Waterford Airport.

JCX BXC

What about a 20kg bag? That's €80 added. It's now €180, probably the same or more than WAT (assuming lowest fares at DUB and WAT). So your driving 2+ hours on a road for what purpose?

hardybuck

Flights from Waterford are coming in a good bit cheaper on skyscanner than what's mentioned earlier.

You've also got Cork which offers a return spin to London for €40. If you live in Dungarvan it's roughly an hour to Cork or 40 mins to Waterford. Probably a no brainer for them to choose Cork.

Similarly, as Waterford need to be targeting the region, obviously places like Kilkenny are about an hour and a quarter to Dublin airport or 45 mins to Waterford airport, so those prices need to remain competitive.

JCX BXC

Trust skyscanner and all these very untrustworthy third party companies ive never heard of before? I'll pass.....

You'd be doing well to get to Cork Airport from Dungarvan in an hour. You'd get to Cork but it wouldn't want to be the airport your looking for.


I think this service is ideal. It was always going to be expensive due to the aircraft and level of service, but its better that Waterford has a devoted airline with tremendous service rather than your usual pay for everything with Aer Lingus/Ryanair. People are willing to pay for the convenience and the ones who are not are either far enough from WAT to make it an easier choice, penny pinchers (fine few of them since the recession) or quite frankly are rather oblivious to the fact that you can fly from WAT.

hardybuck

Carnacalla wrote: »

Trust skyscanner and all these very untrustworthy third party companies ive never heard of before? I'll pass.....

You'd be doing well to get to Cork Airport from Dungarvan in an hour. You'd get to Cork but it wouldn't want to be the airport your looking for.


I think this service is ideal. It was always going to be expensive due to the aircraft and level of service, but its better that Waterford has a devoted airline with tremendous service rather than your usual pay for everything with Aer Lingus/Ryanair. People are willing to pay for the convenience and the ones who are not are either far enough from WAT to make it an easier choice, penny pinchers (fine few of them since the recession) or quite frankly are rather oblivious to the fact that you can fly from WAT.

Well by not using Skyscanner you'd add about €55-60 on to the cost of the Waterford flights going by the November dates. €40 from Cork was from the airline website.

Some premium is to be expected, but €150 odd per person would price many customers from the region out.

A couple would generally pay €25 for one 20kg bag between them. Then you're looking at a ticket price saving of €275 odd for the couple. Anyone from outside Waterford would pay €8 a day or €35 for the week parking, and have some fuel costs for travelling to Waterford, especially as there is no bus service.

So quickly you can see the need for ticket prices to be competitive as possible for the airport to get more custom from the region.

O Riain

Carnacalla wrote: »

Trust skyscanner and all these very untrustworthy third party companies ive never heard of before? I'll pass.....

You'd be doing well to get to Cork Airport from Dungarvan in an hour. You'd get to Cork but it wouldn't want to be the airport your looking for.


I think this service is ideal. It was always going to be expensive due to the aircraft and level of service, but its better that Waterford has a devoted airline with tremendous service rather than your usual pay for everything with Aer Lingus/Ryanair. People are willing to pay for the convenience and the ones who are not are either far enough from WAT to make it an easier choice, penny pinchers (fine few of them since the recession) or quite frankly are rather oblivious to the fact that you can fly from WAT.

Skyscanner is not a third party. It just searches all the airlines fares for you, generally bringing you to the airlines website directly (but yes sometimes tricky third parties but this is clear enough). If you are not using it then you are literally screwing yourself as you can get the best price easily on it. Ruling it out is very silly.

questionmark?

spikadelica wrote: »

Flights for 1 are priced at €39.98 return, allow for fuel and parking would still cost less than €100. Snacks etc are surely an option and should not be built into comparative pricing, this is going out Tues 10 and returning following Tuesday. I agree driving to Dublin is hassle but motorway makes this so much easier, bus fares are fairly cheap also with 3 providers from Waterford so that is also cheaper option from driving and parking.

I compared a like for like service as much as possible. You didn't even include bags which for a weeks trip most people would require.

Deise Vu

I'm flying to London in a couple of months and I'm using VLM. There is a huge price differential with Ryanair (€215 V €56). However, as I see it, it would be at least another €100 between the driving to Dublin, the parking, and I would definitely need one of those barely edible, overpriced, Dublin Airport 'meals' due to the driving time and the necessity to be in the airport two hours in advance to clear security. As far as I am concerned the other €59 is worth it from the point of view of the saved time and the the sheer joy of landing 10 minutes from my house, not to mention having a relaxed lunch with my family before I go. I may also have been influenced when booking by the awful delays on the motorway for the AI semi-Final. There are huge delays this week also, due to roadworks.

