Airport.

[madmanxpilot]

Just now, Two-lane said:

arrivals/departures as a "problem", just run-of-the-mill stuff that small airports have to deal with. Not anything for a manager to complain about.

The issue is that Menzies provide enough staff to deal with the schedule - when aircraft start operating outside of that, their resources become stretched.

[Ringy Rose]

4 minutes ago, madmanxpilot said:

The issue is that Menzies provide enough staff to deal with the schedule - when aircraft start operating outside of that, their resources become stretched.

Sometimes.

Sometimes it’s that EasyJet only allow 30 minutes turnaround for each departure. And on a Friday they have four departures all exactly 30 minutes apart. This always falls over as EasyJet don’t really do sticking to schedule.

But he can’t really publicly criticise either Menzies or EasyJet for this.

[CrazyDave]

7 minutes ago, Ringy Rose said:

But he can’t really publicly criticise either Menzies or EasyJet for this.

Nor should he have to because people shouldn’t be asking him questions about something that is nothing to do with him.

[Mercenary]

7 hours ago, CrazyDave said:

I thought he did very well, and highlighted the fact that most decisions are down to cost vs benefit and need to be backed up by a valid business case.  Yes we could make it easier to land in fog but it would cost 10m and save roughly 8 fog days a year.

 

You would probably say there could be a reasonable case for investment there.

- Say 1500 pax a day, delay costs min £50/pax when delayed? (Realistically more as often it's unscheduled disruption, direct fuel & airline costs considerable, ahead of journey time etc)

- 8 days a year, but also arguably a fair bit more than this as it often results in delay/re-planning

There are established UK values for all of the above through DfT so hopefully a comprehensive bid could be made.

 

Also compare to the ferry terminal where £6m is being spent to moor the new boat in high winds (say 10 days per year or whatever). This is obviously more 'critical' infrastructure, carrying the freight, but from an 'IOM plc' perspective airport reliability is very high up the list.

 

Although as @Roger Mexico said, it's good to hear there is consideration being made of the benefits ahead of ploughing millions into a project.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

1 hour ago, Two-lane said:

As for persons occasionally standing in the departure lounge at busy times - that is what happens on buses and trains at rush hour. Try the tube at rush hour.

It also happens in pubs on Friday and Saturday nights, but no one complains about that.

 

Well no, because you can leave a particular pub if you choose to because no seating is available and go to another pub. ( It’s not like you have bought your drinks in advance at that particular pub)

You can hardly do that if you have purchased a plane ticket from Ronaldsway to say Gatwick.

[x-in-man]

New airport director has a plan for everything.

[Mikimoto]

Guernsey now introducing new destinations....not IOM of course, but at least they're offering the locals options!

[Roger Mexico]

14 hours ago, Ringy Rose said:

14 hours ago, madmanxpilot said:

The issue is that Menzies provide enough staff to deal with the schedule - when aircraft start operating outside of that, their resources become stretched.

Sometimes it’s that EasyJet only allow 30 minutes turnaround for each departure. And on a Friday they have four departures all exactly 30 minutes apart. This always falls over as EasyJet don’t really do sticking to schedule.

Not to mention the fact there are other airlines as well (who may also not stick to schedule).  But the real problem here is passengers.  They mostly want the travel at the ends of the day to maximise time at one or other end of their journey.  So they will prefer to book such flights and airlines will schedule to try to meet the demand.  And those flights will be fuller than others and take more time to load and unload.

So ground handling companies face a problem.  Do they provide enough staff and machinery to cope with the peaks or provide just enough to average across the day and muddle through the busy times.  Ground handling companies are commercial organisations, so they are going to go for the cheaper option to maximise profit and make their charges competitive.  Providing they don't make individual planes wait over the limit (which Cobb said was 60 minutes) too often, this how they will operate.  So prepare to be sitting on planes a lot (not just at IOM Airport).

And of course this disrupts the airlines' schedules at busy times and costs them more in the long run.  But because they want cheap ground handling they've go no one the blame but themselves.

[asitis]

Jesus Christ it appears Mr Cobb may be thinking what those of us who told Government in 2006 were thinking ............

It may have taken 17 years to come to that realisation.

Airport Director says two operators serving one route can cause issues for passengers

Some of the issues affecting passengers at Ronaldsway are caused by having two airlines competing on the same route.

[dreamon]

Does anyone know what happened to the advertised positions for two executive members to join the Board of Advisors at the Airport? Or, have the CS now quietly swept these positions under the carpet?

https://www.gov.im/news/2023/jul/28/isle-of-man-airports-board-of-advisors-seeks-two-new-executive-members/

[asitis]

59 minutes ago, dreamon said:

Does anyone know what happened to the advertised positions for two executive members to join the Board of Advisors at the Airport? Or, have the CS now quietly swept these positions under the carpet?

https://www.gov.im/news/2023/jul/28/isle-of-man-airports-board-of-advisors-seeks-two-new-executive-members/

They'll make sure it is not someone with the technical knowledge required !

[Stu Peters]

1 hour ago, dreamon said:

Does anyone know what happened to the advertised positions for two executive members to join the Board of Advisors at the Airport? Or, have the CS now quietly swept these positions under the carpet?

https://www.gov.im/news/2023/jul/28/isle-of-man-airports-board-of-advisors-seeks-two-new-executive-members/

There were six interviewed I believe, all of whom were highly qualified. So much so that we selected three rather than two. To be clear, Gary Cobb had no part in the interviews or selection.

[madmanxpilot]

Just now, Stu Peters said:

There were six interviewed I believe, all of whom were highly qualified. So much so that we selected three rather than two. To be clear, Gary Cobb had no part in the interviews or selection.

Good to hear.

Let’s hope the airport can now be steered into a position where it can facilitate frequent and reliable air services. After all, that’s all any of us want.

 

[Roger Mexico]

3 hours ago, asitis said:

Jesus Christ it appears Mr Cobb may be thinking what those of us who told Government in 2006 were thinking ............

It may have taken 17 years to come to that realisation.

Airport Director says two operators serving one route can cause issues for passengers

Some of the issues affecting passengers at Ronaldsway are caused by having two airlines competing on the same route.

What he actually said on the Mannin Line was that he was generally in favour of competition on routes but he realised that sometimes there might not be enough business for that particular route to sustain full competition.  He gave as an example easyJet scaling back their Manchester service in November/December.

But this is just markets working as they ought to.  We have to get away from this fantasy that we can abolish Open Skies and the airline industry will immediately give us whatever we want.

[madmanxpilot]

3 hours ago, Roger Mexico said:

What he actually said on the Mannin Line was that he was generally in favour of competition on routes but he realised that sometimes there might not be enough business for that particular route to sustain full competition.  He gave as an example easyJet scaling back their Manchester service in November/December.

But this is just markets working as they ought to.  We have to get away from this fantasy that we can abolish Open Skies and the airline industry will immediately give us whatever we want.

I disagree.

Certain things are more important than being left to the vagaries of an open market.

We are an isolated community that needs to have assured levels of connectivity.

Offer an airline exclusivity on a lifeline route in return for guaranteed levels of service, and pricing, then I am certain they would bite your hand off at the opportunity to engage.