IRELAND WEST AIRPORT KNOCK
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Join Date: Apr 2004
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Knock will have to extend their opening hours if they are serious about expanding further. Very few airports manage to break the 1million pax per annum Mark on a Single shift operation.
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Remember that Knock isn't a base for Ryanair or any other airline for that matter so all aircraft coming in are visiting from other bases which means that flights don't have to be throughout the day, they could all come and go within a 6 or 7 hour period essentially.
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True but it's hard to get airlines to increase frequency or to start a service to a major hub if their flight times are restricted to off peak travel times.
Last edited by ryan2000; 11th Jan 2013 at 20:20.
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I can't see that Knock would be able to sustain such services anyway. I think the best you'd get is Aer Lingus doing a W pattern from somewhere like AMS or CDG but then moving their London service from LGW to LHR would be a start even if it was only once a day in the afternoon, but how viable is it to get W patterns in LHR?
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NOC does now need a service into a major hub. I would say LHR with EI or maybe CDG with one of AF's regional operators. Just concerning that SNN haven't been able to make CDG work. I wonder how much connecting traffic BE get through MAN?
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When Air france regional operated SNN-CDG it was profitable, but when Cityjet put the RJ85 on it it was unviable.
Aer Lingus' last effort was at a useless time for anything other than point to point.
Aer Lingus' last effort was at a useless time for anything other than point to point.
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The loads on the Avro were only about 50% between SNN and CDG long before EI came back on the LHR route. As fivejuliet pointed out the loads were excellent (mostly in the high 90's) on the Embraer. In that era the Shannon management always pushed for bigger aircraft on routes rather than frequency. If they had their way they would penalise EI for not having an A380 on the LHR route.
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I think regional jets and turbo props are the only way airports like SNN and NOC will ever sustain routes to more far flung places. As well as airports accepting they cannot just have masses passengers on these routes the public will have to trade FR style pricing in for better service etc. Although FR have had some successes on euro routes its been mostly to sun spots.
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I think this happened before where BE started the year with summer showing 4/5 flights per week, then additional were announced, filling the gaps. Id say judging by some of the fairly steep fares they must at least make a half decent yield but fighting price wars with FR doesn't seem to be on the agenda. Historically it was Loganair, Manx and BA using ATP's on a similar frequency to now, before WW.
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FlyBE routes
NOC have a fairly detailed reply on their Face*ook page in reply to a comment on BE routes promotion.
LTN
Announcement seems like a return to previous daily service, has been loaded for a few weeks, no late services happening so.
...not correct in saying the routes have not been promoted. A significant markeitng campaign has been invested in by both the airline and the airport in both the UK and Ireland in the past 18 months supported by Tourism ireland with over €150k invested in promoting the services across press, radio, outdoor and online. Adverts appeared in the regional press and on radio on average every month last year. Unfortunately as much as we would like to we dont have the significant marketing budgets enjoyed by the state airports but we do the best we can and look to maximise spend to get the best return, awareness on an irish level we dont believe is an issue as will be evidenced by the full flights in the past number of weeks. The bigger challenge is a distressed economy in both the UK and ireland but rest assured the services are performing in line withe expectations from the airline and the Flybe Leeds service was suspended for operational reasons and is still under discussion for 2013. Its ineveitable given they are a new brand to the West of ireland in an environment where Aer Lingus and Ryanair are established players that the services will take time to develop
Announcement seems like a return to previous daily service, has been loaded for a few weeks, no late services happening so.
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With the current financial position BE are in and the poor LF on LBA service I think its very likely that LBA will not be back. It was stopped for operational reasons, I would replace that it was stopped because the route was not viable.
I would love to know what marketing budgets state airports get?
I would love to know what marketing budgets state airports get?
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I think there's a fair old swipe going on in their statement but I would imagine the state airports would have bigger budgets based on size and volume regardless of where the money does/doesn't come from. Nothing state owned is exactly over funded these days I'm sure.
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Regarding the suspension of NOC-LBA, it could well be it was largely operational reasons. The aircraft based at MAN (which operated the flight of course) were reduced by one airframe which may have meant that they had to ditch the NOC-LBA-NOC sectors in order to maintain other flights out of MAN.
Even if that is the case, obviously it would suggest that the LBA route wasn't performing so brilliantly that it was a huge priority, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it won't one day return when it can be fitted into the schedule somehow. As Flybe don't have a base at LBA or NOC, it's likely to remain a fairly vulnerable route to be chopped and changed depending on aircraft availability at MAN.
Even if that is the case, obviously it would suggest that the LBA route wasn't performing so brilliantly that it was a huge priority, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it won't one day return when it can be fitted into the schedule somehow. As Flybe don't have a base at LBA or NOC, it's likely to remain a fairly vulnerable route to be chopped and changed depending on aircraft availability at MAN.
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So the outcome of the meeting is a joint study group to be set up, chaired by John O'Mahony, with a report to be presented to government by May 2013. At least the timescale is fairly short, it will be interesting to see what they come up with and if it leads to any real development of the facility as opposed to being a token gesture.
In the mean time, 2013 looks like being a year for the airport to hang in there, try to consolidate the gains of recent years and limit pax losses as much as possible, with maybe some hope for investment and growth in 2014.
In the mean time, 2013 looks like being a year for the airport to hang in there, try to consolidate the gains of recent years and limit pax losses as much as possible, with maybe some hope for investment and growth in 2014.
Last edited by Kinocker; 29th Jan 2013 at 08:47.