That said, those are extreme variances in price (I have done this a few times and this is the biggest variance) but there is no way I could justify paying the extra if I had my wife and / or family also. I would worry that this is not a sustainable model in the long run. They are basically depending on the solo regular traveller and I am not sure there are enough people in that category in the South East. We badly need that runway extension and more volume / cheaper prices.

dzilla

Carnacalla wrote: »

You'd be doing well to get to Cork Airport from Dungarvan in an hour. You'd get to Cork but it wouldn't want to be the airport your looking for.

Yeah maybe if your going in via Youghal and availing of the ferry in cobh to passage further on.

Dungarvan to the airport is one hour flat and that includes parking in the short of long term park have done the spin to other side of Cork City even in an hour.

Deise Vu

No prizes for guessing where the majority of these funds will go:

http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/irish-news/government-funding-for-kerry-knock-donegal-and-waterford-airports-31449509.html

Time for our representatives to get on their feet and scream.

O Riain

That would be a serious pie to get a piece of. Even a quarter of it would be over €10 million. The proper runway upgrade pencilled in before with a terminal upgrade was put at €27 million, surely some kind of scaled back version could be carried out for a few million less than this?

Also in terms of 'upgradability' surely Waterford is fairly close to the top seeing as though Knock can take international flights?

JCX BXC

"Even a quarter".
There's no hope in hell you would get a quarter when you have 4 other regionals with more flights than you!

space2ground1

Carnacalla wrote: »

"Even a quarter".
There's no hope in hell you would get a quarter when you have 4 other regionals with more flights than you!

So because other airports who received more support than Waterford in the past used the support to attract more flights, Waterford should now receive proportionately less funding because we have less flights.

That ladies and gentlemen sums up the ditch that Waterford City has been thrown into and the lack of govt support for our efforts to climb out of it.

reni10

Waterford Airport should be upgraded to at least the same standard that Kerry Airport is at and should be at the top of the list for the funding to bring it to that standard.

This funding I would have thought was to make sure that ALL the airports were brought to a similar standard at least so that they then can be competitive on their own in a few years.

Throwing very little at Waterford airport from this funding is futile as it needs a major upgrade of the runway and to a lesser extent the terminal to make it at least competitive to attract some other airlines and flights.

I am sure some low cost carrier flights from Waterford to a couple of destinations in Spain and somewhere like Amsterdam for 6 months of the year would be profitable and also help to get the airport to stand on its own 2 feet.

If this does not happen then it defeats the whole purpose of this funding in my mind...

Deise Vu

space2ground1 wrote: »

So because other airports who received more support than Waterford in the past used the support to attract more flights, Waterford should now receive proportionately less funding because we have less flights.

That ladies and gentlemen sums up the ditch that Waterford City has been thrown into and the lack of govt support for our efforts to climb out of it.

Back in the 80's there used to be voluntary deductions you could make out of your wages in a lot of Waterford factories which was then forwarded on. One was the Kitui partnership in Kenya (I wonder how they're doing these days?).

Another was for the City Council to develop badly needed sports facilities. The council put this to good use starting the facilities that are now the RSC. Then Lotto millions came along and the Govt decided there should be 8 regional sports centres dotted around the country (again I wonder how the other 7 are getting on). The RSC was given £500K because it already was partly developed, the rest were given £1.5M. Our Govts have always been big on self-help and matching funds...... until there are goodies to be distributed.

It probably would be no harm to point out that the original airport was also built from funds raised locally while Knock, for example, was 100% a gift from Charlie to the people of Mayo.

O Riain

Carnacalla wrote: »

"Even a quarter".
There's no hope in hell you would get a quarter when you have 4 other regionals with more flights than you!

There's only 3 other regional airports in contention. Waterford is one of the four listed..

notharrypotter

the whole purpose of this funding..

There is an election next year.:D

Look at the article.

Airports are required to be self sufficient by 2024.

Airports with less than 700,000 passengers will have problems making the cut.

This is kicking the can down the road.

Hoping to either change the ground rules using a "periphery" style argument or failing that leaving it to the next transport minister to make the hard call.

The State aid guidelines apply equally to both private and public airports. The term "State aid" refers to the origin of the funds not the status of the airport.

if a private airport uses public resources, granted by a regional or local authority for example, this constitutes State aid.

Johnnyvegas2

Great to see the load numbers increasing. I fly on quite a regular basis to MK for work and can't speak highly enough of the service. Let's hope the numbers continue. Speaking to VLM staff the company has a use it or lose it policy and thankfully they are very upbeat on the waterford numbers. Also talks of opening a route to Manchester in early 2016 based on the success of the current routes. Also great advertisement of Waterford City and the route on the London luton airport security hall wall (impressive) Can only help drive increased numbers now it's also being promoted on the UK side.

comeraghs

Manchester would be a nice boost to the area!

& as this airline in Belgian, perhaps a European route to Antwerp!

