That's just taking the michael now? How about an ATC Reserve unit being formed with just limited qualifications for their own airfield's operations. The Garda Reserve force is now getting well established all be with initial complaints and grumbles for Garda unions etc. A lot of people here would have a pretty good idea of their own airfield and could be instructed for say a period of six months in some of the more straight forward aspects of the air law etc inovled in being an ATCO?

Cork Airport should be out there in the media giving out stink about this.

Anyone know why rte were reporting that shannon was closed last nite when traffic was clearly landing and taking off during the "closed" times....?

The examiner gives the reason as ''the person was working a shift in dublin and also so s/he missed renewing their tower license because s/he was unable to get to cork''

i'd support the controllers anyday if it means shutting up shop,why can't the iaa stop being miserable and recruit contractors.

Probably part of the great conspiracy against Cork! Ask TTT

Cork - Copenhagen
 

Are there any plans for launching a Cork - Copenhagen service. Has it ever been tried before? I am working over there and fed up with the hassle of going to Dublin Airport or the high fares of going via Amsterdam. Copenhagen is an SAS hub so it has good connections to Sweden, Norway and Finland all countries not currently served with flights from Cork.

Very disappointing to have this two nights in a row. Malaga and Rome will be very tight as they're both running late due to the delays this morning. Theres no morning Stansted or Belfast on a Saturday and RE to Dublin is at 8 instead of 7 so just the 4 Aer Lingus flights and the Ryanair flight to Dublin will be affected.

By the way, could anyone tell me what the flight tomorrow by Aer Arann to Derry is about. It leaves Cork at 9am and returns at 20.10. I'm guessing its a charter but does anyone know for sure?

Cork atc
 

Well, it seems to me now that Cork is being singled out in the ATC dispute by both sides of the arguement. I guess Cork must be the smallest ATC station for the IAA so is it the most vulnerable if on top of short staffing, holidays etc the place is then crippled all together if a controller calls in sick or is otherwise unavailable for duties?

Though even I would not want to admit to ever being over fanciful about Cork's super, duper airport status at it's best Cork is hardly in the Heathrow or Frankfurt stakes in terms of arrivals and departures so what is exactly the issue for Cork tomorrow? What kind of restrictions are we looking at here?

Why the heck are some of the ATC management not current in terms of their licences etc? Too busy managing to keep current is it? I can tell you that I have heard all this 5h!te too before.

As if Cork did not have enough to contend with - someone complained that I am a bit negative - well, losing BUD, WRO, WAW in just five to six weeks is pretty woeful in my book - filling PIK and EMAs flights is all very well but compared to losing the quality of flights from main European capitals like Budapest and Warsaw all that is being done with PIK and EMA is giving in to the lowest common denominator.

It is too easy to play that ol' game - any mug can do that.

Tom did you not hear about Dublin being closed on Saturday night from 11.30PM until 6.30 on Sunday morning? Also Shannon had a similiar period of 'restricted flights' on Thursday evening like Cork will have tomorrow. I presume this means that there is probably only 1 Air Traffic controller working, so they won't be able to deal with a large number of flights departing/arriving at the same time.

As for Warsaw, unusually for when a route is axed, Cork-Warsaw has not disappeared from the Aer Lingus booking system. Instead a message comes up saying the service has been discontinued. Perhaps they have plans to relaunch it? I'd rate it a very strong candidate for a return in October at the start of the winter schedule, as I doubt that they'll want to run a daily Malaga during the winter. Or perhaps if Cork gets the new aircraft due in June it could return then.

Leeside spin.
 

Heard that the Spin being put on the Warsaw fiasco is that there has been a downturn in the construction industry here. No sign of any cuts in SNN-WAW or DUB-WAW so that excuse doesn't add up. Also where's the Jet2 Blackpool service that was a good news story on the week that Malev announced their withdrawal from Cork.

Diversions
 

Ryanair flights from Edinburgh and Manchester to Dublin diverted to Cork this morning due to fog at Dublin. Nice to see diverts in for a change, instead of the usual diverts out.

Ground staff in ORK!
 

Arrived in on EI803 from Rome last night. For the third Monday in a row, it was an hour late.

Anyway, I was travelling with hand baggage only, and had arranged a lift to be there when we landed, ie not simply texting them when we got down and waiting 15 minutes... imagine my frustration when we were stuck on board for ten minutes waiting for the steps to arrive!!! :mad:

Anyone with some insight into the workings of the ground staff up on the hill care to attempt to explain what might have caused this delay??

The flight will have been late because it was the aircraft operating the Amsterdam flight in the morning. Holland is very susceptible to fog at this time of year; in fact this morning's flight also had a fog delay.

