Why are Ryanair really taking off?
COME the end of October the Ryanair fleet at Belfast City Airport will follow the swallows southward for winter.
Unlike our feathered friends, it is not certain that the low cost carrier will be returning to the shores of Belfast Lough.
Ryanair's barnstorming boss Michael O'Leary blames the pull-out on the failure of the airport to get permission to extend its runway so as to enable heavier planes to jet off to airports in desirable destinations in continental Europe. Or at least to places in the general vicinity of desirable destinations.
On the face of it Mr O'Leary has a point. He and the City Airport deserved a timely decision, one way or another, so that they could have planned the development of their businesses accordingly. Instead the decision-making process has dragged on for years and there is still no end in sight.
Like many other potential projects in Northern Ireland, the proposed runway extension remains stuck on a merry-go-round on which would-be investors blame the politicians, who blame the lawyers who are instructed by the residents to challenge the planners, who try to manage a system that no one understands, that is devised by the civil servants who report to the politicians, who are lobbied by residents and would-be investors. Lots of people are kept busy but nothing is achieved.
Whatever the back story, the message sent out by the headlines that followed Ryanair's decision is that Northern Ireland is not a good place to do business. There are several other major projects similarly stuck in limbo including the north-south electricity interconnector, the John Lewis store at Sprucefield, and the A5 extension.
There are strong legitimate arguments for and against each of these projects and whatever decision is made, if decisions are ever made, there will be people who will be unhappy. But trying to prevent people from being unhappy by endlessly passing the buck leads to stagnation and discourages new projects. Inevitably this will lead to an infrastructural deficit, a loss of competitiveness and further economic decline.
Planning approval should not be a rubber-stamping exercise, but the process should be able to provide a definitive yes or no answer within a reasonable time period.
That said, it is not entirely certain that Mr O'Leary is telling us the whole tale or that the absence of a few yards of concrete at Sydenham is the sole reason for Ryanair's departure. Could the airline not fly in and out of Belfast without the need for a full-scale base? There is also a perfectly good runway at Aldergrove that can accept the largest of aircraft. So why is Ryanair not just moving its operations to Belfast International? It cannot be the 1 drop off charges can it?
Or could it be that the novelty is wearing off Mr O'Leary's abrasive way of doing business?
I use Ryanair now and then. I accept that the golden age of air travel is long past. I understand the low cost, no frills concept and agree that I do not need all the trimmings on a short flight, any more than I do for a similarly timed train or coach journey. Still I do find Ryanair’s approach to customer expectation management unnecessarily aggressive, so I always scour the schedules for a viable alternative. That I sometimes do fly with Ryanair at all is a testament to the fact that they offer routes, timings and prices that are substantially better than anyone else’s and for that the company deserves credit.
However over the last year the premium, in time or money, that I am prepared to pay so as not to fly with Ryanair has increased and that is certainly not because I have cash spare.
Using Ryanair has became too much of a struggle. The on-line booking system is a mind-bending obstacle course of add-on fees and as the luggage size and weight restrictions are confusingly different from other airlines I am never really comfortable that I am not about to get hit with a hefty fee when I arrive at the airport. No matter how many times I measure and weigh my bag.
O’Leary’s attention-getting antics that helped build the Ryanair brand once had merit, but now they seem at odds with complexity and burgeoning add-on fees. Too many people have discovered that it can sometimes cost no more to fly with an airline with comfortable seats and less in-your-face advertising.
Ryanair jokes stopped being funny sometime last year when we realised Michael O’Leary was serious about charging a quid to use the toilet. Last month’s story that Ryanair had charged three musicians 1,340 to carry their violins to a charity concert sets alarm bells ringing that Ryanair can be hard work to travel with.
Last week O’Leary suggested that co-pilots were unnecessary and that computers and air stewardesses should be allowed to take over when necessary. This is well past the “It’s worth a few extra couple of quid to fly with someone else” phase and well into the “I do not like the sound of that all” territory.
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 14 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 5 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
