WATERFORD Airport
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Cityjet - replacing a 50 seater with plenty of empty seats with a 100 seater? 
bmi regional - can an ER4 operate from WAT with 1.400m of runway?
Eastern - is their usual fare structure attractive for the WAT clientele?
bmi regional - can an ER4 operate from WAT with 1.400m of runway?
Eastern - is their usual fare structure attractive for the WAT clientele?
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Quite right indeed Virginblue,
My point was more that if they are saying that are talking to 4 airlines, I am trying to speculate who they might be. That said there are so few who would actually be positioned to serve such a route as WAT LTN. With the contraction in airline numbers over the last decade, not many viable options left.
As you say there are valid reasons why many of the mentioned may not work. They may be waiting for a runway extension and perhaps we may see WAT treated like say KIR or LDY and get at least a daily STN rotation etc. But that is some way off. Sad to see them lose their remaining services.
EI-BUD
My point was more that if they are saying that are talking to 4 airlines, I am trying to speculate who they might be. That said there are so few who would actually be positioned to serve such a route as WAT LTN. With the contraction in airline numbers over the last decade, not many viable options left.
As you say there are valid reasons why many of the mentioned may not work. They may be waiting for a runway extension and perhaps we may see WAT treated like say KIR or LDY and get at least a daily STN rotation etc. But that is some way off. Sad to see them lose their remaining services.
EI-BUD
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Sad to see that after SXL and GWY, WAT is the third regional airport that disappears (well, at least from the scheduled air services map). Only KIR, SNN, CFN and NOC remain nowadays (if we consider ORK as "big" airport). Let's hope that CFN is not the next to bite the dust...
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Getting Stobart Air back would be the ideal arrangement, though unlikely given the demand for aircraft ex Dublin and also the probable use of SEN over LTN where the demand is.
The only other options I can think of are Cityjet, Eastern and Bmi Regional. Unless Aurigny would be interested in doing a W through STN when they land there, I am fresh out of ideas...
EI-BUD
The only other options I can think of are Cityjet, Eastern and Bmi Regional. Unless Aurigny would be interested in doing a W through STN when they land there, I am fresh out of ideas...
EI-BUD
Maybe Aer Lingus Regional are a consideration but again I'm clutching at straws here and I think it's already been mentioned that the Stobart ATR's are in high demand.
Hopefully something will come to fruition sooner rather than later.
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Cityjet - replacing a 50 seater with plenty of empty seats with a 100 seater?
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Well, regrettably that logic does not work everywhere. If you have a 100seater, you need to fill a certain percentage of those seats and even cheaper tickets must be met by sufficient demand for those cheaper tickets unless you can pull a Ryanair and sell tickets for a fiver. Realistically, Waterford is a 50 seater market at best.
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Well, regrettably that logic does not work everywhere. If you have a 100seater, you need to fill a certain percentage of those seats and even cheaper tickets must be met by sufficient demand for those cheaper tickets unless you can pull a Ryanair and sell tickets for a fiver. Realistically, Waterford is a 50 seater market at best.
For 2-3 people doing a trip could are talking 600-1000 minimum for a flight to London......
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Flybe
robbie1973
Flybe are the obvious ones on a BHX originating aircraft operating into Luton in between.
However there are several issues to overcome even assuming Waterford throw lots of money their way.
Their BHX schedule is full, which will mean waiting until winter or reducing frequencies elsewhere, which of course is never out of the question but makes things difficult.
Flye also seem to have Dash 8 delivery issues, as BHX received major French route expansion this summer which was to be an extra based Dash 8 but what happened in reality is that they reduced the Hanover to daily from double daily and the extra aircraft never arrived.
Then there is the double daily Rotterdam which was to start in September and has been put back until October. I have heard that this is due to aircraft shortage blamed on Republic going into chapter 11 and delaying deliveries of the Dash 8.
None of this is insurmountable but BHX would only support 3-4 weekly in winter I would have thought or 5 at a push and it depends if the sweetener is enough to tempt them.
Pete
Flybe are the obvious ones on a BHX originating aircraft operating into Luton in between.
However there are several issues to overcome even assuming Waterford throw lots of money their way.