I'm not sure what will have caused the handling problem. At a guess, an hour's delay on the Rome flight will have brought it in at almost the exact same time as the Malaga and Heathrow flights. I doubt there are enough Aer Lingus ground handlers around at that hour of the evening to deal with three simultaneous arrivals. It could also be something stupid like all the available steps having been attached to the other two aircraft because nobody considered that the Rome flight was running late.

Talking of which, what is the current status with the airbridge? The cones have disappeared from the bottom of it. Is it back in service?

I heard that its been fixed but it still has to be certified for use again, I think by health and safety. No aircraft have been using it in the meantime. Apparantly it was assembled incorrectly at Cork, and so was the builder of the airport's fault, not the manufacturer of the airbridge's fault.

A few interesting items of news from yesterday concerning Cork Airport. A US registered Gulfstream 5 arrived from Aberdeen and just after noon she flew directly to Houston (IAH), Texas. That has got to be one of the longest non-stop flights ever ex Cork? This flight must surely have been oil related?

Mr Michael Cawley, deputy CEO of Ryanair, whom is also a Cork man has come out in support of Cork Airport being debt free and that she should not be saddled with the cost of what the DAA were responsible for to begin with and that the DAA can absorb the new terminal's cost by dipping in to the war chest of cash after it's interests in Birmingham, Dusseldorf and Hamburg Airport were sold along with the monies received from the sale of the Great Southern Hotel Group. At last a bit of fire from a promient Cork aviation man for his native city's own airport.

The board of the CAA had been due to be quizzed before the Oireachtas (Parliamentary) Committe on Transport yesterday but Mr Joe Gatley, the CAA chairman, decided not to attend on the grounds that the mediator appointed by the Transport Minister has now begun his work and that the CAA have formed a sub committe to negotiate on the matter of the debt with Mr Peter Cassells whom was former chief of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and whom is expected to issue his report to the Minister by 7th March.

At first I was sort of impressed by such a well respected figure as Mr Cassells being set the task of mediation between Cork, Dublin and the DAA.

However, the more I think about it the more I am beginning to think it may be just smoke and mirrors. I feel that it is all just so contrived.

I am minded to (believe it or not) agree with Mr Cawley that it may be a pointless exercise and that more than that it might be just a classic Bertie Aherne fudge to get him and his dithering government out of the committment it gave on Cork Airport in 2003.

Charter Market
 

Summer 08 charter schedule seems stagnant. The only new destination appears to be Santorini with XL and thereafter the usual mix of flights to the Costas; Turkey and the Canaries.

ORK marketing must focus on expanding medium and long-haul charter destinations as a platform to attract scheduled carriers onto transatlantic routes.

Cork-Malta!
 

Been reported on Ryanair thread that Cork-Malta has appeared as a route on Ryanair online check in!
https://www.bookryanair.com/SkySales...E&pos=MYFLIGHT

Ork-mla
 

I think the FR website is playing up quite a bit at the minute, so I would put it down to a glitch. MLA does not appear in the booking engine yet either.

To be honest, I think an FR expansion at ORK would be a mixed blessing. Just looking up the road, SNN has payed a high price in terms of diversity of airlines. They have driven away full paying airlines like EI for LCC and incentive programmes. I would hate to see ORK become a one horse town. I love the current diversity, airlines like WW, Wizz, Centralwings, RE keep the likes of EI and FR in check.

Brian.

I'd hate to see Cork tied to a single airline too, particularly one that doesn't provide interlining, but Malta would hardly be trampling on anyone's feet. It would be a surprising route choice though. I know Air Malta used to operate it a number of years ago, but the seats were pretty much sold to tour operators and it was only once weekly anyway. Also, as Malta isn't a Ryanair base, they'd have to cancel some more Dublin rotations to operate the route (or operate it as a W). At the moment I'm inclined to agree that it's likely to be a website glitch, especially as Athens is reported on that thread too and I can never imagine Ryanair operating into an airport with those charges!

I can't see Cork going down to a single carrier. Aer Lingus are doing very well at ORK and I can't see Ryanair letting them have it their own way. What we may see is the squeezing out of the other carriers. Centralwings days seem to be numbered, they posted terrible financial results this week and the company CEO conceeded in the press release that the company may have to be wound up. Equally Jet 2 and SkyEurope are said by some to be in financial difficulty. Also I wonder how long Baby will stick it out on Manchester and Birmingham against EI. As for RE, I've heard that loads have been diabolical on Dublin of late, and Edinburgh has been hit by the new FR service to Prestwick, so I can't see their current level of services continuing. I think within the next 12 months we may see Cork become a 2 airline airport, with only a scattering of other services.