Kerry Airport - News & Updates

embraer170

There is not a whole lot of discussion about Ireland's regional airports in this forum so I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread on Kerry Airport (KIR/EIKY).

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Some recent developments:

- Building work is underway on departures lounge upgrade (extending the existing lounge slightly apron side) and a new pre-boarding holding area . This is only the second major change to the early 1990s terminal building following the new passenger and baggage screening area added a few years ago.

- A new aircraft hanger build towards the end of the old runway was completed earlier this year. Interestingly, there has been no announcement about it at all. You can catch a small glimpse of it in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzDrvpYVy8s

- A new Ryanair Kerry-Berlin SXF was launched in October. Although it is continuing this summer and a lot of effort is made to advertise it by the airport and local tourism authorities, my impression is that it is struggling to generate reasonable yields. Even the long established Hahn route suffers in winter so I hope Ryanair gives it some time to prosper.

- An announcement for the 2018-2022 Kerry-Dublin PSO is eminent.

durandal01

Munster Joinery built the new hanger, it's accessed via the gate behind the club hanger.
I heard ownership transfers to the airport after 20 years.
I also heard that 2017 was a record year for private AC and biz jets.
I'm open to be corrected though.

pepe the prawn

The new hangar is a semi private endeavour, with hangarage available for rental for visiting or based executive aircraft. There may be another hangar identical to it being built next to it in the near future...

Bizjets in particular seem to be moving through KIR in ever increasing numbers.

marno21

No surprise Munster Joinery built a hanger given that they have one permanently based aircraft (N272NR) and I believe they may have a 2nd one, Cessna 525A that often departs Kerry using a similar callsign?

durandal01

pepe the prawn wrote: »

The new hangar is a semi private endeavour, with hangarage available for rental for visiting or based executive aircraft. There may be another hangar identical to it being built next to it in the near future...

Bizjets in particular seem to be moving through KIR in ever increasing numbers.

Feck'n magic!
The building, renovation and cute marketing of new super-grade hotels and golf courses in the county is playing no small part in this.

abff

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but does anyone know if Ryanair will be providing flights from Kerry to Faro this summer? There are no dates shown on their website.

JCX BXC

abff wrote: »

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but does anyone know if Ryanair will be providing flights from Kerry to Faro this summer? There are no dates shown on their website.

Appears to have gotten the chop alright.

abff

JCX BXC wrote: »

Appears to have gotten the chop alright.

Thanks. Has that been confirmed, or is there a possibility that it might be reinstated later in the year?

JCX BXC

abff wrote: »

Thanks. Has that been confirmed, or is there a possibility that it might be reinstated later in the year?

Not confirmed however these thing never are. If it's not in the engine now it won't be, I've never seen a case where a route which has ran already in previous summers was put in this late.

This is my opinion, but it's a fairly certain opinion.

embraer170

That is a loss for the airport. At its its peak, Faro generated some 20,000 passengers for the airport and was even more popular than Alicante in 2012 and 2014.
Faro passenger numbers (inbound and outbound)
2012: 20,182
2013: 19,617
2014: 18,688
2015: 8,701
2016: 8,432

JCX BXC

That's quite a decline, I haven't been keeping much of an eye on Kerry, but I think it was reduced in it's running season in 2015?

The increase in the service from Shannon and Cork hardly helped.

TheDriver

Ryanair loaded the usual extra capacity flights about a month ago e.g. Usual 2nd Cork tenerife flight in summer so probably unlikely. Reality is kerry people will travel

embraer170

Good news.

Faro is back. Twice weekly Ryanair flights from June-September, meaning 9 additioanal flights compared to 2017.

JCX BXC

Bizzare, never seen this happen before.

Good news no doubt.

Shn99

Judging by the post on Kerry’s Facebook page, management had to do some persuading to convince Ryanair to operate it

embraer170

And also announced today that Stobart have secured the Kerry and Donegal PSOs again.

embraer170

Shn99 wrote: »

Judging by the post on Kerry’s Facebook page, management had to do some persuading to convince Ryanair to operate it

The persuading was probably in the form of financial incentives.

