Friday, August 17, 2007
Shannon (No) Show rumbles on..
Another Irish Government Minister, Eamon O’Cuiv, has decided to criticise [Updated O’Cuiv link via Limerick Blogger] the Irish Government over the Aer Lingus decision and the Defence Minister, Limerick TD Willie O’Dea, has been painting defeat as victory.. Perhaps he should have listened to the Aer Lingus Chief Executive, Dermot Mannion, more carefully at that meeting.. or even to the official Irish Government statement.. oh, and the Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern is reported to be saying that the Heathrow route is over-rated [final paragraph].. Interestingly, with all the focus on intra-governmental disagreements, there’s silence from those who were, initially, most enthusiastic. [statement made on 7 Aug]
Dr Paisley said: “This is great news for Northern Ireland. It is another shining example of how competitive our economy is becoming. As with other recent announcements, there was stiff competition from another region to secure this deal. Much praise must therefore go to Aer Lingus and Belfast International Airport for their commitment to Northern Ireland.
Improving our economy is one of our key priorities and today’s announcement represents a massive boost. Reinstating the crucial Northern Ireland-Heathrow route is immensely significant for businesses, and will serve to strengthen our linkages within the UK economy, which is the fourth largest in the world ”
Junior Minister Gerry Kelly, in welcoming the announcement said: “This is a tremendous boost for our aviation industry. Our economy will greatly benefit from these eight new routes and will provide further choice for travellers. Significantly though, the flights to Heathrow and Amsterdam will raise the opportunity of direct onward flights to many more worldwide destinations. This is yet another tangible example that the peace dividend is working and I thank Aer Lingus for choosing us and Belfast International Airport for ensuring their vision became a reality.”
Adds That final paragraph I mentioned
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today that the Heathrow route was over-rated. “People have voted [against Heathrow] with their feet, and large numbers have gone to Paris, gone to Amsterdam - gone to other hubs, and that in my view is something that Shannon should be looking at.”
Pete Baker @ 02:41 PM
I know I’ve been out-of-touch, and off-base for a few days, but .... am I the only one to have spotted the Sunday Tribune article [http://www.tribune.ie/article.tvt?_scope=Tribune/News/Home News&id=75484&SUBCAT=Tribune/News&SUBCATNAME=News]?
This puts a value of €500M on Aer Lingus’s Heathrow ‘slots’: four on the Shannon route, five for Cork and 12 for Dublin. The Shannon flights have a couple of tasty morning and mid-evening slots as I recall. It doesn’t need a genius to recognise that those are gold-plated, and far too valuable for the culchies of Clare and Limerick.
Or does that offend?
Posted by on Aug 19, 2007 @ 04:24 PM“I am forced to conclude that my post went whistling way over your head.”
You seriously over-estimate your trajectory.
It landed at my feet.
Posted by on Aug 19, 2007 @ 05:33 PMDewi: PLUs = people like us.
Southern Observer - tell your wife she’s being wripped off in that overpriced tat shop on Knightsbridge. She’s be much better off doing the boutiques on the King’s Road, if yousuns are lucky enough to have a credit card that stretches that far.
Nope, nobody exactly uses that phrase but it’s obvious that’s the attitude that a lot of FFers are taking. As I said, the whole thing is overblown - we’re getting two new routes out of this and the rest of it is about Aer Lingus taking on Easyjet in one of their most profitable hubs.
There is an argument that our gain up here is disproportionate to the Mid-West’s loss, if you’re taking an all-Ireland view; remember, we already have a Heathrow service from George Best. As a Nordie, I’ll take whatever investment is coming, though. As long as Heathrow is running at 97% capacity, slots will be like gold dust.
Posted by on Aug 19, 2007 @ 09:33 PMI’m still hoping someone can explain how a ‘UK’ hub relates to a ‘closed island economy’, since a ‘UK’ hub (for which the alternative was Brum) would appear to have anything to do with the economy of the (smaller) island.
Posted by on Aug 20, 2007 @ 06:31 AMAs a Southerner I have mixed feelings on this. My heart says this is an outrageous betrayal of Shannon and the hundreds or even thousands of jobs which may (or may not for that matter) be threatened by this decision. But my head is telling me that if we mean what we say about wanting an All-Ireland economy, then we will have to concede on this - after all what signal would a national govt interfering in the market send to multinational investors? I wonder was it really so necessary though for such a far-reaching decision as this? Most of the flights from Shannon-Heathrow were en-route to destinations on the Continent anyway, and that might mean that some of this is overblown. I hope the talks with Easyjet to provide a new Heathrow flight are successful - I read somewhere that Easyjet were waiting for an executive to come home from holidays before a final decision is made. I’ve heard in the media that a lot of people/businesses are trying to avoid Heathrow anyway because of overcrowding and related problems.
