Hi iwhak, not having a go but I don't understand some of your points:
When if ever are NOC and the Irish government going to get real about this airport's potential.
What has a private company launching a route from a private airport go to do with the government?
Firstly, the only positive thing about NOC is their ability to generate self hype and get away with blatantly erroneous
PR.
I accept they have been in the news a lot with route launches and site development, but all small airports rely on media and
PR to get the message out about their services and compete with the state airports.
Take for example the US services of last year, talking about bringing millions to the region, tens of thousands of passengers etc.
I presume you are referring to the initial projection of 45000 passengers on the 2 routes and their prospective tourism spending. This would have been the capacity on the route, so yes there was an element of marketing spin, but isn't that normal of most business launches.
It came to nothing, even though the Irish government invested 2m in this one route alone in marketing support, crazy.
I'm not saying NOC should or can sustain a transatlantic service, especially with current oil prices/economic outlook. But they did carry almost 35,000 and the airport reported high load factors for the summer above 75% on both, hardly a disaster given that many commentators would have said it had zero potential. FlyGlobespan were the weak link due to their internal organisation problems, ETOPs aircraft issues, and lack of demand from LPL. FlyGlobespan bit off more than they could chew and have stopped virtually all of their transatlantic operations this year from the UK.
As for government investment the tourism board invested in regional marketing, that is their remit as an organisation, and they pointed out at the time that the North West was in need of tourism investment as it is last on the list fro US visitors.
They were talking a couple of years ago at being at 1m pax this year, they will be lucky to do 600k. How can NOC with no catchment area possibly support two carriers on one route?
Their long term development plan aimed for 1m by 2010, if connections to European hubs and US could be achieved.
NOC has had several years of double digit growth, however when 2 services are lost in a year (FR/U2 -LGW) from a small airport it is always going to have an impact on the bottom line. 2006 figures passenger were probably artificially higher due to Ryanais fare war with U2. However NOC have added 4 UK new routes in 2007 and the holiday charters continue to grow as a signifigant part of the business, so 700,000 should be realistic this year.
Has onyone looked at XLs figures, especially in light of the other London services! I am close to NOC and I could rant on further, but let's get real, it's all talk, but no substance, and a lot of carriers have lost a lot of money on NOC operations, they do have a future, but let's be real about what it is.
Ryanair enjoy good yields on their NOC - London services, with average load actors in the 70 - 85% area. So it is not surprising that they will react to competition, what is unfortunate is when this ends in the total loss of a route as in 2006.
Airlines like any other business will provide a service if it is profitable, Easyjet lost money because of fierce competition, what's the problem, they weren't forced to use the airport.
iwak....no axe to grind, but in a nutshell, XL need now to be protected on LGW and allowed to grow the market and yield. No more debacles like last year.
Agree totally, but NOC aren't in a position to say no to a new FR route and piss off their largest carrier.
SNN is the airport with the infrastructure for transatlantic along the West Coast - the total population along the Western seaboard is approx.
No problem with SNN, lucky to have such a facility on the west coast at all and it serves our needs very well, though from the North West Dublin is as close. Some will argue that seasonal direct connections to the North West should be developed for tourism as currently the majority of US visitors ignore the region, focusing on the Shannon, Kerry/Cork and Dublin.
don't encourage services for the sake of it, focus on sustainable business, and if XL faces competition on LGW I hope the competitor pays the full published charges in line with EU.
Again I agree totally, while a morning and evening european hub connection would be the ideal, it would only be of use if both are operated by the same carrier longterm. But again they are a small airport and FR have a lot of power.
The MD Liam Scollan has given some insightful interviews recently where makes a clear business case for quality, sustainable development of the airport for the propose connectivity aiding regional tourism and business, a refreshing voice when compared to the poor mouth "we deserve" attitude of some western campaigners.
Up until two years ago NOC was heavily subsidised.
Forgive my ignorance but how was NOC "heavily subsidised"? A far as I can see prior to the Transport 21 infrastructure package for regional airports in 07 NOC received virtually no investment over the last decade other than the odd WDC, Board Failte tourism grant. The only subsidy being on the EU Public Service Obligation route to Dublin.