Newquay and Plymouth Airports - their rise and fall - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[Umberleigh]

Would be very interested to know how many former air users transferred to FGW^▸ (First Great Western)/XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) and how many took to the car/use Exeter Airport etc... Anyone in the know?

[inspector_blakey]

Even if all seven of the former air users had switched to rail or road, I doubt anyone would have noticed the difference. There was a reason the air service folded...

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Newquay Airport sees 'biggest drop in passengers in UK^▸ (United Kingdom)'

Newquay has seen a bigger fall in passenger numbers than most other major airports in the UK, figures have revealed.

Analysis company Anna.aero found there was a 26% drop in numbers between 2010 and 2011.

New commercial partners are needed to find new routes and airlines, said airport consultant Chris Cain.

Cornwall Council, which gives an annual subsidy to the airport, said it hoped to "build up the commercial side".

The figures, which detail passenger numbers at 37 UK airports, showed that 209,574 people used Newquay in 2011, compared with 280,081 in 2010.

Elsewhere, Glasgow's Prestwick Airport saw the second biggest fall with a drop of almost 22% from 1,660,811 passengers in 2010 to 1,295,767 in 2011.

Northern Ireland's City of Derry Airport saw the biggest rise of almost 20%, from 338,488 in 2010 to 405,568 in 2011.

Last year, Newquay Airport was hit by service cuts from Air Southwest and Ryanair.

Mr Cain said: "Part of the problem the airport has is the budget is under pressure. There's a balance between investing for the long term to bring new routes in and give airlines confidence, while public money is being used to subsidise the continued operation of the airport."

The airport receives an annual subsidy from the council, which in 2011 was ^3.6m.

Chris Ridgers, cabinet member for economy and regeneration of the Conservative/Independent-led authority, said: "In the coming financial year the subsidy from the Cornish taxpayers will be ^3.5m. However, that will bring about ^24m of gross added value and supports about 400 jobs. We've always accepted that the airport will never wash its face purely on passengers, we've been looking to build up the commercial side."

He said the reduction in numbers was down to a "double whammy" of its biggest operator, Air Southwest, cutting services and the effects of the economic downturn. But he added: "New airlines take on new routes, but they don't immediately put aircraft on. We're gradually seeing them being filled, and we're still actively talking to other airlines."

Last year, Newquay Airport was named by the government as an enterprise zone for new businesses. At the time, ministers said companies choosing to develop there would be able to share tax breaks worth nearly ^2.5m.

[woody]

According to the Plymouth Evening Herald "Viable" the group that wants to reopen Plymouth's closed down airport says its plans are still "very much alive and gaining momentum" and it is in talks with backers who could bankroll a rejuvenated airstrip.

Raoul Witherall, chairman of the Viable group, said it was working on four separate funding projects with "various backers".

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Airport-campaigners-talks/story-16460125-detail/story.html

[woody]

THE group set up to revive Plymouth's airport has told the council it wants to buy the site so it can reopen it.

Viable also said it wants to contribute to the building of a berth at Millbay for luxury cruise liners.

   
The group, now a company, has written to council leader Tudor Evans with an expression of interest in acquiring the freehold from the council.

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Group-tells-Plymouth-City-Council-wants-buy/story-16836661-detail/story.html

[TonyK]

Funny how Newquay Airport's fortunes have dived since it started to levy its redevelopment tax on passengers. The model for regional airports is a strange one, and counter-intuitive. The airport will often identify a route that it wants to develop, and will ask airlines to fly it. Sometimes, they will subsidise it, or offer sweeteners such as privileged or exclusive access, and cheap landing and handling fees. If the airport falls out with the airline, then the airline only has to pack its little things for measuring hand baggage and its tacky promotional banners into the last of its planes, and fly them to another regional airport nearby. The girls on the check-in desks are employed by the airport's handling agents, and can send the uniforms back by post, on their way to the Jobcentre. Ryanair pulled one of its two daily flights from "London" Stansted to Newquay after the latter refused to renegotiate its development tax for its honoured guest.

With the tragic demise of Plymouth Airport, Newquay's only rival in Cornwall now is Lands End. Its biggest threat is a better railway service from London. But a decent service would ruin the dreams of the politician, anxious to holiday at home to please the voters, but keen to go somewhere that is a struggle to get to, to persuade the kids they are abroad. They can take them from first class to the buffet, and point towards steeerage, telling them that if they don't do magna cum laudae at Eton, they will have to travel to their holiday with that foul-smelling tattooed strange and, most importantly, standing for 200 miles clientele.  In any case, the whole county will soon be covered in wind turbines, and will look like rural Wales, or even worse, Scotland. We can then all go back to Benidorm, and I can buy a ^300,000 one-bedroom cottage in Rock for ^50K and a Fisherman's Friends' CD^▸ (Capital Delivery), and rent it out to an unemployed airport worker and his wife and 11 children for whatever the maximum housing benefit is these days, plus ^50 a month to compensate for the lack of holiday traffic. We're all in this together; us, and the millionaires in the cabinet.

Politics, eh? Dirty job, but someone's got to do it.

[woody]

Plan to save Plymouth City Airport is revealed.
THE group aiming to revive Plymouth's airport has revealed a rival masterplan which sees the city connected to the world within a decade.

The Viable company, which last week told Plymouth City Council it wants to buy the freehold of the site, says it has the financial backing and intends to have flights to Britain and western Europe within two years, and a plan to create a hub with worldwide reach in five to 10 years.

