of a public building tender which would have to be advertised.

fricatus

Neworder79 wrote: »

I was surprised WAT took so long to bring forward their runway plans.

Gotta say, this surprised me too... I was expecting to see diggers within a month or two of the announcement.

Well, maybe not diggers, but a planning notice or a public enquiry, or whatever would have been necessary before work could commence.

dayshah

I heard on the news that the airport is safe.

Sully

Quote from RTE..

Despite the Government announcement of €5.9m in additional funding for regional airports for this year, next year Sligo and Galway airports will not receive Government funding.

Despite the Government announcement of €5.9m in additional funding for regional airports for this year, next year Sligo and Galway airports will not receive Government funding.
But the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar has confirmed that from next year the Government will only be in a position to support the four regional airports at Donegal, Knock, Kerry and Waterford.

The Government will not be able to provide operational or capital funding to Galway or Sligo airports in 2012.

Galway Airport had sought a subsidy of €1.2m to help it meet in operational and capital costs in 2012.

Managing Director Joe Walsh has said that the cabinet decision would seriously threaten the future of the airport.

Joe Walsh has said that after weeks of negotiations with the Transport Minister Leo Varadkar it was now clear that the 'Government was now pulling away from Galway Airport.'

Galway Airport's managing director has said that the implications of the decision and have to try to find ways of dealing with the problems it was now faced with.
The airport in Galway has a staff of 62 people and 110,000 passengers annually.
Minister Leo Varadkar urged Galway and Sligo airports to use the opportunity provided by the additional funding to engage with various parties, including business interests, investors and local authorities, in order to secure their ongoing viability in some form.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0607/galway.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter