i'd agree with you if we had double the population we do but we dont. 4 and a half million does not need the amount of airports Ireland currently has imo. Fine if you are talking cities the size of those in the UK but we are not talking that level of population or anywhere near it. I just don't think the need is there for all the airports that are being "developed". My opinion.
SNN loosing an A330 to Belfast. Quite possibly. I doubt anyone is under any illusions there. Frankly I thought that woulkd have happened this year and I think quite a lot of people were expecting it to happen this year but EI got cost reductions(via SAA and crucially their own cost base, which is probably their biggest issue in SNN) and theyre now hanging around for the winter season next year. The performance of that will be the decider there and EI must see some level of profit from those routes or potential profit to hang around for another year. Affter the LHR issue, I dont think pulling anything from SNN would be an issue for them.
Re FR at SNN...I agree with your earlier post in a sense. People saying Ryanair was the worst thing to happen the West coast and bla bla is a load of nonsense. Yes it may be eggs in one basket..but seriously what are the alternatives...seek out flaky lo-co's and smaller airlines for SNN like Sky Europe etc who change their routes as often as anyone and realistically could be gone bust tomorrow or next month..no longevity there. You'll find very few people involved in tourism in the region who would have an issue with FR at SNN. Simple fact is they are delivering numbers to SNN that people like EI never even bothered to try or wanted to explore. IMO FR are a good option for SNN right now. I don't see too many carriers either that they drove out of SNN as quite simply they were not there in the first place..at least not delivering large numbers of routes or passengers.
I don't really see why FR at SNN damaging a route in Galway or ORK should be an issue for SNN or Fr. Thats business I would have thought. Competitive business. If it brings more pax to SNN personally I couldnt give a monkeys how it effects Cork or Galway.
I really donl't think that every route in SNN launched by FR is for that purpose either..or even a large % of them as suggested earlier. I doubt if MOL would be in Shannon if he wasnt making some level of profit there from 30 routes. I would also suggest that like any business if a product doesnt work you change it...which is what I see Fr doing at SNN. There are a lot of routes out of the 30 from SNN that havent been chopped or changed, and the fares charged are generally higher than your 10Eu flight so they must be getting the business.
Air France/City Jet is a good thing for the business market and i know of at least 3 companies in the region that will specifically use that service from SNN rather than go via Dublin or Cork. Regarding numbers, yes it is very ealry days and talk of expansion could very well be hot air but it may not be either. Jumps in LHR figures at ORK for example could quite possibly be a result of that interim period before the CDG route was announced and people booked through ORK because it was the only available option. Like EI's performance at Belfast..a longer timeframe will be the proof of the pudding there but by all accounts...they are doing well numbers wise and as already stated the fares are high.
What gauls me though is the usual pprune nonsense in relation to SNN...as soon as anything positive is said about the place we have the usual nay sayers jumping on it with the hope that it will fail.... When they don't get support on that, they then jump on the Ryanair deal at SNN that is costing the taxpayers millions bla bla bla...and sure enough the transatlantic thing then comes up ..You would think no other airport ever got money...(220million for a terminal anyone...and free for us preferably..cos the politician said so..)