IRELAND WEST AIRPORT KNOCK
Join Date: Dec 2010
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Indeed, but what Ryanair want and what the government want are not necessarily the same. The government want to generate tourism, Ryanair want to make money. Ultimately IWAK will take any route they can get.
It is wrong to dismiss sun routes as unsustainable in terms of the airport's growth. If more people want to use the flights they are as useful to the airport as any other route. They are less useful to the wider region in terms of economic development of course, but the airport will gladly take the throughput either way.
The airport's fb page doesn't exactly receive comments from the most enlightened members of the general public - it tends to mostly be full of 'when are you starting flights to (insert unrealistic destination the poster happens to live near) airport' sort of stuff. However, Reus was clearly popular with the masses and comes up as a destination request again and again. It would need to be a W route though if it was brought back.
There needs to be a realistic assessment of the potential for flights to Germany to be sustained. It is true that Kerry have maintained Hahn for a number of years but when they tried to expand to Weeze it was not at all successful. It is debatable whether, even with extensive marketing, there is enough interest to sustain a Ryanair route in addition to the Germanwings service from Knock.
However, expanding the Stansted service to double daily with morning and evening flights must be a real contender in terms of route development through Ryanair.
It is wrong to dismiss sun routes as unsustainable in terms of the airport's growth. If more people want to use the flights they are as useful to the airport as any other route. They are less useful to the wider region in terms of economic development of course, but the airport will gladly take the throughput either way.
The airport's fb page doesn't exactly receive comments from the most enlightened members of the general public - it tends to mostly be full of 'when are you starting flights to (insert unrealistic destination the poster happens to live near) airport' sort of stuff. However, Reus was clearly popular with the masses and comes up as a destination request again and again. It would need to be a W route though if it was brought back.
There needs to be a realistic assessment of the potential for flights to Germany to be sustained. It is true that Kerry have maintained Hahn for a number of years but when they tried to expand to Weeze it was not at all successful. It is debatable whether, even with extensive marketing, there is enough interest to sustain a Ryanair route in addition to the Germanwings service from Knock.
However, expanding the Stansted service to double daily with morning and evening flights must be a real contender in terms of route development through Ryanair.
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Dublin
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Very surprised to see no uk route development from today's announcement at Shannon .This is good news for knock when it comes to ema ,lpl and brs.
I have a funny feeling we might see a route to pik coming on stream along with increased stn ,agp and possibly a restart to reus.
.Is there any other routes that would be sustainable ?
I have a funny feeling we might see a route to pik coming on stream along with increased stn ,agp and possibly a restart to reus.
.Is there any other routes that would be sustainable ?
Increased frequency on the Stansted route from 14 to 15 per week
Second bullet point.
Join Date: Dec 2010
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Yes, Ryanair didn't have much UK success outside of London from Shannon, even their Liverpool route went very close to getting the chop when they cut back. I wonder how much money they lost flying the likes of myself back and over from Prestwick for £5 each way there for a few years. I remember flying that route on a couple of Tuesdays with only 30 to 40 passengers on board - a hopeless load on a 738. The regional UK routes seem to have worked better for them from Knock for whatever reason, maybe its the lack of competition from Aer Lingus, although flybe's offering is considerably better than EIR's in my opinion.
If I was to guess what expansion is to come at Knock from Ryanair next year at this stage, I'd say extra Stansted rotations and either another sun route or extra frequencies on the existing ones. If there's a new route to the UK or mainland Europe (i.e. not a sun route) I'll be pleasantly surprised.
It's moving a bit off topic but Ryanair hamper themselves somewhat with their insistence on only using the 738. I wonder if they will consider the 737-700 at some point to allow them to move in to routes that the 738 is just too big for? They did of course use a smaller aircraft in the not too distant past, I think it was the 737-300.
If I was to guess what expansion is to come at Knock from Ryanair next year at this stage, I'd say extra Stansted rotations and either another sun route or extra frequencies on the existing ones. If there's a new route to the UK or mainland Europe (i.e. not a sun route) I'll be pleasantly surprised.
It's moving a bit off topic but Ryanair hamper themselves somewhat with their insistence on only using the 738. I wonder if they will consider the 737-700 at some point to allow them to move in to routes that the 738 is just too big for? They did of course use a smaller aircraft in the not too distant past, I think it was the 737-300.
They did of course use a smaller aircraft in the not too distant past, I think it was the 737-300.
Ryanair hamper themselves somewhat with their insistence on only using the 738
Single type.
- Spares and all support can be minimized.
- This gives a critical mass when storing spares and reduces the need to carry a "unique part" for 1 aircraft.
Fill to max.
Rinse and repeat.
Granted they are cheap at flying you where they want to go not necessarily where you want to go.
