Closing Galway airport

dicknorris

Robbo wrote: »

How much is it exactly that they mug all departing passengers for in Knock?

I'm happy to pay €10 rather than drive to Dublin

Tora Bora

Get over it.

The airport itself is non viable, as a commercial entity.

The only airline using it, is non viable as a commercial entity.

The wests awake, but a bit drowsey

Neworder79

chickencurry02 wrote: »

I hear that all the american companies say that its vital. If it is why dont 10 of them pay €150,000.00 each thats 1.5 million to keep it going instead of whinging, they are making massive profits here.

No, the local politicians are inferring that as a fact based companies saying in a survey that the airport is "important". What else would they say! Did the survey check if they would rather a better serviced airport slightly further drive, or how often they use Dublin or Shannon, no. Ask the right question to get the "right" answer.

A call last month for local companies to fund the airport fell on deaf ears. The money needed is more than €1.5m and thats annually.

The airport manager in this mornings radio interview is calling money to build a new runway "for the benefit of the West"! Apparently it's vital giving the example: "the GAA team today flew out to Southend for a match at West Ruislip" (which is the opposite side of London closer to Luton or Heathrow). Complete head in the sand-itus.

He of course knows well that there is barely the population to support the two existing jet runways in the West. What he really means is burn millions and eventually close Shannon and Knock so Galway can feel important for another few years. No wonder the place is in such a mess.

fergiesfolly

I've used Galway airport twice ever. Both times, it would've been cheaper and faster to use Dublin, Shannon or Knock. The multi-nationals in the city use it sparingly and never for freight. If the people in power had gotten off their backsides twenty or thirty years ago to upgrade the airport, we might not have this situation. But as always, we wait for the horse to bolt. Like everyone else here, I feel for those whose jobs are on the line, but we can't keep throwing money at unsustainable entities.

Sponge Bob

We should subsidise an express executive coach from Shannon that drops off the Biz travellers at the hotel or factory direct. That would cost no more than €50k a year not €500k a year. No rocket science involved.

Either that or an executive carpooling system in Shannon where you say what flight you are coming in on and where you go and let the existing LIMO drivers in Galway...the men with the black mercs and black lexus cars .......BID for the business.

That would be a €5k website and marketing exercise, one off cost bar the €50 a year hosting costs.

We should campaign for the missing link of Motorway to Shannon too.

These are simple solutions, none of which involve generous annual subsidies to an airport that grew entirely reliant on them over the years. It will continute to exist as a private airport of course but not for scheduled services.

johnnyk66

dicknorris wrote: »

Fine gael have a good record in relation to regional airports remember Jim Mitchell "foggy boggy" statement about Knock Airport look at knock today

I looked at knock today but could'nt see it in the mist:D

Fey!

Weren't there serious objections by a couple of locals a few years ago when plans were made to extend the runway? Maybe if they hadn't we could have convinced Ryanair to make it a hub!

As for Shannon, over the last few years it has looked like DAA have been trying to shut it down; flights out of Shannon are getting fewer and fewer, especially now that they copied the Shannon idea of having US immigration in the airport.

leeroybrown

Despite being a Galway City resident my flight choices are pretty much all Dublin. It's the only airport in Ireland with the range of routes and times that allows full flexibility. Even Shannon doesn't have the critical mass of traffic to give me the flight options to ever make the saved travel time worthwhile.

As an experiment I priced a midweek business trip to London for two nights. Galway airport offered me inconvenient afternoon flights, couldn't get me home on my departure date and wanted €80 extra for the privilege. Even with an expense claim picking up my costs I don't see why I would go for that.

wellboytoo

The Airport is not closing, the PSO's are ceasing in July (public service obligation) the net result of this will be closure , Galway was never a runner, too many airports in the west, Sligo needs to extend according to the Aviation Authority into the sea this means a shed load of planning issues including a foreshore licence, all this from the accident a few years ago with Euroceltic that nearly took out Aslan. the estimated planning costs alone are €2 million, so Sligo is gone. Donegal Waterford and Kerry will survive for now but better get their costs right in the next few years or they will face the chop.

Robbo

wellboytoo wrote: »

The Airport is not closing, the PSO's are ceasing in July (public service obligation) the net result of this will be closure , Galway was never a runner, too many airports in the west, Sligo needs to extend according to the Aviation Authority into the sea this means a shed load of planning issues including a foreshore licence, all this from the accident a few years ago with Euroceltic that nearly took out Aslan. the estimated planning costs alone are €2 million, so Sligo is gone. Donegal Waterford and Kerry will survive for now but better get their costs right in the next few years or they will face the chop.

