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View Full Version : John O'Groats Airport



Gronnuck
04-Oct-12, 06:45
It's all happening up here isn't it; someone must have money to burn. The BBC have reported it here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-19814667)

sids
04-Oct-12, 07:06
It's a mockery,

Of a travesty,

Of two mockeries of a sham!

mi16
04-Oct-12, 07:48
Who cares what it is called?

vwgolf
04-Oct-12, 09:15
I hear there is a internet survey about wick airport. (On survey monkey i think)Can anyone provide the link as we need to voice our veiws on the over prices wick-aberdeen service.The price used to be around £100 return with the air discount card. Now it has shot up closer to £200.The flights could be full to capacity with all the offshore workers driving back and forth to aberdeen.How can fly b charge £98 return from wick-edinburgh and its far longer flight than to aberdeen?Your views on an overpriced unrelliable eastern-airways wick - aberdeen service. ?

Invisible
04-Oct-12, 09:41
I hear there is a internet survey about wick airport. (On survey monkey i think)Can anyone provide the link as we need to voice our veiws on the over prices wick-aberdeen service.The price used to be around £100 return with the air discount card. Now it has shot up closer to £200.The flights could be full to capacity with all the offshore workers driving back and forth to aberdeen.How can fly b charge £98 return from wick-edinburgh and its far longer flight than to aberdeen?Your views on an overpriced unrelliable eastern-airways wick - aberdeen service. ? Link on John O Groat journal website

RJM
04-Oct-12, 09:46
This service is terrible not to mention expensive. Hubby tried to book flight weeks in advance only to find no flights up for that day except the late flight. Eventually finding it odd, he phoned to be told that the flights for that day and the day after had been cancelled. For no good reason except that they often do it in the summer was what he was told. Spoke to a woman the other day who has family down there and she says it a regular occurance. The flight times are rubbish as well.

RJM
04-Oct-12, 09:49
Why did the airport have to be rebranded anyway? I booked Flybe flights back in July and the airport name on the Flybe sytem was down as wick-john o groats then.

mi16
04-Oct-12, 10:18
It has been rebranded to exploit the whole John o Groats tip of the UK thing, mind you when they land in Wick they would be forgiven for thinking that they were not close to the end of the country, more like the anus of the Earth.

soulsurfer
04-Oct-12, 12:16
Do they really think the general public are that dim that they will decide whether or not to book a flight based on the name of the airport?

mi16
04-Oct-12, 12:52
Do they really think the general public are that dim that they will decide whether or not to book a flight based on the name of the airport?

lots of people from South of Inverness have no idea where Caithness is, and similary would have no idea that Wick is in close proximity to JoG, therefore by rebrandign the airport the shandy drinking Southerners that fancy a trip to JoG may realise that there is an airport close by and use it.
Simples really

sids
04-Oct-12, 13:23
the anus of the Earth.

You'll just be passing through, then.

sids
04-Oct-12, 13:24
They'd get more tourists if they called it Wick Orkney Airport.

mi16
04-Oct-12, 13:48
By that reasoning why not call it Barcelona B then the tourists would be flooding here?

Wiseowl
04-Oct-12, 14:15
I can understand their reasoning.. but then, what happens when these tourists arrive at 'Wick John O'Groats Airport" to find that they need to spend £20-£40 odd pound just to get a taxi there as the buses are few and far in between?! Surely the transport links should be upgraded if they were to market the airport as a way of commuting to John O'Groats?

RecQuery
04-Oct-12, 14:35
Why does that craphole John O'Groats attract so much funding? it's obscene really that money could be spent developing tourism in other parts of Caithness instead of on that place. It's almost as bad as HIE's fetishisation of food businesses.

sids
04-Oct-12, 14:51
what happens when these tourists arrive at 'Wick John O'Groats Airport" to find that they need to spend £20-£40 odd pound just to get a taxi

Take them to "Noss Head John O'Groats" and only charge a fiver.

mi16
04-Oct-12, 15:18
I can understand their reasoning.. but then, what happens when these tourists arrive at 'Wick John O'Groats Airport" to find that they need to spend £20-£40 odd pound just to get a taxi there as the buses are few and far in between?! Surely the transport links should be upgraded if they were to market the airport as a way of commuting to John O'Groats?

The passengers onward travel plans are not the concern of the airport operator.
If they have to take a taxi to JoG then great, they will be boosting the local economy more.
If you land at Glasgow Prestwick or Glasgow International you are looking at a fairly hefty taxi fare to get into the center of the city, although I appreciate the busses run at regular intervals.
I am sure if the demand is there a local taxi firm will run a minibus out to JoG from the airport for a reasonable fee.

