Maastricht Airport in financial problems

[Atlantis]

Below is a link of Luchtvaartnieuws.nl.

Is short is that Maastricht Airport is in financial trouble because of the lack and the huge drop in cargo, especially from China.
The province and the government don't want to give them money anymore to survive.

Lately we saw the Royal Jordanian Cargo from time to time back at BRU.
Maybe some opportunities for BRU and LGG?



http://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nl-NL/Ar ... zwaar_weer

[RoMax]

I'm spending most of my time in the Netherlands recently (also into aviation). And not so long ago I said that MST is a quite dull airport and why does it even still exist with LGG that closeby... If they could kill me with their eyes, I wouldn't be here anymore. But I still have the same idea...

Very limited pax services (and the limited services can even be served by LGG and there are great train connections with AMS) and cargo is going really badly, and also here we have another big cargo airport around the corner.

[Passenger]

On top of that, the Netherlands has to end the selective tax exemption that they've given to Maastricht Airport (and not to Schiphol):

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-395_en.htm

[sn26567]

Is there a political will in The Netherlands to keep MST alive? If the City of Maastricht and the Province South Limburg can find money to launch such a dubious venture as Maastricht Airlines, they'd better put their money into the airport.

But, as RoMax correctly mentioned, it's ridiculous to have two airports at such a distance small apart. Since LGG is the most developed of both airports, the smart solution would be to join forces to further develop LGG and make it a true international airport serving three countries (counting the Aachen region in Germany).

But, of course, Dutch nationalistic pride will probably prevent such a solution dictated by common sense.

[Established02]

Lately we saw the Royal Jordanian Cargo from time to time back at BRU.

Expectedly only as a stop on their JFK runs.
Perhaps there is a night curfew at MST or fuel is cheaper at BRU.

[BRU]

MST is closed at night, so for night flights RJ is still using BRU.

[airazurxtror]

it's ridiculous to have two airports at such a distance small apart. Since LGG is the most developed of both airports, the smart solution would be to join forces to further develop LGG and make it a true international airport serving three countries (counting the Aachen region in Germany).

The Région Wallonne rules two airports : CRL and LGG. Charleroi is for passengers, Liège is dedicated to freight.
The people of Liège and surrounding area go to Maastricht to take an FR flight to Stansted, Dublin, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Palma or Tenerife. For them, Maastricht is nearer than Charleroi or Eindhoven.
Besides, MST is a nice and practical little airport. I, for one, would be sorry to see it closed.
And one still hopes for Maastricht Airlines to appear !

[RoMax]

The people of Liège and surrounding area go to Maastricht to take an FR flight to Stansted, Dublin, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Palma or Tenerife. For them, Maastricht is nearer than Charleroi or Eindhoven.
Besides, MST is a nice and practical little airport. I, for one, would be sorry to see it closed.

Agreed, but at what cost does they have to keep it alive for not even half a million passengers a year...?Liège lacks destinations like Dublin, Stansted, Italian destinations, but overall, they offer a wider range of holiday/leisure destinations than MST (HQ and JAF, both sheduled carriers now). What's not served by LGG...I'm sorry, but that's not worth it to keep an airport alive...

An airport has a role of serving a community, but not at any cost. The Dutch government refuses to help MST and for a reason...

[LJ]

Is there a political will in The Netherlands to keep MST alive?

Not at the central government level. The central government made clear it will not subsidise any regional airport. Moreover, at present the central and local government are not willing to partipate in any development if the airport can't be operated without government subsidies (hence why it's still unclear if the Twente Airport venture will go ahead). As for the local government of Limburg and Maastricht, they'll probably be willing to invest, but they lack money. Dutch Limburg is doing badly economically but they probably find the a way to put money in it (they even invested in Maastricht Airlines).

But, of course, Dutch nationalistic pride will probably prevent such a solution dictated by common sense.

It won't be down to Dutch national pride, but more Limburg local pride (I doubt many in The Netherlands would care besides those living in Southern Limburg).

[convair]

Have they caught the belgian virus then?