It's common knowledge that Aslan cannot be killed by conventional means. Christy could take syringes full of Polonium-210 all day long and still come out smiling.

xflyer

I don't think Galway airport will close as such, as in digging up the runway and barring the gates. It's likely to continue as an airfield. But it may no longer have the number of services it had. Basically it could end up like Sligo is now, one two scheduled services a day with a smaller staff or it could simply revert to a General Aviation airfield. Business jets, the flying club, flying school and the parachuting that's been going on lately. There is some potential for that which hasn't so far been exploited.

The biggest mistake for Galway all along was the too short too narrow runway. If Galway had someone like Monsignor Horan determed to build a jet capable runway. We wouldn't even be discussing this. It would be overcrowded with Ryanairs, Easyjets, Aer Lingus etc etc. Knock has the airport Galway should have had. The reason Knock is surviving at all is because they built a long runway. It's in the middle of nowhere but it's a long runway.

The west is ridiculously over served with airports. We have Sligo then an hour away, Knock, then an hour and a half away Galway, then another hour or so away Shannon. Even Dublin has only one airport and it serves far more people. The airports that survive will be able to take jets. Simple as that.

TheCosmicFrog

Was there ever an argument to fly the Islanders from Aran to Galway Airport instead of Conamara? I never understood the sense of having another airport in Conamara as well as Carnmore.

galwayrush

Fey! wrote: »

Weren't there serious objections by a couple of locals a few years ago when plans were made to extend the runway? Maybe if they hadn't we could have convinced Ryanair to make it a hub!

As for Shannon, over the last few years it has looked like DAA have been trying to shut it down; flights out of Shannon are getting fewer and fewer, especially now that they copied the Shannon idea of having US immigration in the airport.

There were serious objections right up to Government level from Knock and Shannon Airports at any possibility of Galway's runway being extended.

leeroybrown

If Galway's runway were extended to take jets we'd just end up with a larger investment in an airport that still wasn't economically viable.

xflyer

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

Was there ever an argument to fly the Islanders from Aran to Galway Airport instead of Conamara? I never understood the sense of having another airport in Conamara as well as Carnmore.

Aer Arann Islands moved to it's own airfield at Inverin after getting into a dispute with the operators of Galway airport.

Disputes seem to figure large in the history of Galway aviation. They had originally moved out of Oranmore after a dispute with the operators of that airfield. Ernest Steiner, German businessman who had a factory out in Carnmore also had problems with Oranmore. So he built his own strip. Aer Arann moved there too until 1991. That became Galway airport in time.

The problem with Carnmore is that it's exactly the wrong place to build an airport. The runway has a road and building at one end and a massive dip and a road at the other end. There really is no room for a longer runway. Ironically the best place to build a long runway was in Oranmore which is exactly why the British built the original landing ground there for the RAF.

The biggest problem for Galway airport is the short narrow runway. Even Aer Arann cannot fill it's larger ATR-72s to capacity because of that. But even if they could, someone told me recently he saw six passengers get off one flight and one man board another. No passengers equals no services equals no airport.

Neworder79

leeroybrown wrote: »

If Galway's runway were extended to take jets we'd just end up with a larger investment in an airport that still wasn't economically viable.

This is the reality. To keep clinging to fantasy by calling for of spending €50m-€100m on airport upgrades is to ignore the 2 major pieces of airport infrastructure either side of the city and 70 years of investment in the region since Shannon was built, as well as recent major road and transport improvements.

We are a tiny, low populated region in a small country on the edge of Europe. We either make practical decisions and work together to better access to the Western region as a whole with the resources we have, or waste the opportunity with endless squabbling along arbitrary county borders.

Sponge Bob

Exactly. Saving a sub par airport is a sideshow that attracts the likes of Grealish who is a local carnmore politician who has to make noise about the airport or he will lose votes or Healy Eames down the road who thinks industry can fund the airport to the tune fo €1m or €1.5m...but for how long realistically.

Responsible and far sighted politicians should concentrate on finishing the missing link of Motorway between Athenry and Gort and getting travel time to Shannon reliably under the hour mark.