I would agree with services from Ireland would probably do better with a smaller Aircraft but I don't see RYANAIR changing its spots any time soon.
I don't see a huge number of operators of smaller jets in Europe let alone those with spare capacity to service Ireland.
For now the only game in town is RYANAIR.
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: EIRE
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I am glad Ryanair did not tinker with routes to the uk. Its important in the long term to hold on to RE and flybe for the routes outside london. Its better service having a 2 daily to say manchester with RE than 4 or 5 weekly with ryanair going at all sorts of odd times.
Join Date: Jul 2007
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Does anyone think lba would work if fr reintroduced it considering there is a lot less capacity to man and it's only 1 hours drive from man. Lot of noc passengers saying flybe are very expensive from man to noc!
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To be honest, given that FR and BE both had a crack at it and it didn't work out either time, I'd be surprised to see it back - the only chance would be if FR thought that it was close enough to being viable last time that the 10 euro tax removal could make it work now, but even then I'd say they'd run it summer only. There is definitely demand for a route to Yorkshire but maybe not enough to accommodate a route alongside MAN and LPL. BE from MAN caters for those willing to pay the extra few quid to go direct to Manchester and FR's LPL seems to mop up the majority of low fares seeking passengers to the north of England very successfully.
Join Date: Jul 2007
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Fair comment knocker just looking at uk opportunities for noc as they are the only routes that could be sustainable year round realistically.apart from pik and lba I think everything else is covered but as you say it's all about having a route that's profitable and sustainable.with a bit of luck ei might look at an lhr service someday which I'm sure would be successful.
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Glasgow
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Yes, its all about slots at Heathrow. Plenty of demand for a service but hard for somewhere like Knock to get a look in with so many more profitable options available. Virgin's Little Red (operated by Aer Lingus) will probably have some short-haul slots available in the future as they are failing miserably on their routes to Manchester and Scotland (they are required under their contract to stick with those loss making Scottish routes for now). It would take a serious effort from the IWAK management to get them into Knock though - there are sure to be other more obvious and profitable short haul routes available to them elsewhere - no harm in the management pitching it to them though, it would be far more successful than Virgin's existing short haul routes (and would provide plenty of opportunities for jokes about Virgins appearing at Knock...).
To be honest, from my own experience flying on the Knock to Glasgow route with bmibaby a few years ago, Prestwick probably wouldn't work either. The 738 is just too big for the limited demand for the route. Double dailys to Stansted are the best hope of UK expansion from Ryanair for now I think - and like you said, maybe a seasonal route to Leeds. There may be more scope for expansion on the sun routes though.
To be honest, from my own experience flying on the Knock to Glasgow route with bmibaby a few years ago, Prestwick probably wouldn't work either. The 738 is just too big for the limited demand for the route. Double dailys to Stansted are the best hope of UK expansion from Ryanair for now I think - and like you said, maybe a seasonal route to Leeds. There may be more scope for expansion on the sun routes though.
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Ireland
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Yes, its all about slots at Heathrow. Plenty of demand for a service but hard for somewhere like Knock to get a look in with so many more profitable options available. Virgin's Little Red (operated by Aer Lingus) will probably have some short-haul slots available in the future as they are failing miserably on their routes to Manchester and Scotland (they are required under their contract to stick with those loss making Scottish routes for now). It would take a serious effort from the IWAK management to get them into Knock though - there are sure to be other more obvious and profitable short haul routes available to them elsewhere - no harm in the management pitching it to them though, it would be far more successful than Virgin's existing short haul routes (and would provide plenty of opportunities for jokes about Virgins appearing at Knock...).
I appreciate the creativity in looking for other airlines to talk to, but it has to be tempered by some realism...
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I understand that, if they keep the slots beyond the initial contracts to Scotland, they are obliged to continue to use them for short haul even if they switch the routes they use them on. No long haul allowed on these slots at any time. But yes, I agree the chances of them turning up at Knock at any point are beyond slim.
Join Date: Nov 1999
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I understand that, if they keep the slots beyond the initial contracts to Scotland, they are obliged to continue to use them for short haul even if they switch the routes they use them on. No long haul allowed on these slots at any time. But yes, I agree the chances of them turning up at Knock at any point are beyond slim.
Join Date: Apr 2011
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Just noticed Noc has 4 flights in together within a 15 minute time frame on a Wednesday, does anyone know if this a permanent thing for the winter schedule ??
BE663 12:10 MANCHESTER
FR8142 12:20 LONDON LUTON
EI911 12:20 LONDON GATWICK
BE1121 12:25 BIRMINGHAM
BE663 12:10 MANCHESTER
FR8142 12:20 LONDON LUTON
EI911 12:20 LONDON GATWICK
BE1121 12:25 BIRMINGHAM
