The Celtic Tiger boom. As soon as the economy went bust, so did the twice weekly 747s...

That said, Air France Cargo seem to be going back to 747Fs. I don't think thats any sign of exports/imports picking up though, but more of a lack of available aircraft after AF selling off some of their new 777Fs to FedEx.

My point about the 747/777 is to do with earlier posts about the ability of the runway to cope which some seemed to be questioning

Well there is a runway length issue with the 747. Air France Cargo only went to Chicago or Paris through Dublin, and Singapore Cargo would fly in from Dubai and then fly out to Copenhagen and on to Singapore then.

But theres definitely no issue with a 777 flying to the Middle East direct from Dublin.

The SQ 747 left Dublin with less than **** all payload wise from Dublin, although "full" as in all positions with pallets on them, never much weight and was never any where near any of its takoff limits.

The same goes for the AF 747 which after all does not cross the pond from DUB only has a short hop over to CDG once a week after it picks up litterally a few tonnes ex Dublin.

The flightdeck crew on SQ seemed to think as well that a Pax 747-400 or a 777 would have no problem with Dublin but that the issue was crosswinds on a wet runway. I will leave that last bit for you technosexuals to post threads and suggest why the flight deck are wrong but you are not hehe.

Dublin T2 opening
 

When is the actual Date of T2 opening at DUB?
I tried the DAA website without success - does anyone have the exact date?
Am travelling DUB to MCO (Orlando) in November and naturally would love to clear everything at DUB and avoid the TSA 'fullish monty' security check on arrival at MCO.

There is no date as of yet but it should be open by early - mid November.

Are Aer Lingus planning to move in as soon as it opens or will they wait a few months?

Aer Lingus said they would use it when it opens. They may move Long-Haul first and Short-Haul a little lather. I don't realy know what way they are going to do it.

There are some test flights in late October as far as I know with Aer Lingus so I would imagine if all is going well a move in early November is on the cards.

Staff traing starts very soon on the use and i believe late September if opens for non operational use.

DUB always compares its duty / tax free prices to their own tightly defined interpretation of 'high street' prices to demonstrate savings. From experience and knowledge of the 'high street' and indeed other European airports DUB must be one of the most expensive outlets in Europe. Will this hood winking of PAX continue with the new terminal or will we be pleasantly surprised by genuine savings on purchases?

Staff familirisation is already in progress, I did mine a few weeks ago.

Im stll waiting to get my free trip around the white elephant, i mean t2!

Irish bank pessimistic on Dublin pax numbers
 

Hidden in an article in todays Sunday Independent by economist and independent Senator Shane Ross, is a quote form Bank of Ireland, the second largest bank in Ireland and currently the recipient of massive State aid, regarding Terminal 2. The article is about the awarding of a franchise to operate the foreign exchange concessions in the terminal, which BoI lost.

Shane Ross: Iceman cometh to Terminal 2 - Shane Ross, Columnists - Independent.ie

JAS

Along with everyone else!!!

If most Transatlantic services plus all Aer Lingus's routes operate into T2, I would imagine it would be the better option for a Foreign Exchange desk.

T1 would get left with mostly services to the UK and Eurozone countries. People from the Eurozone won't need foreign exchange and people from the UK are likely to have a certain amount of Euro cash knocking around and also are more likely to use an ATM to withdraw cash.

Just heard today from a pal who works in EI who had their T2 familiarisation last week and he said that EI will be using T2 and the old pier B in T1 for their operations.

I was wondering whether Pier B might become a de-facto part of Terminal 2... can they use the old walkway used for Pier C for arriving passengers?

I'm not sure about that but they are also building a bridge to link T1 & T2. It might be that.

Is Pier C gone for good or is it opening back up??

It'd be kinda hard to reopen something that was effectively knocked down...

As for Pier B becoming part of T2 - a pier is a pier, a terminal is a terminal. Just because Aer Lingus decide to use T2 doesn't mean you'll be boarding in Pier E, you could end up departing from Pier B, and if things ever pick up enough in a few years and space becomes tight(especially in the morning with the US flights), you could probably be boarding from Pier D.