Q40099:

With respect, your response is unworthy and less than informed. A rise in fees of this magnitude (expressed as a percentage) typically represents the natural conclusion of an agreed period during which discounted rates are offered by an airport company to help an airline 'bed-in' a new service. It is in fact a discretionary GIFT from the airport, invested in the expectation of achieving a future return for the airport business when the route matures to profitability and standard charges can be applied. Airports are not charities and need to pay their way and achieve reasonable returns like any other business. A margin of profitability is desirable! Most companies would be grateful for such financial assistance from their industry partners; a small number of disreputable companies instead abuse the end of the discretionary reduced-fees period to demonise their partners instead via the wilful promotion of bad publicity. Such behaviour is shameful and a disgrace to any management team guilty of indulging so.

Fortunately, more journalists are becoming wise to this ruse these days and are able to distinguish the smear-merchants from the professional management teams who are targeted by companies for whom the concepts of decency and ethics are considered no more than dirty words.

Airport companies across Europe have now had plenty of opportunities to observe how certain unethical airline companies behave. Perhaps the time has come for a brave few to turn away the unprofitable patronage [for the airport company] of the culprits, or levy standard charges upon them from the outset. There will be no 350% fee increases then, will there?

So go easy on CWL's management. There is more to this than meets the eye. Please be assured also that I myself have no links with CWL or its management team.

All the best, SHED.

Ok, I see where you are coming from. At least the service has been replaced, albeit by an ATR72.

Good luck to Aer Arann on the route, it's a shame to loose routes from any airport.

:ok:

Shed, your comment deserves publication throughout the industry.

Shed...well done...and well said!!!

Airport Management have to make tough decisions as well and should not be seen as the bad guys here. Ryanair got their X No of years of freebies while the airport carried the costs....why can't Ryanair share their piece of the pie for a change???? All sort of legislation is coming down the line and airports no longer can rely on govt support and grants to 'finance' lo-cost operations. It's time to 'Pay to Play' and it management can't bury it's head in the sand when faced with the real costs of operating an airport. Tough decisions must be made and the attitude of 'its my ball and I'm going home' from Ryanair is not fair based on the relationship built over the past X no of years.

Maybe its an ill wind that blows!!! Aer Arann even on an ATR and probably paying 'reasonable' fees could suit the airport perfectly!!! Airport wins on revenue, Airline will get the loads with decent pricing, pax get an airline who cares and Cardiff Management get to deal with an Airline who is prepared to work with them for the benefit of all user.

thats my piece... ( and it not FR bashing!!!)

Sikki

Hey Guys (& Gals)

Great to see Aer Arann filling the gap...!!!! Pity someone in Aer Arann does not tell their IT people, as of tonight (25/4/06 at 2330)...there is no way to book the Dublin - Cardiff sector on their website...so much for Re being fast..!!!, If RE are as serious as they make themselves out to be...lets see the bookings available on their website and at a competitive fare:ok:

MOL clearly wants to use this as a signal to other airports thinking about airport charge increases, planned or unplanned. That said, there is clearly no shortage of other airlines happy to jump on a busy route to pick up the slack left behind - the route capacity will drop by half (14 ATR72 against 10 738) so Arran should do well if they get the fares right. £19.99 for starters sounds great, especially as most of the Ryanair passengers for the first two weeks will have the option of getting 250 euro compensation and a cheap ticket on Arran or else staying with Ryanair to fly to Bristol and get the bus to Cardiff.
Arran will also get in just in time for the FA Cup Final and the rugby final, so should clean upon these weekends.

Cardiff’s owners have just taken over an Italian company to become the worlds largest infrastructure company valued at £25 billion. I think they are big enough to tell Ryanair where to go.

Well, not all the fares will be £19.99..In fact, I'll go out on a limb and guess they'll generally much more expensive than FR's average DUB - CWL fare.

Should be quite fun to see them pack all of those passengers into ATR's ;)

More rotations ... which means more choice. Equally, of course, the Ryanair fares did not include taxes so the price difference is not going to be huge.

Ryanair pull plug on Cardiff-Dublin in row over landing charges
 

See your point. One Commercial Manager seeking alternative employment?:{ Quick, go and charter a fleet of transfer coaches.:E

Note sure where the CWL management got the 180,000 figure from.

CAA stats for 2005 show 118,718 scheduled pax travelled on the CWL-DUB route (Ryanair and Air Wales) with 2,451 charter pax.

In 2004 the figures were 99,940 and 10,091 respectively.

I presume most of the charter pax were rugby fans going to watch Wales-Ireland internationals.
Even so these figures suggest an ATR (a 42 at that, I believe) may well struggle to meet demand at times.

Interesting to see in the 3rd quarter 2006 results published in February that the company has not brought forward on fuel after the end of March. With an annual fuel cost in 2005 of 350m euros hedged at $49 a barrel and current costs in excess of $70, it would look as if either fares go up or profits go down.

Ryanair will launch Doncaster Sheffield (Robin Hood) to Pisa and Barcelona Gerona from the autumn

Marseille has been announced as base #16 with the arrival there of two aircraft in November.

The airline will be operating 13 routes out of Marseille.

The routes are to Brussels, Dublin, Eindhoven, Fez, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Karlsruhe Baden, London, Marrakech, Oujda, Oslo, Porto and Rome.

FR has also announced DUB-Berlin today

When do you think we will see some Stansted - Morocco routes?

MO'L was in Marseille yesterday and this morning to launch the new base, where he spoke this morning at an airline/airport conference. Usual rhetoric (FR are this morning filing a complaint with the European Commission about state aid to Air France, etc.), complaints about congestion ("we wouldn't fly to Frankfurt-Main or Charles de Gaulle or Heathrow even if they gave it to us for free"), but one or two interesting comments, in particular his assertion that FR will soon be announcing routes into the former Yugoslav republics.

Ryanair getting Boeing 777s
 

I hear Ryanair are getting 5 Boeing 777.
I hear the destinations will be Florida and Cape Town..
This would be great £0.01 longhaul Flights
:D

(Reduced to a sensible size)
You hear wrong.....:rolleyes: