Greedy Cornwall Council ruin RyanAir plans
Discussion
More council greed and incompetence :rolleyes:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/4385802.stm
[quote=bbc]
Newquay fee 'ended Europe plans'
An airline says it might have started flying direct from Cornwall to Barcelona, if a surcharge for departing passengers had not been introduced.
Ryanair has objected to the £5 surcharge imposed at Newquay airport by Cornwall County Council to help reduce a deficit of more than £1m a year.
The so-called airport development fee which begins on Saturday is the first to be introduced at a UK airport.
The county council said it had received no such offer.
Flights dropped
Ryanair, which fears other UK airports will follow Newquay's example, said it had tried to persuade the county council not to bring in the surcharge.
The airline is halving the number of winter flights out of Newquay next month from two to one in protest at the surcharge and has threatened to pull out altogether.
Deputy CEO Michael Cawley told BBC News the firm had promised new routes, including Newquay-Barcelona and possibly a route to Italy.
He said that more passengers would have meant more revenue, but the surcharge will mean fewer passengers.
He said: "We would have gone from Newquay directly to continental Europe.
"We've been working with the county council and our suggestion was to increase the number of passengers.
"The airport costs will be there whether they have a million passengers or none."
Andrew Mitchell, the county councillor who chairs the committee responsible for Newquay airport, said he had not heard of any such offer from Ryanair, despite having conversations with Ryanair bosses.
The airport's financial situation is expected to become more acute after the MoD mothballs the adjacent St Mawgan airfield, which helps pay for some of Newquay's running costs, next year.
Engineers at Newquay are carrying out final checks for the introduction of the surcharge. [/quote]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/4385802.stm
[quote=bbc]
Newquay fee 'ended Europe plans'
An airline says it might have started flying direct from Cornwall to Barcelona, if a surcharge for departing passengers had not been introduced.
Ryanair has objected to the £5 surcharge imposed at Newquay airport by Cornwall County Council to help reduce a deficit of more than £1m a year.
The so-called airport development fee which begins on Saturday is the first to be introduced at a UK airport.
The county council said it had received no such offer.
Flights dropped
Ryanair, which fears other UK airports will follow Newquay's example, said it had tried to persuade the county council not to bring in the surcharge.
The airline is halving the number of winter flights out of Newquay next month from two to one in protest at the surcharge and has threatened to pull out altogether.
Deputy CEO Michael Cawley told BBC News the firm had promised new routes, including Newquay-Barcelona and possibly a route to Italy.
He said that more passengers would have meant more revenue, but the surcharge will mean fewer passengers.
He said: "We would have gone from Newquay directly to continental Europe.
"We've been working with the county council and our suggestion was to increase the number of passengers.
"The airport costs will be there whether they have a million passengers or none."
Andrew Mitchell, the county councillor who chairs the committee responsible for Newquay airport, said he had not heard of any such offer from Ryanair, despite having conversations with Ryanair bosses.
The airport's financial situation is expected to become more acute after the MoD mothballs the adjacent St Mawgan airfield, which helps pay for some of Newquay's running costs, next year.
Engineers at Newquay are carrying out final checks for the introduction of the surcharge. [/quote]
At the moment it's just tit fot tat between Ryanair and Restormel Council. The reports of the council being 'greedy' are in my opinion not entirely correct as currently, the the airport is costing ratepayers money. Newquay Airport currently shares the runway and other sevices provided by RAF St Mawgan (who own the airport I believe), of which the MOD is going to pull the plug on using the airbase and as a consequence 'mothball' the RAF Base.
This £5 surcharge is only the tip of the ice-burg, the remainder which doesn't seem to have made much of an impression in the news perhaps.
I just hope Restormel Council can sort the Airport problem out a darn sight better than the re-development 'fiasco' that St Austell (or St Awful which it is laughingly being referred to in some quarters) is going under at the moment.
Meur ras hag onan hag ol
This £5 surcharge is only the tip of the ice-burg, the remainder which doesn't seem to have made much of an impression in the news perhaps.
I just hope Restormel Council can sort the Airport problem out a darn sight better than the re-development 'fiasco' that St Austell (or St Awful which it is laughingly being referred to in some quarters) is going under at the moment.
Meur ras hag onan hag ol
driftwood said:
At the moment it's just tit fot tat between Ryanair and Restormel Council. The reports of the council being 'greedy' are in my opinion not entirely correct as currently, the the airport is costing ratepayers money. Newquay Airport currently shares the runway and other sevices provided by RAF St Mawgan (who own the airport I believe), of which the MOD is going to pull the plug on using the airbase and as a consequence 'mothball' the RAF Base.
