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KNOCK AIRPORT’S BOSS has said the Mayo hub is “on the cusp” of relaunching direct access to Germany – but he’s worried that current tourism policies won’t be able to sustain routes at regional airports.
In an interview with Fora, Joe Gilmore said Ireland West Airport Knock is “in discussions” with carriers to bring back direct services to northern German cities.
“In the last five or six years, at different times, we’ve had services into Cologne, Frankfurt and places like that,” he said, adding that legacy carrier Lufthansa and former-Germanwings had previously operated flights at the hub. “We’re looking to put those services back in place.”
However, Gilmore believes Ireland’s regional airports will struggle to sustain routes for longer periods without additional commitments from local and national governments.
He said airlines have tended to cull direct services to smaller hubs after one or two years but carriers “haven’t been given the opportunity to build the market and to build the awareness”.
“It takes, in our view, a minimum of two or three years to build a route. That needs investment both from the region, the airline and national government to build that access.
“When you have a situation where airlines are under such pressure that they need to generate an immediate return in the first season, in many cases they withdraw the service without it having had the opportunity to develop and grow over a period.”
The airport boss admitted he doesn’t have a specific model for how the government could provide additional support to small airports, but he added a “policy instrument” should be introduced to give airlines the confidence to continue routes for longer periods.
“I’m not suggesting that you’d go down a (Public Service Obligation) route to drive access from key tourism markets into the western seaboard,” he said.
“But there should be some model where there’s an intervention over an initial two- or three-year period to ensure the access is sustainable and viable … and gives the opportunity for the region to invest in the international marketing that’s required.”
He said the issue is complicated by the fact that European Union state-aid rules restrict when member states can give money to airports.
“It’s complex from a perspective that you have a broader EU dimension. Subvention of any type of air access is strictly prohibited in many cases unless it’s under a PSO.”
Runway works
Recently filed accounts for Ireland West Airport Knock showed that the hub booked a profit of nearly €643,000 in the year to the end of December 2016 – a more than fivefold increase on the previous 12-month period.
However, the directors’ report said the company would have recorded a loss if it hadn’t received funding from the Department of Transport.
Last year, the government provided Knock airport with nearly €2 million to cover capital expenditure costs. This was in addition to a €868,500 state grant it received to supplement operational costs.
Gilmore said the taxpayer has put some €36 million into Knock since the airport opened in 1986 to cover infrastructure spending.
Over the next six to seven years, it’s expected another €28 million will be injected into the hub to help with an improvement programme.
“The big project in that is a main runway overlay,” Gilmore said, referring to a process where a fresh layer of asphalt is applied to the existing runway.
The multimillion-euro programme also includes a plan to increase the number of aircraft parking stands at Knock from three to six. Gilmore said the millions that have so far been put into the airport have been “tremendous value for money”.
Citing data supplied by professional services firm EY, he said the hub has “thrown off about €140 million in tourism revenues into the region” and added the airport directly employs nearly 200 people.
Last year, some 733,800 passengers used Ireland West Airport Knock, a 7% increase on 2015′s tally, although that was less than half the number of people who passed through Shannon Airport to the south.
Gilmore said the increase was down to the launch of new routes to Birmingham, Edinburgh and Costa Dorada, as well as an Aer Lingus charter service from Boston.
He said that service was “primarily religious-based” with American Catholics travelling to visit the Knock Shrine, a pilgrimage site that’s visited by about 1.5 million people each year.
It’s expected the airport will cater for some 750,000 passengers in 2017. Gilmore said once the airport reaches the million-passenger mark, it will no longer need state support to cover operational costs.
Transatlantic flights
Knock airport currently offers flights to 22 destinations, 16 of which are scheduled services. The rest are mainly chartered flights to sun holiday destinations.
One of Gilmore’s top priorities is to oversee the launch of a seasonal, scheduled service to the east coast of America.
More than a decade ago, now-defunct Flyglobespan operated summer services from Knock to New York and Boston. However, the transatlantic flights only operated for one season because the company went bust.
“Since then, there has been the aspiration to get back into the US market and provide direct connectivity from here,” Gilmore said. “We’ve been in discussion with all the main carriers.”
