mutley
31-08-2010, 05:07 PM
http://www.u.tv/News/Ryanair-pulls-out-of-city-airport/e462073e-ced6-488f-85ac-e3b7247a7a1a
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary said the airline will close its Belfast City airport base on 31 October.
The move follows the delay of a public inquiry into controversial plans to extend the runway at the airport.
The runway extension would allow planes with heavier fuel loads to use the airport, opening up the possibility of flights to and from extra destinations in Europe.
Ryanair says it regrets that the planned extension will not be delivered until 2012 at the earliest.
"We started to fly into Belfast City in October 2007 and we were promised a runway extension three years later", Mr O'Leary told UTV.
"We are still waiting for the runway extension and now the public inquiry is going to be further delayed. It's clear we won't have a runway extension for three, four, five years after we started and that means we can't fly to Europe. We can't offer full flights safely and we can't offer £9.99 fares to Europe,."
"We've assured Belfast City Airport that if there is a runway extension that allows Ryanair to offer low fare flights to Europe safely then we'll come back to Belfast City."
Jobs
Ryanair said it will switch its Belfast city based aircraft to another European airport, with the loss of 50 Ryanair jobs. The airline says staff will be offered relocation elsewhere in the UK or Europe.
Last year, Ryanair carried 800,000 passengers to and from Belfast City Airport, a third of the airport's business.
The airline said up to 1,000 support jobs in and around Belfast City Airport could be affected by the move, which the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association described as a blow for the local economy.
In other news despite oppossition by local residents Environment Minister Edwin Poots has approved plans for a controversial chicken waste incinerator in the Co Antrim village of Glenavy.
Who said
http://www.u.tv/News/Glenavy-plant-approved-despite-critics/ec513f15-c277-4b9b-bd71-050e7f1d7212
It has met opposition from local residents, who say the facility will blight Glenavy's rural landscape and the natural beauty of the Lough Neagh area.
The environment minister says he has considered arguments from the community but approved the plant as it will "further stimulate the local economy".
"I am fully aware of both the opposition and support for the power plant," the DUP minister said.
"Having given the proposal careful consideration, including visiting the site and viewing it from Lough Neagh, I am satisfied that on balance it should be approved.
"It is an example of investment that can contribute in many ways, providing long-term work, generating power, supporting local agriculture, and related industries.
"It will also have indirect employment and investment benefits in connection with Belfast Port and the haulage industry in Northern Ireland."
Opposition
Communities Against the Lough Neagh Incinerator (CALNI) say it will launch a legal challenge against the decision.
"This is one of the worst planning decisions ever made in Northern Ireland," said CALNI President Danny Moore.
"Almost 7,000 people submitted objections to the application - the highest number of objections ever submitted against a planning application in Northern Ireland.
"At the very least, there is irrefutable evidence that this planning application should go to a public inquiry."
The group says it has spent £350,000 to date fighting the plant, which includes employing consultants who they say have found 30 better suited sites for the incinerator.
It would be interesting to find out how many resisents objected to the proposed runway extention at Belfast City Airport.
It all smacks of a lack of consistancy
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary said the airline will close its Belfast City airport base on 31 October.
The move follows the delay of a public inquiry into controversial plans to extend the runway at the airport.
The runway extension would allow planes with heavier fuel loads to use the airport, opening up the possibility of flights to and from extra destinations in Europe.
Ryanair says it regrets that the planned extension will not be delivered until 2012 at the earliest.
"We started to fly into Belfast City in October 2007 and we were promised a runway extension three years later", Mr O'Leary told UTV.
"We are still waiting for the runway extension and now the public inquiry is going to be further delayed. It's clear we won't have a runway extension for three, four, five years after we started and that means we can't fly to Europe. We can't offer full flights safely and we can't offer £9.99 fares to Europe,."
"We've assured Belfast City Airport that if there is a runway extension that allows Ryanair to offer low fare flights to Europe safely then we'll come back to Belfast City."
Jobs
Ryanair said it will switch its Belfast city based aircraft to another European airport, with the loss of 50 Ryanair jobs. The airline says staff will be offered relocation elsewhere in the UK or Europe.
Last year, Ryanair carried 800,000 passengers to and from Belfast City Airport, a third of the airport's business.
The airline said up to 1,000 support jobs in and around Belfast City Airport could be affected by the move, which the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association described as a blow for the local economy.
In other news despite oppossition by local residents Environment Minister Edwin Poots has approved plans for a controversial chicken waste incinerator in the Co Antrim village of Glenavy.
Who said
http://www.u.tv/News/Glenavy-plant-approved-despite-critics/ec513f15-c277-4b9b-bd71-050e7f1d7212
It has met opposition from local residents, who say the facility will blight Glenavy's rural landscape and the natural beauty of the Lough Neagh area.
The environment minister says he has considered arguments from the community but approved the plant as it will "further stimulate the local economy".
"I am fully aware of both the opposition and support for the power plant," the DUP minister said.
"Having given the proposal careful consideration, including visiting the site and viewing it from Lough Neagh, I am satisfied that on balance it should be approved.
"It is an example of investment that can contribute in many ways, providing long-term work, generating power, supporting local agriculture, and related industries.
"It will also have indirect employment and investment benefits in connection with Belfast Port and the haulage industry in Northern Ireland."
Opposition
Communities Against the Lough Neagh Incinerator (CALNI) say it will launch a legal challenge against the decision.
"This is one of the worst planning decisions ever made in Northern Ireland," said CALNI President Danny Moore.
"Almost 7,000 people submitted objections to the application - the highest number of objections ever submitted against a planning application in Northern Ireland.
"At the very least, there is irrefutable evidence that this planning application should go to a public inquiry."
The group says it has spent £350,000 to date fighting the plant, which includes employing consultants who they say have found 30 better suited sites for the incinerator.
It would be interesting to find out how many resisents objected to the proposed runway extention at Belfast City Airport.
It all smacks of a lack of consistancy