JCX BXC

embraer170 wrote: »

And also announced today that Stobart have secured the Kerry and Donegal PSOs again.

http://www.newstalk.com/New-contract-awarded-for-air-routes-between-Donegal-Kerry-and-Dublin#.WlkSY6nV4s8.facebook

durandal01

11.30pm, Saturday, 13/01/2018.
KIR - SXF , 18/01/2018 = €12.99
SXF - KIR , 21/01/2018 = €24.47
Not a very good omen.

marno21

durandal01 wrote: »

11.30pm, Saturday, 13/01/2018.
KIR - SXF , 18/01/2018 = €12.99
SXF - KIR , 21/01/2018 = €24.47
Not a very good omen.

Took a look at the Hahn route as well.

11:45pm, Saturday, 13/01/201

KIR - HHN 15/01/2018 €26.92
HHN - KIR 19/01/2018 €22.02

I think a lot of it is to do with January and being quiet. I'd imagine they will at least give Berlin the summer and see how it goes, it should do good then.

Even driving around the Long Term car park in Kerry this evening, it a lot quieter than it was in October/November/December.

Doltanian

I would say that the low fares are more represtative of what is happening in Killarney and Kerry. The absolute ripoff which is now happening in hotels, bars and restaurants will kill the tourism trade in Kerry. Couple with January's inclement weather and the lack of spending power across Europe you could see a lot of businesses struggle in Kerry, although for a lot of them I have zero pity in that they have only themselves to thank with their disgraceful ripoff pricing. When a hotel and dinner costs less in London coupled with weak sterling you will find it hard to attract tourists from the UK or the continent. Things are heading towards Norwegian levels now in Ireland.

embraer170

Ryanair Hahn-Kerry fares actually seem higher now (January-March) than last year at this time.

That is probably down to better yield management rather than increased bookings.

durandal01

Doltanian wrote: »

I would say that the low fares are more represtative of what is happening in Killarney and Kerry. The absolute ripoff which is now happening in hotels, bars and restaurants will kill the tourism trade in Kerry. Couple with January's inclement weather and the lack of spending power across Europe you could see a lot of businesses struggle in Kerry, although for a lot of them I have zero pity in that they have only themselves to thank with their disgraceful ripoff pricing. When a hotel and dinner costs less in London coupled with weak sterling you will find it hard to attract tourists from the UK or the continent. Things are heading towards Norwegian levels now in Ireland.

Saturday night, 1 room-2 pax, town center hotel isn't too bad.
https://www.tripadvisor.ie/Hotels-g186612-Killarney_County_Kerry-Hotels.html
A polite phone call directly to reception off season can often result in a generous mark down.
Town center B&B's will average about €35 PPS.
The town's pint of G averages €4.20, plate lunch for €10 and dinner main course €15 to €20. You can pay less for these things or a way more if you so wish.
The locals are always amused when a visitor hands over a fiver for a pint and then inquires how much more is wanted.
The myth that Killarney is a rip-off is a throw back to the '70s.

embraer170

Stobart will now only use ATR72s from Kerry:

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/stobart-air-to-spend-almost-14m-boosting-fleet-1.3389912

embraer170

First sign that Kerry-Berlin may not operate next winter. It is not bookable, while the rest of the Kerry routes are.

JCX BXC

embraer170 wrote: »

First sign that Kerry-Berlin may not operate next winter. It is not bookable, while the rest of the Kerry routes are.

Give it a while, the newer routes are always slower to be added than the long time existing routes.

Mr rebel

Shame if they scrap the Berlin route as it's a real joy to fly from Kerry airport.
I flew Kerry - Schönefeld last November and the flight was pretty full.

JCX BXC

Mr rebel wrote: »

Shame if they scrap the Berlin route as it's a real joy to fly from Kerry airport.
I flew Kerry - Schönefeld last November and the flight was pretty full.

