CORK - 5

[en2r]

This is very disappointing to be losing a hub connection, this just leaves us with Amsterdam and Heathrow. Malev offered some very good connections especially to more remote parts of Eastern Europe. However their prices were rather high. Some family members of mine were going to Sofia in October and Malev from Cork were over twice the price of Czech airlines from Dublin (€420 from Cork versus €189 from Dublin with CSA). They are also rather high to Budapest, about €250 return. I suppose with the growing number of low cost direct routes from Cork to Eastern Europe they were finding it hard to compete. Hopefully Wizzair will take up the route (they have a base in Budapest), or perhaps Aer Lingus at their next round of expansion

[fivejuliet]

The Budapest flights still bookable until April

[Charlie Roy]

Malev

Wizz are the obvious carrier to take over on this route. We'd be waiting all decade for Aer Lingus to pull the finger out. We can always hope Ryanair would fill in.
Malev cancelling any other routes?

[Charlie Roy]

CCF

The Saturday and Sunday ORK-DUB FR rotations have now disappeared from the booking engine (as expected) to accomodate the Carcassonne route.
Wednesday mornings are still bookable, but they'll also disappear eventually.

[840]

Are Malev shelving the route or suspending it for a few months?

I understand they may be operating some ski charters and the aircraft has to come from somewhere. Could the flight be returning when the ski season is over?

If it is being shelved, I guess that despite the good loads, they're just not picking up the business passengers. Malev are still operating on a traditional model, so filling up economy is not adequate on its own.

I'm sure someone would pick up the route, so it's the loss of connections that would be worst. One immediate family member has used them to get to Athens a few times and certainly rated the experience better than BA through Heathrow or KLM through Amsterdam.

[en2r]

Press release now on the Cork airport website. Load factors were over 75% despite the high fares! Seems surprising that they're axing the route. Hopefully Wizz will take it over.

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007. Malév Hungarian Airlines has announced its decision to end its three times weekly service from Budapest to Cork with effect from January 14th next. The Hungarian airline cited its need to optimise use of short haul aircraft on shorter Eastern European sectors from its Budapest hub. The Budapest-Cork sector is the longest sector the airline flies on its European network at present.

Malév Hungarian Airlines has operated a service from Cork to the Hungarian capital since 2005. This year over 26,000 customers have used the service and load factors (the percentage of seats occupied on each flight) were in excess of 75% on average with particularly strong loads in excess of 90% during the peak summer months and flights are fully booked for the forthcoming Christmas and New Year holidays.

Kevin Cullinane, Marketing Manager, Cork Airport said: “Cork Airport regrets Malév’s commercial decision to optimise their aircraft on shorter, more frequent routes in Eastern Europe and Russia. Malév was good for Cork over the past 2½ years and I’d like to think Cork was good for Malév in terms of their network development across Europe. We are fortunate to have excellent connectivity into other major hubs such as London’s Heathrow, Amsterdam’s Schiphol and Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airports from Cork Airport, as well as a four times weekly service to Prague with Aer Lingus and a four times weekly service to Bratislava (Vienna) with SkyEurope. We will continue to explore additional Central and Eastern Europe destinations with our nine other Airline partners at Cork Airport into the New Year.”

Geraldine Aherne, Country Manager for Malév Hungarian Airlines, said “Malév enjoyed an excellent relationship with Cork Airport Authority and local companies and I would like to thank the travel agents and passengers who supported the route over the last two and a half years. I hope our partners will continue to support Malév by availing of the daily direct service that operates from Dublin”.

Ms. Aherne advised that “Passengers affected by the cancellation should contact their local travel agent or Malév Hungarian Airlines directly on 0818 55 55 77 for assistance with re-booking already issued tickets”.

[CCR]

Disappointing news..it also amazes me that Dublin, one top 10 busiest airports in Europe doesn't get a mention in the press release. It has the most frequent services from Cork compared to Heathrow, Amsterdam or Paris with 2 carriers on the route, often the cheapest fares and a large array of destinations. Beats connecting through Heathrow anyday! Wonder is it related to the current bitter airport debt dispute between the DAA and the CAA??

[turas]

Because neither carrier on Cork-Dublin will let you connect at Dublin with through ticketing, at least not until Aer Arann and Aer Lingus agree their long-rumoured deal.

[brian_dromey]

Not good! Its always a pity when a 'real' airline pulls out.

ORK still need to bash down the doors of other airlines on the continent. LX at ZRH and LH from FRA/MUC come to mind. WX have also expressed an interest in LCY once the CAA has become independent, it has been published in the Indo today, and a/c become available.

On another note, no airline of a major alliance will serve ORK after Jan, although we will have connectivity on EI flights coded with BA and KL.

Brian.

[ryan2000]

jet2

jet 2 to operate Cork Blackpool from April , 3 flts per week

[brian_dromey]

Ork-blk

No sign of it yet on the Jet2.com booking engine, hopefully this will counterbalance the MALEV pullout, at least to an extent.

The ORK-UK links are really going from strength to strength. If LCY were to be added I think it would be a good route.

I still think ORK needs to work hard on connections to alliance hubs in Europe. This , IMHO, is far more important to the sustainability of ORK in the longer term. I guess 2x daily CDG is the most likely route, with WX's AVROs, if the noises they are making right now are credible.

Im sure 2008 will be as interesting on the foggy hill as 2007 was. Any predictions/wishes?

Brian.

[Shamrock350]

More of a wish but I'd like to see CO to start EWR-ORK flights with a 757 in fact any new airline that wants to start flights to North America would be welcome.

