Not really sure how LONG a walk it could really be from the aircraft to passport control. EI usually parks at Gates 3,4,5 or 6 occasionally 7 or 8 are used, even then I would not describe the walks as LONG. There is more changing of levels than would be ideal, but no especially long walks. Im thinking of walks from Pier D in Dublin, the green mile in LHR, AMS in general - walks are much, much longer. Mind you none of those walks are in the pouring rain....
Tom, airlines from the Middle East tend to prefer daily, or near daily, flights as it improves connectivity. Im not sure that Cork could support daily widebody flights, even with all the onward connectivity. I don't think any airport of comparable catchment supports such a flight, especially as these airlines want to retire A330s and move to larger 777 variants. Lord God, it would seem that we can't support a daily CRJ/ERJ to FRA, let alone a daily 77W to DXB!
As for those Pluna CRJ-1000's, who would EI "wet lease" them from? The bankrupt Pluna, Chorus Aviation? Would jets of this size not need to be operated by EI mainline?
Last edited by brian_dromey; 7th Jul 2012 at 09:12.