Just a quick post to clarify a point I tried to make yesterday about operating transatlantic from Cork:
A couple of people pointed out that A330’s can and do operate out of Cork (e.g. on charter routes etc). An A330 can only operate out of Cork if the Take Off Weight is limited to enable the aircraft to take off from the available (shortish) runway. The take off weight is limited by carrying less fuel, less cargo or fewer passengers. Limiting take off weight is easy when flying short haul or charter because; (1) It’s a relatively short flight so you don’t need full fuel tanks and (2) Charter operators rarely/never carry cargo.
Most airlines operating transatlantic services earn significant revenue from transporting cargo (this is particularly true for Aer Lingus). If Aer Lingus were to transfer a transatlantic service using an A330 from Dublin or Shannon to Cork they would definitely reduce their potential to earn revenue from cargo. If the performance penalty is severe enough the aircraft may even be unable to operate with a full load of passengers (I’m not a performance engineer so I don’t know how bad the penalty is/would be). This compromise does however mean that the potential to earn revenue from operating an A330 out of Cork is significantly less than out of Shannon, Dublin or elsewhere. Consequentially the commercial argument for starting a transatlantic service out Cork is weakened by the length of its runway.
I’ve also been informed that the largest aircraft that can operate un-restricted out of Cork is a B767-200 rather than a B757 (thanks 840), but the general thrust of the argument remains.
I would agree with many other posters by saying that Corks future is likely to lie with continued development of European routes. I would also agree that people can be fixated on the prestiege of an airport having transatlantic route when short haul developement is almost always certainly more sustainable and important.
Anyhow time to return to something a little more “on topic”.
About two months ago I heard a rumour that Aer Lingus were considering how they could use their Heathrow slots more advantageously in the new open skies era (long before the current Shannon - Heathrow debacle). One option considered was to start operating from Heathrow to JFK.
An A330 would fly DUB - LHR - JFK - LHR - DUB. The beauty of this would be that since an A330 flying Dublin to London would carry a similar number of passengers as 2 A320's, one DUB-LHR-DUB rotation could be dropped to free up the required Heathrow slots but with minimal reduction in overall DUB-LHR-DUB capacity! Not fully sure if the current Aer Lingus transatlantic product would stack up against the competition (BA, Virgin etc) but it would certainly be a very clever use of slots and aircraft. I haven’t heard anything more about this rumour since though.