Same time as a taxi from Heathrow to the City , no big deal.

sgthighway

Typical of Opposition Party like Fianna Fail to come out with this;
http://www.galwaynews.ie/19691-mayor-says-airport-first-test-new-galway-tds

This is a good test for the Galway TDs. An opportunity to move away from the Fianna Fail tactic of looking after your own. Galway TDs need to stick with the National Agenda.
Our TDs should be representing us all in the 26 Counties equally and not just for the good of Galway.


On a different aspect of this whole topic; Does Aerphort Chonamara get funding that could go to Galway Airport? We have to keep one for the Islanders.

wellboytoo

Neworder79 wrote: »

This is the reality. To keep clinging to fantasy by calling for of spending €50m-€100m on airport upgrades is to ignore the 2 major pieces of airport infrastructure either side of the city and 70 years of investment in the region since Shannon was built, as well as recent major road and transport improvements.

We are a tiny, low populated region in a small country on the edge of Europe. We either make practical decisions and work together to better access to the Western region as a whole with the resources we have, or waste the opportunity with endless squabbling along arbitrary county borders.

A picture paints a thousand words

xflyer

That picture really sums it up. From North to South there are no less than seven airports in the western half of the country, four of which are jet capable. Meanwhile on the East coast, where, lets face it most people live, there's only one jet capable airport and Waterford. The irony is that if you were to place a jet capable airport to match the population, Galway would be the logical choice. I have to say that if by some miracle Galway got a jet runway, Knock would not survive. Which is exactly why they would object to that idea. After all, who would want to fly to a foggy, boggy airport on a hill in the middle of nowhere when there's the option of flying into Galway?

Cosmo Kramer

xflyer wrote: »

The irony is that if you were to place a jet capable airport to match the population, Galway would be the logical choice.

I don't think this is the case. Galway is far better connected to Dublin than any other part of the west, therefore needs the airport the least. Which is why the headage charge at the airport is driving passengers away, they have easy options to a far bigger facility. In the Knock and Shannon regions the easy access to Dublin isn't there so the jet capable airports are more justifiable at these locations.

xflyer wrote: »

I have to say that if by some miracle Galway got a jet runway, Knock would not survive. Which is exactly why they would object to that idea.

If Galway had got that runway it is probable that neither airport would survive and they would just battle each other to the end. It would have been a needless waste of money.

xflyer wrote: »

After all, who would want to fly to a foggy, boggy airport on a hill in the middle of nowhere when there's the option of flying into Galway

Presumably the majority of the population of Connacht (i.e. the 55% that don't live in County Galway).

xflyer

Galway only got the good connections in last year or so. The airport was there long before that. But that was then, this is now. There is no need for a long runway now. Knock claimed that option and also Shannon is very close too.

If Galway had got that runway it is probable that neither airport would survive and they would just battle each other to the end. It would have been a needless waste of money.

Galway would win easily, it has the population and the inward tourism. Remember Knock was built by a dynamic priest hoping to get pilgrims into his shrine and of course to generate jobs and tourism for his beloved Mayo. It's completely in the wrong place though. The logical location for any airport is near a centre of population. If Galway county only has 45% of the population, it simply demonstrates that it dwarves the other four counties population wise. Using that logic Dublin airport should be perched on a hill somewhere in Wicklow or in the middle of Offally.

But it's pointless anyway as Galway won't get a long runway and will probably have to downsize considerably.

Robbo

Leo hasn't kicked the cord from the life support machine just yet, it's to receive government funding for the coming year.

Senator Fidelma Healy Eames has been informed, following a series of high level representations made by her, that funding for Galway Airport has been secured. The funding for 2011 means that for the forseeable future, the viability of the airport has been safe-guarded.

"Galway businesses, the airport management and airport employees made a strong case for the retention of this airport. I continuously emphasised to Minister Varadkar the importance of the airport for tourism, regional development and the broader local economy. I am delighted to announce that it is safe, for now. As a region , however, we have to now make the case for its long-term future"

Transport Minister, Leo Varadkar confirmed that the airport would continue to receive Government support for the forthcoming year. This comes after Minister Varadkar held meetings with the Airport on May 14th last, in addition to continued and coordinated pressure from Galway Oireachtas members.

"I have been receiving on a daily basis, through my online petition, grassroots support for Galway Airport, both locally and from those living in London and Scotland, who have had to immigrate for work and greatly rely on the airport to come home. Today, we can all breathe a sigh of relief. The Minister has listened and it is now in the gift of business people, local organisations and government bodies such as the IDA and Tourism Ireland to highlight the benefits of the airport," Senator Eames added.

