Cork-7
Appreciate its dark times at present but the dawn will come and hopefully Cork will again prosper with route development. Just looking to stimulate thoughts/ideas to get discussions going again on Cork Airport
Aer Lingus
With AMS and CDG now being served by KLM/AF, perhaps EI will look to shake things up a bit. Perhaps a 321Neo to replace one of the current 320s would allow them to serve JFK/BOS and some of the existing routes such as LHR at Cork?
To me it seems that EI has an issue with size of aircraft for expansion at ORK, an A220 would perhaps better serve some ORK, SNN and Belfast routes. Surely they need to look at either getting in this type or partnering with someone that offers such craft (reading on Emerald Airlines, I believe they're intending to again use ATRs?). Such a plane would open up BRU, FCO, MIL, GVA, VIE, BER as well as offering perhaps a better fit on AMS and CDG given AF/KLM are now on the routes. Is there any partner that EI could offer a European franchise agreement to for the regional Irish airport routes, similar to the Stobart arrangement which seems to predominantly serve UK routes?
Europe
Wizz seem to be expanding at several airports and now seem a different entity compared to the last time they were in Cork. Would they be prepared to open routes to VIL, WAW, VIE, PRG or even LGW?
Swiss has been a good addition to the route network with good frequency. Would they consider continuing into Winter season to serve the ski and city break market as well as the Pharma sector, or perhaps even add GVA given there is historical data on this route?
Hopefully once KLM and AF can start to show the market appetite for connectivity, Lufthansa would consider opening a FRA, BER or even MUC route that offers frequency. Lufthansa operates into SNN from FRA during the Summer, albeit only once a week, but offers both inbound tourism and outbound connectivity to VFR audience. Perhaps City line would be a good fit given the size of their aircraft?
Cork is also lacking in scheduled ski destinations. Only MUC is served once a week in peak ski season. GVA, INN, SZG, GNB, TRN, CMF are all unserved by scheduled flights. Perhaps the best opportunity is to try to attract Ryanair to increase BGY as a year round destination?
A final thought on European connectivity is Iberia Express. Given they are part of IAG, would it not make sense to codeshare and sell via the EI website to create more awareness to the outbound market? Better timing and frequency could also open up the route as a city break destination as well as connectivity to South America.
Dublin
Before the motorway, there was upto 7 Aer Arann and 5 Ryanair flights per day. However the US and German markets both have decent road networks yet still have short sector flights serving connecting passengers. Presumably a transiting passenger from hypothetically BOS via DUB to ORK would be cheaper in passenger fees for an airline like EI as opposed to an arrival in DUB? EI offers connections for CFN and KIR so presumably could do the same for ORK? There must also be short haul connectivity potential for EI from these airports, especially on the next legs on the operating aircraft after its arrival to Dublin which would be low risk of missed connections (hypothetical example ORK DUB NCL DUB ORK) but appreciate that involves adapting their business model. I would imagine that the DAA has car park stats showing those booking car parking from the Cork area to help indicate demand, and the DAA would likely benefit from similar car parking revenue in Cork plus additional landing fees if there were ORK DUB flights.
Charges
Is Cork Airport allowed to vary landing charges by destination and time? For example, demand for a fight to Bari is likely less than one to Paris, so could the airport have pricing set by forecast demand of destination as opposed to a standard set price, or perhaps they already do this? I would also imagine that this could apply to times of flight, for example a midday flight probably has less demand than a peak morning flight, depending on the destination. Incentivising Airlines to operate off-peak hours to new destinations could bring ancillary revenue that the airport may otherwise not receive, plus provide work to relating areas such as security, baggage handling, car handling desks, etc where otherwise there would be dwell time before the next set of arriving aircraft.
Anyway, just some thoughts and ideas. Would welcome comments or anyone else's thoughts as to how Cork can evolve once we move past the current situation
Last edited by corkfly; 12th Jan 2021 at 14:45.