Kick us when we are down -- Ryanair

Kess73

kilburn wrote: »

At the end of the day, DAA has massive debt and someone has to pay for terminal 2.
There are far to many airports in the country with the road network we will soon have Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Knock are more than enough. Kerry, Waterford and Donegal are just a waste of money.
Look at Berlin they have 3 airports and are closing 2 of them.

I agree about Donegal and Waterford, but I think a solid arguement could be made for keeping Kerry Airport, based on the fact that a number of new all year routes were taken up by the airport this year, including Manchester and Dusseldorf, and a number of summer routes also came online there this year. They have also tied in with a number of tour operators to fly chartered flights direct to there. It also has the advantage of have a working railway station beside it. (I do love having rail options beside airports )

I would love to see the same kind of drive, ambition, and sheer brass neck being shown by the powers that be in Shannon Airport to be honest. I know the guys at Kerry Airport run it as the PLC that it is, but if it is bringing in more money than it is costing, then I think it should stay.

Basil Sheerin and the rest of the team at Kerry airport have done a really good job in recent years there in promoting the airport and getting it to make a profit.

kilburn

Ya true its making money at the cost of Shannon. Three airports beside each other Cork, Kerry and Shannon aint feasible in any ones terms.

liammur

foinse wrote: »

Exactly, This is why he has the most profitable airline in Europe. While we see it as being insensitive to the needs of the customer, he is looking after his shareholders. As i said earlier, he owes us nothing, we pay him....he provides a service, that's where the link ends.

I'm sure he would love to be able to fly loads of routes from all Irish airports. But the DAA and Gov't are pricing him out of the market. He's not running a Gov't subsidised airline, so he won't provide loss making routes like Bus Eireann and Irish Rail do.

So while yes it is very inconvenient, for all of us here in the midwest. I really don't blame him for making the moves he is making. He is in business to make money not friends.

Correct, but o leary is taking things to extremes, e,g, 1 pilot.
He also is bullying airports in a similar fashion to the way tescos etc bully small producers while at the same time he is taking plenty of subsidies (which he conviently keeps quiet about).
He was also very quick to move engineering jobs to prestwick so i'm not sure he has much time for the country, as he said himself, he'd be living abroad were it not for the cheap corporation tax.

Kess73

kilburn wrote: »

Ya true its making money at the cost of Shannon. Three airports beside each other Cork, Kerry and Shannon aint feasible in any ones terms.

Not really. It's biggest money spinners are routes and ideas that Shannon airport either dropped or never did in the first place.

The idea to tie in with the tour operators in such a detailed manner is the type of obvious idea that the brains in Shannon would turn their noses up at. Yet it is working very well.


Kerry does a steady 150,000 to 200,000 passengers a year, so that kind of figure would not make or break Shannon at all, as Shannon still does over 2 million passengers a year, a fair drop on it's peak alright. Shannon Airport in the recent past, through self inflicted means or by external means, has lost carriers who each brought bigger passenger numbers to Shannon than Kerry could ever hope to do in any given year with all it's routes and carriers combined.


For my money, Shannon, Kerry, and Cork should be able to co- exist if all were run in a proper manner.

Also, and this is just my opinion, if Shannon Airport was as well organised and as well run in a business sense as Kerry airport is at present, then it would be Cork airport that would be worried now and not Shannon airport.

liammur

Kess73 wrote: »

Shannon still does over 2 million passengers a year, a fair drop on it's peak alright.
.

Shannon has a huge problem coming down the line. It's biggest customer by a mile is the US army, there will be a massive fall off in this soon, so that 2m figure is grossly inflated.

highlydebased

liammur wrote: »

Shannon has a huge problem coming down the line. It's biggest customer by a mile is the US army, there will be a massive fall off in this soon, so that 2m figure is grossly inflated.

As far as I know military transits are not included? (I could be wrong)

Kess73

liammur wrote: »

Shannon has a huge problem coming down the line. It's biggest customer by a mile is the US army, there will be a massive fall off in this soon, so that 2m figure is grossly inflated.

Yeah the military numbers will be a massive blow when they finally stop.

At present the 2 million figure is not inflated though as that is what is passing through the airport over the last few years. It would be just as easy to big any carrier in Shannon and say that Shannon's figures were inflated by X amount because of that carrier.

