Preliminary EI S19
 

MAIN CHANGES

CORK ORK
Alicante ALC Increase from 3 to 4 per week
Amsterdam AMS Unchanged - 10 per week
Barcelona BCN Increase from 4 to 5 per week over longer period
Faro FAO Unchanged - 10 per week
Lanzarote ACE Increase from 2 to 3 per week
Lisbon LIS New Route for S19 - 2 weekly
London Heathrow LHR Unchanged - 31 per week
Malaga AGP Unchanged - 9 per week
Palma Majorca PMI Increase from 3 to 4 per week
Paris CDG Unchanged - 7 per week

Not yet on-sale which will more than likely take the Wed/Sun gap from A/C 001 is Dusseldorf. I would suspect LPA will continue and that Saturday times for ACE will be altered to allow for LPA/ACE on Saturdays.
This leaves scope for a new route on Wednesdays and Saturdays for A/C 002 coupled with increases on 4 routes (+ 4 weekly flights). Further changes remain highly possible. Aircraft gaps highlighted.

A/C 001

EI840 ORK0600-0850AMS 320 MTWTFSS 01hrs 50mins
EI841 AMS0930-1020ORK 320 MTWTFSS 01hrs 50mins

EI884 ORK1100-1450AGP 320 MTWTFSS 02hrs 50mins
EI885 AGP1530-1720ORK 320 MTWTFSS 02hrs 50mins

EI890 ORK1800-2020LIS 320 M---F-- 02hrs 20mins
EI891 LIS2100-2320ORK 320 M---F-- 02hrs 20mins

EI898 ORK1800-2030FAO 320 -T-T-S- 02hrs 30mins
EI899 FAO2110-2345ORK 320 -T-T-S- 02hrs 35mins

**WED/SUN**

A/C 002

EI892 ORK0600-0830FAO 320 MTWTFSS 02hrs 30mins
EI893 FAO0910-1145ORK 320 MTWTFSS 02hrs 35mins

EI822 ORK1240-1520CDG 320 MTWTFSS 01hrs 40mins
EI823 CDG1600-1640ORK 320 MTWTFSS 01hrs 40mins

EI844 ORK1725-2010AMS 320 M---F-S 01hrs 45mins
EI845 AMS2050-2140ORK 320 M---F-S 01hrs 50mins

EI868 ORK1730-2050BCN 320 ---T--- 02hrs 20mins
EI869 BCN2130-2305ORK 320 ---T--- 02hrs 35mins

**WED/SAT**

A/C 003

EI866 ORK0625-0945BCN 320 M-W-F-S 02hrs 20mins
EI867 BCN1025-1200ORK 320 M-W-F-S 02hrs 35mins

EI882 ORK0630-1025AGP 320 -T-T--- 02hrs 55mins
EI883 AGP1105-1305ORK 320 -T-T--- 03hrs 00mins

EI856 ORK1240-1620ALC 320 M-W-F-S 02hrs 40mins
EI857 ALC1700-1845ORK 320 M-W-F-S 02hrs 45mins

EI876 ORK1400-1755ACE 320 -T-T-S- 03hrs 55mins
EI877 ACE1845-2240ORK 320 -T-T-S- 03hrs 55mins

EI860 ORK1930-2305PMI 320 M-W-F-S 02hrs 35mins
EI861 PMI2345-0125ORK* 320 M-W-F-S 02hrs 40mins

**SAT**

A/C 004

EI710 ORK0720-0845LHR 320 MTWTFSS 01hrs 25mins
EI711 LHR0930-1055ORK 320 MTWTFSS 01hrs 25mins

EI712 ORK1140-1305LHR 320 MTWTFSS 01hrs 25mins
EI715 LHR1350-1510ORK 320 MTWTFSS 01hrs 25mins

EI722 ORK1600-1725LHR 320 MTWTFSS 01hrs 25mins
EI723 LHR1815-1935ORK 320 MTWTFSS 01hrs 20mins

EI724 ORK2015-2135LHR 320 MTWTFSS 01hrs 20mins
EI725 LHR2215-2330ORK 320 MTWTFSS 01hrs 15mins

NON-BASED - A320

EI713 LHR1200-1325ORK 320 -TWT--- 01hrs 25mins
EI714 ORK1430-1600LHR 320 -TWT--- 01hrs 30mins

SNN routes were the last on sale last year too. Not quite getting the highlighted point, 30% growth since seperation.