Must point out that Shannon-Schönefeld was always quite full also, it's the low fares that filled them that destroyed yield.

embraer170

My impression is that fares were low and loads were comparatively low (70s-80s and not the Ryanair’s 90+% average).

tototoe

Know a few people who have done this flight and everyone of them have said the return flight kind of kills the weekend due to the timing. It's too early, and late enough on the outbound

Mr rebel

tototoe wrote: »

Know a few people who have done this flight and everyone of them have said the return flight kind of kills the weekend due to the timing. It's too early, and late enough on the outbound

That's very true.
The outbound doesn't bother me too much as you are still in Berlin for around 8:30pm local time but yeah flying back at 6am on a Sunday morning is an absolute killer.
Shannon had perfect time slots....something like arriving in Berlin around 2pm and landing back in Shannon for 3pm.

JCX BXC

Nothing like Shannon though, with the restrictive opening hours and lack of based aircraft.

embraer170

Kerry Airport’s out of hours charges are crazy high, especially combined with the short opening hours.

notharrypotter

embraer170 wrote: »

Kerry Airport’s out of hours charges are crazy high, especially combined with the short opening hours.

Just wondering as to what you think that the out of hours charges cover?

fuerte1976

Anyone here know if the bar is serving before the early flights? A few of us heading on the Alicante trip soon and a couple are enquiring if they will be able to have an early morning novelty drink..

embraer170

This confirms Berlin will not be operating next winter:

https://corporate.ryanair.com/news/ryanair-launches-biggest-ever-irish-winter-2018-schedule/?market=ie

Shn99

embraer170 wrote: »

This confirms Berlin will not be operating next winter:

https://corporate.ryanair.com/news/ryanair-launches-biggest-ever-irish-winter-2018-schedule/?market=ie

That lasted long. Kerry will have to pray that it works out this summer so they can at least get a seasonal service

Mr rebel

Oh that's sad to hear....looks like there won't be another Berlin route outside of Dublin airport so.

Masala

Shn99 wrote: »

That lasted long. Kerry will have to pray that it works out this summer so they can at least get a seasonal service

The Berlin only started on 01 November 2017 last year...its not running 4 months yet! Bit unfair to drop it without giving it a full 12 month trial!

JCX BXC

Masala wrote: »

The Berlin only started on 01 November 2017 last year...its not running 4 months yet! Bit unfair to drop it without giving it a full 12 month trial!

By the time it ends in the end of October it'll have had a full 12 months trial

Masala

JCX BXC wrote: »

By the time it ends in the end of October it'll have had a full 12 months trial

Agreed..... but it being judged on the results of the the worst months to launch a service. Ryanair hardly expects to be making big profits in Jan & Feb on any European route.

Shn99

November statistics for the KIR-SXF route out

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Number of seats 3402
Number of passengers 2740
Average 80% load
Source:CSO.ie

embraer170

Kerry got a few Cork diversions today: a Ryanair flight from Gran Canaria and a Stobart flight from Birmingham.

Shn99

HHN also out,
Seats 4916
Passengers 2393
Load 49%

embraer170

Shn99 wrote: »

November statistics for the KIR-SXF route out

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Number of seats 3402
Number of passengers 2740
Average 80% load
Source:CSO.ie

That is very reasonable for a brand new route in winter.

Kerry airport did a huge effort to market the route getting local travel agents selling weekends in Berlin, and travelling to trade events in Germany to sell the route.

embraer170

Shn99 wrote: »

HHN also out,
Seats 4916
Passengers 2393
Load 49%

That is a mistake. There were 3024 seats on the Hahn route in November 2017, giving a load of about 80% if the 2393 figure is correct.

Shn99

embraer170 wrote: »

That is a mistake. There were 3024 seats on the Hahn route in November 2017, giving a load of about 80% if the 2393 figure is correct.

Is it not 3x Weekly during the winter? 13 KIR-HHN sectors multiplied by 2(return) is 26 sectors...189 seats x 26 sectors is 4914

embraer170

Twice weekly in winter now - Monday and Friday. It has been like that for a few years now.

Long gone are the days of a daily flight in summer and three/four weekly flights in winter.

Some of the regulars I know are now using Ryanair’s Dublin-Cologne flights instead. They will have even more choice with the Frankfurt flights launching next winter.

JCX BXC

Berlin now bookable for the full winter season at same frequency.

embraer170

Great news!

durandal01