This £5 surcharge is only the tip of the ice-burg, the remainder which doesn't seem to have made much of an impression in the news perhaps.
I just hope Restormel Council can sort the Airport problem out a darn sight better than the re-development 'fiasco' that St Austell (or St Awful which it is laughingly being referred to in some quarters) is going under at the moment.
Meur ras hag onan hag ol
I read one of the local papers when I was down there, and they are more or less saying Ryanair is making a fuss.
I believe other operators from Newquay Airport are accepting the charge. It is only Ryanair that is kicking up the fuss. I think Ryanair has some sort of agreement that if the aircraft isn't turned aound in 25 minutes they don't have to pay any fees. They have cut back on the number of flights as it is.
When RAF St Mawgan is put into Care & Maintenence next year then the Fire cover, Air Traffic Control etc all goes aswell. If you have ever been to St Mawgan it is a massive base and very little used by Civilian traffic. The terminal there is very small.
If you want to know what pilots think of Ryanair, their management, and staff relations check out the www.pprune.com forums. Makes for some interesting reading.
I found out the other day that the plane I flew to Girona in the other week, had been in an overspeed landing incident last year. The aircraft went into a 5,000 feet per minute decent (pilot having marital problems at the time), then was going too fast to select 30 deg flap, so landed with about 10 deg flap at 40 knots too fast. The pilots did not log this incident after landing and flew the aircraft back to Stanstead without getting it checked
>> Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 29th October 18:53
Ryan Air are certainly on no pedestal. Their desire to cut cost to such limits egenders a sense of fear in me and I will not fly Ryan Air.
Ryan Air are using their usual bully tactics against the council, they have no concern about PR, anyone remember the fiasco about the blind passengers made to leave a Ryan Air flight, in my opinion not a partcularly nice company to do business with or work for.
Ryan Air are using their usual bully tactics against the council, they have no concern about PR, anyone remember the fiasco about the blind passengers made to leave a Ryan Air flight, in my opinion not a partcularly nice company to do business with or work for.
los Angeles said:
Holy crap, Supraman!
The only pic I have on PC of the airfield at the moment.
There used to be nuclear weapons stored on base aswell during the cold war. It was also a Forward operating base for the V Force.
I was speaking to someone the other year that was telling me Galaxy's and Starlifters used to fly in after dark, unload their cargo's and depart in the early hours of the morning. They were removed from the base when the cold war ended. This guy was telling me as the last Starlifter IIRC, left it had a fire engine driving behind under each wing. I imagine incase of any engine problems
The US Navy have a facility built into the cliffs above Watergate Bay, I have heard that it is something like 8 stories deep and is a communications centre for the US Navy. You can cometimes see Navy UC12 Turboprops going in and out. The Nimrods left in 1992, and the Sea King Maintenence unit came in shortly after and the HQ of 22 squadron. I believe both of these have now gone. Last week saw an excercise at the base which saw about 12x Tornado F3s and 12x Tornado GR4s based there.
As a cadet, went on a 'Tapestry' Nimrod sortie from
there in 1982-ish....Fishery Protection, lots of
hooning around scaring Spanish fishermen. There
were a fair few Buccaneers there at that time as well...
...the Buccaneer sim was something to behold - huge
minature map mounted on it's side - when they
turned on the lighting, the station's electricity
consumption made a significant spike.
>> Edited by eharding on Saturday 29th October 21:11
there in 1982-ish....Fishery Protection, lots of
hooning around scaring Spanish fishermen. There
were a fair few Buccaneers there at that time as well...
...the Buccaneer sim was something to behold - huge
minature map mounted on it's side - when they
turned on the lighting, the station's electricity
consumption made a significant spike.
>> Edited by eharding on Saturday 29th October 21:11
It's already there.
The civil terminal was expanded a few years ago. They won't need further concreting. Virtally anything can use St Mawgan's runway.
In Cornwall there are quite a few airfields.
Davistow Moor - Former WW2 base, now privately owned and a Microlight airfield.
St Eval-Now closed to flying and covered in Radio Masts. Former Shackleton, Liberator & B17 base.
Perranporth - WW2 Fighter base, privately owned.
Portreath - Former WW2 Mosquito base I think. Now a Communications/radar base.
Culdrose - Base for Royal Navy Sea Kings, Merlins and FRADU Hawks.
Predannack - Royal Navy Fire Training base and satellite for Culdrose.
The civil terminal was expanded a few years ago. They won't need further concreting. Virtally anything can use St Mawgan's runway.
In Cornwall there are quite a few airfields.
Davistow Moor - Former WW2 base, now privately owned and a Microlight airfield.
