If you are having a laugh at us that is your choice but for once let us give Ryanair a chance to undo the cynical negativity towards Cork and I am including in that regard the Bye, bye easyJet logojet.
Tom, nothing could be further from the truth. The future vision I speak of has Cork as an indispensable part of the Irish trident. Imagine the consumer choice. Central London to LHR, followed by horrendous, functionally incompetent BAA security and their clenched-teeth war on toothpaste, aftershave and contact lens solution. Shoved into a 28 inch pitch tube and ferried like a high speed battery chicken to JFK, ORD, IAD, MIA or LAX to join a 3 hour long queue to confront the tender mercies of Homeland Security, and then another queue for your domestic flight to your intended destination. Now imagine a RYR flight from STN to ORK with interline bags. Then imagine getting off and going through the US customs and immigration pre-clearance (all Irish, by the way) at the new ORK terminal, and then boarding your brand new Aer Lingus B787 (one of hundreds) for your non-stop flight from ORK to Albuquerque, Cheyenne or Memphis. A brand new wide body
Boeing with a choice of traditional RYR low fares AND the best of Upper Class treatment, beds, fine dining and the rest. Which would you choose?
I think that it is an excellent service in that it does exactly what it advertises ... It gets you from A to B safely, on time and cheaply with not much else.
The Iron Duke is right. Ryanair does exactly what it says on the tin. Anyone who seeks to criticise our safety, however, either in terms of record, commitment or intent, advertises themselves as either ignorant of our operation, or beating the TomTom (sorry) of another slippery agenda. Our CEO highlighted as recently as 28 hours ago his complete commitment to RYR flight safety as the fundamental tenet that underwrites our business. One smoking hole, and its all over. The myopic, unblinking focus of our business is on safety. Ask any of the thousands who fail our sim assessments, or better still, any of the 1500 Ryanair pilots themselves. The Ryanair safety standard is REAL, and it is ruthlessly applied, I can assure you. You might not be aware of it as some Polish or Latvian 20 year old is trying to flog you a hotdog and a scratch card, but that doesn't mean it isn't at the cutting edge of everything we do.
The Duke goes on.....
is the complete lack of a suitable airport to house this idea, now or in any realistic near future .... shame really.
Correct again, Your Grace, but that too can be fixed once the Dublin Airport Authority is liberated from the Château D'If of State ownership. Make no mistake, this CAN be done, and done well.
The reality is the Americans are the ones holding the cards here...
No they're not Chooks. Tall Dutch/Aussie boys have always been the most susceptible to the sort of REPA doggerel you've unsuccessfully regurgitated here, but the loss making legacy carriers are bracing themselves for the inevitable attack on the cosy arrangement they've enjoyed for far, far too long. Subsidies instead of markets, remember. A cartel instead of free competition. Having just recently recovered from the focused horrors of 911, though, they've little spare capacity to wonder about the next "spectacular". I put it to you, Chooks, that it will be Ireland...or at least it could be. Its only the Irish people and workers of Aer Lingus who stand in the way of the next step in the evolution of Aer Lingus. Imagine the Ryanair of 10 years ago and what it is now. Now imagine Aer Lingus today and what it could be 10 years from now. These are exciting times.