Ryanair adding Naples 2x weekly for July/August 2019 with a Naples-based aircraft

Correction Cork-based aircraft.

Anyone know which route had a late rotation on Wednesday and Sunday this year

Gdansk, Faro and Stansted have late arrivals tomorrow

S18 late rotations:

• Wednesday: Gdansk, Faro, Stansted (as you say)
• Sunday: Malaga, Faro, Stansted.

So far it looks like the second based unit is kept very busy and there is a lot of non-based flying. Overall its still 2 full-time aircraft and 1 peak aircraft, but with more away based flying - so the growth is more impressive than it looks. Thursday and Sunday will be particularly busy days.
Non-Based
BUD x 2/2,
FAO x 4/4,
MLA x 2/2,
Poznan x 2/2,
Alicante 1/2,
Lanzarote 1/4,
Malaga 2/4,
Liverpool x 3/4
LTN x 7/7
July/August 3rd Aircraft
BGY and NAP are timed for an ORK based aircraft
Non Bookable
Reus, Gerona, Carcassonne, Bordeaux or La Rochelle.
Santander is in the drop-down list, but not bookable.

Presumably some/all of these will also be operated by the peak 3rd based unit along with frequency adjustments, depending on bookings and maybe even a few more new routes, fingers crossed.

As has been said before, SDR was supposed to be a sport charter but Ireland never won the game.

At the moment, there's no guarantee that Norwegian Air International will be able to fly transatlantic from Belfast or Edinburgh after March 29th. That could be a factor.

BIA Managment announced the other day that they pulled out..

Anyone know when we can expect the EI announcement that was mentioned a couple of weeks ago or if there is still one?

Swiss to ZRH goes from strength to strength, up to 4 per week next Summer operating on Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun (3pw in S18). All planned to be operated by the larger Airbus A220-300 configured with 145 seats. Service returns much earlier than expected from 31/03/19.

This is excellent news, the gentle toe-in-the-water has worked very well. I think the 31/03 is the start of the IATA summer timetable, so although seasonal it looks like ZRH could run for the entire summer? This is an excellent result for Cork, SWISS and the A220. I really feel the A220 has a lot to offer from smaller European airports (<5 million passengers a year) like Cork. Partly for building connections to Hub airports, but also for the likes of Volotea, who fly some random routes - like ORK-VRN. More of this please!

Not so long ago I used to dread seeing the Cork thread, "I wonder whats been stopped now". The disaster that was LCY, the (unfounded, Im sure) gossip in the region about the viability of the airport, pleas for Ryanair to re-open the old terminal, all sorts of madness. I'm glad to see the trend has changed.

One small note of caution on that is that up to 08 May, the services are showing as very expensive compared to the rest of the Summer.

From Swiss's previous, this suggests that it is their current planning, but not 100% confirmed.

Also flights are on a very different schedule from March to the start of May, with a very early departure from Zurich and a 08:45 departure back to Zurich and on Sundays's only, reverting to it's normal lunchtime scheduling for the main part of Summer. Those timings preclude connections as there are no scheduled arrivals in ZRH between 23:00 and 06:00, so if they are operating that, they would want to have sold significant seats to a tour operator (which I believe they do for the summer programme).

Anyone know what sort of delays to expect tomorrow ? We're off to Bristol at 11.05am tomorrow, but with expected winds at about 90kph at 10am, that's probably not going to happen ! Am i right in thinking that the ATR is supposed to go to BHX first, and back ? Would Aer Lingus cancel flights ?

I don't think those gusts are forecast for Cork at 10am. That is more of a risk for the North-West of Ireland. The worst of the storm in Cork should have passed in the early hours of the morning.

Looking at the forecast and the arrivals/departures board, the biggest risk would seem to be to the 00:45 arrival from Malaga, which would leave the aircraft out of position for the morning.

Some of the early morning departures may be a bit delayed, but they should get away.

The good news is that the wind should be coming from the due South, so there shouldn't be a crosswind component to worry about.

Thanks 840, that's reassuring ! (Though maybe not for the Malaga flight !)

Sometimes RE do use the shorter runway, its not common but I have landed on 25 twice, but it does provide an extra option if conditions necessitate and allow. I think EI did occasionally use it for the 737-500s back in the day.

It had to be a fairly light 737-500 at that, but I do remember being on one with about 45 passengers that got off to Amsterdam that way about 15 years ago.

Good news and bad news on the Zurich flights

The bad news is that the start date seems to now be 17-April, a little later than we thought.

