Knock Airport

Locker10a

highlydebased wrote: »

Closure of SNN-BHX might add 1 or 2 people per flight to NOC-BHX if at all...

A few blokes I used to meet on the SNN-BHX run drive to ORK or DUB in the small hours for the early morning flights from there

Coincidentally 3 airports here will have lost their BHX connection by the end of the Winter schedule- SNN, Knock and Waterford

All of this NOC-BHX traffic will just shift to EMA and/or LTN, cant see anyone starting the route I just see people going to BHX via another UK gateway

joey12

I would agree, I cant see anyone taking BHX on. Its hard to believe BMIbaby did double daily on certain days in the past. I guess the guys at NOC can only hope Ryanair increase EMA.

No matter how much spin management put out, Knock is in trouble. I find it difficult to see where the expansion could come from. Ryanair to be fair have tried a number of routes and Flybe concentrations are no longer on VFR routes. Lets just hope they can continue the success of the london routes,

As an aside I do wonder what might happen to LGW if things change within EI.

Locker10a

joey12 wrote: »

I would agree, I cant see anyone taking BHX on. Its hard to believe BMIbaby did double daily on certain days in the past. I guess the guys at NOC can only hope Ryanair increase EMA.

No matter how much spin management put out, Knock is in trouble. I find it difficult to see where the expansion could come from. Ryanair to be fair have tried a number of routes and Flybe concentrations are no longer on VFR routes. Lets just hope they can continue the success of the london routes,

As an aside I do wonder what might happen to LGW if things change within EI.

I think Ryanair NOC-UK routes are safe for years to come!
Gatwick i hope will remain, but we will have to wait and see what pans out!
NOC-LGW has proven successful over the years, but if EI find better utilisation for the aircraft then it may be dropped! And i cant see anyone else taking it on to be honest ! The only other contender would be Easyjet, and I don't think they would bother after what happened the last time

JCX BXC

Locker10a wrote: »

I think Ryanair NOC-UK routes are safe for years to come!

Id shorten that to NOC-STN is safe. EMA and LTN are also safe enough, but with the erratic behaviour of Ryanair, routes are almost never safe.

cgill

Still no news on a replacement for Birmingham so it does look like the route will be unserved for the first time in years.
There is mention of increased hopes for a major funding announcement in yesterdays Western People.
Also, I was having a look on the Germanwings website, still no sign of SNN-CGN either and saw Knock-Marseille on the route map and as the suggested destinations, not bookable (yet). Germanwings/Eurowings will begin operating from MRS on May 1st with a 4 pw route to DUS which may work as a W-pattern for Knock. I would be very surprised if this route was announced but it would be great to have a route to the south of France from Knock in the near future.

JCX BXC

cgill wrote: »

Still no news on a replacement for Birmingham so it does look like the route will be unserved for the first time in years.
There is mention of increased hopes for a major funding announcement in yesterdays Western People.
Also, I was having a look on the Germanwings website, still no sign of SNN-CGN either and saw Knock-Marseille on the route map and as the suggested destinations, not bookable (yet). Germanwings/Eurowings will begin operating from MRS on May 1st with a 4 pw route to DUS which may work as a W-pattern for Knock. I would be very surprised if this route was announced but it would be great to have a route to the south of France from Knock in the near future.

I find it unsusual that there is no BHX route all along the west coast, as this has proven to be a popular and profitable route. The main 2 airlines have pulled these routes though, so its either Ryanair or no-one atm. Wait for a few weeks to see if anything materialises on that front.

A funding announcement? My god thats possibly the most hypocritical thing I have heard of in years in airports. Shannon god a debt wipe? "Sweetheart deal paid for by the tax payers". (Which btw, is actually incorrect) Now knock will get a debt wipe off and extra funds? This will be entertaining.
Im not against funding for knock, I think that the western region needs all the funds it can get! But in fairness, you cant give out like hell about the shannon deal and then come along and get a better one for yerselves :P

The SNN-CGN will not go ahead, Shannon has been removed from the search engine, and cologne was never displayed with shannon in the search engine. It appears NOC-MRS will go ahead, which is good. I suppose you'd get a nice few pilgrims on that route? Marseille is displayed with Knock, but its just not for sale yet. Its strange to have a route announcement at this late stage, but it does happen. One thing to be seen is wheather Ryanair will see it as in-direct competition with its Nice route and launch a NOC-NCE route.

cgill

Considering that Ryanair had no reaction to Germanwings when operating to Cologne/Dusseldorf I don't expect them to get take action too fast, although its impossible to tell what Ryanair will do.

