DERRY/LONDONDERRY

[Amelia Earhart]

Those trains are capable of travelling at 90mph which should mean a journey of 1 hour, faster even than a car can get from Derry to Belfast. Trouble is they have speed restrictions on the line of as low as 10mph!

They're supposed to be relaying the line during 2013 (during UK City of Culture) but with the current recession I can't see them even doing that.

Furthermore the road from Dungiven to the Castledawson roundabout is wide enough to make into four lanes (ie: two each way) with only a tin of paint but alas I fear there is not the politcal to do it. Or rather there is the political will to not do it.

[Amelia Earhart]

Speaking to a few of my ATC friends today at the airport and i assure you they all know. Came out of the blue apparently, nobody was expecting it.

Despite the fact the Derry City council and the airport have seemed clueless by times, having re-examined the ALC figures I do share their surprise that the route has been axed and I would re-iterate that it doesn't seem to make much sense.

This year was a funny year for the aviation industry: volcanoes, French and Spanish ATC strikes, the recession.

But look at the ALC figures and they don't look that bad compared to 2009. June was bad but there was such uncertainty after the volcano but they recovered in July.

Comparing July-October 2009 with July-October 2010 you have 10601 pax in 2009 versus 10042 pax in 2010. Enough to pull the plug?

Of course these headline figures reveal nothing of yield but I would suggest that the flights to Faro had some affect with the crowd who want to try something new choosing Faro over Alicante. Next new route from LDY and the FAO route will similarly suffer. But it also means that the 10K who did use ALC are the ones who really want that route and will use it every year. The second year figures were always going to be more crucial than the first year figures as the route settles down to an established pattern.

Surely at 10K pax in 4 months is enough to justify a single flight per week with corresponding improved yields. But to dump it completely, I'm afraid I'm with the council on this one.

[cuthere]

Well, the October provisional stats are in, and there's been quite a bounce in pax numbers, BEFORE the withdrawal of RYR from BHD.

Total pax: 31,039, +21.6%
Total flights: 331, +0.3%

Individual routes (total pax, change from last year, pax per flight, LF):

Stansted: 9391, +102%, 152, 80%

Birmingham: 4749, +15%, 132, 70%

Liverpool: 6618, +14%, 144, 76%

Prestwick: 4961, +14%, 138, 73%

Faro: 2068, N/A, unknown LF as I can't recall how many flights to/from Faro were cancelled last month.

Alicante: 1759, -9%, unknown LF as I can't recall how many flights to/from Alicante were cancelled last month.

Dublin: 1245, -29%, 10, ~24%.

There were also 177 pax on a charter to Nuremburg.

A few things spring to mind with the above figures. The first is, where did the extra pax come from? BHD increased 8.1%, whilst Aldergrove fell (again), this time 5.1%. Secondly, there MUST be an argument for a second Stansted at least on some days of the week. Third, these strong figures should be used to entice other operators onto routes such as BRS, EDI and MAN.

Anyway, a bit of good news at last!

Cheers!

[Amelia Earhart]

.....these strong figures should be used to entice other operators onto routes such as BRS, EDI and MAN......

And ALC

[cuthere]

Jeez Amelia! You must have a holiday home down there or something

Could be worse. I do A LOT of travelling between Derry and the Southwest of England, and the loss of the Bristol flight was a right kick in the clangers!

[speedbirdATC]

The only reason i can think of regarding the dropping of LDY - ALC, is that RYR must see a better opportunity elsewhere for the use of the aircraft from the ALC base.
The pax figures from the entire 2010 ALC season are very good, so i'm wondering if it could be suited to a charter operation from Thompson in the coming years? They seem to do very well on PMI and REU from LDY with LF's around 90-95% at peak times. Maybe even Europe Airpost could start something as well.

[NorthernCounties]

Fantastic news regarding the flight numbers for last month, lets home we can see the same next month!

And definitely agree that Ryanair should add a second aircraft to Stansted on certain days. (Monday, Friday & Sunday stand out to me!)

Third, these strong figures should be used to entice other operators onto routes such as BRS, EDI and MAN.

I seem to remember when Ryanair operated BRS it had circa 35 - 40K ppa. That is more than profitable for the likes of Flybe. Which I see operates routes with less passengers from the likes of Inverness. Which is comparable to Derry. Even if Aer Arann returned ensured a good route selection out of Derry it could see some profit finally. I'm holding out hope for the Emb 175's arriving with Flybe enabling them to base at Derry. Checked the ranges and it could even serve destinations like Amsterdam and Paris. (Or is this thinking Pie in the sky/or lack of it)

[cuthere]

Northern, I may stand corrected, but I think Loganair under franchise to Flybe operate most of their INV services using 36 seater Saab 340s (the same aircraft they used LDY-DUB when under franchise to BA doing the PSO). Potentially, this could be the reasons for the fewer pax.