I think when the day does come that the military stop using it, then some scary figures will come out that will show up those running the airport and those that are supposed to be driving it as a joke. I don't think that most people realise how big a number the US army makes up for Shannon in terms of passenger numbers.

Grizzly 45

kippy wrote: »

Well, there are ways around all of those costs you mention. Services like citylink and gobus, but not sure if they operate from every city.

You ever used them??They are a fukkin JOKE!! One collects passengers from Shannon and Limerick to Dublin and drops them off in Dublin airport.BUT doesnt RETURN to drop said passengers off in Limerick or Shannon on the return leg.IOW.Yeah they get you up there ,but not back!!!
The other one advertises having internet and broadband etc on its busses.Good job too that they do! They are so slow and stop off at every milk churn for 20 mins.I thought I was going to die of old age before I got home!!!
It took me six hours to get from Dublin airport to Shannon airportonce.After a flight from Rome to Dublin which took exactly 2.5 hours on Ryanair.Say what you like about Ryanair,but they are punctual,if not early.All in all we have a disasterous centralised transport policy in Ireland with everything going to "Doblin".Well and good,but there is no proper modern infrastructure to get you there to the airport to get off this Rock!
In Europe,I can get on a train and be within a half hour in Dublin airport in distance from Limerick.Every half hour!! Here it is once or twice a day,with a convient side show of bus,taxi,Luas to get across Dublin to the airport.
No one in Europe has to put up with this sort of mess.

We dont REALLY need so many large regional airports in this small country, what we need are ever improving links between cities which is what we are getting and investment into the main airport.

What we REALLY need is a small domestic airline that can ferry us from a perfectly good airport to any other main airport [IE Dublin or Cork] to catch a flight to get us out of here,with the least hassle and a fairly regular service,and within a timeframe that allows you plenty of time to check in ,go thru the security strip show etc.This does not even need a fixed wing aircraft,large helicopters would be ideal,and be less costly in landing fees.The idea of the seaplanes which is being tried would be ideal as all our major towns are costal,or river based.That should be encourged more.




Sad for Shannon and indeed the other airports but these days thats the harsh reality.[/QUOTE]

zuroph

The DAA are deliberately killing Shannon off. They can't close it publically, so they'll let it wither and die, and blame the recession.

KevR

I know this is the Limerick forum but City Link have announced that they are stopping their Galway-Shannon bus services. A few more jobs lost. This is a knock on effect of Ryanair cutting Shannon flights; Ryanair did this because the government decided to introduce a travel tax and the airports decided to increase landing charges during the worst recession in living memory.

It's a pity because the new section of M18 will soon be open (bypassing Gort and Crusheen) which would have made Galway-Shannon journeys a lot quicker and more pleasant.

http://www.citylink.ie/serviceupdates.php

Acapella

Came across this online petition in recent days...

http://www.giveshannonwings.com/index.php

If people could sign it and forward onto friends to do the same. May help but either way it takes a few seconds to do and will give weight to citizens arguments.

All the Best,

Acapella

liammur

KevR wrote: »

I know this is the Limerick forum but City Link have announced that they are stopping their Galway-Shannon bus services. A few more jobs lost. This is a knock on effect of Ryanair cutting Shannon flights; Ryanair did this because the government decided to introduce a travel tax and the airports decided to increase landing charges during the worst recession in living memory.

It's a pity because the new section of M18 will soon be open (bypassing Gort and Crusheen) which would have made Galway-Shannon journeys a lot quicker and more pleasant.

http://www.citylink.ie/serviceupdates.php

That's a shame.
One thing I notice about shannon when I arrive in is if someone doesn't hire a car, I don't know how they'll get out of the place - seeing as a lot of the flights get in at around 11:30 pm

zuroph

simply, when the door to door campaigners are about, I'm telling them i'm not voting for any of them until they make a stand to get shannon out from under DAA.

phill106

zuroph wrote: »

simply, when the door to door campaigners are about, I'm telling them i'm not voting for any of them until they make a stand to get shannon out from under DAA.

I am going to do exactly that. I may have a form nearby for them to sign, just so they cant forget about it after too.