St Eval-Now closed to flying and covered in Radio Masts. Former Shackleton, Liberator & B17 base.
Perranporth - WW2 Fighter base, privately owned.
Portreath - Former WW2 Mosquito base I think. Now a Communications/radar base.
Culdrose - Base for Royal Navy Sea Kings, Merlins and FRADU Hawks.
Predannack - Royal Navy Fire Training base and satellite for Culdrose.
eharding said:
As a cadet, went on a 'Tapestry' Nimrod sortie from
there in 1982-ish....Fishery Protection, lots of
hooning around scaring Spanish fishermen. There
were a fair few Buccaneers there at that time as well...
...the Buccaneer sim was something to behold - huge
minature map mounted on it's side - when they
turned on the lighting, the station's electricity
consumption made a significant spike.
>> Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 29th October 21:11
I've spent quite a lot of time over the years at the end of St Mawgan's runway. My Grandfather used to be on ground crew at St Eval during the war. St Eval is just up the road, but closed in the 1960's as the Shackleton MR3s could not use the short runways. So whenever we went on holiday with the grandparents we usually ended up at St Mawgan.
I have a few photos of Buccaneers at St Mawgan. Shame the base is being mothballed. Hopefully the JSF will go in there.
>> Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 29th October 21:19
anonymous said:
[redacted]
You can't realistically turn a plane around in 25 minutes (except small turboprops...SMALL ones) so that sounds rediculous.
Budget airlines in general are not the best thing. Corners have to be cut - customer service being the first victim (if you are lucky). Having to wait an hour for your luggage is much better than skimping on maintainance for eg.
And they're not the only ones trying to exert pressure. @ Manchester BA has threatened to pull out if they let Easyjet on site. Guess which would spend more and has prestigous international routes?
Better to lose Ryanair now than to build up an infrastructure for them and then pull out anyway.
KEEP CORNWALL GREEN! Cornwall (like many parts of the UK) acquired most of its airfields just before or during WW2. The main reason why the bases was built was for RAF Coastal Command to try and provide some air cover over the sea lanes to the South West of the UK. After the war, some of the bases closed but a few were kept operational more or less fulfilling the same tasks but with more modern equipment together with providing air-sea-rescue facilities.
Military air bases often tend to be quite kind to local wildlife. With the exception of the runways and buildings (which often take up a surprisingly small amount of the overall land area occupied by the base), the fact that these bases are restricted means that the local wildlife can often live relatively unmolested.
Converting a miltary base to a civilian airport on the other hand DOES have a major impact on the are. First of all, the volume of air traffic will eventually way exceed what it was when the airfield was used by the military. Secondly, airports need a lot more surrounding infrastructure than a military airfield - short term and long term car parks, hotels, car hire facilities, terminal buildings, bus stations and (sometimes) train stations. Often the surrounding roads need to be upgraded to accomodate the increased traffic generated by the new airport.
>> Edited by Eric Mc on Sunday 30th October 07:46
Military air bases often tend to be quite kind to local wildlife. With the exception of the runways and buildings (which often take up a surprisingly small amount of the overall land area occupied by the base), the fact that these bases are restricted means that the local wildlife can often live relatively unmolested.
Converting a miltary base to a civilian airport on the other hand DOES have a major impact on the are. First of all, the volume of air traffic will eventually way exceed what it was when the airfield was used by the military. Secondly, airports need a lot more surrounding infrastructure than a military airfield - short term and long term car parks, hotels, car hire facilities, terminal buildings, bus stations and (sometimes) train stations. Often the surrounding roads need to be upgraded to accomodate the increased traffic generated by the new airport.
>> Edited by Eric Mc on Sunday 30th October 07:46
planetdave said:
You can't realistically turn a plane around in 25 minutes (except small turboprops...SMALL ones) so that sounds rediculous.
Budget airlines in general are not the best thing. Corners have to be cut - customer service being the first victim (if you are lucky). Having to wait an hour for your luggage is much better than skimping on maintainance for eg.
And they're not the only ones trying to exert pressure. @ Manchester BA has threatened to pull out if they let Easyjet on site. Guess which would spend more and has prestigous international routes?
Better to lose Ryanair now than to build up an infrastructure for them and then pull out anyway.
25min tis true..
I was based at Prestwick airport a few years ago flying Learjets, and a few times as we see the fuel truck pull up to our wing, the Ryanair 737 would land only for the fuel truck to gather his stuff and roar off to fuel them. So much was the fear that they would leave Prestwick so all the rest of us got screwed. Ryanair had threatened several times if they couldnt get turned in 25-30min.
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