Small Airports in Ireland are a waste of time & money & need to close.

Discuss.

This isn’t a position I hold myself. I think aviation is something to be encouraged in line with the needs & wishes of the places the airfields are set up. Some *hate* public money on them though. What do you think?

Gaoth Laidir

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Discuss.

This isn’t a position I hold myself. I think aviation is something to be encouraged in line with the needs & wishes of the places the airfields are set up. Some *hate* public money on them though. What do you think?

What do you define a 'small" airport as?

Anything that doesn’t take major airline traffic & doesn’t have a school attached. The small regional airports which are the usual targets of the I-will-do-everything-I-can-to-not-be-taxed club. Waterford, Sligo, Galway, Kerry, Donegal, and the island operations both running and not running. Feel free to add anywhere I’m missing...

Captain_Crash

Deleted User wrote: »

Anything that doesn’t take major airline traffic & doesn’t have a school attached. The small regional airports which are the usual targets of the I-will-do-everything-I-can-to-not-be-taxed club. Waterford, Sligo, Galway, Kerry, Donegal, and the island operations both running and not running. Feel free to add anywhere I’m missing...

Waterford has a flight school attached and both Kerry and Donegal see commercial service (albeit via PSO's)

Neworder79

Not all airports are equal. However in terms of value for public money this debate is totally bonkers.

The total budget for the regional airports support programme was €8m in 2018 spread across 4 airports (€15m if you include the PSO programme).

The relatively tiny investment is returned in multiples through payroll, tax receipts, vat, hotel beds, visitor spend, business investment generated etc. Not to mention the benefits that direct air access brings to the region.

To quote one report:

A recent economic study carried out by Ernst and Young has highlighted that in 2018 the airport (IWAK) contributed €182 million in spend across the region and supported almost 3,000 jobs. It also generated €29 million of a dividend back to the exchequer revenues."

If the same amount was allocated to a greenway, public carpark or GAA pitch it wouldn't make the news. We pay €16m a year to a bloody Greyhounds Board!!

AnRothar

A recent economic study carried out by Ernst and Young .

Link please and who sponsored the survey?

L1011

This from a forum moderator. I’m putting it here so that the other thread doesn’t go off topic.

L1011 wrote: »

This isn't about "suppressing", it's about basic common sense.

There is no justification to run a PSO service to an airport with no facilities in the middle of nowhere

Same could be said for many places. But it does bring value to the region it’s set in I think. Especially if you can combine one operation to fill two roles, both supply the islands & give a cross-country service. A two in one PSO as it were.

Chris_5339762

Kerry IMO will go downhill bigtime once the Adare bypass and the N22 Ballyvourney - Macroom bit get done.

Pat Dunne

I find the question very vague and poorly worded. As it refers to both Airports and Airfields, which to my mind bear little commonality to each other.

Stovepipe

All of the small regional airports also have a State function, in that they either host a SAR helicopter or can do so in an emergency, as well as being used by the Air Corps for maritime patrol, air ambulance, training and so on. All of them, and even smaller ones like Belmullet, have been used during maritime emergencies such as the Fastnet race disaster, Whiddy Island and the crash of the SAR helicopter in Blacksod bay. Waterford airport also has a busy industrial park alongside, which actually generates more income than the airport, but the union of the two works well. Some of the other smaller airports also have offsite or nearsite revenue, such as Sligo, which has a market at the weekends. Weston even hosts a track day for sports car owners, hosts public launches of new cars and has a very good restaurant. Airport managers at these places are very conscious of the need to generate revenue to justify their existence, so even if all they have to do to stay open, is keep a flying club on site, have a pad for helicopters, cater for general aviation aircraft (which includes business jets, by the way, who pay handsomely to get access) and try and attract any kind of business that will bring in a few bob.

Pat Dunne

Pat Dunne wrote: »

I find the question very vague and poorly worded. As it refers to both Airports and Airfields, which to my mind bear little commonality to each other.

It’s more an attempt to capture an overarching prejudice of non-aviation types & provide the opportunity to refute it. To them, airports & airfields are one and the same. In fact, Galway, once an airport, can now be considered an airfield or closed unless people fight for its retention.

L1011

Having an airfield and expecting the state to provide a ludicrous PSO to it are two different things.

L1011

L1011 wrote: »

Having an airfield and expecting the state to provide a ludicrous PSO to it are two different things.

Plenty of people posting here owe their licences to the letters of airports that PSO money kept open.

Pat Dunne

Deleted User wrote: »

It’s more an attempt to capture an overarching prejudice of non-aviation types & provide the opportunity to refute it. To them, airports & airfields are one and the same. In fact, Galway, once an airport, can now be considered an airfield or closed unless people fight for its retention.

And you expect to find “non-aviation types”, on a aviation forum! Good Luck with that.

Pat Dunne

Pat Dunne wrote: »

And you expect to find “non-aviation types”, on a aviation forum! Good Luck with that.

You’d be surprised who they let moderate it...

But yeah, it’s more about giving aviation types the chance to refute a non aviation type prejudice.

Pat Dunne

Deleted User wrote: »

You’d be surprised who they let moderate it...

I know only too bloody well!

L1011

I'm closing this thread as it has become a very obvious attack on moderation and nothing else. Do not attempt to recreate it.