It was such a sad day when Easyjet axed routes to the Republic, I dont think that flying to ROI was a strategic plan but partly driven by the fact that bmibaby had routes to Prague and Cork from London Gatwick, and given that Easyjet were protecting their LGW patch against any other LOCO, at that time baby could have been seen to be a threat given their backers, i.e. bmi, who at that time were seen in a much different light. In the same way Ryanair were wanted to protect their patch at home. We are all agreed on that one. However, the highly unlikely we will see the orange machines in ROI anytime soon except for maintenance at DUB...!
Ryanair were totally dogmatic on DUB ORK, where they had no interest at all, only an interest in wiping Aer Arann off that map. A small commuter airline with turboprops on thin routes (such as many routes between Ireland and UK) could render many of Ryanair's profitable routes marginal at best. Note FR avoid Flybe for this reason....
Aer Arann now in the guise of Aer Lingus well able to hold their own, and are not as reliant as FR on the point to point traffic, Aberdeen is the first casualty for FR, who can call it charges at Aberdeen if they like. The dominant behaviour of FR in persuit of strategic interest unfortunately is one of the down sides of the deregulated EU air market.
One has to question if FR had never entered ORK DUB and RE continued would the route has been sustainable with both recession and the improved roads?
EI-BUD