[Tomskii]

I rather fly from LGG than MST for instance. Not because it is closer to Leuven (where I live) but it's just a nice little airport which still has a lot to offer and for once is not limited by too much inhabitants around the airport. (In comparison to BRU and CRL)

[Passenger]

I rather fly from LGG than MST for instance. Not because it is closer to Leuven (where I live) but it's just a nice little airport which still has a lot to offer and for once is not limited by too much inhabitants around the airport. (In comparison to BRU and CRL)

Indeed, there are far less inhabitants near LGG then near CRL and near BRU. But there ARE people living near LGG who suffer from the noise. And more then just a few dozen. But they don’t go too far in their protest, because they know that all political parties (local, regional) are in favour of the airport. What would happen with LGG if the political parties who have installed the severe noise restrictions at BRU would install the same noise restrictions for LGG?

[RTM]

But, of course, Dutch nationalistic pride will probably prevent such a solution dictated by common sense.

It won't be down to Dutch national pride, but more Limburg local pride (I doubt many in The Netherlands would care besides those living in Southern Limburg).

This is very, very true.


Also, the airport was killed by politicians long time ago. Back when TNT was looking for a base, they considerred MST. Off coarse, (local) politicians then came into action, and put up all kind of noise regulations and requirements. Needless to say what happened...
I think, from that moment on, the airport was doomed.

A couple of years ago, MST launched the plan of becoming a maintenance boulevard. This as well never materialized. Their goal was to attract maintenance copany's to the airport, and develop in that direction. An ambitious plan, bus with a few shortcomings. Mainly, no company wanted to move to it. Dutch company's from the Randstad region may have considered it, but their staff would never even consider moving to the south of Limburg. Limburg locals don't understand it, but to therest of Holland, the Limburg mantality is very impopular. Nice for a short holiday, but no way they want to live there. Foreign company's probably couldn't care less.

Same with Maastricht Airlines now. I think it is driven by Limburg pride rather than actual market need. So I am sceptical about what the future holds for them. But it would be nice to be proven wrong.

The future for the airport itself,... to me it looks pretty bleek... A few cargo company's still use it. Cargolux and Turkisch are the main ones. But on the pax side, it is all low cost carriers. That is ok, but they normally don't allow an airport to make to much money on their customers. But that is another discussion, and does not belong in this topic.

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

Maybe we can just ask ourselves, why are so many different airports necessary in a small region ?
We have BRU,ANR,EIN,LGG,MST,DUS,CRL in a small circle,..
with even OST,RTM,AMS and Weeze in the neighbourhood.. ( but in all different countries,taxsystems,.. )

Maybe a closure of some is just natural selection, pity... but so be it...

I don't see the neccesity for existance really for a mst and ein and lgg together, nor anr for commercial flights with BRU just around the corner, .. a waste of taxmoney !
An E135 flight to MAN just 20 min. away from an a319/ arj100 sn flight

On topic..

How is this in other regions btw?
Are there similar regions to notice for comparison,..

CXB

[LJ]

Also, the airport was killed by politicians long time ago. Back when TNT was looking for a base, they considerred MST. Off coarse, (local) politicians then came into action, and put up all kind of noise regulations and requirements. Needless to say what happened... I think, from that moment on, the airport was doomed.

Indeed.

Foreign company's probably couldn't care less.

Vodafone moved its Dutch HQ to Amsterdam (for the same reason why Philips moved its HQ to Amsterdam). Needless to say, the number of passengers which might have used MST dropped as well. The biggest problem is that the Dutch Limburg is in decline (by both economic activity and number of people living there). Not something nice for those living there, but the Dutch economy end at Eindhoven (seen from the middle of the country).

