Now in the Ryanair booking engine, if you try to book Cork to Gatwick in November, there is only ONE daily afternoon flight.
Is there to be no second aircraft then? Although my fingers are still crossed that the booking engine is simply in the process of being loaded...
Right now it appears that Ryanair's only measly Cork aircraft will do the following in winter schedule:
Cork - Dublin
Cork - Dublin
Cork - Gatwick
Cork - Dublin
Cork - Dublin
:*

Look at the trend here,
Ryanair announce 3 daily LGW rotations
Easyjet pull out of ORK
Then Ryanair drop the LGW flts to one daily.

Were Ryanair ever going to operate the extra LGW flt????
Did they even get the extra slot into LGW let alone apply for it???

No way, i hope they don't do that because they will blow wizz and centralwings out of it.
____________________________
Thats the way they work, your spot on orkpilot Ryanair announce GAtwick three times daily, then easyjet pull out and then they seem to forget about the it!

Ryan2000
 

Very cynical behaviour by Ryanair in relation to Cork Gatwick.

Easyjet have been psyched out of Cork. They blinked first and now we've gone from 5 Gatwick's a day last year to just a token service this year.

This is shocking. They've done the same at Knock. As soon as Easyjet pull out, they drop the Gatwick route. I flew Cork-Gatwick last week and both flights were full. They would have no problem filling 3 flights daily considering there were 5 this year. They seem to trying to force Cork people to fly from Shannon. I hope some other Airline comes in to save the day!

Yes, an utterly cynical move by FR all right. However, what it may show is that Ryanair are all over the place as regards their Cork Airport operations - is their any plan there at all? Four daily flights to Dublin is nuts when they could be making better money to Gatwick. At worst the Gatwick flights will fill and Ryanair would hold on to London market share and the yield would surely be better than Dublin which may even struggle to fill every time?

Boy, is Cork Airport gonna feel the heat on this one come November when the cash flow takes a mighty hammering from the lost revenues from all the Gatwick flights. It is back to the drawing board and it is game on again to hold the government to account on Minister Brennan's comments on the new terminal starting off debt free.

Not only does snn laugh at Cork over diversions and low visibility but now it looks like there is a bunch of control freaks in Ryanair also splitting their sides at both Cork Airport and easyJet whom gave in far too willingly - easyJet hanging on to even one flight a day to Cork with the encouragement of the CAA for the coming winter would have made all the difference in this matter.

Eliminate the competition
 

Very true, it would indeed be more financially attractive for Ryanair to offer more Gatwick flights that Dublin flights from Cork. But that goes to show their strategy. Their priority this year at Cork was to eliminate Easyjet from the Gatwick route. Now that they have accomplished that, they are now focused on eliminating Aer Arann from the Dublin route :(

Making money from their Cork based aircraft is only a secondary longterm objective, it would seem...

Perfect Ryanair stratagy put to work, Unfortunatly that's the way with Ryanair they want every airline on their so called "patch" out. They will be ruthless towards airlines way smaller than them until they are bigger then kick them out. I think it's stupid what Ryanair have done not only have they dissapointed passengers but may people at EICK cause in fairness they stuck at their route until the eejits at Ryanair came and took it over, I would be more than happy if easyJet came back to the Irish market and competed with Ryanair on a Luton route and they knocked Ryanair of their patch.:)

If Aer Arann were to leave the Dublin route that would be a huge blow to EICK.

Well, once EasyJet and Aer Arann flee ORK, the FR boys can go back to making plenty of money out of ORK with higher fares and no competition! No pesky interlopers to upset the applecart :ouch:

I doubt Aer Arann will flee Cork, they have accomplished themselves and are not afraid to take routes that are already operating.

Sure they are on top with Aerlingus in movements. They are the head and tail of EICK

EZY
 

Easyjet should have stayed at 2 per day at Cork. The addition of a 3rd flight last winter led to excessive capacity.

Starting a Luton service would almost certainly provoke a response from Ryanair so I can't see them venturing back here anytime soon.

Expect fares to rise now on Cork London as capacity decreases

Capacity simply returning to 'normal' levels after a brutal fares war?
 

Hi,

Although I entirely understand people being upset about the recent cuts in frequency from London to ORK, SNN and NOC, it's worth keeping in mind that services have now returned (roughly) to the levels that they were at before this madness started.

Looking back at the CAA data, until 2005 (when EasyJet embarked on their suicidal mission to liberate the West of Ireland and Ryanair decided to join them by wasting some of their money too), this was the situation:

• Ryanair had 3 flights a day in each direction between London and Cork (all STN-ORK)
• From November, they will have 3 per day on STN-ORK and 1 daily on LGW-ORK
• Ryanair had 4 flights a day in each direction between London and Shannon (all STN-SNN)
• From November, they will have 3 per day on STN-SNN and 1 daily on LGW-SNN
• Ryanair had 1 flight a day in each direction between London and Knock (STN-NOC)
• From November, they will have 1 per day on STN-NOC and 1 daily on LTN-NOC

For a year and 9 months (considerably longer than Go lasted on Dublin - Scotland back in 2001-2), travellers between London and the West of Ireland have been the beneficiaries of a brutal fares war between the two largest LCCs in Europe. Fares have fallen and the choice of departure points and departure times has increased.

