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

[whole diary]

[woody]

British Airways announced today that it will withdraw scheduled operations from four London Gatwick short-haul routes, including its daily flights to Newquay Cornwall Airport
http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/3564813.BA_withdraw_services_from_Newquay/

[Tinminer]

Good!

[Btline]

You see, if the gov got their act together now and improved the railways/built new ones, we could see a huge drop in domestic flights.

[Chris from Nailsea]

"Plymouth City Airport has been ranked as the second fastest growing airport in the country after official figures revealed a 31 per cent increase in passenger numbers.  The impressive growth has been attributed to the introduction of new flights earlier this year to Glasgow, Newcastle, Dublin and Cork by Plymouth-based low fare regional airline Air Southwest.

Mike Coombes, deputy chief executive of Air Southwest, said: "There's been a lot of doom and gloom around about air travel recently so it's good to be able to report that Plymouth is bucking the trend.

"All our new routes have been very well received.  Glasgow is proving especially popular for business travellers, particularly with marine-related businesses, and for short breaks in Scotland.  Newcastle has also seen a lot of marine and naval-related traffic, and we're seeing a lot of customers take advantage of the city's legendary nightlife and its proximity to the Northumberland coast and national park."

For full details, see http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Airport-proving-soaring-success/article-338473-detail/article.html

[Btline]

In order to curb domestic air travel:

*the gov should increase tax for these flight, to make them more expensive;

*the gov should order a mandatory 2 hour check in time (with or without hand luggage) to make domestic air travel less fast.

(And electrify/ put tilting 10 car 155 mph trains on the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) network!)

[G.Uard]

In order to curb domestic air travel:

*the gov should increase tax for these flight, to make them more expensive;

*the gov should order a mandatory 2 hour check in time (with or without hand luggage) to make domestic air travel less fast.

(And electrify/ put tilting 10 car 155 mph trains on the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) network!)

I'm not sure about increased taxes, but increasing check in times to make domestic air travel less attractive could conceivably be seen as a breach of competition laws.

As for an electric 155 mph to Plymouth, about as likely as Argyle signing Ronaldo

[woody]

Despite Plymouth being Britains 14th largest city its peripheral geographical position situated on a slow sinuous rail route west of Exeter means that its stagnating rail links are seriously handicapped in the face of any air competition that may arise.While 60mph line speeds may of been considered high speed in Victorian times they certainly not in 21st century.The recent trend to add more station stops and padd out journey times for the specific purpose of ensuring that trains reach their final destination within 10 minutes of the booked arrival time means that many trains are slower than they were 20 years ago sending all the wrong messages to the transport market in these parts.

[bemmy]

I don't think it's purely a matter of geography. Because the South West region as a whole has a relatively high standard of living (the average being distorted by the number of rich people who move west), and is considered predominantly rural, it has traditionally missed out on the sort of investment that governments have from time to time aimed at the "inner cities", Scotland, Wales, the north etc.

The fact that Plymouth has some of the most disadvantaged areas in the country has largely been ignored as this doesn't fit the prevailing stereotypes of the yacht brigade, or farmers milking the EU^» (European Union - about) subsidy system.

So when they talk about building a high speed rail link in a westerly direction from London, you can guarantee it will be instantly dismissed without any further thought. Unless the Welsh Assembly can afford to pay for one, of course, but while that might accidentally benefit Swindon and Bristol, it won't make much difference west of Exeter.

Remember it took the European Union to notice that Cornwall is England's poorest county.....

[G.Uard]

Plymouth Airport cannot support larger commercial aircraft.  Whilst the 50 seater Dash 8 turbo-prop services are well patronised, I doubt whether a later series 737 service would be commercially viable, even if runway constraints allowed it to land.  In addition, Exeter has far better facilities and is increasingly recognised as the regional
airport for the SW.  There is also strong competition from Newquay, which has a huge runway and the potential to accomodate the largest aircraft

Unfortunately, Plymouth has had a moribund economy for several years, it also has huge swathes of deprivation and is not a particularly attractive destination from a revenue generation perspective.  Given the current economic downturn, I cannot see that position changing.  As such, IMO^▸ (in my opinion) there is simply no economic justification for the vast investment needed to raise line speeds towards HS^▸ (High Speed (short for HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) High Speed Services)) levels at this moment in time.
 
However, an improved rail  service with higher line speeds should be a priority and will hopefully serve to increase the attractiveness of the city to potential investors.

[Tim]

BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) managed Plymouth-London in under 3 hours without huge investments.  is it too much to hope that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) could manage the same with minor improvements to the track if needed?

[woody]

In a world where nothing stands still transport links included, anything that is not moving foreward is effectively moving backwards.That unfortunately is the status now of FGWs^▸ (First Great Western) Plymouth to Paddington service, little wonder then that Plymouth is not a popular rail destination.In contrast road and air links have improved and continue to improve and that is how the vast majority of people now choose to travel to Plymouth.If rail wants to play its part then the problem of the very low line speeds(for a main line) ,only 55mph between Totnes and Newton Abbot,needs to be addressed urgently.

[Lee]

Two councillors have sparked a damning response from officials after calling for Newquay Airport to be sold and all monies to be ploughed into adult social care in Cornwall (link below.)
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/homepagenews/Councillors-sell-Newquay-Airport/article-372668-detail/article.html

[John R]

The following has been posted on the Newquay Airport website.

Newquay Cornwall Airport Flights to Cease Temporarily
We were informed around 4.30pm today (26.11.08), that the RAF^▸ (Royal Air Force) is unable to continue to operate the airfield at St Mawgan beyond the original transition date of 1 December.
26 November 2008

Given that the Airport will not be licensed until 19 December, we are effectively closed for commercial flights with flights resuming on 20 December 2008. However, the terminal building will remain open and in operation for check-in.

[vacman]

Shame it doesn't close forever!

[Phil]

Maybe they could divert flights to Bangkok airport there for the time being?