Maybe we can just ask ourselves, why are so many different airports necessary in a small region ?
We have BRU,ANR,EIN,LGG,MST,DUS,CRL in a small circle,..
with even OST,RTM,AMS and Weeze in the neighbourhood.. (

Just to put things into perspective (to see how big MST is compared to the others) here the 2012 ranking of the 11 commercial airports in BeNeLux

Number of pax
1- AMS 51.03mio (+2.60%)
2- BRU 18.97mio (+1.00%)
3- CRL 6.52 mio pax (+10.43%)
4- EIN 2.98mio (+12.45%)
5- LUX 1.92mio (+7.26%)
6- RTM 1,27 mio (+9,9%)
7- MST 345,000 (+0.04%)
8- LGG 309,22 (-/-1.85%)
9- OST 232,651 (+0.00%)
10- GRQ 208,660 (+40.18%)
11 - DHR 141,261 (+16.85%)
11- ANR 139,929 (+31.61%)


Cargo (tons)
1- AMS 1,511,851 (-/- 0.02%)
2- LUX 615,000
3- LGG 576,664 (-/-14.51%)
4- BRU 459,265 (-/- 3.30%)
5- MST 75,00 (+ 18.48%)
6- OST 53,166 (-/- 7.00%)
7- DHR 471.7 (+5.2%)
8- RTM 46

BTW I didn't have all the data for all 11 airports thus that's why only 8 airports are listed with data on cargo.

Thus both LGG and MST are almost equal in pax number, but cargo is where the difference is. Given the problems at TNT I would think that the 75,000 tons can easily by handled by LGG (and that would make LGG the number 2 cargo airport in the BeNeLux). If they would handle the same number of pax, it wouldn't come close to number 6, but at least OST and GRQ will not be able to take over LGG and MST in the ranking. Thus for those managers who live for rankings, a combined LGG/MST (with LGG take over the business of MST) would be a good idea.

[Acid-drop]

I'm spending most of my time in the Netherlands recently (also into aviation). And not so long ago I said that MST is a quite dull airport and why does it even still exist with LGG that closeby... If they could kill me with their eyes, I wouldn't be here anymore.

lol, you are really brave I can only imagine their face then )

MST is almost useless ... it's a flower airport, no flowers, no flight.
We all agree, it's so obvious that it's almost useless to discuss it ... but their disproportionate pride, both on the dutch and the limburg level, has a huge impact on any discussion...
Now, Maastricht is the size of a village and yet they managed to get a working airport until now, so their pride had also some positive impact ... maybe what we as belgian miss sometimes.

Will they give up now ? Very unlikely ... the infrastructure remains, and will probably be interesting to someone ... but we can expect MST to remain a small regional airport. Nothing unexpected anyway.

The Région Wallonne rules two airports : CRL and LGG. Charleroi is for passengers, Liège is dedicated to freight.

That is exacly why MST had its chance in the past. LGG will NOT get pax trafic, so MST had in the past an abnormal amount of luck.
Now, if you explain Ryanair that they have to move 50km away, with the approval of the walloon politics, it can be done in one night, LGG is ready for 1 million pax per year (1 million tons for cargo was also mentioned) and has proved its efficiency when CRL was closed.

Indeed, there are far less inhabitants near LGG then near CRL and near BRU. But there ARE people living near LGG who suffer from the noise. And more then just a few dozen. But they don’t go too far in their protest, because they know that all political parties (local, regional) are in favour of the airport. What would happen with LGG if the political parties who have installed the severe noise restrictions at BRU would install the same noise restrictions for LGG?

This discussion is over already many years.
The density of population around the airport is far, far, very far less than other airports in the benelux, it's a huge amount of luck in geography, check the map you will understand : http://osm.org/go/0EqoHB9
It's surounded by zoning, highways, and fields.
For the others, a massive investment in noise proofing has been done => the discussion is over.
Dont forget LGG was created to become a 24/7 cargo airport. It was the main goal from start.

Maybe a closure of some is just natural selection, pity... but so be it...

Indeed. we'll see what they manage, it's all about politic will i would say.
It's pretty obvious LGG and MST will not talk to each other, they are enemies forever.