The good news is that they go straight to 4x weekly then and that flights are at good times for connections apart from the Sunday flight. They are also showing at realistic prices, which should increase confidence that this is a timetable they Swiss expect to operate.

Air France are switching aircraft from an E170 to and E190 for the CDG route. Hopefully this is a sign it's going well. Perhaps the next year is a time to let this level of capacity bed in, but it would be great if some extra rotations were added as CDG would really start becoming an alternative hub to Heathrow and Amsterdam (although I'd always prefer to spend time in Schiphol than the other two).

Initial two new routes from EI for Summer 2019 are Dubrovnik, Croatia (2 weekly) and the return of Nice, France (2 weekly) - Both begin early May 2019.

Nice is no great surprise. Dubrovnik is more of a surprise; I had expected Rome to be the other one.

From the current timetable, it looks like SNN-AGP and SNN-FAO won't be operated by a Cork-based aircraft this year. However, it doesn't really fit the timings out of Dublin or Belfast either. Now there were rumours of an ASL 737 (although as far as I can see they only have freighters available) operating some services. Base that in Malage for the summer and all sorts of extra capacity could be brought in to any one of Cork, Dublin or Belfast.

What all that means, in a convulted way, is that it may not be a case of dropping some existing rotations to introduce the routes.

Regarding Ryanair, anyone know when we will hear more about Bordeaux, Carcassonne, Reus and Girona?

There appears to be no extra Thursday flight to BCN next summer, just those awful timed flights on Mo We Fr & Su

Dubrovnik is an interesting add, its a brilliant destination. I'm always surprised NCE didn't survive the recession, Im think it was daily at one stage.

The SNN sun routes schedule is certainly only part of the story, clearly the public schedule isn't the full version. It suggests that an aircraft is based at both AGP and FAO - unless EI are planning for a return to Dublin/ORK/BHD after midnight local time? The Belfast flights are already noted as being operated by ASL, if EI are wet-leasing there is time to finalise the operator/schedule.

There's already a scheduled 23:55 AGP-DUB, so they are more than willing to operate that late. However, that is the return working of a 19:15 DUB-AGP, so it doesn't allow for the Shannon timings.

I was also surprised that Nice was cut entirely. Not sure it was ever daily, but it was year-round with reasonable usage for ski traffic to Méribel, La Plagne, Les Arcs, Alpe d'Huez etc.

However, so many destinations in Cork run into the problem of being viable when the route incentives are in place, but when those expire, an airline can use the same aircraft more profitably on a different route with full incentives. The design of the current scheme doesn't really encourage stability. It's why we see routes like Nice and Lisbon back after a hiatus and why I'd thought it might be time for Rome's return.

I'm not sure what is with the pedantics of FR's seasonal routes to BOD/CCF/GRO/REU, they weren't released for sale again one year until early Jan! They will be back. NCE was axed after FR jumped on SNN-NCE (didn't last long), the route was never daily from my memory it reached a peak during the boom of nearly 4pw before staying at 3pw when it went to seasonal. This thread is depressing it seems with any positive steps, there's an angle too look for a negative. EI will grow weekly services in S19 as will other airlines in Cork, its a positive story.

How many aircraft do EI have based in Cork? 2?

RE Aer Lingus and the ASL 737s, They have already acquired 2 737-400s from Blue Air that are currently in SNN.They will be ferried to the US for the winter before coming back. Im led to believe theres a 3rd to come but not sure yet

Indeed, the flights are currently crewed from the US, I think. Without some sort of seasonal crew base at Cork/Shannon I don't think such routes would be likely. On the other hand 4 times weekly summer destinations from Cork and Shannon, to the sun, you would imagine there would be a reasonable list.
Its not like Norwegian is afraid of slightly unusual routes, they serve some seasonal destinations in the Caribbean from JFK with 737s - they are French Islands, so in the EU, how odd/creative.

Rome anyone?

The missing Ryanair destinations in Italy, France and Spain are now loaded.

They run from the start of June to the end of August.

I think that may be marginally longer than last year, but am open to correction

All are twice weekly, except Reus, which is three times weekly.

Seems that the AF CDG flight is changing to a morning flight on Cityjet from next summer. It's a pity that that flight isn't in addition to the existing flight.

AF W19
 

AF is on sale for W19, back to Hop and the evening schedule

It's a bit too early to have passenger numbers, but the fares being charged next Spring compare favourably with destinations like Barcelona, Malaga and Faro.