Closing Galway airport

av8

I feel sorry for the people being laid off & have little or no hope that this airport will re-open for the summer season. The top heavy senior management have failed the airport. In my view it was way overstaffed relative to the passengers using it, especially for the last 3 years.Struggling Aer arann changing its regular Luton flights to Southend didn't help either. Neworder79 is right (I think anyway).

Neworder79

Page 40 of todays Galway Advertiser hits the nail on the head.

The local media have come round to reporting the reality rather than the spin now Aer Arann are pulling out. They lay the blame squarely on Galway Chamber and management who spurned offer of investment in a larger new airport back in the 90s in favor of "a galvanized shed at Carnmore", inturn choosing subsidy as a business model. The article is not online but here are the key points:

"the chamber decided not to expand and proceed with it's existing business model, which involved a little airport and a large government subsidy of around €2.3 million a year"

"What is remarkable is that Galway Chamber of Commerce chose as a sustainable business model for the Airport one that relied on government handouts to fly empty planes around the country".

"..the only type of planes that can now be accommodated by the runway are those used by Are Arann and Dick Dastardly from the cartoon Catch the Pigeon".

"Figures reveal that 9 out of 10 seats on their aircraft in and out of Galway were empty in the months preceding its withdrawal, and the airline had just 200 bookings from the rest of the year."

"The fact is Galway Chamber of Commerce has become the corporate equivalent of a careerist social welfare recipient"

"This philosophy certainly accounts for the decision to resist efforts to establish an international airport in 1999 and also explained the Chamber's indignant attitude when Mother Varadkar finally batted them away from the State boob earlier this year"

"It is preposterous in a time of recession, that a government would continue to spend millions propping up a ghost airport while resources for special needs assistants and public nurses are scarce; and that the Chamber thinks that it should evidences a considerable disconnect from reality"

"Before we brace ourselves for a flight of the earls type scenario where the likes of Cisco and Medtronic up sticks and get a boat back to America, it is worth remembering the reason we have come to this: nobody uses the airport"

Robbo

That Advertiser article hits the nail right on the head. The board of the Airport never had any ambition and were only interested in nailing the Aer Arann colours to the mast in the most unsustainable way possible.

Looking at the last available annual return for the Airport (to the end of 2009), the list of shareholders includes an elephant's graveyard of dead or dying Galway companies: Aer Arann have 10,000 shares, Royal Tara have 2,000, Crown Equipment have 30,000, the County Council and the Corpo have 7,500 each.

[Cues up the Deliverance music]

The entire board almost entirely overlaps with the Chamber and any of the remainder are "the great and the good" of Galway. Remember when you see the Chamber members having their photos in the paper at the opening of an envelope that as 88% shareholders and having a near lockout on the board, all of this can be laid entirely at their door.

Sponge Bob

That was the Grassroots column which is possibly written by a local politician of some sort.

The article was very good and Grassroots also made the point that €32m of government funding was 'available' in the late 1990s to move the airport to Oranmore and with a proper runway.....but the Chamber/management would have none of it.

Such a runway would, after all, have dramaticaly affected O Céidighs business model.

Neworder79

Sponge Bob wrote: »

That was the Grassroots column which is possibly written by a local politician of some sort.

Well fair play whoever it was, a refreshingly truthful change from the wa*n most of our poor-mouth western reps been spewing on the subject for the last year.

Sponge Bob

I could have written it myself ....save that I did not know that €32m was 'promised' for the new airport in 1999/2000. I wonder where that specific number came from ???? None other than O Cuiv himself perhaps ???


This was the 1999/2000 era plan in Oranmore

http://archives.californiaaviation.org/airport/msg09166.html

July 3, 2000

Boost for effort to relocate Galway airport
Irish Times


Businessman Mr Denis O'Brien has thrown his weight behind a campaign by
Minister of State and Galway West TD Mr Eamon O Cuiv to relocate Galway
airport and develop it for international travel.

Mr O'Brien, chairman of Esat Telecom, had been in discussions with Corrib
Airport Company on developing the existing runway at Carnmore. Not only has
he pulled out of these negotiations, he has also described the development
plans as 'flawed' and a 'waste of taxpayers' money'. However, the Minister
for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, has reaffirmed Government financial
support for Carn more, and has said that any relocation must be 'a matter
for the airport board'.