Theres been rumour after rumour so I'm just going to wait and see.

[ryan2000]

Cork update

Sounds as if Shannon is running rings around Cork even with the level playing pitch of open skies. ATL, PHL, JFK(EI and DL), BOS, ORD, EWR all operating from SNN in 2008 and Cork with a larger catchment area can't even get it self a single transatlantic route!

Of course those who make the journey by road to Shannon and then moan about the lack of flights to the US from Cork are only making it more unlikely that a direct service will ever materialise.

I take Brian's point about alliance hubs but it seems that airlines just don't want to pay the charges when the incentives run out. Both CSA and Malev had excellent load factors but left as soon as they had pay their own way. Overseas carriers need constant nurturing by airport mangement as like it or not Cork is only a dot on the map in their head offices.

[Tom the Tenor]

Blackpool!? The locals from Cork's own northside suburb of Blackpool will have a laugh and enjoy seeing 'Blackpool' on Cork Airport's TVs and montiors! If the old terminal was still in use you can just imagine the sort of humor that would be stirred up by pub talk of flights from the airport to Blackpool! It would be a scream!

So it looks like Blackpool is to replace Budapest? What can one say? All new routes ought to be welcomed and you can imagine Jet2 doing well on the new Blackpool route in the summer months at the very least. I know one large family that live in Cork and Tipperary whom I am certain will be regular users of a flight to Blackpool. Meeting some of 'em later for the Christmas and they will be delighted at the news. Something else to drink to!

Budapest. What a disappointment! Right up there withe the disappointments of Jetmagic, easyJet and CSA. There had been a rumor of Malev dropping about two routes but little had I expected Cork to be one of them. All this bo!!ix about Cork being Malev's longest European sector etc - talk about allowing them off the hook and with average load factors of between 75% & 90% to boot! This would not have happened at Shannon, I will give them that much.

Cork Airport will never have a North Atlantic flight as long as it is a part of the Dublin Airport Authority. Also, there has been little reaction about Budapest from Cork's public representatives unlike the clamour from the midwest after EI announced the end of snn-LHR flights.

Cork is getting what it deserves from the airport and from it's public representatives. The only thing about the terrible news from Budapest is there will be a little less boasting about the end of year figures in a few days time. The PR spin will have to be just a little tamer now.

Cork gets Blackpool and Carcassone and loses Budapest.

Shannon gets CDG x 2 and hangs on the JFK, EWR, BOS, ORD, PHL & ATL and loses LHR.

Running rings around does come to mind.

[en2r]

I don't think we should be too hard on Cork. I certainly wouldn't say Shannon is running rings around us. We do have a number of new routes for 08, Plymouth, East Midlands, Glasgow Prestwick, Blackpool and Carcassonne as well as a full year of Bratislava. Bar Carcassonne all these routes are being provided through an increase in capacity, not any other cutting of routes. While losing Budapest is a disappointment, Cork will still almost certainly have a healthy increase in passenger numbers for 2008. Shannon on the otherhand will probably have a decrease due to the loss of the Heathrow service, or if things go really well next year they might just about break even with passengers. Things aren't that rosy at Shannon! There have been widespread rumours about what Aer Lingus will do at Shannon from next October. Chicago seems almost certain to go. Boston and New York are less certain, some say they will be axed and some say there will just be a decrease in frequency. It will also be interesting to see how many carriers will stay at Shannon for winter 08/09. I suspect some previously year round services may become summer only from then. I think Cork may well get an Aer Lingus long haul service in 2009 when the new fleet starts to arrive. There was even talk some time ago of the possibility of a Cork-Belfast-New York Aer Lingus service. Its no easy task to get a long haul service. For all we know, the CAA may have been working away behind the scenes to get one but have failed so far.

[fanatic1]

Any idea on how the Shannon Passenger figures will compare to that of Cork?

With Heathrow gone for more than a third of the year, surely Cork can catch up?


Ed

[MUFC_fan]

Can I ask where the information for the BLK-ORK route came from please?

Cheers.

[EI-MICK]

heathrow gone for a third of the year???? heathrow/shannon hasnt ceased yet.

[en2r]

Any idea on how the Shannon Passenger figures will compare to that of Cork?

With Heathrow gone for more than a third of the year, surely Cork can catch up?

For this year the gap between Cork and Shannon will remain roughly the same with both airports posting growth of about 200,000 passengers (although Cork has a higher percentage growth). I think next year will be the year when Cork really closes the gap. It was quoted today in one of the papers that the new Shannon-CDG service expects to carry about 80,000 passengers per year. Shannon-Heathrow was carrying 340,000 passengers. Thats a net loss of 260,000 passengers. Thats before you even consider the loss of American Airlines, Air Canada and Fly Globespan. If EI do reduce long haul services from Shannon in October the gap in passenger numbers could be cut even further. I remember hearing just after the passenger numbers were released last year that if you exclude transfer passengers Cork carries more passengers than Shannon.

[840]

There isn't actually much of a gap at all. Although, Shannon appears to have around 600K passengers more, that figure includes Dublin-North America passengers who never leave the aircraft. Even though Shannon has done a good job of retaining services in the Open Skies era so far, the one thing we can say is that there will be a massive fall off in this number of transit passengers. Other than a statistical change, it will have little effect on Shannon as there is no charge for these passengers and they don't spend in the airport. There will be a small loss of revenue because of fewer aircraft movement, but other than pride, the loss is negligible.