Aer Lingus Move

donegalman1

From a Donegal and North West prospective, its quite good to see Aer Lingus's move to Belfast. A good dual carraigeway from Derry to Belfast now would help.

Its quite fair to state that for many years the south west has had a government tourism and investment policy towards the Shannon Region at our expense.

Whilst the South West kept everyone and everything they could get for themselves, if this move also is followed by transatlantic flights the region here will benefit and the NI Tourist Board and Board Failte NI always were a little more generous when it came to promoting Donegal.

I have little sympathy for a region that so jealously guarded visitors. If the Government had taken the North West half as seriously we never would have suffered such neglect.

Anyone would think everything is being taken from the Shannon Region.

I just hope now our tourism interests will oppose any reversal of the decision and capitalise on the decision.

With regard to the BMW region, I notice the west rarely plays lipservice to a rail link right up to Donegal with their comments usually reserved as far as Sligo

nanook

In relation to the service moving from Shannon to Belfast, i don't mean to sound critical of the south/mid west region but so what. As a leitrim person, if i wanted to go to london I had to go to dublin and get my flight from there. (this was before Knock was a consideration). That was always the way, dublin was the airport. Even guys going to america, Dublin was the choice as it was closer.

All person wanting to fly to heathrow after shannon closes can go to Cork, shock horror, Cork. Its not shannon, but by god, you dont have to drive to Dublin like the rest of us.


Good topic

Civilian_Target

My thoughts on a railway for Donegal are summed up here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/archive/index.php/t-2054934478.html

I think nanook's right, it really makes no difference. Flight connections to Dublin are much better, and with the announcement last year of a cross-border highway from Monaghan --> Donegal (given that the Dublin --> Monaghan road is already superb) is coming soon, I think nothing's going to change.
Certainly, living in London, the quickest way for me to get back to Donegal has always been Heathrow --> Dublin --> Donegal, because flights to Derry go from Stanstead and the Belfast --> Heathrow service isn't sufficiently quick or frequent to compete.

There are already transatlantic flights to Belfast, have been for many years, operated by Continental. Hasn't really helped I don't think. Furthermore, people aren't interested in coming to Donegal from Belfast. The fact that Airporter droped their Belfast International to Letterkenny route says everything.

I think, aside from Northerners in July, Donegal will always be a bit of a niche tourist region, and that's part of its appeal. Acres of hill and bog with only you to expolore them. Miles of cold, sandy beach completely empty. More golf than you can eat. Not that we do ourselves any favours of course. The cost of, for example, eating out in Letterkenny is totally insane for what you get!

MikeTheMan

Us people of the North West have a choice of a twice daily Aer Arann flight from Carrickfinn to Dublin and a few times a week service to Prestwick. From Sligo, its a few flights to Dublin and a new Manchester Service, and from Derry, its Michael O'Learys shower to Stansted/Liverpool and a twice daily Loganair service to Dublin.

We hardly have the same continental and intercontinental connectivity as Shannon have, yet they wont stop whinging about losing their Heathrow service. As it stands, Shannon have flights to Chicago, New York and Boston as well as daily flights to Dublin, where they can connect and interline to a large array of international destinations. The argument that business 'will crumble and decline' in the Shannon region is complete baloney. Business (and tourism dare I say) in the Northwest has never been dependent on a 3 times daily service to London Heathrow, so I have no idea what this "hul-a-buloo" in Shannon is all about.
If the route was _THAT_ profitable, then the flying Shamrock would not have pulled out.

To be honest, those folk are just a pack of whingers and they make me sick. The more they have the more they want. I would certainly avoid using Shannon in the future at all cost. And this notion has been cemented by hearing some ludicrous eejit on Newstalk saying that:
"Even if some new airline like BMI or BA step in to fill the gap, thats still not good enough - we STILL demand Aer Lingus to serve Heathrow as well."..
That pretty much sums up the entire mindset of these individuals collectively referring to themselves as the "Atlantic Connectivity Alliance".....

Such pure dung...

Anyway, glad to see that the new base destined for Aldergrove is being sorted out and I wish it and Aer Lingus the very best a luck.

smashey

Agreed with all of the above. As Sean McEniff has pointed out, having an Aer Lingus hub in Belfast can be beneficial to Donegal and the North West.

jimmycrackcorm

Cork has Heathrow flights and is an hour from Shannon - what's wrong with those people?

donegalman1

Still stand by my point that NI will be more beneficial. It was hard to see how the airporter service would have been profitable at the previous times. More flights to belfast will eventually help. Many in Donegal feel Belfast is a handy option to drive. Some like the new Motorway to Dublin though parking is a nightmare there. The Bus Eireann connection is viable to it and perhaps as belfast grows a bus alternative will too

Also in times past Americans avoided NI so thats why didn't attract loads through their transatlantic flights but Northern Ireland is an emerging Tourist Market, and further more, I see Northerners in Letterkenny every weekend of the year with perhaps the twelth exedous lessening.