Derry
Kilkenny? !!
Not an official metro area city.
Some people here do not understand how the airlines they're quoting on their interest in Waterford even work…
Aer Lingus is a hub and spoke airline, Emerald airlines act as their feeder, they are NOT going to base an aircraft or route in Waterford for that reason alone.
Logan Air are a UK based carrier, who only serve to benefit their operation in Scotland, Waterford is not going to help them there, they'd be looking at larger destinations.
Ryanair, Easyjet and Wizz air are the only airlines in this area of the world who operate a point to point network instead who'd remotely be interested.
Easyjet and Wizz won't come here as Ryanair will then out compete them.
Ryanair are the only airline who are feasible, to keep other airlines out of Ireland, this is their goal.
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/2024/06/16/despite-the-concentration-risk-irelands-corporation-tax-windfall-could-grow-to-30bn/
Despite this government having more money than they know how to spend, they still won't spend any on a runway in Waterford.
Matching Government investment is €12m of the €27m total.
€12m is 0.04% of the potential €30,000m surplus.
Perhaps the elephant in the room is that they're trying to figure out if any airline is actually interested in using the facility, or how much financial support they'd need to receive to use it.
It was reported before Christmas that preliminary discussions had taken place between the airport and Ryanair. That's probably a deal breaker if a new runway will actually translate into an airline operating a service.
Listening to O'Leary on the radio this morning, he was fairly negative regarding upping their services from Cork and Shannon, explaining that Dublin is their priority.
Or to rationalise the scale further - say you have 30 grand in your pocket and I ask you to lend me 12 quid for an airport. You then make a song and dance about it and then tell me to **** off.
Or I say OK, that sounds fine in principle, but I ask you to tell me more about how you plan to spend it.
You come back four and a half years later and tell me that you actually need a good bit more because you took so long to get back to me.
was only talking to a business that would directly benefit from an airport expansion, both of us agreed waterford currently isnt viable as a passenger airport, but probably is viable as a cargo hub, this really should be considered!
Balanced regional development is not the remit or objective of Michael O'Leary, maximising Ryanair profits is, and that is probably best achieved in Ireland through Dublin Airport.
He did also advocate for a Minister for Infrastructure which might not be a bad idea if the National Planning Framework came under said Minister's brief i.e. a Senior Minister in government that actually had to show results for regional development objectives, rather than just paying lip-service to keep the provincials quiet.
Eamonn Ryan is stepping down, probably means there won't be a decision made on the airport until after the election at this stage.
https://www.thejournal.ie/eamon-ryan-stepping-down-as-green-party-leader-6412667-Jun2024/
He'll still be the Minister and there's still a Government. Their job is to fix this connectivity deficit and return the SE to parity with all other parts of the country. They appear utterly incapable of solving this simple task. Useless wasters.
I thoroughly agree, but given the lack of action thus far I can't see him getting the airport pushed through before the election. Hope I'm wrong though, given it was probably the joint top issue on the doorsteps in the recent election it would be an easy win for the government parties to get it approved before calling to the doorsteps.
…oh dont worry, we ll have another primarily ffg government again, and im sure things will change!
I don't disagree with you, but the point remains - they'll ultimately need an airline to use the facility and he's not making positive noises.
theres a strong possibility no airline would step in even if works are done, its a huge risk, they should be considering alternative uses for the airport to reduce those risks….
A reminder that strategically Ryanair will not allow it's near monopoly across Ireland to be weakened by not serving Waterford. It may prefer not to, but it will turn up.
Be careful listening to O'Leary, watch what he does. Although in fairness to O'Leary he said exactly this to a Dail committee earlier this year.
hes a very clever strategist, hes extremely good at taking focus off ryanair, and then blaming others, in particular the state when failure occurs, hes one sharp chap, wouldnt trust him as far as i could throw him though….
the airports strategy is extremely vulnerable to such….
I take it that extending the runway will allow for additional commercial opportunities such as freight, training, plane repair/maintenance etc?
It doesn't have to solely be passenger flights. That said, would gladly pay the extra to fly from Waterford rather than Dublin.
yup, this is what i believe the airport should be aiming for, for the short term, i just dont see it being viable for passengers for some time, relying on a single airline to rock up, i.e. ryanair, is one extremely risky strategy, even if they do, it means the whole process requires them sticking around, which means theyd have the airport over a barrel, and god only knows what games theyd play!
flown out of there a couple of times, it was fantastic, it would be great to have the option again, but…..
Loganair fly CFN-GLA and DUB-ABZ in ROI - as others said they have a particular target market with some costly fares (check in bags included etc). They recently pulled the Inverness route from Dublin also.
Emerald are focused on DUB for feeders to transatlantic with the exception of ORK-BRS which was always a good performer even going back to Aer Arann days. It is very unlikely they would base at WAT and a W rotation looks unlikely with their current business model and contractual agreements as others have said. They do operate into LGW for BA at the minute from DUB which could expand .. who knows !
Eastern, Blue Islands & Aurigny are other UK regional airlines with the former operating no routes into ROI since they pulled SOU-DUB last year and the latter only flying to DUB seasonally to provide Channel Island tourism. All 3 wouldn’t have capacity nor would WAT align to their business models either.
WAT will need to look beyond regional airlines as we’ve seen before how volatile they are too many times in fact … it will be down to FR really to get the first route in place and more may follow IF we get the runway extension that is :)
Target with a 737/a320 capable runway is low cost airlines not regional ones.
easyJet Wizz Air Norwegian Eurowings Vueling
Have all had a look at breaking into Ireland more substantially.
Or indeed Ryanair hold the fort.
posters here saying it won’t work! Yet if this was in the west all you would hear about it is the poor west. United in calling for funding. It’s absolute pittance in terms of government budgets. Politics and Dublin centric mentality are to blame here. We have no air connectivity in the South East then again the government doesn’t want to acknowledge this region it would be better carved up between Dublin & Cork!
Any proposal that involves halving the passenger traffic through Dublin Airport just cannot be taken seriously.
Week 27.
With the half year milestone now behind us, Government continues to sit on the current proposal. Offering no progress on this, nor offering any alternative, Government remains utterly inept at solving the problem of the South East's poor connectivity.
Unplugged and isolated, the region continues to be hamstrung, and will continue to struggle. This against a backdrop of a globalised world where connections mean everything.
It's worth emailing our national representatives, after all, 3 of the 5 their party are in government.
No doubt they will respond with a load of waffle and state how they are working tirelessly to deliver it but never any harm in calling them out on it.
The three of them would polish a turd and tell you it was a diamond. Party hacks.
I agree, but still worth calling them out on it
€2 billion and here we are on our hands and knees looking for €12 million that would connect us internationally.
This is the kind of stuff that infuriates me, yes the cork to Limerick road is needed, yes the government could have opted to use an alternative (reducing the cost) that would have connected all of Ireland's cities but no we'll horse on with a €2 billion project, meanwhile the airport business plan sits on the ministers desks
https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/2bn-limerick-cork-m20-motorway-with-cycle-lanes-to-be-first-of-its-kind-in-ireland/a251329291.html