The debate on the future of Galway airport - or airports - has been running
for some time, but temperatures have been raised by Mr O'Brien's statement.

O Cuiv, who has also been given a leg-up by Galway Corporation has earmarked
80 acres for the new site. Both the corporation and the county council
commissioned consultants to examine air traffic needs. Buchanan and
Associates - also authors of a land use and transportation study for
Galway - estimated a market for 280,000 passengers per annum by 2012, and
that a 1,600-metre runway would be required to cater for 200-seater
aircraft.

'Carnmore doesn't have that amount of land available, and there would be
difficulties with an extension in terms of the number of landowners out
there,' Mr Joe Gavin, city manager, says. 'Oranmore was identified as an
ideal location for a larger airport because there are only two landowners -
ourselves and the Department of Defence.' an Spellissy records in The
History of Galway: City and County, published late last year, Carnmore
aerodrome was originally a private airfield built by Ernest Steiner, a
German businessman and former Luftwaffe officer, who had set up a factory
outside Galway and wanted to be able to commute regularly to his home in the
then west Germany In 1970, *Udaras na Gaeltachta subsidised Aer Arann to
promote a daily service to the Aran islands. Spellissy quotes former Irish
Times (italics) western correspondent, Michael Finlan, who described
Carnmore then as 'little more than a jumped-up airstrip that ended abruptly
at a stone wall beyond which sheep grazed'.

The corporation believes 240 acres would be required to develop an
international airport, and its decision to sign over acreage at Oranmore is
subject to the required balance being released by the Minister for Defence,
Mr Smith.

Last month, the city council resolved to send a deputation to Dublin to meet
the Taoiseach, Ms O'Rourke and Mr Smith with a view to acquiring a further
160 acres of land owned by the Department of Defence. The deputation also
intends to seek State funding for the Oranmore project. How such a request
will be received is another matter, given that Ms O'Rourke has made her
position clear.

Two years ago her Department allocated (pounds) 3.1 million to Carnmore to
upgrade its runway. This funding - (pounds) 1.1 million of which has been
drawn down to date - still stands, a spokesman for the Minister told The
Irish Times. It is understood that the initial tranche has been used to
acquire extra land for the project, and a planning application has now been
lodged. Mr O Cuiv has made no secret of his opposition to this expenditure.
He has warned that Galway will lose out on tourist numbers if it cannot
provide such a link - in spite of proximity to Shannon and accessible links
to the east coast, which already make for a year-round industry.

Observing the debate are bemused members of Galway Chamber of Commerce,
responsible for Corrib Airport Company at Carnmore. Mr John Coyle,
businessman and chairman of the company, is not only 'surprised' at Mr
O'Brien's decision to pull out of talks on involvement in Carnmore, he is
also mystified that the debate should be so polarised.

'We are not against an airport at Oranmore, and the public clearly support
Mr O Cuiv's campaign,' Mr Coyle says. 'The corporation's allocation of land
is the first very positive step in plans for its development. However, even
if such a facility did get support immediately it would be some years before
construction.

'The reality is that Galway needs Carnmore. It is run on a profitable basis
for the business community of this area, with five flights daily to the
capital. However, to maintain that success, and meet the requirements of the
Irish Aviation Authority, we need to proceed with our own development plans.
This time next year it will be our London City airport.'

The airport has already set a 12-month target for attracting 100-seater
aircraft. 'We are building up traffic here, so why limit options now by
trying to force a choice between two very different operations?' Mr Coyle
asks. The priority for most of its commuters is the Dublin link, which is
now more flexible following the introduction of an Aer Arann route, and a
direct service to Britain may be viable next year. Northern Europe is also a
possibility, according to Mr Jarlath Feeney, the chamber of commerce's chief
executive, who points out that Galway already has a new summer air link to
the Swiss capital, Zurich.

