Re: CORK
MarkD:
I agree with you about the business market, and I'd expect that if the Cork Airport Authority were serious about attracting a transatlantic operator they'd be out talking to all the big corporates (Pfizer etc) to gauge how many people travel every month from each company, in what class, to what US points, and using what routing at present. From my experience this is the kind of information which the airlines (understandably) are very keen to have as part of a route evaluation - they can get basic traffic numbers from e.g. MIDT data, but can't necessarily see specific corporates.
I think the list of more profitable destinations in the British Isles for US-based transatlantic 757s is actually starting to diminish (AA have recently decided not to start a Newcastle service after all). However, with the extra few hundred km of range that the new winglets give a 757, more of Europe comes into range from the US East Coast, so from the US carriers' viewpoint Cork, Newcastle et al would now be competing for service with Lyon, Nantes, Hannover, Bergen,...