FR are down to one DUB rotation on a wednesday in Summer

Me thinks FR and planning on launching a new route in ORK

There has been a flash today in Cork all right and it has been considered prudent to launch one's own personal EC-135R to investigate matters.

QRA line on five minute scramble.

So Dublin is down to 1 a day on Wednesday and Sunday.

The new route will be a sun route won't it?

the speculation was that FR were to increase LGW and that was why the number of DUB flights was being reduced. FR don't currently compete ith EI on any route, so they may decide to avenge the EI attack on LGW with going head-to-head on a current EI route. Although there are better options, IMHO. Many destinations such as HHN or the Scandinavian Airports, not to mention Milan or Madrid currently unserved from Cork. No need to go after EI, there is, even still, much lower hanging fruit.

Good too see EI going to cork from LGW I remember when those flights with Cityflyer in summer season were always packed !

Yes, they were quite happy times. It was such a mistake for British Airways ever to quit Cork be it in the first instance from Heathrow and then later from Gatwick all in the pretext by some misplaced notions by middle of the road managers that imaginery better fish were there to fry elsewhere. They were too busy thinking about caviar and champagne for just a few and forgetting about the hordes of sandwich and stout diners that were readily connecting in London to long haul.

Yes, recalling BA London Cork is indeed a happy memory - shame it had to come to an end.

I was under the impression that BA pulled out of Ireland because they were sick of EI and FR's low fares. The story goes that due to BA's incredible operating costs and were loosing money hand over fist and realised that they would still get feed from EI into LHR anyway, so they "left the Irish carriers to fight it out".

This is a pattern that has continued ever since, look around DUB, ORK and SNN, other than Angel/Harps and Shamrocks there is not a lot of variety.

FR are set to announce a second A/C for the Cork base tomorrow.The routes being talked about are Faro,Malaga,Canaries.

Targeting Aer Lingus routes sounds about right, Aer Lingus was quite vocal during the cost cutting about how well the Cork base was doing so Ryanair might want to put a stop to that especially with their own Shannon base rapidly shrinking and I'm sure they'd jump at the chance at a bit of payback for Aer Lingus launching Gatwick!

3 a/c for Cork
 

Ryanair to announce 2 extra a/c for Ork bringing total to 3 a/c

Some new FR routes due to be announced tomorrow from ORK are :

Alicante
Girona
Faro

I know this is childish and massively stirring here, but there is at least one poster who will be very glad to hear of the "FR retreat from SNN and march into ORK". Personally I think the additonal FR routes have a lot more to do with Aer Lingus on the Gatwick route than Shannon.

I really have mixed feelings about the additional FR aircraft. On one hand if there is some duplication then the FR pax will be paying full whack in terms of fees and this will be good for the airport. This announcement would also grow passenger numbers significantly, again good for the airport. My only concern is that FR would damage the EI network because we have seen how fickle FR are in terms of pulling out of airports, when it suits them, which would not be good for the airport in the long term. The other carrier that needs consideration is W!zz, they have 5 destinations from Cork, at my last count. Diversity and competition are a good thing, so I hope W!zz will stay. There are many opportunities at Cork without going after EI's routes. Brussels, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds/Bradford, Aberdeen, Copenhagen, Madrid and so on all spring instantly to mind as destinations worthy of consideration. Of course there will be overlap, of some sort but I really hope EI will bring something new to the departure boards up on the hill tomorrow!

The last thing I ever want to see is a situation where the airport could be held to ransom by a single carrier and that carrier pull out. This is one are where I hope Cork can learn from the mistakes at Shannon.

But there's a Air traffic control work stoppage scheduled for Cork Airport tomorrow between 4pm and 6pm, hope this doesn't cause the Ryanair announcement to be postponed :ouch:

Airline stocks mixed; Revenue trends point up - MarketWatch

Went out on the 902 to stansted and back on the 907 today,both flights 90% + load factor. Not to bad. Heathrow this morning, the 710 also seemed very busy, long queues.

Well, let us hope the FR907/8 stays with us in Cork in some fashion for the summer. Wonder what news if any Ryanair has in store for Cork in the coming days? It is hard not to expect a reaction by Ryanair to the Aer Lingus Gatwick route in some way but talk of a second Cork aeroplane or even a third aircraft seems almost bizarre. Whilst original new routes would clearly be welcome the mention of Faro, Alicante & Girona to Cork would surely mark the start of something a little more dubious putting the future of Cork Airport in some doubt and along with that the future of the Aer Lingus presence at Cork. That may be the plan in the first place, of course.

These rumors have at least put Cork back up in the map for a while!

It will be interesting for a few days to watch this space and if they were to start Madrid and Budapest I would be jumping around the garden like in the Erin soup ad!

Hey Tom, off the point but That line in the Erin ad was coined by a great Aunt of mine when she was stopped in the street in Dublin in 1981 and asked to taste the soup while a commercial was been made. She told me later on that she was trying to say the soup was so bad that her husband would be "jumping around the garden" if she gave it to him. Her interview was edited and included in the ad for years. Can't believe folks still remember God bless your memory..... God Bless her !:)

Capt. Flynn

What hope either EI or FR would start up a Northern Italy route again....?

Or EI totake over a couple of the Zurich slots they are now dropping from Gatwick and send one of the Cork a/c....? SWISS do very well with their summer Shannon route by all accounts.

Still waiting for today's big announcement, but meanwhile the Stansted schedule has changed. Now it shows:

Morning flight by STN based aircraft, evening flight by ORK based aircraft.

BA's withdrawal of the Cork - London routes (specifically LHR) was in part down to their battle at the time with VIRGIN on the transatlantic routes, as part of their 'Dirty Tricks' campaign. To free up more slots in LHR, they simply pulled their ROI services thus ensuring they could get more aircraft in and out of Heathrow to compete with VIRGIN. Subsequent BA ROI services were provided by City Flyer out of LGW and LCY.

Not sure I can see anything being announced today as it would overshadow their Dublin announcement. How can you cut jobs because of the €10 departure tax in Dublin at the same time as expanding in Cork where the tax also applies?