JCX BXC

comeraghs wrote: »

Manchester would be a nice boost to the area!

& as this airline in Belgian, perhaps a European route to Antwerp!

VLM will offer a connection from WAT-ANR through BHX from October.

Edit: Apologies, I thought it has been posted in this thread before but it appears it hadn't.

Irishlad2014

Carnacalla wrote: »

Read a page back, VLM will offer a connection from WAT-ANR through BHX from October.

Whaaat?? really? as someone living in Belgium this will be great to get home to Waterford!

dzilla

Irishlad2014 wrote: »

Whaaat?? really? as someone living in Belgium this will be great to get home to Waterford!

yup connect in BHX. 23kg baggage allowance included

Jamie2k9

http://www.blueskyexecutiveaviation.co.uk/issue_335/Avfuel_adds_Waterford_Regional_Airport_to_network.htm

Whether traveling for business or leisure, guests to EIWF enjoy the historically and environmentally rich surroundings of Waterford, including fly fishing, horse racing, Waterford Crystal, Lismore House, the Hook Lighthouse, castles, the medieval region of Kerry, the sea just 2 kilometers away, deep-sea angling and surfing.

With scheduled flights to Luton seven days a week, VLM at Waterford links with EGGW in 1 hour and 20 minutes with convenient morning and evening weekday flights. This service connects southeast Ireland with its biggest trading partners - London and southeast UK - generating vital economic and commercial activity, along with an increase in in-bound tourism. VLM also offers flights to Birmingham four days a week and is looking to expand to Manchester, Edinburgh and France.

Would love an Edinburgh service as well as Manchester.

man98

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

http://www.blueskyexecutiveaviation.co.uk/issue_335/Avfuel_adds_Waterford_Regional_Airport_to_network.htm



Would love an Edinburgh service as well as Manchester.

From what I've been told, either Manchester or Edinburgh may be added. As a newly demerged airline I'd imagine they don't have the money to risk an EDI route, so I could see them playing it safe on MAN, with a possible return of a French route on Saturdays where there's a gap in timetabling.

O Riain

Any progress on the runway extension?

Is there any chance that with the airport getting a bit more life into that we might see a proper runway extension?

b757

O Riain wrote: »

Any progress on the runway extension?

Is there any chance that with the airport getting a bit more life into that we might see a proper runway extension?

Nothing happening so far. Doubt anything will due to them having VLM.

Only reason they would upgrade now is if VLM want to put the SSJ in, that's if they ever manage to take delivery.

O Riain

b757 wrote: »

Nothing happening so far. Doubt anything will due to them having VLM.

Only reason they would upgrade now is if VLM want to put the SSJ in, that's if they ever manage to take delivery.

Could the work be carried out and still allow VLM to carry on operating whilst it is being extended?

Deise Vu

b757 wrote: »

Nothing happening so far. Doubt anything will due to them having VLM.

Only reason they would upgrade now is if VLM want to put the SSJ in, that's if they ever manage to take delivery.

The Chairman's report with the annual accounts says there is planning to extend the runway by 150M to the South and preparatory planning and works are on-going with a view to starting works by the end of 2015. It also says the project has been facilitated by the successful conclusion of the CPO arbitration in late April.

Ominously it goes on to say that finance to construct the runway must be raised locally and regionally in accordance with EU regulations. I would imagine it would be no bother to divert Council funds and raise other donations from Govt quangos if this was Knock Airport or Farranfore but if it has to be raised from local industry who will chip in apart from one or two of the multi-nationals?

Would bank borrowing be considered 'raising money locally'. The airport is actually financially quite solid with €1.9M in the bank at December 2014 and net assets of over €7M if you take deferred grants out of creditors. Cash inflow from operating activities isn't enormous though at €172K so there isn't a whole lot of repayment capacity currently. Then again, how much would 150M of runway cost?

looksee

Relative flew with VLM this week, return from Birmingham. Very happy with the service, free hold case, good cabin service (free stuff, crisps and drink etc) and apparently an exceptionally good flight home with the most expert landing she had ever known! Not perhaps the cheapest (tho not bad either) but door to door (including an hour and a half of travelling at the other end) in about 5 hours.

Johnnyvegas2

Great to see flights outbound from waterford are fully booked up on the dates ireland play the key pool games at the upcoming rugby World Cup.

linny

looksee wrote: »

Relative flew with VLM this week, return from Birmingham. Very happy with the service, free hold case, good cabin service (free stuff, crisps and drink etc) and apparently an exceptionally good flight home with the most expert landing she had ever known! Not perhaps the cheapest (tho not bad either) but door to door (including an hour and a half of travelling at the other end) in about 5 hours.

god ya can sing that just checked, return flight for two in October to Birmingham over 300euro compared to 90euro with Ryanair