Another major blow for Waterford! Aer Lingus to stop flights to UK from Jan 2013!

road_high

Chicken1 wrote: »

Well people in Galway over the past few years we had Ryanair, Aer Lingus not Aer Arann Regional, Aer Arann, Flybe, British Airways commuter, Manx Air and Atlantic Airways flying four engined RJ70 Jets to Malaga and look where we are today. Dont hold your breath on Flybe or any other airline coming in.

I always fly from Dublin. Reasons are simple; Ryanair, planes, routes and prices! Several times I have checked I have checked Waterford prices vs Ryanair from Dublin and they are/were far more expensive. And before anyone jumps down my throat and say "parking is way more expensive" etc...it isn't particularly. Far more expensive than the differnce in fuel and parking. Especially if you book in advance and the Quickpark is good value as well, €8 a day or something. And the DAA car parks have come down in price as well. Often if it's short trip I park at T1.

And the planes. Those turbo prop things really not a fan of those. At least with Ryanair you know it's not gona be one of those, despite the crappy leg room! They are slow and noisy.

It really is a pity Waterford has not got it's runway extension to allow jets as it is very limited as it stands when Aer Arann pulled out. They could have got some charter business that way. I still think it could have been a compliment to Dublin on the east coast. Presumably these plans have been suspended indefintely due to the exchequer difficulties?

Also Southend replacing Luton was a big blow. It's a bit off the beaten track.

Dum_Dum

Like this map someone posted up here a while back:



It you're in a green area you basically have 'connectivity' issues. Says it all really.

martin12

martin12 wrote: »

road_high

They're the ones Cityjet use...

reni10

How much was the estimated cost to make the runway longer to accept Ryanair type jets?

Surely this would be a worthwhile government sponsored project to bring some much needed employment to the Waterford region?

The gov are saying they cannot force multinationals etc. to setup in Waterford but they can put money towards building a runway that would firstly create the jobs in the constructing of it then secondly have someone like Ryanair fly out of there creating ground crew and air crew jobs and thirdly the possibility that more businesses would setup in the region as they now have a viable airport with links to the UK and possibly Europe!

In my mind if this cost under 10million to complete then it is really a no brainer....

Neworder79

reni10 wrote: »

How much was the estimated cost to make the runway longer to accept Ryanair type jets?

Back in 2007 a €27.5 m investment was being quoted to widen and extend the runway to 1,850 metres (allow jet access for short-haul routes), but that figure also included navigation, equipment and terminal upgrades needed to support jet operations and increased numbers.

May be somewhat cheaper now but without a very strong business case capital grants look unlikely given the aviation budget is due for further reduction.

reni10

So instead of spending about 20million on a runway that would actually create jobs lets spend millions on "expert" reports of how hard it is to get businesses to setup in the South East and not one job created.

Something very wrong in that logic....

mozattack

mfitzy wrote: »

I always fly from Dublin. Reasons are simple; Ryanair, planes, routes and prices! Several times I have checked I have checked Waterford prices vs Ryanair from Dublin and they are/were far more expensive. And before anyone jumps down my throat and say "parking is way more expensive" etc...it isn't particularly. Far more expensive than the differnce in fuel and parking. Especially if you book in advance and the Quickpark is good value as well, €8 a day or something. And the DAA car parks have come down in price as well. Often if it's short trip I park at T1.

And the planes. Those turbo prop things really not a fan of those. At least with Ryanair you know it's not gona be one of those, despite the crappy leg room! They are slow and noisy.

It really is a pity Waterford has not got it's runway extension to allow jets as it is very limited as it stands when Aer Arann pulled out. They could have got some charter business that way. I still think it could have been a compliment to Dublin on the east coast. Presumably these plans have been suspended indefintely due to the exchequer difficulties?

Also Southend replacing Luton was a big blow. It's a bit off the beaten track.

This is plain WRONG. I had to rebook from Aer Arran to Ryanair for January and I was surprised that Ryanair was €40 cheaper until I booked and it cost me €10 more when you allow for the stealth fees.

Also petrol up and back = €40

Also 2 hours more travelling each way = disaster.

There is no way I would even had considered Dublin when Waterford was on my doorstep.

tankbarry

In talk's with 4 companies hopefully something happens

RobitTV

tankbarry wrote: »

In talk's with 4 companies hopefully something happens

Great news indeed, where did you hear this from?