Bear this in mind when reading the above...

Fine Gael’s spokesperson in Education & Science in Seanad Eireann, Fidelma has a long background in education: An experienced primary teacher and lecturer in teacher education, she has also worked as a private consultant/ provider to second-level schools and colleges throughout the country. Fidelma holds a Ph.D. degree from NUIG and her specialism is writing, language and the creative process.

No further comment needed.

Neworder79

So Gov baulked under local pressure. Ball now in Aer Aranns court to come clean on their plans.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

leeroybrown

Rephrase: Government decided that given the level of cash involved it made more sense to defer the decision (and likely job losses) until Budget 2012 in November. Galway Airport, Aer Arann and any other affected party need to put in some serious work between now and then if they've any chance of keeping the place fully operational afterwards.

celty

I find the press release from the great FHE incredible, as it is so full of ego and what she has done for Galway.

The bottom line is that the West of Ireland, with a tiny, scattered population, cannot sustain three airports. I mean, London has three main airports.

The one in Galway doesn't even have a runway that can accommodate jets and the road links to Dublin and Shannon have improved immensely.

Typical politician, taking the credit when the decision wasn't hers.

If and when Galway Airport closes down, will she be as quick to issue a press release about her "strong representations" to the Cabinet which make no difference in the end?

God, it really is time to abolish the Seanad. The people of Galway West rejected her and yet she has a nice cushy number at the taxpayers' expense in Dublin.

Sponge Bob

celty wrote: »

I mean, London has three main airports.

Five if you count Luton and Southend/London City as two halves.

Southend Airport to Liverpool st will take around the same time as Stansted Liverpool St by train ( allowing for walking a mile each way through Stansted nowadays)

leeroybrown

There's an official Dept. of Transport press release outlining that Galway Airport will ONLY be funded until the end of the year to allow some extra time to secure alternate funding.

full text of press release wrote:

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar has today (Tuesday) announced additional funding for regional airports for this year, and said financial support will continue to be available until the end of the year.

Minister Varadkar also confirmed that from next year, the Government will only be in a position to support the four regional airports at Donegal, Knock Ireland West, Kerry and Waterford. The Government will not be able to provide operational or capital funding to Galway or Sligo airports.

The Government decided today to provide €5.9 million in additional funding to regional airports for 2011, and to continue financial support until the end of the year, reversing a decision by the last Government. This €5.9 million comes on top of the €13.4 million already allocated to regional airports for this year by the last government.

The Minister 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.

Minister Varadkar explained: “When I took office, I discovered that the last Government had left us with just €600,000 for operational funding at all six regional airports. This was in spite of a disingenuous election pledge from Fianna Fáil to fund all of the airports for the whole of 2011, without allocating the necessary funding.

“The Government has now reversed that decision and is providing funding for all six regional airports, for operational purposes, for the whole of 2011. All the regional airports must use this period to prepare realistic business plans for the future, as funding cannot be maintained at current levels.

“The right thing to do is support the most viable airports, where there is also a clear geographical need for their services. Otherwise there won’t be enough funding to support any of the airports in a meaningful way. As a result, the Government has decided that operational and capital funding will only be provided to four of the six regional airports from next year: Donegal, Knock Ireland West, Kerry and Waterford.”

The Minister said this decision is necessary to make best use of scarce Exchequer resources, and to ensure the efficient use of taxpayers’ money. The aim is to ensure that Ireland has a sufficient network of regional airports, while taking into account significant improvements in road networks, shorter journey times by road and rail, and the collapse in passengers flying domestically.

So unless Galway Airport and Aer Arann come up with a solid plan for the airport it'll be a rationalisation or wind down period...

leeroybrown

Oh and for the record I also find FHE to be a vacuous fool who Galway could do without.

Cosmo Kramer

Aer Arann will be gutted. They wanted this decision made for them. Now it is possible that they will be the ones who end up effectively closing the place. Maybe they will also now extend their tenure through the winter though.

If Varadkar keeps his word he effectively announced the closure of Galway Airport today. It will never be self sustaining - rubbish facility, wrong location. However, I wouldn't be surprised if we end up in the same situation in six months time with the government giving in to more pressure and funding for another year. And so on until we get too close to the next election for any politician to have the guts to pull the plug.