Mr Liam Barrett, a spokesman for Mr O'Brien, said Mr O'Brien was interested
in supporting the Oranmore proposal, and was carrying out a feasibility
study. Mr Barrett confirmed that Mr O'Brien had been in discussions with the
Carnmore management in relation to taking an equity stake, but 'on further
reflection' he had decided that he would consider a significant investment
in the development of Oranmore as the future Galway airport to be
worthwhile.

Mr O'Brien had 'no fault to find with Carnmore', Mr Barrett said. However,
he also confirmed a statement made by Mr O'Brien on June 23rd which said
Carnmore 'will not be able to handle the continued economic expansion of the
Galway region as the runway will never be able to be expanded to cater for
the full range of Boeing 737 or equivalent commercial jets'. To proceed with
extending the runway would be a 'waste of taxpayers' money', the statement
said.

xflyer

Is that the fluttering sound of pigeons coming home to roost?

Reading between the lines you can see Carnmore was protected for Aer Arann, the local airline. A jet runway in Oranmore would have attracted Ryanair and killed Knock stone dead and may even have damaged Shannon. Galway with Connemara and all that is an attractive destination. Plus if Knock can support holiday flights then Galway certainly could.

The irony is the Carnmore is so short and narrow that even Aer Arann couldn't fill their ATR72s.

Fair play to O'Cuiv, he had the right idea. Denis O'Brien was on the ball too.

But in the end the dead hand of the Galway mafia won out, as usual.

Sponge Bob

And at subsequent elections in 2002 Pádraig O Céidigh was openly backing Margaret Cox while in 2011 he openly backed Frank Fahey .....even chairing that meeting in the Clayton for Frankeen where Anglo Joe threatened to run against him.

ff99

The truth about galway airport.


The staff at galway airport have worked very hard over the last number of years to further the business, look after its customers and build themselves a future. Along with a small group of other employees of the airport, we wanted to clarify a few things and set the record straight.
We believe the airport has been mismanaged terribly over the last number of years. We have heard the Minister for Transport say that the airport is running with a huge cost base, this is true. The top four managers, who consist of the "senior management team" run up a wages bill in excess of half a million euro. This doesnt include company cars, credit cards, gym memberships, health insurance, unlimited phone bills and big expense accounts. This perhaps wouldn't be too bad if any significant milestones had been achieved in the last few years, but instead all that has happened has been a litany of disasters. A navigation device for aircraft which cost a quarter of a million euro called an NDB which has never been switched on! An emergency water supply which cost tens of thousands of euro, also never used and not installed correctly, massive lights on the aircraft parking areas bought, installed and never used, costing an absolute fortune.
They have sat back and watched while airlines pulled out and destinations were dropped. The airport went from having 16 busy routes over 3 airlines, to having no routes and no airline, only empty promises of return, that not even the airlines own employees believe. From processing over 300,000 passengers a year, to processing 0! And the airport management and board of management have sat back and watched it all happen, nothing done about it, nothing changed. Managers kept in their positions because of pride, the unwillingness to admit that the dream team wasnt working.

Staff positions and promotions were never done fairly and always carried out in secret, with little regard to qualifications or suitability or even age or life experience. As it was put recently, the airport has only served as a breeding ground for management and their offspring, with nepotism, absenteeism and office romance dictating the direction the airport was taken.

