Cork - New York Announced Finally

[neidin]

Slaterry Travel in Ireland have announced today that they will operate CORK-NEW YORK twice weekly with a Boeing 757 in cattle class 229 configuration.

Will EI take them on with a fares battle from SNN. Will it cost ORK airport a fortune to gear up with the US security. Who knows?

[Dutchie]

twice weekly means low yields... good luck to them. Who will operate this?

[lowfaresbuster]

Slatterys had an icelandic operator A-330 on their Dublin-South Africa scheduled charter over the winter- maybe the same operator is providing them with a 757

where did you get this news?

[GrahamK]

I thought it was LTU (German) that dine the South Africa flights?

[lowfaresbuster]

hi graham, maybe it was LTU this year(winter 04/05), but it was def a Icelandic crowd in winter 03/04

I presume this is a scheduled charter- therefor no SNN stopover, and customs clearance in NY.

What airport will they fly to? Newark?

[irishcc]

AV8 operated the route ( DUB - CPT ) , a 767-300 was leased from Icelandair.

[Tom the Tenor]

Sure enough, there is an ad on the Slatterys website about the New York - Cork series.

Just now there was an item on the subject on the 3 pm RTE Radio 1 news. Twicely weekly from 27th October.

Ryan Intenational 757-200 configured for 210 seats I have just been advised.

[FlyCorkInternational]

This has been rumoured for a long time and it certainly is a start. As TTT says it will be operated by Ryan International. This will be a scheduled charter so the SNN rule does not apply. However the fact is that the SNN rule NEVER applied in Cork's case and there actually was never any obstacle for a Cork-USA scheduled service. (An extremely well kept secret clause in the agreement exempted Cork). It is interesting that it took so many years for this to be revealed.

It will also be interesting to see how EI react and whether they might introduce a Cork-USA service next year. Rumour has it that AA has also voiced their preference to a ORK-BOS service over SNN.

Watch this space

[neidin]

EI will likely flood SNN market with really cheap seats on same dates as flights operate from ORK. They will not let this one slip by without a challenge.

Likely Slattery is sharing risk with Ryan on this one - so it has a fair chance to work.

AA at ORK highly unlikely - weather, runway length and airbridges for three obvious reasons. I know it can work off 2200m etc... but it is still a struggle. AA not known for being risk takers. Only reason they did SNN was due to SNN stopver clause at DUB. I have that from their IRL station management.

Sure people in ORK will love the novelty of this - but they should save all the money that this will cost ORK airport in staffing, terminal config for USA security etc.. and give it to EasyJet to start new services. But hey that would be too obvious a strategy. Bring on the yankee's/

[FlyCorkInternational]

Dont be too sure that AA in Cork is highly unlikely. They are only operating a 757 on the Shannon service, and thats only to comply with the "RULE" as DUB is their main focus. I have it directly from a very reliable source within AA, that Cork has their interest once the new terminal is open. The obstacles mentioned : Airbridges ~ Cork will have 2, Runway Length ~ not a prob for a 757, Weather ~ the only remaining problem.

As I say, watch this space.

[Tom the Tenor]

A start must be made somewhere and even if only one or a few flights operate from Cork to New York it will still be a worthwhile exercise. New routes must always be welcomed!

It is also makes a good distraction from the many other woes at Cork Airport like the lack of CATIII ILS etc!

[FlyCorkInternational]

Just announced that the DUB-MCO route by EI is being dropped in January 2006. Now where could they be planning on placing that spare A330 - I wonder (wishful thinking) :rolleyes:

[Irish Steve]

I wonder (wishful thinking)

According to RTE, it will be serving JFK & BOS, as they need more capacity on that route.

Seems to me that your chances are not good, given the lack of cabin crews based in ORK, and the apparent problems of getting agreements with them to do the job.

I begin to see why WW decided it was time to pull the plug and move to better alternatives.

[fonz77]

This is good for Cork.
Bottom line.
If it works - very good.
If it doesn't - well, now we know.

Does anyone remember years ago, not sure how long ago, a DC-8 landed in Cork form New York on some sort of special charter.
What was the airline?

[Tom the Tenor]

Foz, in the business sense Jetmagic did not work but Cork now has all her routes back except for LCY and latterly MXP which EI gave a crack at last summer season so I would argue it is not simply a case that if the Slatterys Cork New York series failed to work that it would be curtains for any future North Atlantic services?

This attempt at Cork USA seems to have more credibility in that the Slatterys brand is strong in the Cork and Kerry areas and would be well known from the times of the daily Slatterys bus to London via the ships and the Irish sea!

The DC-8 you ask about was a Transocean aircraft. A series 61 aircraft which routed JFK-Gander-Cork and the return flight routed out via Shannon. She was a nice aeroplane.

Some years before the DC-8 Buffalo Airways from Waco, Texas also did a charter from Providence, Rhode Island direct to Cork with a Boeing 707, an ex-TAP machine. She too was a nice aeroplane.

There was also one American Transair flight with a 757. Cant remember if she arrived from the USA via Shannon or if she flew direct to Cork. Out via Shannon.

The Cork-New York series ought to work as long as the prices are not too loony. As mentioned above they will have to watch the boyos at Shannon in this matter. I got very excited about last year's hopes for a Cork USA but this time I hope to be more measured about it and if fails well Cork will just have to regroup and try again, that's all!

[lowfaresbuster]

fares ex ORK are from €364 plus €69 tax, and they go to JFK.

[fonz77]

Tom
Good points, i was a little short sighted in my post perhaps
People i have spoken were very positive about the thought of flying from cork to the US so hoping for athe best.
Thanks for the info regarding the DC-8 Tom, a wise man indeed.

[MarkD]

I thought the SNN rule doesn't apply to charter period? Isn't that why EI did MCO-DUB as charter?

[Tom the Tenor]

Cork and Knock charters may operate directly to and from the USA. When the bilateral was amended around 1991 this was put it with Cork and Knock being specifically mentioned.

Unfortunately, for Dublin charters the stopover still applies. A touch of irony there! A way must have been found to get around forcing aircraft to stop at Shannon in both directions though with the EI MCO charter stopping only on the eastbound sector. It is interesting and does anyone know why there is the stop in just one direction?

Today's Cork based Irish Examiner newspaper has a substantial page 1 ad for the Slatterys sponsored Cork to New York service. All done up in sort of red and white just like the Cork colours. All pretty slickly done so far from the Slatterys camp.

I would advise them never to take their eyes off of what is happening at snn though.

Maybe it has been a good omen or something but today Cork has had the visit of a quite exotic looking Air Slovakia Boeing 757 flying as a hire in for Eirjet. Cool!

[Cyrano]

A way must have been found to get around forcing aircraft to stop at Shannon in both directions though with the EI MCO charter stopping only on the eastbound sector. It is interesting and does anyone know why there is the stop in just one direction?

Tom:

My understanding is that the bilateral (as amended in 1993) says that for each one-way non-stop charter flight an airline operates to/from Shannon, the airline may operate one non-stop charter flight to/from Dublin. (Hence EI operating an MCO-SNN "entitles" them to operate a non-stop DUB-MCO.)

The wording for scheduled flights is similar: one scheduled non-stop flight to/from DUB for each scheduled non-stop flight to/from SNN.

Hope this helps
C.