Will an independent Shannon affect Knock

nuac

The proposed indpendence of Shannon may have implications for Knock.

E.g. Shannon will now be able to deal directly with carriers such as Ryanair.

If Knock lose Ryanair or other carriers to Shannon, what is Plan B?

qrrgprgua

Yes.. probably close the place. All really depends on the stop overs that is the only thing really keeping it open. Knock serves a good part of population, Donegal, south fermanagh, Sligo, Leitrim, Mayo, Galway. For me Dublin would be as close as shannon.

Bottom line its all to do with the price of tickets..

nuac

Michael O'leary on RE just now.

Not too impressed with today's announcement "just moving ownership from one quango to another"

Doesnt see any potential there for a cargo hub, or indeed any kkind of hub, nor does he see any potential in developing the the US customs pre-clearance.

Very uncomplimentary about DAA management of Dublin, Shannon and Cork.

Said that Shannon's future was as a gateway to and from the West of Ireland, but all costs fees etc to be severely reduced.

This may indicate that he will be playing Knock and Shannon off each other to get the best deal.

Anybody else hear the interview ?- if so would welcome your impressions

Neworder79

Probably not a lot in the short term. Ryanair were very negative commenting the decision today as "irrelevant, still under state control" and have stated they will be doubling routes from Ireland West over the coming years. Of course that may change, but Ryanair a long relationship with Ireland West and many of their new routes have exceed expectations. They are also rumored to have a very good deal with IWAK, with most of the fees offset from the airline by the ADF. I can't see O'Leary engineering a row and pulling off profitable routes unless Shannon litterly pay them to return routes, and even then Ryanair will likely keep the profitable sun and UK routes anyway.

IWAK also have FlyBe, Aer Lingus, Lufthansa and charter competition who would also happily move in on to routes where Ryanair have built demand. Aer Lingus Regional are based at Shannon and have taken up many old Ryanair routes with more efficent smaller aircraft, which would dilute Ryanair yield.

The new Shannon civil service steering group has yet to form and report, and the eventual airport management organization will take some time to set up. The debt relief and new management structure will free Shannon to be more creative with it's business offering. However a point often forgotten is that lot of Shannons decline is purely down to a drop in demand from the recession and austerity, and not going to return without a major upswing in the economy.

Shannon still remains the same relativly inefficient, 24 hour, large scale facility with high infrastructure maintenance and operating costs, legacy workforce and restricted employment practices. It won't transform to a nimble, low cost base over night or without many challenges and difficult decisions. The minister also said today that the airport will need additional Government capital support for the first "couple of years" until it can break even, so it will still be subsidised in the near term.

Ireland West have a statement out, they are concerned about how this could tip the balance in terms of favorable state subsidy and capital grants. While IWAK is growing and just breaking even, they are under pressure to expand apron and other infrastructure to meet the growing demand. I see the FF TDs today demanding a level playing field also.

Another issue is what has happened to the Ireland West Business Park plan, which was part of Shannon Developments remit?

nuac

Interesting post Neworder.

Certainly O'Leary was very negative about the "change" at Shannon - he saw it as a change to just another semi state.

Hope it all works out OK at IWAK, They have worked very hard

finisklin

Ryanair have pulled many of their flights from Shannon, Cork and Dublin as the charges were high in comparision with other airports in their network. Ryanair has greater reach into Europe and can offer a big slice of the UK & european market, more so than Aer Finglas and BMI baby etc.

O'Leary has his knife consistently stuck into the DAA and one can see why - a public body that was bloated during the good years and made decisions that were irreversible e.g. T2. This was build at a cost of 400m and is a massive white elephant. Capable of putting threw 15m passengers a year, it is never going to reach anywhere near that as it couldn't attract a sufficient number of airlines to take up slots. Aer Lingus ultimately relented but at a price acceptable to them.

If the DAA had decided to work with Ryanair from the outset, it perhaps could have learned from the low cost model that many airports are now adopting, to great success.

The future of IWAK & Shannon? Easier for Knock to grow as it is doing so off a smaller base, plus it has more of a focus on flights into Europe via Ryanair. The novelty of US long haul at Shannon has long worn off though is relevant to the multinational businesses in the South west.

Its bound to have an effect on Knock shannon will now try and undermine Knock, People in this region need to put pressure on local politicians ministers and the Taoiseach to give Knock the same deal as Shannon. Therefore Knock should get its debt written off and money to expand.

That is unless you want to travel a few hours to Shannon to pay more for flights just because they have a bigger and louder lobby group.:mad:

Neworder79

The reason Knock gained respect in recent years is because they put their head down and did the spade work, made the rational business case, delivered results reaped the rewards.

Last thing we need is another poor mouth, whinging lobby group in the West, all they do is undermine the case for useful infrastructure investment. Look how far all the wailing and doom mongering at Galway airport got them. And the WRC lunatics, bought off in elections they got half their fetish railway no one wanted, but there's still no safe road into the region.

Neworder79

Neworder79 wrote: »

The reason Knock gained respect in recent years is because they put their head down and did the spade work, made the rational business case, delivered results reaped the rewards.

Last thing we need is another poor mouth, whinging lobby group in the West, all they do is undermine the case for useful infrastructure investment. Look how far all the wailing and doom mongering at Galway airport got them. And the WRC lunatics, bought off in elections they got half their fetish railway no one wanted, but there's still no safe road into the region.

Big difference here is that of the 4 airports on the western seaboard, Cork Shannon, Knock + Kerry only two will likely be still running in ten years time as the need isn't there. Shannons whinging has ensured there future for alot longer then it was going to be. If they take the routes from Knock that took so much work to develop with government funding then the airport will be on the road to closure.