DERRY/LONDONDERRY

[owenc]

They should just close the airport and build a proper Dual Carriageway and Dual Track Railway to Belfast.

[conorc123]

as simple as that ....

[Amelia Earhart]

Originally Posted by owenc

They should just close the airport and build a proper Dual Carriageway and Dual Track Railway to Belfast.

They should close it and rebuild it at the flat lands between Burt and Inch in Donegal where any flights would not be subject to APD and where Ryanair will still be able to operate after Brexit.

[cuthere]

They should just close the airport and build a proper Dual Carriageway and Dual Track Railway to Belfast.

Comments like this make me despair. Any idea what the cost of dualling the A6 to Dungiven would be Owen? Just the £420 million (as of last month). That's a lot of DUP votes.

Perhaps before making any further pronouncements on infrastructural investments in the NW, you could familiarise yourself with google?

[A320.b744]

If the airport had multiple daily flights to several UK cities and a connection to an alliance hub, it would be deemed viable. 20 flights a week to three destinations is pathetic, and is a bigger burden on the tax payer than the benefits it brings to the local economy. Other UK cities can thrive without an airport, and so too can Derry/Londonderry.

[West Brit]

Well to be fair the Belfast-Londonderry corridor should have been dualled long ago!

[owenc]

Nah: http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/roads/a6dungiventoderry.html

[conorc123]

Originally Posted by A320.b744

If the airport had multiple daily flights to several UK cities and a connection to an alliance hub, it would be deemed viable. 20 flights a week to three destinations is pathetic, and is a bigger burden on the tax payer than the benefits it brings to the local economy. Other UK cities can thrive without an airport, and so too can Derry/Londonderry.

Derry isn't like most other UK cities. Most UK cities have modern rail and road connections to elsewhere in the country. Derry Doesn't. The airport is a vital link as limited as it may be, and is key for inward investment and development of one of the most deprived cities in the UK.

[owenc]

The airlines are slowly pulling out.

[cuthere]

Another superb post Owen. They haven't given you any homework yet I take it?

[A320.b744]

Originally Posted by conorc123

Derry isn't like most other UK cities. Most UK cities have modern rail and road connections to elsewhere in the country. Derry Doesn't. The airport is a vital link as limited as it may be, and is key for inward investment and development of one of the most deprived cities in the UK.

A vital link would be classified as a route that connects Derry to a major hub with worldwide connections. A x2 weekly flight to Liverpool and x5 weekly flight to Glasgow doesn't quite cut it. Even x13 per week to 'nearly' London isn't much use to anyone who wants to connect Derry to the outside world.

If the airport was closed, the taxpayers money saved could be used to improve transport links to the region, giving quick access to over 70 routes across Europe and North America. That sounds a lot better than an unreliable PSO and 7 weekly flights to Glasgow/Liverpool.

[cuthere]

A320, I agree with your first paragraph. When tendering for the PSO a stipulation for a hub or a hub-lite (STN) with the caveat a MAN flight would also happen would have been the sensible thing to do.

I disagree with your second paragraph. Either there's a genuine lack of understanding of the investment needed in the roads in the NW, or naivety, wilful ignorance or stupidity with respect the costs. Whichever one it is can I say yet again: the money spent on the airport is minuscule compared to the cost of overhauling (long deserved; longer still needed) the infrastructure of the NW.

[owenc]

Originally Posted by A320.b744

A vital link would be classified as a route that connects Derry to a major hub with worldwide connections. A x2 weekly flight to Liverpool and x5 weekly flight to Glasgow doesn't quite cut it. Even x13 per week to 'nearly' London isn't much use to anyone who wants to connect Derry to the outside world.

If the airport was closed, the taxpayers money saved could be used to improve transport links to the region, giving quick access to over 70 routes across Europe and North America. That sounds a lot better than an unreliable PSO and 7 weekly flights to Glasgow/Liverpool.

70 routes from where?

[A320.b744]

Originally Posted by owenc

70 routes from where?

BFS serves 59 destinations and BHD serves 23 destinations, 12 of which are served from both airports. That gives 70 destinations from Belfast, plus hundreds more via LHR and AMS.

[EI-A330-300]

I'm sure the people of Derry would rather access around 150 destinations out of DUB than a mere 70 out of Belfast.

That's were the money should be spent

[owenc]

Eh, haha, no chance. People in Derry will be going to Belfast, far less than the 160 mile drive.

[Amelia Earhart]

Originally Posted by A320.b744

BFS serves 59 destinations and BHD serves 23 destinations, 12 of which are served from both airports. That gives 70 destinations from Belfast, plus hundreds more via LHR and AMS.

The BFS figure contains a lot of holiday and seasonal routes. BHD is a better comparison. 23 routes versus 3 currently from LDY. Previously LDY served DUB, BHX, BRS as well as ALC, FAO and TFS. At one stage Ryanair had 8 routes from the airport.

LDY has at different stages also had flights to MAN and EDI and PMI.

The question is why has it been impossible to reinstate these routes following the departure of Ryanair (and British Airways on MAN)?

[A320.b744]

Originally Posted by Amelia Earhart

The BFS figure contains a lot of holiday and seasonal routes. BHD is a better comparison. 23 routes versus 3 currently from LDY.

A route is a route - I'm sure LDY management would be ecstatic if they were able to land a seasonal holiday route. Plus, do people in the North West not go on holiday? If you want to get picky, I wouldn't classify x2 weekly to LPL as on the same level as x40 from Belfast, or x5 weekly to GLA as on the same level as x43 from Belfast.

Originally Posted by Amelia Earhart

Previously LDY served DUB, BHX, BRS as well as ALC, FAO and TFS. At one stage Ryanair had 8 routes from the airport.

LDY has at different stages also had flights to MAN and EDI and PMI.

Obviously these routes were not deemed viable, or else they wouldn't have been axed in the first place.

Originally Posted by Amelia Earhart

The question is why has it been impossible to reinstate these routes following the departure of Ryanair (and British Airways on MAN)?

First of all, these routes have been tried and have all failed. That's not much of an incentive for an airline wishing to turn a profit on their routes.

Secondly, capacity on these routes from Belfast has increased dramatically since they were axed from LDY. For example, Belfast-Manchester pax numbers increased from 279,917 to 519,648 when easyJet entered the market in 2011. People from the North West who used the old LDY services now take advantage of the frequent service provided from Belfast.

Thirdly, APD makes all UK domestic routes less attractive, especially on low yield regional routes.

[Amelia Earhart]

Originally Posted by A320.b744

Obviously these routes were not deemed viable, or else they wouldn't have been axed in the first place.

Originally Posted by A320.b744

First of all, these routes have been tried and have all failed.

It is more complex than that. ALC operated for 9 years. STN certainly didn't fail, it operated for 17 years. Ryanair still operate from the airport. Certainly competition from BFS and BHD is a major issue, not just for passenger numbers but also for airlines. That is what happened to the Ryanair flights, they moved to BFS.

But there is still a certain level of demand for services from LDY.

[owenc]

Ryanair has changed their strategy now. They're looking at catering to Business flyers and going into major airports.