So there is underway a big clearout of the staff at the airport, a sensible move you might think, considering the high cost base upon which it was operating. Bring the Staff level down to a bare minimum to ride out the storm, cut from 55 down to 7. It didn't surprise any of us staff to hear that out of the four senior management positions, three were still being kept! 47 redundancies in total, yet only one of them from senior management! The rest all from the workforce. Over 95% of the Staff gone, and 75% of the managers remain. Aerodrome Manager - kept, Financial Manager - kept, General Manager/Managing Director - kept (although a new person will take up the role), marketing manager - redundant. Wage bill after big clearout, probably still in excess of €300,000.
Staff at the ground level have been decimated. People who have worked there over 20 years been let go, and managers been kept in their jobs. People which the airport cannot open without such as air traffic controllers and firefighters being let go, yet the managers stay. Which brings me on to the new Manager who will replace the managing director who is off to Australia. His first task, to give a lucrative contract to his own company to run the career transition programme which has featured in the local media. All of the back clapping in the paper and praise for the airport has just been senior management feathering their own nest again. " The chairman of the galway chamber of commerce congratulated the airport on the programme" - of course he did, he had a part in signing it off!!!!! The new manager, who I will not name, started giving courses on how to do up your CV, and was engaging with staff to find out information about the airport before he even told them that he was going to be their new boss, and the person who will be negotiating their redundancies with them. How was this new manager picked? We don't know, did he have an interview? we doubt it. Perhaps it was because he was a long serving member of the board of management that got him his nice new handy number. Rumours are circulating that his company has been advising senior management for the last number of months, orchestrating the whole collective redundancy situation entirely.
All of this adds up to a huge blow for staff, all of these pills which are hard to swallow, all which we have to take and remain silent for fear of our jobs or been bullied by our managers, when everyone there knows who is responsible for the mess we find ourselves in today. And then they offer statutory redundancy for all out its loyal employees. Less than 40% of what staff got a year ago, the final kick in the face to the already downtrodden staff. Management claim they have no money, despite receiving massive funding from the government every year for as long as any of us can remember. Perhaps it was the brand new, never used, state of the art fire engine which arrived last month, or the big going away do for the MD before he jetted off to Australia?

So I put it to the people of Galway, that there is an Airport in Carnmore, already built and (nearly) ready to go, all it needs is someone with some foresight and ability to think beyond the "grab all" celtic tiger mentality, which has bred this type of corruption and small town attitude. If there is anyone out there willing to make a go of it, the expertise and facilities are there, all we need is a change at the helm.

Sincerest Regards,
Staff members of Galway Airport
(we do not represent all staff members, just the vocal ones)

mikom

Meanwhile Knock announces four new Ryanair routes today.

From next March, there will be over 20 flights a week to and from Milan, Paris, Frankfurt and Barcelona.
They will be the first such direct flights in and out of the Western region.



http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/1121/ryanair_knock.html

Storm 10

Guys I feel so sorry for the way that you were treated, I fail to understand how the Airport was allowed to get to where it is today its a disgrace, then this new announcement by Ryanair of new routes out of knock is hard to take. Could Aer Lingus Regional not have take over the routes to Edinburgh, London and Manchester or were they ever approached.

I used the Airport a lot myself but when the Waterford stop off started no way was I going to stop in Waterford when I should have been in London. Good luck for the future

central park

So sorry for all you people at the airport. I was a regular traveller from Galway to Edinburgh and it was so good that you could leave Galway on a Friday night and be in Edinburgh in less than two hours! I had flights booked for this weekend too and had to change my flights to Dublin. Absolute disgrace about what happened, both for Galway and for staff there. Good luck to all!

Cosmo Kramer

Storm 10 wrote: »

Guys I feel so sorry for the way that you were treated, I fail to understand how the Airport was allowed to get to where it is today its a disgrace, then this new announcement by Ryanair of new routes out of knock is hard to take. Could Aer Lingus Regional not have take over the routes to Edinburgh, London and Manchester or were they ever approached.

Aer Arann and Aer Lingus Regional are one and the same. What has effectively happened is that the Aer Arann routes from Galway to Edinburgh and Manchester have been rebranded as Aer Lingus Regional and now operate from Shannon. The Knock announcement is largely irrelevant as Galway's runway is not capable of handling Ryanair planes...then again you could point the finger at Galway Airport management in that regard too.

xflyer

I think it's only a matter of time when Ryanair talks 'Ireland West Airport' into renaming itself 'Ireland West Airport - Galway'. Because of course many of it's passengers on the new routes will be either going from or coming to Galway.;)

Surfacezebra

ff99 wrote: »

The truth about galway airport.