Their BHX schedule is full, which will mean waiting until winter or reducing frequencies elsewhere, which of course is never out of the question but makes things difficult.
Flye also seem to have Dash 8 delivery issues, as BHX received major French route expansion this summer which was to be an extra based Dash 8 but what happened in reality is that they reduced the Hanover to daily from double daily and the extra aircraft never arrived.
Then there is the double daily Rotterdam which was to start in September and has been put back until October. I have heard that this is due to aircraft shortage blamed on Republic going into chapter 11 and delaying deliveries of the Dash 8.
None of this is insurmountable but BHX would only support 3-4 weekly in winter I would have thought or 5 at a push and it depends if the sweetener is enough to tempt them.
Pete
If some sort of promtional money was to be provided to encourage a route from Waterford to the UK, which legal company would be paying the money (airpory, local Govt or central Govt in Dublin ?) and where would that money ultimately come from ?
I'm sure Govt in Dublin can find the cash given the political desire but I suspect Dublin will need a lot of persuasion. Will the residents of Waterford be prepared to see their local council spend the money or will locals decide they have had enough of pouring money into a potentially bottomless pit when Dublin airport is not so far away by road ?
I'm sure Govt in Dublin can find the cash given the political desire but I suspect Dublin will need a lot of persuasion. Will the residents of Waterford be prepared to see their local council spend the money or will locals decide they have had enough of pouring money into a potentially bottomless pit when Dublin airport is not so far away by road ?
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Waterford has a strong representation in government, with a local independent in place, name escapes me, but runway extension at Waterford were part of his terms for going into government.
With current airfield limitations, and with a white sheet in terms of a plan to attract an airline, the best fit, with brand etc. Would have to be Aer Lingus Regional flying the Luton route...
With current airfield limitations, and with a white sheet in terms of a plan to attract an airline, the best fit, with brand etc. Would have to be Aer Lingus Regional flying the Luton route...
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If some sort of promtional money was to be provided to encourage a route from Waterford to the UK, which legal company would be paying the money (airpory, local Govt or central Govt in Dublin ?) and where would that money ultimately come from ?
I'm sure Govt in Dublin can find the cash given the political desire but I suspect Dublin will need a lot of persuasion. Will the residents of Waterford be prepared to see their local council spend the money or will locals decide they have had enough of pouring money into a potentially bottomless pit when Dublin airport is not so far away by road ?
I'm sure Govt in Dublin can find the cash given the political desire but I suspect Dublin will need a lot of persuasion. Will the residents of Waterford be prepared to see their local council spend the money or will locals decide they have had enough of pouring money into a potentially bottomless pit when Dublin airport is not so far away by road ?
The local council has been bailed out with 700,000 for this year with a further 450,000 shortfall after the Valuation Office decided to revalue properties owned public utilities which has resulted in 22 million drop in commercial rates nationwide each year for 2-4 years. Off course all this happened after 2016 budgets were passed.....the neighboring councils are similar it not worse.
Locals won't decide they had enough but they will also be realistic on what they pay for flights. They will pay more but not be ripped off.
Waterford has a strong representation in government, with a local independent in place, name escapes me, but runway extension at Waterford were part of his terms for going into government.
With current airfield limitations, and with a white sheet in terms of a plan to attract an airline, the best fit, with brand etc. Would have to be Aer Lingus Regional flying the Luton route...
With current airfield limitations, and with a white sheet in terms of a plan to attract an airline, the best fit, with brand etc. Would have to be Aer Lingus Regional flying the Luton route...
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robbie1973
Flybe are the obvious ones on a BHX originating aircraft operating into Luton in between.
However there are several issues to overcome even assuming Waterford throw lots of money their way.
Their BHX schedule is full, which will mean waiting until winter or reducing frequencies elsewhere, which of course is never out of the question but makes things difficult.
Flye also seem to have Dash 8 delivery issues, as BHX received major French route expansion this summer which was to be an extra based Dash 8 but what happened in reality is that they reduced the Hanover to daily from double daily and the extra aircraft never arrived.
Then there is the double daily Rotterdam which was to start in September and has been put back until October. I have heard that this is due to aircraft shortage blamed on Republic going into chapter 11 and delaying deliveries of the Dash 8.
