CORK - 5

[AerRyan]

Ryanair will announce tomorrow an exclusive 72 times (sadly has been cut down from 73) daily flights to the Moon.

[EI-A330-300]

Air Berlin could quiet possibly even operate the route and EI used to market it here as its usually EI/FR when we look for flights.

[Corkshamrock]

Well I would gladly like to see those red and white birds in Cork. With EI-DEO back in the fleet I really cannot understand why one of the 319s are sent to Cork to run previous routes and possible new ones like DUS. They could use the 319 on the BRU route and improve yields and suppose it could be used on BCN also for the same reasons. Personally I would like to see FAO stretched as I like getting to Portugal for golf but a trip in Nov or Feb is not possible.

[AerRyan]

I can see Dusseldorf at 2pw, Barcelona may be taken over by Vueling and the Aer Lingus aircraft used elsewhere. Of course the tickets for the Vueling service would be sold on www.Aerlingus.com. I can see this becoming quite useful.

[Charlie Roy]

Considering that Aer Lingus already fly DUB-DUS without a codeshare with Air Berlin

Well before today Aer Lingus were not part of IAG. Going forward they will be, and very likely they'll become One World alliance members too.

My logic is that since a new Cork route to Germany seems to be part of IAG Aer Lingus take-over deal with the Government, then I would guess it'll be to the biggest One World hub in Germany, which is Air Berlin's hub at Düsseldorf.

[CCR]

Hopefully the Cork-Madrid route will be reinstated once the IAG deal goes through.

[AerRyan]

I heard today that they are interested in doing a MAD-ORK-SNN-MAD daily route. The service to both airports will effectively hit 2 birds with 1 stone, allow a daily service to Madrid from both airports.

[brian_dromey]

I would think it will be ORK-MAD or SNN-MAD, but not a 'milkrun'. The days of a "stopover" are long gone. I just can't see that working at all. It is confirmed that Aer Lingus are going to join one world, its part of the IAG offer.
DUS could be a good route. Hopefully the IAG group and oneworld will pay Ireland more attention.

[AerRyan]

I got my information from a semi-reliable source. (To put it simply, they are correct 50% of the time, which is good in that rumour business)

If it was to only be SNN-MAD or ORK-MAD, I wonder which would win. In simple terms, Cork looks like the better option. But, there's more to it. Madrid's main benefit is the Latin American traffic, right? If I'm not mistaken KLM already offer a lot of services to Latin America, so that would take away from the market. Once that's taken into account, I cant be too sure.

A Düsseldorf route is almost guaranteed at this stage, I even seen an article today saying it is the first new route for EI over IAG leadership (which is infact very incorrect in its own sense but that's not important). Now, frequency and start date? My bets would be a 2x weekly year round service commencing in September/November.

[EI-A330-300]

Unconfirmed reports both IBZ and PRG have being axed......

[aer lingus]

Not suprised, late announcement for starting up. Should have been last autumn when they were announced. Winter schedule would have worked best for Prague IMO.

[AerRyan]

No advertising=No service.

Bogus move by the CAA and DAA.

I'd imagine the ORK-CWL wouldn't be doing great either.

[Runway_approach]

Very sad to hear this if true - doesent augur well for any new carriers looking to enter the Irish market outside of Dublin

[brian_dromey]

Is the IBZ sold as a package by any of the tour operators? It seems like a really random route, I assumed it was, more or less, a charter and OK were doing little more than selling seats on the positioning flights?

I can't seriously imagine anyone sitting in CSA head office took a look at the most attractive routes in Europe and came up with ORK-IBZ? Surely?

[fivejuliet]

IBZ was purely a charter. Instead of the aircraft overnighting at Cork between Prague flights it would do a redeye rotation to Ibiza.

[EI-A330-300]

PRG/IBZ are being "reviewed" by the airline, sales have being slow.

IBZ was purely a charter

Scheduled but travel agents were selling most seats. I guess the route was picked because of the time from Cork and the fact that PMI has lots of flights.

[840]

The failure to market the new routes suggests management issues that can't just be blamed on the debt.

Anyway, I'm a bit more confident about Cardiff's ability to withstand it than Prague, for a few reasons

• The route is going to get a nice boost from the rugby world cup
• Munster will have at least 4 matches in South Wales, while 2 Welsh teams are likely to play in Cork next season
• Having seen what Premier League fixtures do on the Newcastle route, the presence of Swansea in the Premier League will add some demand.
• There are strong historical links between Cork and South Wales. We are currently a point where for the first time in centuries there is neither an air or sea route between Cork and South Wales, so something was likely to resume.
• Demand from Cardiff will be stronger than from Prague
• Aside from demand, it's easy for an airline to schedule in a quick hop between the two cities if there is a bit of spare time in their schedules.

The main disadvantage will be the fact that demand will be very localized to Cork and Kerry. Even from Waterford, it's probably as handy to use the sail-rail option as it is to get to Cork for a flight. There's also an open question on Flybe's long-term commitment to Cardiff.

[Runway_approach]

It's too easy to blame lack of marketing - cork could have spent a couple of hundred thousand euro and still faced losing the routes - it just goes to show outside of Dublin airport how difficult it is for other carriers other than Ryanair and aer Lingus to make a go of routes like these

[gavinhicks]

Could we see Prague moved to Shannon for next year if it operates this year at all. the route should be a success from cork but its complete lack of advertising for its failure combined with the late announcement hopefully it will go ahead though

[Runway_approach]

Originally Posted by gavinhicks

Could we see Prague moved to Shannon for next year if it operates this year at all. the route should be a success from cork but its complete lack of advertising for its failure combined with the late announcement hopefully it will go ahead though

If as expected its pulled don't expect to see CSA to return to Ireland outside of Dublin after this experience