The main issue with the funding was equality, I for one don't begrudge the funding to Shannon however I am against Shannon being able to provide lower charges and creating unfair competition as a result of the deal. If Knock receives funding then it will level the playing field so that they can compete fairly and after that it's all just competition as with any business. To add to that, if SNN and NOC get funding, so should ORK and to a lesser extent KIR.

CGN-SNN was in fact shown on their website and was in the drop down menu for both airports for a while. There is nothing to say it won't be the same situation with NOC-MRS. Hopefully it goes ahead and will be successful, I imagine there would be good demand for that region but Eurowings will be a very little known airline for the West of Ireland, hopefully it won't have an impact on demand for the route.

JCX BXC

cgill wrote: »

Considering that Ryanair had no reaction to Germanwings when operating to Cologne/Dusseldorf I don't expect them to get take action too fast, although its impossible to tell what Ryanair will do.

But ryanair didn't operate SNN OR NOC-CGN did they?

cgill wrote: »

The main issue with the funding was equality, I for one don't begrudge the funding to Shannon however I am against Shannon being able to provide lower charges and creating unfair competition as a result of the deal. If Knock receives funding then it will level the playing field so that they can compete fairly and after that it's all just competition as with any business. To add to that, if SNN and NOC get funding, so should ORK and to a lesser extent KIR.

I always accepted this equality argument, and always though Cork and to a lesser extent knock and kerry should get the same treatment too.
The thing was, people started calling it a waste of taxpayers money among other things. Another thing is, where is the equality when Knock gets given money to improve infrastructure?

cgill wrote: »

CGN-SNN was in fact shown on their website and was in the drop down menu for both airports for a while. There is nothing to say it won't be the same situation with NOC-MRS. Hopefully it goes ahead and will be successful, I imagine there would be good demand for that region but Eurowings will be a very little known airline for the West of Ireland, hopefully it won't have an impact on demand for the route.

Shannon was shown, but there was never any destinations listed. Cologne was never in shannons drop down list and vica versa.
If they advertise Eurowings or german wings, it will be known :P

cgill

Germanwings have clarified that NOC-MRS is just a mistake on their website. So still no South of France routes from Knock.

JCX BXC

cgill wrote: »

Germanwings have clarified that NOC-MRS is just a mistake on their website. So still no South of France routes from Knock.

Oh:P Where did they say this?

notharrypotter

and to a lesser extent KIR.

What has poor auld Kerry ever done on you?

New EU Rules on State Aid to Airports/Routes.

. First, public
funding to airport infrastructure has often resulted in duplication
of (unprofitable) airports in the same catchment area,

Second, the vast majority of regional airports do not generate
sufficient revenue to even cover their costs.

There is a 10 year transitional period after which the purse strings must go.

Getting the local authorities to take the debt is probably a novel way of avoiding it.

cgill

notharrypotter wrote: »

What has poor auld Kerry ever done on you?

While the regionals deserve any support they can get, Kerry is right in the middle of the Cork and Shannon catchment areas, at least Knock serves the North West and Waterford should serve the South East. Long may Kerry last but I'm surprised it's still operating considering the circumstances...

JCX BXC

cgill wrote: »

While the regionals deserve any support they can get, Kerry is right in the middle of the Cork and Shannon catchment areas, at least Knock serves the North West and Waterford should serve the South East. Long may Kerry last but I'm surprised it's still operating considering the circumstances...

Kerry has the passengers! I dont understand why it needs a PSO, but the ryanair services are sustainable. I know someone from west cork and they always fly from Kerry to luton to get to Bristol, as they are very scared of the ATR's from cork, and they just like Kerry.

Jamie2k9

Considering that Ryanair had no reaction to Germanwings when operating to Cologne/Dusseldorf I don't expect them to get take action too fast, although its impossible to tell what Ryanair will do.

NOC-EIN was only over an hour to Cologne.....

JCX BXC

Knock has appeared in the Sunway website with Turkey listed as a Destination. Nothing bookable, but with the recent announcement of Shannon-Izmir, Knock-Izmir may be possible.

cgill

That's good news, I'm not very surprised since it was announced for DUB, ORK and SNN recently. The Onur Air flights had performed well 2 years ago so a weekly SunExpress B738 should be easy enough to fill.

cgill

http://m.irelandwestairport.com/newsSingle.php?id=35

Knock-Izmir operating for just over a month in mid-September/October with Sun Express.

