Re: CORK
Shannon does not have a larger catchment area than Cork. In fact Cork is far ahead of SNN in
Domestic, UK and European traffic although the gap has narrowed since SNN decided to pay Ryanair to open new routes there. The fact that Ryanair first approached Cork for a deal at the back end of 2004 speaks volumes.
It is true that Shannon has had transatlantic traffic since the end of the flying boat era.
Clare of course was the constituency of Eamon De Valera and so Shannon and the infamous stopover was allowed wreck havoc on Irish Aviation Policy for the last 60 years!
On the other hand Cork was a port City and the airport was for many years seen as a joke by many of the people who should have known better. It was deprived of investment for decades and few people lost any sleep over it by the banks of the Lee.
Maintaining a ferry service to Wales was a far greater political priority for people who wouldn't know a 737 from a double decker bus.
Lets's stop being so negative about transatlantic from Cork. Who would have thought even 10 years ago that the airport could support full service routes to Prague, Budapest , Warsaw, Rome, Berlin and and a host of other UK and Continental Cities.
Cork has proved its critics wrong for many years. JFK and BOS can be made work but we need people with vision to move the airport forward
Shannon too can thrive, why does everyone get so negative about the expansion of transatlantic services out of Ireland. Look at the growth in UK and European business over the last decade. Surely that can be replicated on the atlantic if open skies is introduced.