I couldn't agree more reference the extra STN services. Also, one Q400 based at LDY could do regular jaunts to LGW, BRS, MAN and EDI!! The 78 seats on offer would be much more suited to these routes than the 189 seater B737-800s RYR operate.

See? This airline lark's a piece of urine!! (tongue firmly in cheek...!)

[NorthernCounties]

I hope your tongue is firmly in cheek!

Any chance you've kept a tally of the number of pax this year to date?

Any chance we'll see a rise on last years 346k?

[cuthere]

Northern, yeah very much in cheek.

Anyway, total pax at LDY to the end of October is 288,086. For further information, have a browse of this link to the CCA stats page:

Aviation Statistics | Data | Economic Regulation

Interesting to note, that only June, JUly and August were busier than October this year.

[NorthernCounties]

Thanks Cuthere! I'll have a nosey around that site! 288k so far definitely isn't bad for the year we've gone through... Weather, Volcano and Aviation strikes. With an ok November and a December bolstered with all those who live away coming back, perhaps we might break even with last years passengers! Hopefully growth will resume next year! Thanks again Cu!

[Amelia Earhart]

Any chance we'll see a rise on last years 346k?

288K / 10 (Jan - Oct) * 12 (Jan - Dec) = 345.5K!

And next year LDY will have lost 15K pax due to the axing of the ALC route (in case anyone missed that).

Last year LDY was in the top 30 UK airports just below Newquay and just above Humberside

Busiest airports in the United Kingdom by total passenger traffic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It was 7th in Ireland just above Kerry.

Transport in Ireland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm not sure it will hold either position.

[Jamie2k9]

In 2009 Derry was the 8 bussiest in Ireland.
List of the busiest airports in Ireland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The figures on Transport in Ireland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia were for 2008.

[cuthere]

Amelia, LDY has now overtaken Newquay (well and truly), and quite a few other airports are in a much more serious decline than CODA. Durham, Blackpool and Humberside for instance. Two of these airports have several flights a day to Amsterdam and all three have more charter routes than Derry.

There are grounds for optimism (in relative terms at least), and certainly room for growth.

Let's hope the surge in pax numbers in October can be carried through into the rest of the year, and that the 15k Alicante pax will travel on other services out of Derry.

[Amelia Earhart]

Amelia, LDY has now overtaken Newquay (well and truly)

Yes LDY would appear to be airport 26 within the UK (up from 30 last year and 32 or so a couple of years ago) which implies a better performance than one might have suspected living here. Of course it's all relative. The other airports have fallen rather than LDY rising, which in fact has also fallen.

Belfast City is position 15 and Belfast International position 12 for comparison.

And as corrected by Jamie2K LDY is airport number 8 in Ireland having been overtaken by Kerry or rather having undertaken Kerry. Both airports lost traffic in 2009, LDY having lost substantially more.

Airport number 8 is a rather pathetic position for the 4th city on the island but I suppose it's the econmony stupid and until we get an even playing field . . . . . .

[NorthSouth]

until we get an even playing field

and what would that be?
NS

[Amelia Earhart]

until we get an even playing field

and what would that be?

I don't mean the runway is not flat. I'm on about the politics of Northern Ireland and the tendency to centralise everything in Belfast.

So an even playing field? A fair share of decentralised jobs, a comparable rail and road infrastructure, a fair share of University places, adequate health care facilities, decent sports facilities, an equal effort at securing inward investment and tourism, just the sort of stuff I pay my taxes for.

Then there will be sufficient business and sufficient wealth in the economy to develop and sustain the type of services that would allow LDY to become the fifth airport in Ireland not the eighth.

[NorthernCounties]

So an even playing field? A fair share of decentralised jobs, a comparable rail and road infrastructure, a fair share of University places, adequate health care facilities, decent sports facilities, an equal effort at securing inward investment and tourism, just the sort of stuff I pay my taxes for.

Hear hear!

[BFS101]

Have Balkan Holidays pulled their Bourgas flight from LDY for summer 11?? Doesn't appear on the website any longer so fearing they have. Do you think poor forward bookings were to blame?? Was it the past two summers that they operated from LDY?

[cuthere]

Still listed on the Balkan Holidays website.......Departing Airport: City of Derry.

Last year was the first year, and was a Cardiff originating flight.