Munich
 

Same for Belfast. Timetable / bookings for summer 2010 now fully utilizing 3 aircraft except for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings, coincidentally the current Munich times.

I think the ferry destination is Gijon or was when first announced a couple of years ago before the economy went to pot. The interesting thing is that while I expected it to die a death, it was mentioned a couple of months ago by the CHC's Michael McCarthy that they were still actively pursuing it, so it is definitely "live". The CHC were instrumental in getting the Cork Swansea back.

As regards an airport, I always though Toulouse would be the best chance of a SW France/Northern Spain link, with it having a large hinterland population and being so central.

I think the success of Carcassone has shown that maybe anywhere in the south of France or north of Spain would work for two to three months in the summer on two or three days a week. Two a week for leisure/holiday and by sticking in a third flight per week gives such a route a little potential for the more business type traveller as well? Be it Gijon, Santander by ship or Bilbao, Toulouse by air - heck, I think we would all be agreed that we will take it in Cork.

Heard yesterday's Irish Times had a second recent letter complaining about the high cost of car park charges at Cork Airport. Euro 49.50 for four days parking.

What planet are they on in the CAA!

Real CATII weather last night and this morning!

If anyone is well in with the marketing crowd at the CAA would you kindly ask them to have a look at one of the more recent posts on the Shannon thread which has a link to the CNN website which is about the BA stopover at snn for the London City to New York flights, BA001 & BA003. The whole feature is essentially a promotion for snn airport.

You have to admire the professionalism of the snn crowd in these matters and the folk in charge of marketing at Cork Airport should take a very good look and learn from the masters in these arts.

Wroclaw, fair enough and well done but when you are dealing with the likes of the snn crowd you got to be at the top of your game. Cant rest on one's laurels. No way.

And knowing CNN it is not a free promotion. CNN pass a lot of advertorial content off as "news", and that's a significant part of their income. I'm guessing Shannon paid for this.

fue
 

I was just wondering if the aer lingus routs to tenerife and lanzerote are well surported from cork i meet alot people from your area in fuerteventura and they find it a long haul to dublin for a flight to fue you southern Irish would love fuerteventura so laid back you could be in cork but with better weather.You seem to be surviving without a great fr presence long may in continue

It would seem that 2009 will be the worst year in Cork Airport's recent history. FR have announced a massive reduction in their SNN base, from the start of the summer timetable, I believe. They will now base one aircraft in SNN, down from four.
This should attract, at least some, former FR/SNN passengers to ORK and help boost numbers, it might help EI's yields out of the airport too. EI and ORK need to do a lot of advertising in the region, though as people will not know about all the destinations available from ORK. The natural instinct may be to look straight at DUB or NOC.

As for the carparking, I think some of the issue is ORK does not have a private off-site carpark. As an example, I can park at MAN for four/five days for 13GBP, admittedly the carpark is off-site and a 5minute mini-bus transfer is required, but they do pick-up and drop from the forecourt of the appropriate terminal, which is very handy, especially for those with luggage, etc.

Brian.

Cork
 

Amazing that someone doesn't lease land near the Kinsale roundabout. Even Cork City Council could make some money if it allowed its Park and Ride facility be used as an airport car park.

Regarding the issue of FR reducing their base in SNN and any potential opportunity for EI to capitalise on this - As a completely off the wall idea (not thinking of the merits or drawbacks of it).

What if EI ran a shuttle bus service from SNN to ORK to connect directly with their European Flights and market them as connecting flights (albeit by road). As other posters have pointed out (when suggesting that ORK pax can connect with EI's US services thru SNN) the road connections have improved substantially and will improve even further in the next year. At the same time (as long as ORK does not have direct nonstop TA services) EI can market direct TA conections from ORK using the back journies to SNN.

Just an idea which might be considered thinking outside the box.

