IRELAND WEST AIRPORT KNOCK

[airnoc]

Ireland west knock

Hi Wonder if ryanair would do a base at Ire West Knock seen that shannon term there is comming to an end with flight been cut there

[fivejuliet]

Given the problem at Shannon is partially to do with the travel tax, its unlikely they will be setting up any new bases in Ireland soon...

[EISNN]

5Juliet If Ryanair don't get a new 'deal' with SAA/DAA for flights outta SNN there'll be every chance that they might pull a number of flights if Knock Ireland West take them on. !!!NB!!! I'm saying CHANCE and MIGHT. There's a relatively good market there in SNN considering the current economic climate and I don't think MOL would give it up completely or hand it over to another carrier/other carriers on a gold platter.

[sawtooth]

Quoting airnoc (post has moved to Flyglobespan forum)
"Hi. Was in knock shrine. Heard that there is to be a new route to germany and france. Anyone know more?"

Hmm, was your source human or spiritual, sure you weren't staring at the sun at the time?!

I think there is potential for more european connections from the west, with the loss of AF at SNN a well timed daily EI hub connection to CDG could work from NOC. They have only had 1 diversion since the ILS upgrade in February making the airport more attractive for morning flights also.

MUC might work, Falcontravel run a successful weekly ZRH charter to NOC. DUS operated as an inbound charter in the past when the western coastal scenery was very popular with Germans, a popular german soap was also shot around Westport last year with a lot of scenic locations which could be exploited in marketing a new route.

However EI are in cutback mode so it's more likely to be FR BVA/HHN if true.

[iwak]

Good to see alicante route back for summer 2010 now bookable on ryanair website from end of march to oct. Seems it was a good success this summer despite the economic climate.

As regards new services to Germany and France I would say a 3 weekly to bva and hahn would work very well . I also think a four weekly to edi would also work . The thought of too many ryanair routes makes me a bit nervous too many eggs in one basket and all that.

Liverpool has been a bit disappointing in terms of passenger numbers I think 6 per week is overkill and will shortly be back to daily for the winter but the lpl fc fans should help numbers.

Anybody got any idea of pax numbers on the dub route?

[sawtooth]

The timings for Alicante were good giving people the option of a week or weekend break, and with some of the tour operators going bust this year there was a need for some more Spanish routes out of NOC, great to see it extended.

[airnoc]

Ireland west knock

Liverpool has been a bit disappointing in terms of passenger numbers.
i though that 4 per week would be better but fair play to keep it going and now going daily. Knock is on the up and the other irish airport are look at Knock to see what they are doing right but it is simple there are no trade union running Ire West Airport at Knock

[anna_list]

NOC: Figures for 2009 so far (Jan to Sept)

Hi,

Note: All of these figures are meaningless without data for yields, but you might find them interesting nevertheless.

First of all the good news:

• NOC-ALC (FR) has carried 11,000 passengers at an average flown LF of 86%, which looks very promising.

Now the not so good news: NOC to the UK seems to be having a bad time:

• NOC-LGW (EI) has carried 44k pax with an average flown LF of 72%. At a first glance this looks ok, but July and August were the only months where the LF exceeded 70% and Sept was 64%.
• NOC-BRS (FR) is FR's worst surviving route from BRS in terms of LF, averaging 44% this year, down from 54% for the same period last year.
• NOC-EMA (FR) is FR's 2nd worst surviving route from EMA in terms of LF, averaging 55% this year, down from 62% for the same period last year, capacity down by 17%.
• NOC-BHX (WW) is averaging 65% this year, down from 74% for the same period last year, capacity down by 12%.
• NOC-LPL (FR) is FR's 3rd worst surviving route from LPL in terms of LF, averaging 50% this year (LPL-SNN is worse with 45%).
• NOC-MAN (WW) is averaging 72% this year, down from 80% for the same period last year, capacity down by 22%.
• NOC-LTN (FR) is averaging 74% this year, down from 78% for the same period last year.
• NOC-STN (FR) is averaging 68% this year, down from 75% for the same period last year, although there has been a 19% increase in flights and an 8% increase in passengers.

FR almost certainly launched NOC-LPL with such a high frequency to try to destroy WW's NOC-MAN. It looks as though they have taken a large chunk of the market (just over 50%), but they are flying aircraft only half full in the process. NOC-LBA will almost certainly increase the pressure on NOC-MAN next year.