Aer Lingus, Delta, American and United have all met with Knock airport in recent years. Management have also approached new entrants Wow Air and Norwegian Air International.
In July of this year, Ireland West Airport Knock signed a sister airport agreement with Stewart International Airport in New York.
Gilmore said the idea to twin the hubs – and to share market research data and business contacts – came from Stewart International’s side.
“Given that Stewart is owned by the Port Authority of New York, which also owns JFK, Laguardia and Newark, when they proposed the idea to us through contacts we had, we said yes.”
Interestingly, Norwegian Air – the low-cost transatlantic carrier that launched several direct US services from Ireland this year – has a base at Stewart International.
“We were hopeful in Norwegian’s initial airport announcements that we would have been included. At this point we’re not,” Gilmore said.
“We’re hoping with the introduction of their new (Boeing) 737 Max into the fleet and that the existing services in Ireland are performing strongly, that’ll give them confidence to open new destinations.”
When asked what Knock airport can offer transatlantic operators over other hubs, Gilmore said the east coast of America in particular has “a significant diaspora” linked to the north-west of Ireland.
He said the airport estimates that some 18 million members of the Irish diaspora live in New York state. Between two and three million have a direct family connection to the west of Ireland.
“Last year alone, there were 140,000 trips taken from our catchment to the east coast, particularly into the New York region. So the numbers stack up,” he said.
“We’re offering a gateway into a large north-west region that is currently unserved … If you look at where US visitors travel when they arrive for their one- or two-week break, the north-west does not receive the same percentage of visits primarily, in our view, because of the access issue.”
Gilmore acknowledged that it will be a challenge to convince transatlantic carriers to invest in the launch of a new destination – but he’s still hopeful one of them will take a punt on the small Mayo airport.
“We’re totally uncongested in terms of the other airports,” he said. “And we offer a one-stop shop: we do all of the ground handling, the safety and security.
“So airlines don’t have to contract in ground service operators or check-in services. We offer the full turnkey service.”
Written by Conor McMahon and posted on Fora.ie
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He meant to say he fully expects to see Ireland OUT of the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign
Brian kerr destroyed him last night and he was right other managers with better results got left go quicker. 4 competitive wins across 3 campaigns is dreadful and wouldn’t get you out of one campaign let alone 3. Better to leave him go, use the summer to find his replacement and then give them the remaining games to bed in and find a style of play and start fresh for the world cup qualifying campaign. If Kenny stays then the next two years are a write off as it’s more of the same. If he goes at least we will feel like we are building towards something.
@Paddy Up: Not his fault he does not have the players Paddy,
@Mac Dara Powell: we’ll never know unless the manager changes. Lad has only delivered at League of Ireland level, so am unsurprised he’s struggling at this….
@Mac Dara Powell: He will have fewer going forward as 2nd and 3rd generation players will opt for country of birth if the FAI doesn’t appoint A Top Class Manager who will earn the respect the players
Wake up FAI
Why is Kenny not getting the criticism from the Dublin Media that is warranted
@Joe Tone: Because he’s not from Cork or anywhere else outside the pale, you should know that by now.
@Joe Tone: maybe because it’s futile ….what’s to be gained by ramping up critism , stirring the crowd to call for his head , sack the manager , bring in …….., Rinse and repeat …this might surprise you but there’s plenty of critism doing the rounds , but there’s also just a tiny piece of more intelligent analysis in some quarters , the reality of this teams level , the attempt to being through new blood , nobody is saying results are what we would like , but constantly calling for sacking Ireland managers is shallow populist nonsense , let’s get pitch forks that should do the trick !
“If we had won against Greece everything would be great ”
If my grandmother had wheels she would have been a bike .
He needs to go .
@Fergus Jones: yes gino,this is true
The show is over,simply not good enough
Starting to feel a bit sorry for him, seems like an honest bloke.
And lets be honest, when he goes, I doubt there will be a rush of high level clubs after him. It will be back to League of Ireland, earning about a fifth of what he is on now.
They are out at this early stage but let’s call a spade a spade. But Stephen still has a wage to draw from the FAI (tax payers money) and just like the politicians are good at lining their pockets
Brian kerr was shafted as ireland manager, barely missed out in qualifying, kenny making a jokestop of ireland results in last 3yrs but wont be sacked as fai cant afford it, delaney has a lot to ask for
@burrito girl: Not qualifying with the talent he had at his disposal was criminal.