The staff at galway airport have worked very hard over the last number of years to further the business, look after its customers and build themselves a future. Along with a small group of other employees of the airport, we wanted to clarify a few things and set the record straight.
We believe the airport has been mismanaged terribly over the last number of years. We have heard the Minister for Transport say that the airport is running with a huge cost base, this is true. The top four managers, who consist of the "senior management team" run up a wages bill in excess of half a million euro. This doesnt include company cars, credit cards, gym memberships, health insurance, unlimited phone bills and big expense accounts. This perhaps wouldn't be too bad if any significant milestones had been achieved in the last few years, but instead all that has happened has been a litany of disasters. A navigation device for aircraft which cost a quarter of a million euro called an NDB which has never been switched on! An emergency water supply which cost tens of thousands of euro, also never used and not installed correctly, massive lights on the aircraft parking areas bought, installed and never used, costing an absolute fortune.
They have sat back and watched while airlines pulled out and destinations were dropped. The airport went from having 16 busy routes over 3 airlines, to having no routes and no airline, only empty promises of return, that not even the airlines own employees believe. From processing over 300,000 passengers a year, to processing 0! And the airport management and board of management have sat back and watched it all happen, nothing done about it, nothing changed. Managers kept in their positions because of pride, the unwillingness to admit that the dream team wasnt working.

Staff positions and promotions were never done fairly and always carried out in secret, with little regard to qualifications or suitability or even age or life experience. As it was put recently, the airport has only served as a breeding ground for management and their offspring, with nepotism, absenteeism and office romance dictating the direction the airport was taken.

So there is underway a big clearout of the staff at the airport, a sensible move you might think, considering the high cost base upon which it was operating. Bring the Staff level down to a bare minimum to ride out the storm, cut from 55 down to 7. It didn't surprise any of us staff to hear that out of the four senior management positions, three were still being kept! 47 redundancies in total, yet only one of them from senior management! The rest all from the workforce. Over 95% of the Staff gone, and 75% of the managers remain. Aerodrome Manager - kept, Financial Manager - kept, General Manager/Managing Director - kept (although a new person will take up the role), marketing manager - redundant. Wage bill after big clearout, probably still in excess of €300,000.
Staff at the ground level have been decimated. People who have worked there over 20 years been let go, and managers been kept in their jobs. People which the airport cannot open without such as air traffic controllers and firefighters being let go, yet the managers stay. Which brings me on to the new Manager who will replace the managing director who is off to Australia. His first task, to give a lucrative contract to his own company to run the career transition programme which has featured in the local media. All of the back clapping in the paper and praise for the airport has just been senior management feathering their own nest again. " The chairman of the galway chamber of commerce congratulated the airport on the programme" - of course he did, he had a part in signing it off!!!!! The new manager, who I will not name, started giving courses on how to do up your CV, and was engaging with staff to find out information about the airport before he even told them that he was going to be their new boss, and the person who will be negotiating their redundancies with them. How was this new manager picked? We don't know, did he have an interview? we doubt it. Perhaps it was because he was a long serving member of the board of management that got him his nice new handy number. Rumours are circulating that his company has been advising senior management for the last number of months, orchestrating the whole collective redundancy situation entirely.
All of this adds up to a huge blow for staff, all of these pills which are hard to swallow, all which we have to take and remain silent for fear of our jobs or been bullied by our managers, when everyone there knows who is responsible for the mess we find ourselves in today. And then they offer statutory redundancy for all out its loyal employees. Less than 40% of what staff got a year ago, the final kick in the face to the already downtrodden staff. Management claim they have no money, despite receiving massive funding from the government every year for as long as any of us can remember. Perhaps it was the brand new, never used, state of the art fire engine which arrived last month, or the big going away do for the MD before he jetted off to Australia?

So I put it to the people of Galway, that there is an Airport in Carnmore, already built and (nearly) ready to go, all it needs is someone with some foresight and ability to think beyond the "grab all" celtic tiger mentality, which has bred this type of corruption and small town attitude. If there is anyone out there willing to make a go of it, the expertise and facilities are there, all we need is a change at the helm.

Sincerest Regards,
Staff members of Galway Airport
(we do not represent all staff members, just the vocal ones)

Why don't you forward this on to the minister for transport?Surely this needs to be brought to his attention if there is any truth in it.This is after all what Fine Gael promised to put a halt to in their pre election promises/lies.

Aerohead

ff99 wrote: »

The truth about galway airport.


