Re: Re: Airports; how many state subsidised airports are required in Ireland
@a boyle wrote:
a boyle agrees with thomond park that shannon is overstuffed with people doing non jobs. i would go one step further and say i would like to see it face bankcruptcy so that a competent company could take over.
regarding subsidised airports we need zero. they should all close, right away.
Regarding the country: one airport seems to serve the eastern side of the country rather well (a little too well many would argue.)
So the inescapable logic is that one airport on the western side of the country is needed. The strategic location for such an airport is undoubtedly shannon.
The hundreds of millions saved could be spent on radically improving the rail network and the bus network. What person would argue that shannon is a poor choice when with a high quality rail link it would shannon closer to galway and cork , than charles de gaulle is to paris , heathrow to london, and jfk is to new york.
Those disagreeing with me would probably be silenced if only shannon was renamed : Cork , Galway and Limerick International Airport.
That is so inane. Lord.
1 – Subsidising airports does not have to be a bad thing. Air transport is a vital element of all economic activity (just ask any multinational in the Cork or Shannon region) and forcing those who travel frequently to travel long distances to an airport will just make them move their operations to somewhere they don’t have to do that. The one caveat is that any and all subsidies should be evenly distributed and transparent.
2 – One airport can serve the east of the country because the a significant proportion of the population is concentrated in one relatively compact area (ie a million plus in one city). The obvious problems aside, the infrastructure is more developed in the East than the West of the country.
3 – Have you ever flown from Cork to Dublin? I doubt it judging from your comments. Ryanair and Aer Arann have significant capacity on the route, did you ever think to ask why? Substantial business traffic travels that route on day trips and wouldn’t be able to do it going to and from Shannon or any other airport. Current times allow a business person to have a 3 hour meeting in Dublin in the morning and be back in the office in Cork by 2.30 for the rest of the day. Believe me, that frys Dublin peoples brains. They think Cork is somewhere near Uganda, and without an airport is may as well be.
4 – Railways are a good way of connecting people to major transport hubs. BUT, they are not a magic bullet as not everyone gets or would get the train to an airport. Do you really expect someone from Dunmanway or Bantry to drive for an hour, leave the car and take a train for another hour? Ridiculous.
5 – “Hundreds of millions” would not be saved. Capital costs aside, state airports do not costs anything like that, and in fact generate and contribute to significant levels of economic activity. The “cost” of an airport, port, railway or any major piece of infrastructure is only one side of the equation.
