Bournemouth Airport boss says owners ‘in for the long haul’
11.10.10
The boss at Bournemouth Airport has its owners are 'in it for the long haul' despite the ‘massive challenges’ of rebuilding its market, the Daily Echo reports. Rob Goldsmith gave a frank lecture to the Christchurch branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
The airport has been hit by the recession and the weak pound, and several airlines and tour operators have pulled out or cut back. Bournemouth saw rapid growth from one operator in 2001 to 22 in 2007, until the recent decline. This year, Palmair and Ryanair have pulled their winter services and Flybe and bmibaby have stopped their single destination operations.
Mr Goldsmith said a key plan for the future is increasing business flights from 5% and filling the ‘hole’ in destinations in northern Europe. He said: ‘Our current network is dominated by routes to the Mediterranean. We want an airline who can offer a range of domestic destinations. Not just one or two when it suits them if they have nothing better to do with their aircraft.’ Top of the list of target destinations are Edinburgh and Glasgow, followed by Manchester, then Leeds, Belfast and Newcastle.
Mr Goldsmith also pointed to the new £45 million departures lounge built by the owner, the Manchester Airports Group. He said: ‘This is a 25-year investment decision. They are not a venture capital company. They are trying to develop for the right reasons. They didn’t make the easy decision to defer the investment.’
Bournemouth has 800,000 passengers a year, but it could handle three million, 1.5 million more than Southampton currently attracts. Mr Goldsmith said Bournemouth needs more long-haul flights to take advantage of new long-distance planes like Boeing’s Dreamliner. And he wants more flights to ‘hub’ destinations like Amsterdam so that people can catch connecting flights.
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