Posted by on Aug 20, 2007 @ 01:33 PMBrian Boru @ 02:33 PM:
The only great fallacy there is that Easyjet want in to Heathrow: it cuts against the whole low-cost concept.
If, as you suggest, much of the Shannon-Heathrow traffic is en-route for continental destinations, then a Shannon-Paris CdeG or (even more so) a Shannon-Schiphol link makes more sense. And, in that context, I note that the original Aer Lingus press release seemed to make a play about the Aldergrove-Schiphol link (see http://www.uk-airport-news.info/belfast-airport-news-070807.htm)
Might one speculate? Assume the use of Aldergrove is a success (and it will be). At some point, in the expand-or-die market that is European air transport, Aer Lingus will need a permanent presence in continental Europe, almost certainly not too far from the Benelux centre.
And a reasonable suspicion is that such expansion may well be complementary to Easyjet, but spitting in the eye of Ryanair.
Posted by on Aug 20, 2007 @ 03:22 PMNot really relevant, but thanks to all you so-and-sos, I’ve just discovered one of the more remarkable (and chilling) websites going.
Go to http://lhr.webtrak-lochard.com/template/index.html
This shows the air traffic movements at Heathrow in 5sec increments. By clicking an aircraft, one can recognise its type, speed, height etc.
That’s the fun part.
Now assume there are aircraft not on the plot (for example police, privateers, those into London City?). Remember where you’re sitting (and, right now, I’m under the flight path).
Suddenly I’m sweating.
Posted by on Aug 20, 2007 @ 03:49 PMOne simple and clear element has not been mentioned. Aer Lingus staff in this country do exist. Aer Lingus is an international conglomerate organisation of many national companies.
Is the intention of the first laid Belfast pay proposals to bring change to the existing British remuneration plans which are in existence, or simply to put new Belfast staff in line with other British staff, or to create a new British remuneration scheme which would be different to that of English staff?
The economies in the two countries are not identical and the floodgates argument is well suited: were there to be new staff in Bulgaria, would their salaries be demanded to be the same as those of Dublin pilots, or would that demand be made for the North West of that country only? National salary levels are determined by national economies and remuneration levels.
There may be good reasons why the Irish model should be used in the United Kingdom and now may be a good time to employ this model in this country. The lack of clarity as to this simple issue in many press reports, I imagine stems from that communication from Aer Lingus has been minimal.
I am surprised that little comment in the press has been made as to the unusual nature of such an international remuneration argument, unusual even here, where there are special international affiliations.I am surprised that reportage has not drawn attention to the remuneration of existing British employees. It is unreported as yet in all I have read if Aer Lingus’s proposals are for standard British remuneration, whether or not such an argument is a good thing.
It took me a while to figure out what Mr. Ahern meant about the Shannon route. I thought: I don’t know why Shannon should be looking at going to Paris or Amsterdam like possible London bound travellers. But the literal meaning seemed to be more realistic than creating a new European capital city in the middle of the Irish countryside. No, I see, it’s that people who operate airplanes have gone away from Heathrow. But what could Heathrow Airport have possibly done wrong? Less drugs nearby is all I can think of, or choosing to locate where there aren’t enough arthouse cinemas, perhaps. Heathrow is recorded as the busiest airport in Europe in terms of passenger traffic though Amsterdam and Paris main airports have more cargo and Paris Charles De Gaulle has more frequent plane movement. Though I can’t really see a great amount of difference for Mr. Ahern to disfavour Heathrow, especially with expected expansion.
Posted by on Aug 22, 2007 @ 11:43 PMI don’t know what Malcolm Redfellow means in #6, speculate about what?
People would fly to Shannon from Amsterdam and then fly to Belfast? Yes, some will if a route comes into existence.
Aer Lingus have flown to and from Amsterdam Schiphol for years. (A good number of airlines have). What would make it an Aer Lingus hub?
Direct flights between Belfast and Amsterdam are not new.
Regarding a route between Shannon and Belfast, that would be very good for us. It takes ages to get there by road.
A great Web link, Malcolm.
Posted by on Aug 23, 2007 @ 12:14 AM
