Well, if we all have to live with the cursed legacy of the stopover let us turn it all on it's head - why not send one of the snn based EI A330s to Cork twice a week and let her go west from snn if that is the only way around it. If you cant beat 'em with the stopover join 'em!
Diluting of yield, short runway, low cloud, CAT3 too problematic - every conceivable excuse be it credible or no is used to hold back Cork. Shannon has never had some many scheduled flights across the Atlantic as it has this year so there is absolutely no doubt a credible carrier could pull off a flight to America from Cork out of all this combined market from snn which would still leaving snn having a huge lion's share of the total.
As for the last year's fiasco with the Slatterys and Ryan International charters to New York. Cork passengers were betrayed. Up to Christmas the bookings were believed to have been fine and then this 5h!Te about a fuel surcharege was introduced to kill it off. How opportune indeed and it does not take too many guesses where all the benefit later went after following the cancellations.
Cork passengers were clearly betrayed in this matter. How many pax did EI lose from snn and DUB to America when they introduced a fuel surcharge for the first time this summer?