Noccy_Mondy

Dont really know where to put this, but assuming it took off from Knock. A small, maybe 7 seater plane has been going over and back past my house a few times now at very low altitude, can even make out the number on it. But what's strange is that there is a little rocket shape thing coming out of the side of it, about 20 foot to the side and below the plane only connected by a little what appears to be a wire? Any ideas?

Growler!!!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057384119

Survey aircraft, been in the country a while.

cgill

Ryanair's 2015/16 Winter schedule for Knock is now bookable, expecting more changes to this in the next few weeks. Much the same as last winter apart from EMA.

ACE - 1pw - no change
LPL - 6pw - no change
LTN - 6pw - down 1pw, Wednesday flight removed
STN - 10pw - down 1 pw, 2nd Wednesday flight removed, unsurprising as Wednesday would probably be one of the lower capacity days
EMA- not bookable - loss of 4pw. I expect this will be bookable in the next few weeks, if not I believe it will be replaced by a Birmingham route or just transferred to Shannon. It's not logical for Ryanair to end the only connection to the Midlands from the West/North-West.

highlydebased

cgill wrote: »

Ryanair's 2015/16 Winter schedule for Knock is now bookable, expecting more changes to this in the next few weeks. Much the same as last winter apart from EMA.

ACE - 1pw - no change
LPL - 6pw - no change
LTN - 6pw - down 1pw, Wednesday flight removed
STN - 10pw - down 1 pw, 2nd Wednesday flight removed, unsurprising as Wednesday would probably be one of the lower capacity days
EMA- not bookable - loss of 4pw. I expect this will be bookable in the next few weeks, if not I believe it will be replaced by a Birmingham route or just transferred to Shannon. It's not logical for Ryanair to end the only connection to the Midlands from the West/North-West.

The only route on sale from EMA at the moment seems to be DUB. Will be a while yet for entire schedule to be up

YouTookMyName

cgill wrote: »

Ryanair's 2015/16 Winter schedule for Knock is now bookable, expecting more changes to this in the next few weeks. Much the same as last winter apart from EMA.

ACE - 1pw - no change
LPL - 6pw - no change
LTN - 6pw - down 1pw, Wednesday flight removed
STN - 10pw - down 1 pw, 2nd Wednesday flight removed, unsurprising as Wednesday would probably be one of the lower capacity days
EMA- not bookable - loss of 4pw. I expect this will be bookable in the next few weeks, if not I believe it will be replaced by a Birmingham route or just transferred to Shannon. It's not logical for Ryanair to end the only connection to the Midlands from the West/North-West.

Disappointing to see Bristol miss out on the winter schedule too.

JCX BXC

YouTookMyName wrote: »

Disappointing to see Bristol miss out on the winter schedule too.

No change from last year, were you expecting a change?

YouTookMyName

Carnacalla wrote: »

No change from last year, were you expecting a change?

Always hoping. It ran winter 2012/2013

JCX BXC

YouTookMyName wrote: »

Always hoping. It ran winter 2012/2013

Probably a reason it was discontinued so...

cgill

YouTookMyName wrote: »

Always hoping. It ran winter 2012/2013

From what I remember the loads were quite poor when it ran for winter 2012/13. Even during the summer the loads are random enough, they can vary from 40%-80/90% load factor. With the capacity increase this summer, if it goes well, winter flights may be reintroduced in the next few years.

highlydebased

Bristol will take a bit of the traffic from the loss of the BHX route. As it is some locations are equidistant between the two airports.

YouTookMyName

cgill wrote: »

From what I remember the loads were quite poor when it ran for winter 2012/13. Even during the summer the loads are random enough, they can vary from 40%-80/90% load factor. With the capacity increase this summer, if it goes well, winter flights may be reintroduced in the next few years.

Capacity increase? More flights? I can only see 3 a week.

JCX BXC

Any news on EMA for winter?

cgill

YouTookMyName wrote: »

Capacity increase? More flights? I can only see 3 a week.

There are 4 flights per week in April and May, taking some of the BHX capacity i presume. Then back to 3 per week in June. If it goes well, it might be kept on for longer.