The staff at galway airport have worked very hard over the last number of years to further the business, look after its customers and build themselves a future. Along with a small group of other employees of the airport, we wanted to clarify a few things and set the record straight.
We believe the airport has been mismanaged terribly over the last number of years. We have heard the Minister for Transport say that the airport is running with a huge cost base, this is true. The top four managers, who consist of the "senior management team" run up a wages bill in excess of half a million euro. This doesnt include company cars, credit cards, gym memberships, health insurance, unlimited phone bills and big expense accounts. This perhaps wouldn't be too bad if any significant milestones had been achieved in the last few years, but instead all that has happened has been a litany of disasters. A navigation device for aircraft which cost a quarter of a million euro called an NDB which has never been switched on! An emergency water supply which cost tens of thousands of euro, also never used and not installed correctly, massive lights on the aircraft parking areas bought, installed and never used, costing an absolute fortune.
They have sat back and watched while airlines pulled out and destinations were dropped. The airport went from having 16 busy routes over 3 airlines, to having no routes and no airline, only empty promises of return, that not even the airlines own employees believe. From processing over 300,000 passengers a year, to processing 0! And the airport management and board of management have sat back and watched it all happen, nothing done about it, nothing changed. Managers kept in their positions because of pride, the unwillingness to admit that the dream team wasnt working.

Staff positions and promotions were never done fairly and always carried out in secret, with little regard to qualifications or suitability or even age or life experience. As it was put recently, the airport has only served as a breeding ground for management and their offspring, with nepotism, absenteeism and office romance dictating the direction the airport was taken.

So there is underway a big clearout of the staff at the airport, a sensible move you might think, considering the high cost base upon which it was operating. Bring the Staff level down to a bare minimum to ride out the storm, cut from 55 down to 7. It didn't surprise any of us staff to hear that out of the four senior management positions, three were still being kept! 47 redundancies in total, yet only one of them from senior management! The rest all from the workforce. Over 95% of the Staff gone, and 75% of the managers remain. Aerodrome Manager - kept, Financial Manager - kept, General Manager/Managing Director - kept (although a new person will take up the role), marketing manager - redundant. Wage bill after big clearout, probably still in excess of €300,000.
Staff at the ground level have been decimated. People who have worked there over 20 years been let go, and managers been kept in their jobs. People which the airport cannot open without such as air traffic controllers and firefighters being let go, yet the managers stay. Which brings me on to the new Manager who will replace the managing director who is off to Australia. His first task, to give a lucrative contract to his own company to run the career transition programme which has featured in the local media. All of the back clapping in the paper and praise for the airport has just been senior management feathering their own nest again. " The chairman of the galway chamber of commerce congratulated the airport on the programme" - of course he did, he had a part in signing it off!!!!! The new manager, who I will not name, started giving courses on how to do up your CV, and was engaging with staff to find out information about the airport before he even told them that he was going to be their new boss, and the person who will be negotiating their redundancies with them. How was this new manager picked? We don't know, did he have an interview? we doubt it. Perhaps it was because he was a long serving member of the board of management that got him his nice new handy number. Rumours are circulating that his company has been advising senior management for the last number of months, orchestrating the whole collective redundancy situation entirely.
All of this adds up to a huge blow for staff, all of these pills which are hard to swallow, all which we have to take and remain silent for fear of our jobs or been bullied by our managers, when everyone there knows who is responsible for the mess we find ourselves in today. And then they offer statutory redundancy for all out its loyal employees. Less than 40% of what staff got a year ago, the final kick in the face to the already downtrodden staff. Management claim they have no money, despite receiving massive funding from the government every year for as long as any of us can remember. Perhaps it was the brand new, never used, state of the art fire engine which arrived last month, or the big going away do for the MD before he jetted off to Australia?

So I put it to the people of Galway, that there is an Airport in Carnmore, already built and (nearly) ready to go, all it needs is someone with some foresight and ability to think beyond the "grab all" celtic tiger mentality, which has bred this type of corruption and small town attitude. If there is anyone out there willing to make a go of it, the expertise and facilities are there, all we need is a change at the helm.

Sincerest Regards,
Staff members of Galway Airport
(we do not represent all staff members, just the vocal ones)

Guys you need to take this post further, send a copy to the papers and as another poster said send a copt to the minister and dont be afraid as you are the people who lost your jobs.