Invisible
04-Oct-12, 16:29
I agree with RecQuery and think that if tourists fly up to Wick John o Groats Airport and then go to John O Groats they will realise its a big anti climax. I for one, if name change is mandatory, would like to see Wick Old Pulteney Airport :)

JoeSoap
04-Oct-12, 16:33
what happens when these tourists arrive at 'Wick John O'Groats Airport" to find that they need to spend £20-£40 odd pound just to get a taxi there [...]
They spend the £20-£40 on the taxi, get out, get their picture taken at the rickety white sign, wander about the car park and then look at the tourist bric-a-brac and 'Scottish' clothing. Then they head home and tell all their friends not to bother visiting John O'Groats because it's a half-hour drive from anywhere just to be disappointed.

Honestly, I have never - and likely will never - understood why tourism in Caithness is such an absolute shambles. Pulling in Wallace Arnold coaches full of American tourists trying to retrace some imagined ancestral heritage is surely not the best to be hoped for?!

Corrie 3
04-Oct-12, 17:44
would like to see Wick Old Pulteney Airport :)
I would like to see it called....."Wick-Las Lybster"........Tourists would come flooding in just to see the triple depth parking and the Old Police House sex shop!!!

C3.

golach
04-Oct-12, 18:54
I can understand their reasoning.. but then, what happens when these tourists arrive at 'Wick John O'Groats Airport" to find that they need to spend £20-£40 odd pound just to get a taxi

When visitors fly into Edinburgh Airport it cost approx £20+ in a taxi to get to the city centre. To drop off or pick up anyone at Edinburgh Airport costs £1.00, then there are parking charges over that.

joxville
04-Oct-12, 20:58
When visitors fly into Edinburgh Airport it cost approx £20+ in a taxi to get to the city centre. To drop off or pick up anyone at Edinburgh Airport costs £1.00, then there are parking charges over that.So it's not just down here in the Effluent South that people get ripped off for parking. I collected my brother from Luton Airport last week, it cost £11 to park for 45 mins. It should have been £7.90 but I was charged at the 2hr rate, I'm still waiting to hear back from the operators, and to compound the problem the machine kept the ticket so I have no evidence to prove I was robbed. And then I was charged £1 to drop him off on Monday. Sometimes I hate this bloody country, we get ripped off at the slightest opportunity.

MileHigh
06-Oct-12, 19:47
Been Sitting fuming about this for a while now.

As a Aviation Enthusiast and Proud Wicker I find the new Airport title quite insulting for both parts of the County. And when I read about things Like this in the papers about how our local Councillors and MPs think its a great idea and it will increase passengers numbers I really do start to worry about the future of the whole County. How on earth do they think more people will use the Airport just because they have added a name to the end of it and made the place sound even more stupid is beyond me !! a couple of points to bring up

1. John O Groats is 20 Miles from Wick and this gives people who think they are flying into John O Groats the wrong impression.

2. There is No Transport infastructure to get people to John O Groats from Wick Airport. The only Bus service currently served by Wick Airport goes to Thurso via Halkirk.
As some above has pointed out that a taxi into Edinburgh cost £20 or more there are other options to get into Edinburgh City Centre for example there is the AirLink Bus Service which
costs about £7 Return. And there soon will also be the Trams (if it ever gets completed)
Wick does not have all these options.

3. Wick Airport is Located in WICK not John O Groats !

4. If the Airport Consultative Committee wants to promote John O Groats more why not have a Page on the HIAL Wick Airport Website dedicated to telling all about John O Groats
or calling it Wick Airport " Gateway to John O Groats" Similar to how they say Inverness Airport "Gateway to the Highlands" ?

5. HIAL the operators of Wick Airport recently Closed the Airport on Friday Mornings and all day Saturday meaning there is no Air Traffic Control saying it was down to having their
Budget Cut and saving money but now they are throwing money away on new signage Madness !

As a regular user of the Airport in all my Flights not once have I seen Bikes being unloaded from the Aircraft hold with loads of people heading for John O Groats and at the end of the
day what is there out there NOTHING ! Cafes and Shops selling at inflated prices. Its a greta place for people heading to Orkney on Day Trips !!
I am all for promoting John O Groats and Wick Airport but im afraid this is NOT the way to do it ! How was this name change not put out to Public Consultation ?

I hope someone from the Airport Consultative Committee reads this and next time they CONSULT the Public !

Just My View am sure someone will come back here and have a go at me

mi16
06-Oct-12, 20:22
Not a fan then?

smithp
06-Oct-12, 20:39
Does it really matter? As long as I don't arrive in a pile of twisted metal I'm not to bothered about the name.

sids
06-Oct-12, 21:50
When visitors fly into Edinburgh Airport it cost approx £20+ in a taxi to get to the city centre.

Interesting. When did the bus service stop?

joxville
06-Oct-12, 22:12
SNIP
1. John O Groats is 20 Miles from Wick and this gives people who think they are flying into John O Groats the wrong You think that's bad, London Stansted is 70 miles from London!

golach
06-Oct-12, 22:22
Interesting. When did the bus service stop?

the number 100 does not run a 24 hours service, so taxi's are sometimes the only transport available, even the bliddy trams will not serve the airport, if and when they ever get running.

Phill
06-Oct-12, 22:25
You could try London Lydd airport, 75 miles and nearly 2 hours drive from London!