[RoMax]

lol, you are really brave I can only imagine their face then )

Not really, as many jokes are always made about MST (and some other regional airports in the Netherlands) I expected them to agree with me that MST has no reason for existance...apperently that was a step too far (they are still aviation minded Dutch people of course...). :problem:

[ralph]

MST is almost useless ... it's a flower airport, no flowers, no flight.
We all agree, it's so obvious that it's almost useless to discuss it ... but their disproportionate pride, both on the dutch and the limburg level, has a huge impact on any discussion...
Now, Maastricht is the size of a village and yet they managed to get a working airport until now, so their pride had also some positive impact ... maybe what we as belgian miss sometimes.

Will they give up now ? Very unlikely ... the infrastructure remains, and will probably be interesting to someone ... but we can expect MST to remain a small regional airport. Nothing unexpected anyway.

Its pretty clear you are anti-MST/pro-LGG but at least try to keep it your own opinion, instead of calling it an 'we all agree' statement with nonsense arguments.

First a statement: Turkish/RJA/West air/AirBridgeCargo/Iberia are/were no flower flights, only cargolux is at the moment, so that part is nonsense. LGG also has lots of flower flights (see further in my reaction)

And about the MST problems: The dutch government and also dutch travel agency's / airlines don't care about MST at all, that's an important reason why MST isn't doing well:
Passengers: Travel agency's/charter airlines moved a lot of flights to EHV last 5-10 years, flights which were flown from MST before. MST doesn't have any focus for them, it's not part of the Schiphol group. Just have a look at the charter schedule 5-10 years ago, it is looking totally different from the current charter schedule. MST even had flights to Australia, which were doing very well, they were stopped because of traffic rights which made them add a stop in London.
About Maastricht Airlines, Air exel proved that there was a solid base for direct flights to some large hubs, however after management takeover they messed up. When KLM took over the AMS flights they did a lousy job with bad schedule and lot's of cancelled flights.

Cargo: First of all, no flights at night, so thats why express flights moved to LGG/CGN.
Next to this lots of cargo initiatives to MST are blocked by KLM/MPH, within the Netherlands they are able to block their competitors by blocking traffic rights into the Netherlands. Ethiopian cargo wanted to fly to MST (flowers), now flying to LGG. Qatar also wanted to fly to the Netherlands (the LGG flights are also flower flights), but didn't get additional rights. And there are more examples in the recent years.

So part of the reason LGG is doing well is because of dutch regulations and the ignorance of dutch travel. agents. And LGG is lucky that the central based travel organisation do care about providing flights from LGG.
I don't think MST should be kept open at all costs, however I still think they are not doing bad given the situation. It's a nice little airport to depart from...

[LJ]

Passengers: Travel agency's/charter airlines moved a lot of flights to EHV last 5-10 years, flights which were flown from MST before. MST doesn't have any focus for them, it's not part of the Schiphol group.

The only reason why many airlines moved to EIN is because it is just a better market. As mentioned before, there is not much economic activity around MST and Eindhoven is much more intersting for airlines than MST. Thus not ignorance but economic motive.

About Maastricht Airlines, Air exel proved that there was a solid base for direct flights to some large hubs, however after management takeover they messed up. When KLM took over the AMS flights they did a lousy job with bad schedule and lot's of cancelled flights.

Yeah right, are you not forgetting why they went bankrupt? Apart from the issues surrounding the CEO, I recall they were bleeding (especially when KLM ended the co-operation with Air Exel). As the smallest aircraft in KLs fleet was the F50 (remember the SAABs were already gone), they couldn't do better than flying 3 daily . Or do you wanted them to fly more (half)empty F50s? Axing MST was the best thing to do as it freed up valuable AMS slots for more important flights.

Ethiopian cargo wanted to fly to MST (flowers), now flying to LGG. Qatar also wanted to fly to the Netherlands (the LGG flights are also flower flights), but didn't get additional rights. And there are more examples in the recent years.

Your example of ET doesn't add up. ET flew to AMS prior to the move to LGG. Thus the move has nothing to do with KL/MP. QR is also a bad example because you probably know QR will be flying EBB-AMS as of June 5th (and judging from the reaction of KL/MP they're not happy). The only issue is here with NBO-AMS, but look how many airlines are already serving that market (SQ and EK).

[sean1982]

I've herad some rumours about FR pulling out of MST as well :-/