Also do you know who are the 4 companies?

b757

RobitTV wrote: »

Great news indeed, where did you hear this from?

Also do you know who are the 4 companies?

If I were to guess.. It would be Flybe, Loganair, Cityjet and BA-Cityflyer..

Can't imagine there are any other UK regional airlines to talk to, apart from BMI Regional.

Trotter

Surely our proximity to mainland Europe has to be a factor for airlines? We're 100 miles worth of fuel closer to Europe than Dublin for example. I really hope a solid airline comes along.

tankbarry

Great news indeed, where did you hear this from?

Also do you know who are the 4 companies?

flybe I was told was 1 dont know about the rest......

RobitTV

One thing I want to start is a boards.ie Poll on what destination people most want to fly from Waterford, just to maybe help out the airport and the airline that they are disscussing with to increase chances of starting new routes. I will send this to them by Facebook and email.

Options for London routes I would say in the poll....
London Luton
London Gatwick
London Southend
London Stansted
(these routes are realistic, forget about heathrow and London city airport)

Also a Edinburgh and Manchester route perhaps?
Or either.

I heard Edinburgh is quite popular now for passengers, Manchester also.

sunnysoutheast

b757 wrote: »

If I were to guess.. It would be Flybe, Loganair, Cityjet and BA-Cityflyer..

Can't imagine there are any other UK regional airlines to talk to, apart from BMI Regional.

A decently-timed service to LCY, LTN or LGW would get at least 45 return flights a year off me for a start.

CityJet use Avro RJs which can use the runway as is. BA may be able to use their 170s, but I am not sure on loads. We know flybe's Q400s are fine.

Loganair are partners to flybe.

b757

RobitTV wrote: »

One thing I want to start is a boards.ie Poll on what destination people most want to fly from Waterford, just to maybe help out the airport and the airline that they are disscussing with to increase chances of starting new routes. I will send this to them by Facebook and email.

Options for London routes I would say in the poll....
London Luton
London Gatwick
London Southend
London Stansted
(these routes are realistic, forget about heathrow and London city airport)

Also a Edinburgh and Manchester route perhaps?
Or either.

I heard Edinburgh is quite popular now for passengers, Manchester also.

Great idea. I presume MAN will be back possibly with Flybe so probably no need for that poll.

You could probably just make it for possible new routes, a london route will surely be added. Whether it will be LTN, i don't know. Maybe LGW/STN.

Also rumours for EDI last year when Flybe added the BHX route. So we never know. Lets just get the regular ones back for now :P

b757

sunnysoutheast wrote: »

A decently-timed service to LCY, LTN or LGW would get at least 45 return flights a year off me for a start.

CityJet use Avro RJs which can use the runway as is. BA may be able to use their 170s, but I am not sure on loads. We know flybe's Q400s are fine.

Loganair are partners to flybe.

Cityjet RJ85's, BA Cityflyers E170's and Loganair's SAAB 340's would work. Could be a squeeze for Flybe's E175's, even though we know the Dash 8 works.

Also Loganair and Fylbe work off a franchise, same way Arann's did under Aer Lingus. Their flights are just booked under BE's website and contain their flight numbers.

sunnysoutheast

b757 wrote: »

Cityjet RJ85's, BA Cityflyers E170's and Loganair's SAAB 340's would work. Could be a squeeze for Flybe's E175's.

Also Loganair and Fylbe work off a franchise, same way Arann's did under Aer Lingus. Their flights are just booked under BE's website and contain their flight numbers.

I think we'd have the same issue with the A340 (Saab, not Airbus!) as with the ATR42. As soon as the first few seats are sold the rest become very expensive. The same problem happened years ago, the guests for our wedding paid a fortune with Manx (flying as BA Regional) on a Jetstream. It would have been cheaper to charter!

Had RE based an ATR72 in Waterford rather than an ATR42 I would have used them a lot more as it was not always possible for me to book ages in advance. We apparently used to be able to sustain a 72 earlier, but RE seem to be focused on EI feeder traffic. Good luck to them under their new ownership but let's move on.

I would say that a flight to LCY or LGW would be ideal, as it was I was often faced with very expensive flights to get to SEN so I booked EI to Heathrow for less (although the total price including parking etc. was usually a little higher). The second tier airports of LTN, STN or SEN would be Ok if the price and timings were right.

fricatus

sunnysoutheast wrote: »

A340 (Saab, not Airbus!)