Inevitable and sadly necessary given the lack of investment in rail in this part of the world.

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Plan-save-Plymouth-City-Airport-revealed/story-16871280-detail/story.html



Edit note: Link corrected. CfN.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Easyjet to fly from Newquay Cornwall Airport

Budget airline Easyjet is start its first ever routes from Cornwall next summer, the BBC understands.

The airline, Europe's fourth largest, will start services between Newquay Cornwall Airport and both Liverpool and Southend.

It is potentially the biggest development for the airport since the loss of Ryanair in January 2011.

Initially, there will be three flights to both destinations each week.

Cornish business leaders said they hoped more routes could be added in 2014 if the 2013 summer season was a success.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Free Newquay Airport drop-offs to be scrapped

Free parking for people picking up and dropping off passengers at a Cornish airport is to be scrapped, bosses say. Newquay Airport said it was introducing a minimum charge of ^1 from March.

Managing director Al Titterington said the change was partly in response to complaints from passengers who had been fined for overstaying a previous maximum five-minute waiting allowance.

Mr Titterington added the charge was also an effort to increase income for the Cornwall Council-owned airport. He said: "We will be removing the free drop-off area and people will be required to park in the car parks, and we will be levying ^1. All other airports are doing this. In Bristol, there is an express drop-off point with a charge of ^1 for 20 minutes, and there is a similar charge in Exeter."

The airport has an annual council subsidy of about ^3.6m.

[devon_metro]

Bristol airport recently introduced a similar scheme. It is purely a money making scheme as the short stay car park was so extortionate you wouldn't want to overstay the 30 minutes free you used to get!!

[LiskeardRich]

Its still 1/3 of the drop off price at Bournemouth

[woody]

Flybe claims there could be "little future for Newquay Airport" after announcing the end of its flights to London Gatwick from March 2014.

The company sold its slots at the London airport to Easyjet for ^20m, blaming an increase in airport charges.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-22638983

[Thatcham Crossing]

The Flybe flights to NQY^▸ (Newquay (Station)) from LGW won't end until the end of the airline world's winter 2013/14 season, which is at the end of March 2014.

These flights are however the main route out of NQY, and are mainly operated with Flybe's 78-seater Q400 turboprop aircraft.

Easyjet are starting flights into NQY for the first time during the coming Summer season, from LPL (Liverpool) and SEN (Southend), but whether they will use some of the slots they've bought at LGW to continue a NQY route from there, we will have to wait and see.

Whether they do or not, I think it unlikely they will operate with the frequency (up to 3 times daily) that Flybe do on the route. This is for the simple reason that Easyjet's smallest aircraft are 156-seater Airbus 319's, and they will only operate flights that they can fill with enough passengers to make money.

NQY is also a very seasonal airport - the only scheduled routes that operated through last winter were the Flybe LGW service (with reduced frequency at times), a Flybe service from Manchester (which operates only about 4 times a week in winter) and the Skybus "lifeline" services to the Scilly Isles (about 3 of these a day in winter). Traffic has dropped every year for the last 5 years, but the airport are saying it will start to recover this year.

Challenging times ahead I think.

[broadgage]

I see little long term future for either Plymouth or Newquay airport.
Air transport uses a great deal of increasingly expensive oil fuel, the long term trend of oil prices will be ever upward as supplies deplete.
If the airports were not viable when oil was cheap, are they likely to be more viable at higher oil prices?

Domestic air transport is increasingly being recognised as one of the most polluting transport modes with many seeking to minimise it for enviromental reasons.

Airports take up a lot of land and blight a lot more due to noise, this land is increasingly valuable for housing and other purposes.

The rail service to Plymouth, though it could be improved, is not that bad for leisure or business travel.
I doubt that daily commuting from Plymouth to London will ever be viable.
Some improvement in line speeds is no doubt possible, though as others post the oportunities are limited due to the tight curves and many inclines.

As regards rolling stock, I cant forsee any improvements over HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train). The best that we can hope for is that HSTs are kept for as long as possible, and that the eventual downgrade to DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not too large a backward step.

Several trains a day still have a full restaurant, wont get that on an aircraft !

[woody]

Oh dear broadgage you really are out of touch aren't you,where do you live close to the M4/M5/Great Western main line corridor by the sound of it.Thats not the message Patrick McLoughlin, the Transport Secretary took back with him after a recent visit to Plymouth after meeting local business and political leaders. Plymouth is widely regarded now as the worst connected city in Britain particularly since it lost its airport.As for your statement "The rail service to Plymouth, though it could be improved, is not that bad for leisure or business travel." well  that may be true down as far as Exeter but certainly not for Plymouth and Cornwall beyond sadly.The transport minister simply thrugged his shoulders when asked about improving Plymouths dire rail link which says it all I think.Its not just the motorway that stops at Exeter but also fast direct main line rail infrastructure.The Exeter to Plymouth/Penzance "branch line"is little better line speed wise than the Exeter/Barnstaple branch line and that is not going to change according to the transport minister.It is quite clear that the far south west is in reality no longer investment wise part of the financially troubled First Great Western franchise which is why it is now effectively being "sacrificed" by both the Dft and First Group who have their own wider financial problems.Plymouth is now effectively stuck on a branch line from Exeter and therefore has little choice but to at least try to reopen its airport for some key business links.West of Exeter the rail system is now really only fit for the leisure market in the 21st century.!