Would Shannon Airoprt be feasible for a US bound A380 hub?

Run_to_da_hills

With the recent US pre clearance facility opens at Shannon which is one of the first in the World. Whats the chances of this airport becoming a hub for large shuttle flights to New York, LA etc?

BA, EI and other carriers (Possibly O Leary) could run small planes to this airport and then fly them on large capacity aircraft such as the A380.

Shannon airport is 3199 meters long 45m wide which makes it one of the longest runways in Europe. It also suffers very little fog disruption which is very important in any hub traffic.

With the over crowding and high charges associated with some of the main UK and EU airports could this be feasible in the long run if it was developed?

highlydebased

Its been discussed quite a bit in smaller circles and indeed I was involved with research for one particular few gents who had finance for such an idea (but then the recession happened!)

Its certainly a good idea, but the main problem is- Several european flights coming in to meet the US flight....eg from London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Stockholm etc. Then one of those gets delayed. Then the US bound flight also has to wait, causing more delays, and a knock on array of problems....

Run_to_da_hills

Neon-Circles wrote: »

Its been discussed quite a bit in smaller circles and indeed I was involved with research for one particular few gents who had finance for such an idea (but then the recession happened!)

Its certainly a good idea, but the main problem is- Several european flights coming in to meet the US flight....eg from London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Stockholm etc. Then one of those gets delayed. Then the US bound flight also has to wait, causing more delays, and a knock on array of problems....

If they used the Ryanair model I couldn't see this being a problem

ihatewallies

Neon-Circles wrote: »

Its been discussed quite a bit in smaller circles and indeed I was involved with research for one particular few gents who had finance for such an idea (but then the recession happened!)

Its certainly a good idea, but the main problem is- Several european flights coming in to meet the US flight....eg from London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Stockholm etc. Then one of those gets delayed. Then the US bound flight also has to wait, causing more delays, and a knock on array of problems....

doesn't sound like a lot of 'research' went into that.

the trick is you leave enough time (3/4 hours) between the incoming flight
so if there is a delay 90%+ will still arrive in time.
many long distance journeys involve connecting flights so there is always the risk of missing the connection. People know that.

With the bonus of pre-clearance plus cheap/budget flights there will be a big market that will tolerate the wait in Shannon.

Danbo!

Is there enough space for an a380 to back track and turn?:D

nah it'd be great to see the taxiways upgraded and get some heavies on a regular basis

highlydebased

ihatewallies wrote: »

doesn't sound like a lot of 'research' went into that.

.

Not that you'd know, but I cant really say alot more about it

The most preferable time between flights was 90 minutes, which is about practical. 3/4 hours is fairly long and for most outweighs the benefits of clearance

highlydebased

this just caught my eye

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4517600/

Henry Ford III

Big modern jets have massive ranges so is SNN really needed? I like the idea btw.

Henry Ford III

Stee wrote: »

Is there enough space for an a380 to back track and turn?:D

nah it'd be great to see the taxiways upgraded and get some heavies on a regular basis

A380 has landed in SNN already, and the place seems to have coped fine.

partyatmygaff

Henry Ford III wrote: »

A380 has landed in SNN already, and the place seems to have coped fine.

But when you add in alot of traffic and possibly 2 or more A380s at one time in such a small airport it gets alot more hectic, not to mention the other planes and traffic which aren't exactly tiny either.

Run_to_da_hills

Dose anyone know whats going on in the construction work near the welcome sign? looks like additional gantries.

ihatewallies

Neon-Circles wrote: »

Not that you'd know, but I cant really say alot more about it

The most preferable time between flights was 90 minutes, which is about practical. 3/4 hours is fairly long and for most outweighs the benefits of clearance

suggest you do some more research.

if the price is right budget travellers don't mind long waits.

standard if you fly long haul with Etihad, Syrianair, Gulf , Aeroflot and many others.

Grease Monkey

If you were to have a hub in shannon,with lets say three A380's waiting to go westbound to the states,your talking almost 1500 pax all looking to go through the pre-clearance,surely the que's for this would amount to the same time waiting down the other end?

jw93

Lets be realistic there would never be 3 A380's based out of Shannon so I seriously doubt that would become a problem and if it did I'm sure Shannon would extend the Pre-clearence facility if the situation ever did arise as I would imagine Shannon airport would jump at this opportunity.

Davidth88

Lets not get too hung up on the A380 thingie.

In principle this is a good idea , indeed to some extent you already see this in Dublin. I was on a flight from Paris to Dublin 2 weeks ago and the plane was full of people that were travelling onwards to the US. I also know of British people who stage through Dublin to avoid the INS queues in the US.

I think that the Irish airports are in a unique position both geographically and because they have the US INS ( and now customs in SNN ) . They should push this market as much as possible and make the airports more comfortable for connecting passengers. The lounge after you go through INS in Dublin is cronic , even worse than upstairs and that's saying something. Maybe they will move this to T2 ?