From the Ryanair thread:

I don't suppose we'll have to hold our breath on this forum. Though someone did speculate about a Palma base. But still, I think we're safe enough. :(

It would seem a bit early for them to announce any new routes for summer '11, but you never know.

Palma and Malaga would be obvious choices. Any FR Palma would kill the charter out of Derry though, which would be a pity.

Haven't seen any reports of new routes/bases from Ryanair today, or am I mistaken? Also any one know if there are pictures of the new departures configuration? I think it'd be great perhaps to get an Ibiza route from Derry, definitely would be sustained by drunken teenagers and students alike! Ryanair could even argue their route is fuelled by Bio-Ethanol!
Any conceivable chance of Easyjet or Flybe coming in to break CODA's dependence on Ryr?

Nothing from FR regarding LDY today, probably the new year before we hear anything about new routes, and those will probably be to sunshine destinations or hopefully the increase of rotations on the current services i.e. 2 x daily STN.
Would love to see some pictures of the new departure area myself. I wonder how big the new W H Smith shop is?

If another carrier is to arrive my money would be on Flybe because of their a/c size and possible routes they could start would be perfect for LDY.
I'm sure the airport are speaking with possible new airlines all the time, so you never know who might pop up in the next few years.

years !?!?! :{

Article in today's Journal suggests a deal has been done, and BB will take over management of CODA:

Derry airport deal done - Derry Today

Any thoughts on implications?

The latest available rolling figures for the year show that up til the end of August 333,515 passengers had flown, a drop of 10.4% on the similar period the year before and down from the 345,857 that flew during 2009.

Increase in the number of flights for next year? Lets hope she knows something the rest of us don't.

The number of flights next summer could easily be increased without new routes.

I.e. 2xDaily STN; daily (as opposed to 5xWeekly) LPL; 6xWeekly BHX; 5xWeekly PIK. That's 24 extra flight already by adjusting the schedules on current routes.

AGP and PMI would work from LDY too.

The inevitable loss of RE would mean RYR may be the only operator at LDY next summer. Hopefully, another airline can be found to cover the obvious routes of BRS, MAN and EDI.

Is it right for me to be alarmed at BB's history of relations with Ryr? After all, Ryr has reduced or totally removed flights from both Exeter and Blackpool since BB began operating there... I hope that they can be influential in attracting the likes of Flybe though!

Northern, Ryanair have never operated from Exeter, which is and has been the base airport for Flybe (and all its previous guises).

They certainly did operate from Blackpool, but pulled out early in 2009 citing Blackpool Airport's introduction of a £10 per person development fee as the reason. As BB were 95% owners of the airport at the time, this must've been their idea. Whether BB intend to introduce such a fee at CODA, and whether DCC as owners would allow this, remains to be seen.

I suppose it all depends on what the nature of the agreement between DCC and BB is. Currently the airport "loses" £3.5 million per annum. If a £10 charge is introduced and FR pull out and losses increase, who bears this, DCC (ie the local rate payers) or BB?

I mean are BB just operating the thing for a commision or are they leasing it as a going concern? Given the history of public sector agreements with the private sector, I hope this agreement isn't one sided.

BB don't own Norwich or Newquay and they also have ADFs. I don't think BB can lay claim to onwership of the "entrepreneurial" idea "charge people for anything and everything". I rather suspect it has a longer pedigree....
NS

Is there the demand? I know the schedule used to look like that but it was reduced so one has to ask why?
But Ryanair even parked up 14 aircraft last winter instead of using one for additional flights at LDY. You've got to ask why . . . .

STN was reduced because of cuts at STN. Out of the rest LPL has always performed well.

I'm not going to second-guess RYR's logic. Their recent withdrawal from BHD shows they have their very own brand of this.

Still, I have no doubt a reintroduction of double-daily STN would work, as would daily LPL.

I doubt RYR would pull out of LDY because of BB (and let's face it, if they've stuck it out at Derry this long, then it seems they will for a while yet), and I also doubt DCC would allow any action by BB to jeopardise the major carrier at the airport.

If Derry Airport can capture say 10% of the ~800K RYR pax BHD is losing, then that would certainly provide the pax to allow the schedule changes I suggested above.

I suppose we can have some faith in DCC to ensure no ridiculous charges occur. I remember reading this http://www.ilex-urc.com/userfiles/Fi...nt_3_FINAL.pdf (Page 58)
were ilex stated they hope to have 15 scheduled routes by 2020... Surely we could have more. The ~40k that availed of the BRS route would be definitely suitable for a turboprop operator. Or what would be definitely nice would be if Flybe stationed one of its Embrear E175's once they arrive. That would do a couple of flights further afield like maybe Amsterdam, Paris etc. Closer to home I think Leeds Bradford would be a good option as well.

Seen this on a local website anyone else heard about it

Ryanair says it is committed to City of Derry Airport and is considering increasing flights from there in light of a recent decision to pull its services out of City of Belfast Airport.

The company is celebrating carrying over 2.5 million passengers at City of Derry since it started operating their in 1999.

Laszlo Tamas is a senior manager with Ryanair – he says the company is looking to expand its service in Derry:

I knew he was commenting on Derry as RYR have passed the 2.5million pax through LDY since they commenced their services.

Do you have a link to the website you're quoting there Stewart?

It was on Highland radios website

Got it. Cheers for that. Hopefully something solid will come out of it.