Of course, we're not having the best of times economically at the moment, but even so some of Knock's routes seem to be suffering much more than other routes between the UK and Ireland. Does anyone have an explanation, other than simple over-capacity?

[heidelberg]

numbers down - why?

anna list.

In answer to your question/statement.
'Of course, we're not having the best of times economically at the moment, but even so some of Knock's routes seem to be suffering much more than other routes between the UK and Ireland. Does anyone have an explanation, other than simple over-capacity?'

Answer.
1. UK in recession.
2. ROI in recession.

I'm not trying to be 'smart ass' but the fact is 'bums on seats' will not increase until the UK and ROI come out of recession sometime late 2010.

[840]

I'd suggest the following

• Knock has experienced greater percentage capacity growth in recent years, which will always be harder to maintain in a recession
• While Cork, Dublin and Shannon have a mix of business and leisure passengers, Knock is almost exclusively leisure.
• It's more dependent on inbound UK pax than the others. With the weakness of sterling, this is not a happy market at the moment

[airnoc]

Ireland west knock

Hi Heard on M.W.R today that a early bird train from westport to dublin will start Nov 30th. Will this affect Aer Arran morning flight from Knock?
By the way 840 Knock airport was built in recession and is stiil growing today.

[Tom the Tenor]

As far as I can remember Mgr Horan cornered Haughey at Garda funerals for the dough to get the work started on the airport at Knock. Fair play to Horan. He has my admiration - he knew how the game works in this country. You could call it outshannoning the snn crowd!

[GnRdL]

@anna_list
First of all the good news:

• NOC-ALC (FR) has carried 11,000 passengers at an average flown LF of 86%, which looks very promising.

I don't understand, why they don't extend the route in the winter.
Good numbers for NOC-ALC.

[ryan2000]

NOC ALC

irish people only like Alicante when the sun scorches them. Pleasant winter sunshine doesn't seem to interest the bucket and shovel brigade.

Aerlingus operated ORK ALC and ORK NCE throughout the winter some years ago and the loads were disatrous.

[CCR]

The weather in Nice & Alicante isn't just good enough in the winter. Gotta be the Canaries for winter routes

[iwak]

I wouldnt be surprised if Knock soon had a Ryanair based aircraft after the news from Shannon this evening. I would say Ryanair are getting free charges from Knock anyway considering the steady stream of new routes over the last few years.

Its not the ideal scenario to have ryanair as the only operator at an airport however Iwak has limited options when it comes to attracting low cost airlines. Easyjet aint coming to Ireland anytime soon and you need big brands to sell routes.

If Knock could hold onto Bmi Baby and Aer Lingus and Have Ryanair as their based airline with new routes they would be doing well.Although bmi babys future will be revelaed next weds from their new owner!

[iwhak]

Getting sick and tired of listening to the NOC rhetoric. Baby will soon be gone, FR operating LBA, LPL and EMA was the last straw. Eeven with WW gone FR won't continue them. LGW needs to improve for EI. Charter traffic will continue to die. NOC needs to focus on summer scheduled sun routes. FR will conclude a deal at SNN and NOC will not see any new FR routes until 6 months prior to the conclusion of the next SNN agreement. NOC need to be loving RE for further UK growth.

[CCR]

You can't knock Knock for getting its act together
I doubt we'll see much growth of Aer Arann at Knock since they have much larger (Ryanair impregnable base in Connaught) down the road in Galway.
I think we may see more Ryanair growth at Knock-Ireland West airport even if we don't see a last minute resolution between FR & Shannon by next April.

[GnRdL]

@ryan2000
irish people only like Alicante when the sun scorches them. Pleasant winter sunshine doesn't seem to interest the bucket and shovel brigade.

Aerlingus operated ORK ALC and ORK NCE throughout the winter some years ago and the loads were disatrous.

@CCR
The weather in Nice & Alicante isn't just good enough in the winter. Gotta be the Canaries for winter routes

Yes, Alicante is a seasonal destiny, but in many cases these connections work during the winter (like SNN). Anyway, is truth that the winter results are not the same.

Off topic: Yesterday I was swimming in Calpe beach (Alicante province). Perfect weather and really quiet currently.

[airnoc]

Ireland west knock

Hi. Heard on midwestradio that there is good news for Ireland west airport Knock tomorrow dec 16th. Hope it is a new base. Any one know more?