Presumably none of the additional services were making money, or they had the effect of diluting yields on existing services, otherwise Ryanair would surely have kept them. It's been said many times before, but it's always worth restating: Filling planes with punters is easy, making money by doing so is much more difficult.

Sadly we've had our fun and now it's time for frequencies to return to a more realistic, sustainable and profitable level...

Well my other remark was a bit over the top, as I can't see Aer Arann leaving anytime in the future, Aer Arann are the main back-bones of EICK

Exactly! Exactly! Exactly!

I thought Ryanair had five routes going a day going over to STN?

Basickly Ryanair have left us for dead now they operate their routes with reduced freequency and as my friend now know Aer Arann can't compete with flights on a Saturday with FR their prices are way low, there is no way a small airline like Aer Arann can compete with a huge airline like FR and win, it just doesn't make sense. But yet they seem to be.:D

Aer Arann
 

Aer Arann have an extra flight departing ORK at 0700 for the winter. This was put in anticipation of FR's first departure not being untill 1000.

They have a 2nd Departure planned for 0800. This week Ryanair announced a departure for 0740, right between the 2 RE flights with fares as low as 1 cent plus tax. Aer Arann minimum is 60 euro + tax.

There's only going to be one winner here.

On the bright side there are several positive route developments expected at Cork in the near future according to reliable sources.

Further eastern european routes such as Riga, Bratislavia, Poznan and Lodz must be among the favourites.

It's surprising that Cork hasn't developed routes in Western Europe apart from Paris, Amsterdam and a few regional routes in Northern France.

Surely Scandanavia, Brussells , Frankfurt and Zurich would have a fighting chance.

In the UK a 2nd Manchester sevice should be possible given that Ryanair has reduced ORK-LPL to 4 per week. The token Saab 340 service to Glasgow will shortly be no more so a replacement will be needed there.

Scandinavaia would be a good one, but Brussles was operated by SN Brussles and the prices were through the roof they were expected to return for the summer this year but they were a no-show. If SAS started up from Stockholm that'd be good.

I've re-checked the records. The pattern until 2005 was for Ryanair to operate four flights a day on STN-ORK in the Summer and three per day in the Winter.

That seems a little bit harsh. From Cork they will still be operating 3 flights a day to STN, 1 to LGW, 4 to DUB and 4 weekly to LPL. That should be worth the best part of 900,000 passengers each year.

I totally agree. This year I visited both Copenhagen and Stockholm. Copenhagen was a really excellent city to visit, and while there I was thinking Cork could really do with a Copenhagen route. Then I was in Stockholm last week: 10 times better!!! Fan-fecking-tastic. Really beautiful city. The expensive reputation is uncalled for. It was true 5 years ago, but lets face it guys, Cork / Ireland has now surpassed most European destinations for expensiveness. Eating out in Stockholm is cheaper than Cork. Lager is the same price as Cork. Swedes also love Irish stout!! Guinness and Murphy's are more popular in Stockholm than Dublin! Was really proud to see all these Swedes downing the Murphy's by the new time :} I was tempted to say "You know that is brewed a few hundred meters from my home"... Was also bursting with pride in Skavsta airport to see four Irish registered Ryanair aircraft bringing people to/from this beautiful city.

If SAS were to introduce Cork - Stockholm it would be excellent ;)
It would attract an enormous amount of city breakers, and I don't know, does Cork have many business links with Stockholm? Maybe the pharmaceuticals? A bit of advertising in Sweden by SAS that they now have a route to the city where Murphy's stout is brewed, would have the Swedes flocking here :) Irish and Swedish golfers alike would also be potential travellers in both directions.
I also know some Swedes living in Cork (working for Apple). An SAS route to Stockholm would also offer a whole multitude of connection possiblities: to Finland, the Baltics, Russia, and of course Scandinavia in general, given that Stockholm is SAS's second majour hub.

SAS have also recently completed an Aer Lingus style remodelling. They now offer a one way fare system. I flew with them one-way Brussels to Copenhagen Easter weekend for €40!

It's a pity the Ryanair Skavsta route from Shannon failed :( But all the more opportunity for Cork now!

SN Brussels are not the cheapest airline to fly with, even if they are getting cheaper! Their prices might have been high but they still managed to almost fill every plane between Brussels and Cork to brim, which just goes to show there is a demand for the service :E

Later this year SN Brussels are to merge with low-cost rival Virgin Express, which will in effect create a brand new Brussels based airline, offering a new, cheaper, product. Hopefully this new company will look at the Cork route. Otherwise, I'd just prefer Ryanair to introduce Charleroi - Cork, let me get home for the weekend for €40 return :}

Well said Charlie, I myself would love to travel to both Copenhagen and Stolkholm and planned on a trip to one of them this year but was put off connecting somehwere else and the drive to shannon isn't worth it. Really dissapointed that Munich still hasn't been revived by anyone, If someone was to start frankfurt, I feel it wouldn't do as well as a Munich route as many love to visit the beautiful city and it is also a gateway to Germans. When traveling home from Heathrow a few weeks back Iwas talking to two Germans from Munich who were dissapointed that they had to make a connectting flight to visit Cork which they planned on visiting when Aer Lingus offered the route. I hope all the airlines won't focus solely on the Eastern European routes because eventually people will stop travelling on them and the Polish and Lituanians here may move back or just stay here full time. I suppose it's all in the future, let's just hope the new terminal will bring new routes