:eek:

Glad you clarified that! Imagine one of these bad boys landing at WAT!

sunnysoutheast

fricatus wrote: »

:eek:

Glad you clarified that! Imagine one of these bad boys landing at WAT!

Well she might be able to land, with all tyres shredded, but I doubt she could take off again!

RobitTV

I looked on the Flybe website tonight and have to admit the prices are very reasonable compared to Aer lingus regional, most flights from Waterford to Birmingham have prices that I would be willing to pay they are not over the top either they are just priced on what they are supposed to be priced in reality.

Go to Flybe.com and take a look.

On the issue of the Airport discussing with companies on possible routes I just hope this turns out to be a success, and hopefully the Airport team will get the best deal for them and the airline and the passengers. Hopefully all turns out good.

Believe it or not if Flybe offer to take on the London route I could see them flying to Gatwick as most of their flights go from Gatwick, they do fly from Luton aswell but on a smaller scale compared to gatwick.

Let me clarify that Southend is probably ruled out, it 100% must be. It's NOT profitable with Aer arann and it's NOT a popular route due to its lack of transport connections.

I could see realistically Luton or Gatwick, with possibly Stansted, possibly.

kensutz

RobitTV wrote: »

I could see realistically Luton or Gatwick, with possibly Stansted, possibly.

Not a hope you would see Stansted.

tankbarry

One thing I want to start is a boards.ie Poll on what destination people most want to fly from Waterford, just to maybe help out the airport and the airline that they are disscussing with to increase chances of starting new routes. I will send this to them by Facebook and email.

that's a good idea. I would start it straight away. hopefully something good will come of it. You could also post your Poll in the wexford, tipperary,Killkenny and carlow forums. there are regular passengers from there.


I think proper advertising is the Key.

RobitTV

tankbarry wrote: »

that's a good idea. I would start it straight away. hopefully something good will come of it. You could also post your Poll in the wexford, tipperary,Killkenny and carlow forums. there are regular passengers from there.


I think proper advertising is the Key.

Yeah I agree, I also think this idea could definitely help out in deciding profitable route choices.

We need the popular routes in my opinion that can be profitable even if there new ones.

Its pretty obvious to me that Luton or Gatwick are profitable routes, Aer arann made a bomb from Luton and I'd say Gatwick would be the same.

But many people have asked the Airport before about A Edinburgh route. If I was them I would seriously be considering it, if the demand is there then I'd take it.

I may start a new Thread later with a poll but I need help in what to put in the poll and I will send it to Waterford airport Facebook page aswell and email.

RobitTV

Just opened up the poll in a thread, please vote!

sunnysoutheast

RobitTV wrote: »

Just opened up the poll in a thread, please vote!

Done. LCY?

I think the key requirement is for a well-timed weekday route to a decent London airport as this is the major business centre of Ireland's largest trading partner by far.

I'd say that Edinburgh/Manchester/Liverpool etc. would be excellent leisure destinations.

RobitTV

sunnysoutheast wrote: »

Done. LCY?

I think the key requirement is for a well-timed weekday route to a decent London airport as this is the major business centre of Ireland's largest trading partner by far.

I'd say that Edinburgh/Manchester/Liverpool etc. would be excellent leisure destinations.

Oops sorry forgot LCY

And I agree, a efficient and fast service to London is needed for business aswell as leisure in my opinion.

Especially as britains and Ireland's economic relations grow

sunnysoutheast

RobitTV wrote: »

Oops sorry forgot LCY

And I agree, a efficient and fast service to London is needed for business aswell as leisure in my opinion.

Especially as britains and Ireland's economic relations grow

As we can't get a LHR route perhaps we could even get AMS or CDG to connect us to the rest of the world with one hop......

b757

sunnysoutheast wrote: »

As we can't get a LHR route perhaps we could even get AMS or CDG to connect us to the rest of the world with one hop......

AMS was a very profitable route from WAT a few years back when they flew there, high loads i believe.
However the chances are of we getting it now are slim, only until after we get the LTN & MAN routes back and possibly 1/2 more there might be a chance.

Trotter

Amsterdam would be a fantastic. It's a brilliant hub for flights all over the world.