None of this is insurmountable but BHX would only support 3-4 weekly in winter I would have thought or 5 at a push and it depends if the sweetener is enough to tempt them.
Pete
Flybe are the obvious ones on a BHX originating aircraft operating into Luton in between.
However there are several issues to overcome even assuming Waterford throw lots of money their way.
Their BHX schedule is full, which will mean waiting until winter or reducing frequencies elsewhere, which of course is never out of the question but makes things difficult.
Flye also seem to have Dash 8 delivery issues, as BHX received major French route expansion this summer which was to be an extra based Dash 8 but what happened in reality is that they reduced the Hanover to daily from double daily and the extra aircraft never arrived.
Then there is the double daily Rotterdam which was to start in September and has been put back until October. I have heard that this is due to aircraft shortage blamed on Republic going into chapter 11 and delaying deliveries of the Dash 8.
None of this is insurmountable but BHX would only support 3-4 weekly in winter I would have thought or 5 at a push and it depends if the sweetener is enough to tempt them.
Pete
Just supposing for a moment that Flybe could make some sort of agreement with Virgin Trains where passengers could buy a through ticket from Waterford to London which included a Virgin West Coast ticket to London Euston, that might make a daily - perhaps even twice daily WAT/BHX service viable, selling BHX as the gateway to London.
Far fetched? Well possibly yes given the totally un-joined-up nature of the UK's public transport system, but Swiss do it perfectly well with SBB - and Lufthansa with the DB. Any anyway, the transfer from BHX to Birmingham International station is quick, free and painless, and the Virgin service to Euston frequent and quick.
Far fetched? Well possibly yes given the totally un-joined-up nature of the UK's public transport system, but Swiss do it perfectly well with SBB - and Lufthansa with the DB. Any anyway, the transfer from BHX to Birmingham International station is quick, free and painless, and the Virgin service to Euston frequent and quick.
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Perhaps Loganair could operate the route as a flybe franchise as Saab 340 or 2000 rather than Dash 8. I don't know about their aircraft availability but would suspect Waterford would have approached them.
The idea of linking air and rail services sounds appealing except it would mean a change in marketing strategy for flybe who currently quote "faster than road or rail" on their aircraft. But this type of innovation could be interesting.
The idea of linking air and rail services sounds appealing except it would mean a change in marketing strategy for flybe who currently quote "faster than road or rail" on their aircraft. But this type of innovation could be interesting.
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Will this be the first time that there are no scheduled services from WAT or was there a period after EIR and before BE and VLM where there were no services?
The problem here is that every time a route or carrier is unsuccessful from the airport it makes it all the harder to try to get someone else in to take on the route. Unlike CFN and KIR there is no PSO to fall back on here, so unfortunately it may be some time before we see further scheduled operations after tomorrow. It could certainly become a heavily politicised issue given the current make up of the Irish Government.
The problem here is that every time a route or carrier is unsuccessful from the airport it makes it all the harder to try to get someone else in to take on the route. Unlike CFN and KIR there is no PSO to fall back on here, so unfortunately it may be some time before we see further scheduled operations after tomorrow. It could certainly become a heavily politicised issue given the current make up of the Irish Government.
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Plenty of capacity soon!
Stobart Air axing routes between Dublin and Britain - The Sunday Business Post
Stobart Air axing routes between Dublin and Britain - The Sunday Business Post
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Hopefully WAT dies off, followed by KIR and CFN.
Then, we can focus our funds on useful things like roads and have only 4 airports in ROI. We only need 1 regional Airport, NOC. SNN,ORK and DUB do well as the primary airports.
Then, we can focus our funds on useful things like roads and have only 4 airports in ROI. We only need 1 regional Airport, NOC. SNN,ORK and DUB do well as the primary airports.
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AerRyan very poor spirited of you to say; "Hopefully WAT dies off, followed by KIR and CFN."
I think people here are too quick to write Waterford off, the airport has survived through the toughest of times (J41 once a day to London Stansted in 1990s) the airport will survive.
I think people here are too quick to write Waterford off, the airport has survived through the toughest of times (J41 once a day to London Stansted in 1990s) the airport will survive.