He’s Shïté
“Stephen Kenny – I fully expect to see out all of Euro 2024 qualifying campaign”.
On his salary, of course that is what he would like. But that performance against Greece seemed to be tactically inept.
A lack of competence is surely grounds for ending a contract!
@Nestor: Whether he sees out the campaign or not he still gets the full contract amount.
We’ve no midfield ,only for the Keeper we’d have been hit for 5 ,not a Kenny fan but the team are poor at best
Show me the money
He is starting to sound a bit like Mehole now. Totally delusional.
Am I wrong but did I hear our manager say we still have a good chance of finishing 2nd in our group. Is he delusional or just stupid. What is he watching. The players are poor over all. We all can see that. But sat night was a total disgrace. There was nothing there in the whole 90 min. Kenny was not watching the same game I was. We play Gibraltar. And we are all excited we could beat them. Our schoolboy team would give them a game. 200 places below us. France only beat them 3 nil. I wonder. Glad Stephen thinks he is staying till end of euros. Does it make any difference really. Shambolic all of it. .
A contract is a contract let’s give Kenny and the team, Honesty at least
Even Somalia wouldn’t sign him as second manager.
I expect to win the euro millions, any day now and maybe Vera could do the job?
Fitting celebrities into systems is the challenge for modern, elite managers. The attitude of players, in turn, seems to have changed. It’s hard to quantify, of course, but when Darragh Lenihan, on joining Middlesbrough in 2022, spoke less of hoping to win the league or the Champions League than the Ballon d’Or, it felt like a key moment. Players now ask at least as much what a club can do for them as what they can do for the club –
Kenny to run fr FF in the next GE , his got all the right qualities
Do people think we should be beating Greece away from home? This is the worst crop of players we’ve ever had. We could get someone in to make us play hoofball, hardly ever qualify, and if we do be the laughing stock of Europe again I suppose.
Fair play to him for getting the job as the Irish Coach, mega leap from League of Ireland coaching, but Internationals are a Totally different level. It’s a doomsday scenario for both Kenny and the Team.
All the boo boys can cry all they like, but fact is you could bring in Pep and we would still be terrible, put simply we just don’t have good players, due to lack of investment from both the FAI and government, we are about 20 years behind everyone else.
I might be mad, but see if Big Sam wants the poisoned chalice. We need a manager that knows how to fight their way through a game. Even see if Graham Potter would be up for it.
@Rafa C: I agree. I’ve mentioned Big Sam before and got lambasted for it. I think he’d be a great fit and he’s managed here before so would have some affinity with the place.
Oh no ya won’t !
“We nearly scored” just after each of Greece’s goals? What game was he watching?
I don’t buy into this vicious criticism of Kenny. Dundalk proved that Kenny has motivational skills but he can’t play the match for his players and as usual the players walk away free of all blame. Silly mistakes, lack of concentration, passing, closing down etc etc etc.In general, there is no leadership on the pitch. We can get rid of a manager but what about the prima donnas. Journalists talk about bad performances but run clear of criticism of so called professional players. Club wise, they are good players but most of them have dubious pride in the Irish Jersey. Are Journalists incapable of proper analysis? We can all see the tactics but it’s all about how they are carried out. Kenny does have a system but players don’t play for each other, unlike Jack’s teams or ‘minnows’ like Luxembourg, and they suffer no accountability, like Dave O’Leary or Liam Brady. Maybe if that means replacing some players with LoI players, so be it but leave Kenny to sort it out, We will never be world beaters but we still can perform like Jack’s teams, if the pride comes back.
Nothing wrong with the manager. What we need are players who care more about winning than whether their hair looks good. Ideally you need players who know what to do with the ball when they get it, and players who try to score. Sadly we don’t have any of these. What we have are players who run from the ball and even hide from it or look the other way incase someone passes it to them. It’s not the Managers fault that the players don’t give a s***.
I fully expect to see a blue moon sometime soon.
is he still here
Disappointing coverage by The Journal on these matches. Comon Ireland
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