three new European routes from Knock Airport

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'The North West tourism industry is set to benefit from three new European routes from Knock Airport.'

Ryanair announced new routes to Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Kaunas in Lithuania and Glasgow Prestwick in Scotland are to start in April 2014, as well as an increase in flights from Luton Airport.

The routes were announced at a Media Conference hosted by Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer of Ireland West Airport Knock, Michael Cawley. Head of Operations at Failte Ireland North West, Martina Bromley says the routes will provide access to a new market.

http://www.oceanfm.ie/sp/article_manager/detail/north_west_tourism_to_benefit_from_iwak_routes_

red sean

Good news but a pity theres no flights going west to the US. Would be very handy!

northknife

Always welcome to have cheap flights on your doorstep.
Pity we are still being ripped off with the parking as they charge for a full day even if its only a couple of hours on your return. :mad:
Don't get me wrong I still use the airport and it is way better than travelling to Dublin or Shannon but if I am abroad for three days I would prefer to just pay for three days and a couple of hours rather than four days.

Kettleson

northknife wrote: »

Always welcome to have cheap flights on your doorstep.
Pity we are still being ripped off with the parking as they charge for a full day even if its only a couple of hours on your return. :mad:
Don't get me wrong I still use the airport and it is way better than travelling to Dublin or Shannon but if I am abroad for three days I would prefer to just pay for three days and a couple of hours rather than four days.

Good point. I took the bus to the airport recently. Ok it doesn't run as frequently, but it was lot more pleasant than taking the car. The kids loved it, you see lots of the countryside that you miss in the car, you have more leg room, and it has free wi-fi.

From Sligo one way it worked out at €28 for 1 adult 2 kids. No parking fees and luckily the connecting times were good and we didn't have long to wait.

Perhaps we should be putting pressure on Bus Eireann to provide increased services direct to Knock Airport to connect with these new routes?

Ps: I thought there was already flights to Prestwick? Perhaps that was from Derry?

Pps: Maybe it also time to challenge the €10 exit fee for 12 year olds and over when flying out of Knock. For the "Development of Knock Airport?". I haven't seen much development going on there in the last 15 years, apart from recent laying down of some hard core in the field next to the car park to accommodate additional car parking.

fillefatale

Kettleson wrote: »

Good point. I took the bus to the airport recently. Ok it doesn't run as frequently, but it was lot more pleasant than taking the car. The kids loved it, you see lots of the countryside that you miss in the car, you have more leg room, and it has free wi-fi.

From Sligo one way it worked out at €28 for 1 adult 2 kids. No parking fees and luckily the connecting times were good and we didn't have long to wait.

Perhaps we should be putting pressure on Bus Eireann to provide increased services direct to Knock Airport to connect with these new routes?

Ps: I thought there was already flights to Prestwick? Perhaps that was from Derry?

Pps: Maybe it also time to challenge the €10 exit fee for 12 year olds and over when flying out of Knock. For the "Development of Knock Airport?". I haven't seen much development going on there in the last 15 years, apart from recent laying down of some hard core in the field next to the car park to accommodate additional car parking.

Agreed, I took the bus to the airport before and was surprised at how swift it was! Though if you have a while to wait there, there's not much to do once you're there. Though it might be more financially viable if there's just you or someone else because I'm not sure how a family ticket would cost compared to parking for the few days.

Also dislike the €10 airport charge very much, can't see where the changes are - sometimes I've even spent that on getting a bus to Dublin airport rather than fly from Knock because of the cost it adds on!

lotusm

red sean wrote: »

Good news but a pity theres no flights going west to the US. Would be very handy!

I read in the western people that they hope to have flights to Boston and new York in 2015 according to Joe Gilmore. Guess time will tell, but if that happens, it will be a massive boost to the West for tourism and business.

loki7777

Would be handy to have flight to Poznan or Bydgoszcz,Poland because going half day to Dublin is a pain in a..

whatswhat

Flights to the U.S would be great, lets hope they can by 2015. You might understand that all the 10 euro development charges were spent well if they can pull this one off! I use the airport on a regular basis and am used to paying the 10 euro charge. Its not too bad when there are just 2 of you but last year we had a family party here with family coming over here and they spent 240 euro between them just to get home! Harsh!

yew_tree

Pps: Maybe it also time to challenge the €10 exit fee for 12 year olds and over when flying out of Knock. For the "Development of Knock Airport?". I haven't seen much development going on there in the last 15 years, apart from recent laying down of some hard core in the field next to the car park to accommodate additional car parking.

There was a new extension to the Terminal built, new access road, new surfacing to runway, fencing and aircraft parking stands. New Fire engines and equipment for the firehouse and New CAT II landing system to allow landing in Fog etc, enlarged car parking, marketing, new flights added etc - all that off the top of my head in the last 15 years.

whatswhat

yew_tree wrote: »

There was a new extension to the Terminal built, new access road, new surfacing to runway, fencing and aircraft parking stands. New Fire engines and equipment for the firehouse and New CAT II landing system to allow landing in Fog etc, enlarged car parking, marketing, new flights added etc - all that off the top of my head in the last 15 years.

I dont doubt that over the years the improvements are there but when you think of the possible funds raised from the 10 quid development fee, so they should be. Ryanair would be the most used airline and they have planes to seat 180 people. Now if you think there are 10 flights out per day, times seven days a week, thats 12.5k euro the airport can raise with the development charge in a week!! Now I apreciate the flights may not always be full to capacity and the percentage of under 12s travelling will vary but even if you give a generous allowance for this, they are still looking at around half a million euro per year in revenue from it, minimum, they have to be.
As said before, I use the airport myself a lot and am a supporter of it but I do think that they should increase the age of the charge to 18 and adults only to give families a break in these hard times with a chance of a cheap family getaway.

AgileMyth

If those families were to forget to bring any cash it'd be a disaster..

Kettleson

AgileMyth wrote: »

If those families were to forget to bring any cash it'd be a disaster..

tell me about it...i had a group of 18 people over from the UK and had forgotten to alert them to the 10 yo' yo's to get out of the airport...they had spent all their yo-yo's deliberately to get rid of them....not best pleased they wasn't.

yew_tree

In an ideal world there would be no development charge for anyone and it is "A bit Irish" to spring this on people departing from the airport as many tourists returning home are not aware of it.

That said I know the fee is very important to the day to day running of the facility. In the long run you are saving but no having to travel to Dublin or Shannon.