There was comment in the press that the Airport at Cork approached Aer Lingus to fly to New York twice weekly next summer when one of the 757s had a bit of down time at Shannon and Dublin. It is reported that EI were offered the first year's fees free of all charges. EI are reported to have turned down the approach indicating that any Cork servce would need to self supporting and should not impact their services at Shannon and Dublin Airports.
Now, how is this approach supposed to work? Is the Aer Lingus Shannon operation to New York and Boston supposed to be self supporting with only Clare passengers and, similarly, is the Aer Lingus Dublin operation from Dublin to New York, Boston, Chicago etc meant to be self supporting from Dublin only?
Obviously not in both cases for Shannon and Dublin.
So, why is Cork expected to be self supporting on any potential flight to North America? The rationale being applied to Cork seems to be of a much higer requirement than elsewhere in Shannon and Dublin and, is to my mind, discriminatory in quite a deliberate way.