Aer Lingus already offers transatlantic services from Cork. You can book the US flights from Cork on their website which automatically books the Aer Arann connecting flights to/from Dublin.
This connecting service plays a part in helping Aer Arann sustain their Cork-Dublin flights in the face of the massive competitive onslaught of Ryanair on the Cork-Dublin route. Its a great time for the frequent flyer between Cork and Dublin:ok:

It is a little surprising that no one has jumped on it before now but today's media are reporting that Cork City is to be named among the top 10 cities to visit in 2010 according to the Lonely Planet guide's 'Best in Travel 2010.' The best quote is - 'Cork is at the top of it's game right now: sophisticated, vibrant and diverse, while still retaining it's friendliness, relaxed charm and quick fire wit.'

There now, if the Cork Airport marketing department cant get a few new routes, even if seasonal, on the strength of such a strong recommendation they should simply close up shop and head off for a bag of chips at Lennox's.

It is also of note that EI are restoring Cork - Lisbon again for next summer though at reduced capacity on Mondays and Friday. Good days to pick for the weekenders and the Fatima pilgrimage enthusiasts. I will have to eat my hat on this one as I seem to recall that if EI made a better go of Lisbon over Madrid that I would indeed have to make a little feast of my head dressing. Grub's up soon and I have the TK sauce ready to give some flavour to me hat!

LIS appears to be back for summer 2010 !!!

Now that is a new idea. But I cant imagine many wanting to drive to SNN and park their car in the car park and then get a bus to cork. Why would ye bother?

I dont see the point in a SNN-ORK shuttle bus for connection passengers.
SNN is only left with BOS and JFK, which are better connected to DUB, LHR, FRA, AMS, CDG, etc. I dont think that ORK would provide a single useful connection that a passenger could not get at DUB - without the labourious bus journey.

Brian.

The Aer Lingus thread has a post suggesting there will be a new route next year from Cork to make up for one to be dropped. Any ideas? Now, if you bear in mind that next year there is due to be no First Choice 757 to Palma as that series is, I understand, to be replaced by an Iberworld aeroplane so I cant help wondering if the potential new EI route could be to the beautiful Mallorcan capital?

I think I might be prepared to put a Euro 2 bet each way on Palma! No complaints from me if it is - good money to be made and it may fit in well with the bucket and spade routes Cork folk seem to like so much?

Then again I may be all wrong!

Bucket and spade routes out of Cork have been suffering worse declines than other destinations.

That said, there's probably a case to be made for a scheduled service to Palma.

There was, of course, a rumour about another German destination previously in the thread.

The other question is what route would be dropped to make way for it.

Of course, we could just be seeing the Rennes route switched to Nantes or something simlarly inspiring.

EI Summer 2010
 

Only route not loaded for Summer 10 is Berlin so looks like that will not survive.

New Cork Route.
 

New route is to central europe if my very reliable source is correct. I'm surprised that it hasn't been announced as I first heard it last July. It's not a bucket and shovel route either Tom. We have enough of those from Cork and all they do is dilute the Charter business.

Wonder if it might be somewhere like Vienna, or possibly Bratislava? Not really sure if there is any obvious destination in central Europe. the return of Prague could be a possibility (surprisingly further west than Vienna before someone says that's eastern Europe)

How did SkyEurope do to Bratislava?

Brian.

Bratislava did very well and regularly had a load factor of 90% but as for the yield I dont know. I have been convinved for some time that anywhere up to about 2 hours, 2hr 15min or up to a max of 2.5 hrs would do reasonably well from Cork. The sad exception from a personal interest point of view is, of course, Madrid. Even now still a bit sore over that failure. It is when the flight time goes up to around 3 hours plus the locos, be they EI, FR, W6, the former C0 or the former Sky Europe, are much slower to give Cork a try out. The exception has been W6 as they seem able to get the best out of the longer flights to Ireland. I wish Wizz could be persuaded to try Budpest again and to be able to offer a few connections ex BUD. I think BTS would work from Cork and EI would be able to get away with a higher fare compared to Sky Europe but if they were ready to go there or thereabouts it would be a more full on attempt and go to Vienna all together.