Halt airport auction and explore options

“--Newplymouth said 'JBrant I wish I could find a nicer way of saying it but you don't know much about aviation'--

Ha ha, only this very day I posted articles about Glider Towing and Aircraft Carrier Operations at an aviation website where I'm a senior member..:)”

“@newplymouth

Unfortunately the page appears to have been removed from the PCC website. I suggest you attend the public meetings Viable hold if possible, IIRC there is one in a few days, which will be better than me repeating second hand information.”

“@Dunthiel
Thank you but could you be a bit more specific about which consultants'reports you were referring to? I am finding the PCC site quite difficult to search.
I am also interested in your business case for a profitable operation without initially any commercial services. How would such an operator be able to pay a market rent on a 100 acre plus site in a prime location or are we back to a subsidy either SUH or PCC or someone else?”

“@newplymouth

Check the PCC website.

@FromMendip

A key fact you need to take into account is that Plymouth Airport doesn't need commercial services, i.e. passenger flights, to be run profitably. So whilst scheduled flights will no doubt materialise, there would be a viable core business underpinning them.

As you say, the far South West's current airports are in the wrong place. It is most definitely not dreamland to suggest that an airport located in Plymouth, the most populous area South of Bristol, could not support a right-sized operation.”

“It's a shame PCC did not make as much effort saving the Airport, as PAFC. As much as people rant on about it, there is no 'U' turn now - it's gone. Just need an express transport link to Exeter Airport.”

“@Johnny-Brant
I wish I could find a nicer way of saying it but you don't know much about aviation; passenger planes come smaller than Dash 8's but not much smaller the Plymouth runway prevents bigger planes getting in like those used by Easijet and Ryanair,
But don't listen to me read postings like FromMendip who clearly knows what he is talking about! I fear there is still a lot of disinformation about the former Airport!
Sorry to be so direct!”

“Whenever I saw the big airliners wheeling over Plymouth to land at the airport I couldnt help wondering why they were so big, especially if they were half empty. Surely smaller aircraft full to near-capacity would have been more profitable and cost less to maintain,but what do i know?”

“"You may have experienced what seemed like low passenger numbers, but in 2009/2010 Plymouth was the fastest growing airport in the country and was averaging 400 passengers a day."

In 2009 CAA official stats indeed show that in percentage terms Plymouth City Airport was the fastest-growing UK airport in terms of passenger numbers, but because the base number was so low to begin with with any rise gives a disproportionate percentage change.

In 2009 PLH handled 115,254 passengers which is an average of 316 a day - not enough to fill one daily Ryanair flight out and back to somewhere.

In fact, a closer look shows that although PLH increased its passenger numbers that year by 16.5 percent there was actually an increase in flights of 29.5%. As most if not all were Air Southwest flights it's easy to see that the average loads were down considerably on the previous year if nearly a third more flights generated only a sixth more passengers.

No wonder then that the flight numbers were cut back the following year (2010) when only 96,498 passengers were handled, down 16.3 per cent on 2009, but the number of flights only reduced by 13.3 per cent meaning average loads were down again.

Someone suggested that all other UK airports were doing well so why close Plymouth? Many have been having a torrid time in recent years and there is a long list of UK regional airports that have seen annual passenger throughput drop by anything between 30 per cent and over 50 per cent in the past four years, including in this area, Exeter, Newquay and Bournemouth airports.

Airports at Cardiff, Prestwick, Durham Tees Valley, Blackpool, Norwich, Humberside have seen similar huge passenger falls and this is not an exhaustive list. Even the better performing regional airports in the recession, such as Edinburgh, Bristol, Birmingham and Leeds-Bradford have either barely stood still or made tiny percentage passeger gains.

With the South West's population so relatively sparse it's living in Dreamland to believe it could support three airports (Plymouth, Newquay and Exeter) which taken together provided only a modest route network.

With a blank sheet of paper one airport would have been created in the Plymouth area for the whole of Devon and Cornwall but the country's airports never evolved like that so we are stuck with two, still struggling, airports at either end of Devon and Cornwall. It's not ideal but is the reality of the situation.”

“@Dunthiel
Very interesting I would love to read these reports can you give me some web addresses?
Are these the reports commissioned by SUH or PCC or are they from Viable or others?.
I did read one of the earlier reports that said the short runway at Plymouth made commercial life there very difficult; it is not an LCY where lots of rich Londoners jet off round Europe and to NY. Sadly Plymouth is not a global financial services center and whatever else it may become it won't be this. The locals would not even support the excellent PLY-LCY route.
Also some years ago prior to the privatisation of Exeter Airport the then RDA cast doubts of the long term viability of Plymouth with its short runway and with two major airports in a proximity that London based air travellers would have no problems with.
There is only one way IMHO for someone to prove Plymouth can support a commercial non subsidised regional airport- put crudely -putting your money where their mouth is!
The elephant in the room is that a new operator has no rights to use the former Airport and I don't know what PCC or anyone can do about this other than enter into commercial negotiations with SUH to take over their lease! This will cost money!”

“@newplymouth

Though I don't wish to snub our local journalists, there are certain more accurate avenues to procure information by than reading things in The Herald.

You are quite right in saying there is a culture of misinformation though, as there is of preventing some information from being sourced. One of your earlier posts illustrated this - "Other Facts no less than 3 independent firms of consultants could not find a base business case to continue the operation of the Airport". Have you actually read any of these reports? If so, you will presumably have seen that two different cost covering operational models were identified by external consultants where Plymouth Airport could be run profitably with minimal risk, but they were completely ignored.”