CORK - 2

[ryan2000]

It must also be said that Irish people in general did not support Easyjet but invariably travelled to London with Ryanair and Aerlingus.

Their name recognition just didn't penetrate the Irish market and they generally just captured UK originating traffic.

Having said that I am sure they could sustain a daily ORK-LGW service if they really wanted to.

[fanatic1]

What I want is more airlines and more routes. But ryanair just keep blowing them off.

[hafez]

Fanatic 1,

Isn't that what everyone wants to be honest :p

I came in on EI715 on Tuesday last and was disappointed to see the terminal not open after being in Egypt for 3 weeks. It does look impressive though and I have seen a few pics from inside and they have done it quite tastefully. Alot nicer than Shannon or Dublin anyway. Only thing I would say is the check-in desks look small but I suppose that it will all sort itself out in the future. I'm thinking i'll have to book a cheap flight up to Dublin after it opens to see the depature lounge and all that, Can't wait until November - Too far away, or will it even be open by that stage the way things are going. Just out of curiosity, What airlines will be using the jetway, And will it be like heathrow Terminal 1 where you have to walk through the depatures to get to the arrivals once you come off the plane? All in all though it does look great and I can't wait to see it open - whenever that does happen......

[Charlie Roy]

but I suppose that it will all sort itself out in the future

Don't hold your breath :ouch:

[lm06]

It must also be said that Irish people in general did not support Easyjet but invariably travelled to London with Ryanair and Aerlingus.

Their name recognition just didn't penetrate the Irish market and they generally just captured UK originating traffic.

Having said that I am sure they could sustain a daily ORK-LGW service if they really wanted to.

there's another reason for not supporting LGW routes in themselves apart from brands...they're a pain

Gatwick is a 40 quid cab ride from London...an hour...it's a 40min train ride. Prices from LGW have to be 50 quid better and then add more to justify the time.....LHR only 15 mins from Paddington or 25 mins from say Knightsbridge on all but the busiest times

I know Stansted is miles out too but it's got cheapflights to beat the band where LGW is more charter-city with some cheapos tacked on. Go to Gatwick and you see charter people, go to STN and you see cheap flights people. People are conditioned to go to STN for cheap flights and LHR if time is important. EI flights are really competitive from LHR to be fair. I tried to give EZY from LGW a look-in a few weeks back (been reading too much on here maybe) but it was still better value to fly LHR-SNN and take my chances with the coonagh-dock road drive of shame ! :-) than take EZY to Cork. I reckon they'd have better luck if they did LTN-ORK

Even people living south of the river in London go to LHR....my argument may not be accurate and i do live 15mins from LHR at a walking pace..but I think that's a good stab at why LGW isn't a vote-winner for routes home

[lm06]

[ sorry for slightly off topic...does anyone know how NOT to get hosed by car hire companies in either Cork or SNN....the prices they charge !!.....the crowd in Cork are ok but SNN take scalps that would make the indians blush...appreciate any input ]

[fanatic1]

Opening date!
An ad made by the airport has said that the terminal will open on the 1st of Augest for ARRIVALS and on the 15th for all traffic.

I rung airport and they confirmed this. :)

[fanatic1]

It's not going to be easy to get a US service from Cork.

Delta and continental are in touch with ork, kir and noc. And it looks like they are going to give it the go ahead!

[brian_dromey]

Its areal pity that EZY have withdrawn from Ireland. But we must remember that FR have a history of defending its Irish routes. Remember GO, any one? There is a very good reason for this, as most of FRs profits come fro Ireland-UK routes. MOL would see beating up easyJet(or whoever) as a wothwhile investment.

On the subject of the terminal, its looking good so far, lets keep the fingers crossed! The airport are advertising their 'superior complex' to teh public at the moment lest hope they are doing the same to DL, US, AA, CO. etc. An American route would be great and really help to broaden the profile of the airport. Time will tell!

[ryan2000]

A transatlantic service would be a massive boost as the new terminal opens. However the travelling public in Cork will sink it fast if they continue to use Shannon flights just to save a few bob.

Unlike their counterparts in Dublin, Cork people are much more willing to fly from other Irish Airports if the price is right.

People who constantly flew with Ryanair rather than Easyjet cannot complain if fares now go back to their pre 2004 levels now that the duopoly has been restored on Cork London.

Watch the Ryanair website carefully in the days and weeks ahead.

[Charlie Roy]

[ sorry for slightly off topic...does anyone know how NOT to get hosed by car hire companies in either Cork or SNN....the prices they charge !!.....the crowd in Cork are ok but SNN take scalps that would make the indians blush...appreciate any input ]

I have a lot of experience renting cars from all SNN, DUB and ORK.
Up until recently I thought the cheapest rates were available by going through the Ryanair or Aerlingus website and clicking on HERTZ from there.

Then I discovered "Autoeurope" and it has been mostly even cheaper. Change your country of residence as appropriate. You then go through the whole booking process. It's only when you get your confirmation email that you learn whether it's AVIS or EUROPCAR or whoever that the rental agreement is with. Already used this site to rent cars in Sweden and Ireland, sometimes even dropping the car back to ta different airport. It's even more reasonable than HERTZ was (when going through an airline website). And in fairness I think HERTZ is fairly reasonable. And the prices I am paying now with this new site are criminal :)

Never noticed a difference in price myself between the Irish airports.

Also handy to regularly visit Aerlingus and Ryanair websites to see if HERTZ have any promotions going through them for specific periods.

[EI-MICK]

Well the new terminal looks fantastic at night,I arrived in on the FR9855 last night after farnborough and the terminal was well lit up and looked really well,even the lads with me who would normally fly from dub were slightly jealous of the taj mahal !

The CSA 737 on 6T had a very impressive paint scheme,something to do with brandenburg

I spoke with somebody I know who works at the airport on friday and he wreckons it wont be open until there is a clear answer on the debt issue.hopefully before august the 1st!!!

[hafez]

hopefully before august the 1st!!!

August 1st for Arrivals, 15th for Everything ;)

[EI-MICK]

Thats probably just an initial date that they are hoping for,that the debt report etc. is solved before that.I wouldnt be suprised if it october

[fonz77]

Who actually owns and has responsibility for the terminal at the moment. CAA or DAA? or the bulider/site engineers?:confused:
Who has the keys to the front door and why are they not using them

[Tom the Tenor]

Does anyone know if there was any effort at all done by Cork Airport to retain an easyJet service from Gatwick?

[fanatic1]

The debt issue has been resolved. Cork Airport has confirmed it will open on August 1st.

The keys were handed over on the 7th.

If they weren't sure it would open they wouldn't be putting ads on billboards saying August 1st.

Also they were in the Echo, Sunday Times, Irish Examiner and loads of other papers that all said August 1st.

Would Bertie Ahern address the issue saying he was delighted, if it wasn't going to open.

Now please stop saying this and that. :cool:

Silly.

[buzzmebaby]

We know the opening date has been resolved and finalised (see above posts) but has the debt issue?

I understood the report from BDO had been sent to PwC to be "verified". What is the result of it so? How much will Cork bear? (it's a question of how much at this stage, we know the government won't keep it's word on passing all the debt)

[Provance]

Does anyone know if there was any effort at all done by Cork Airport to retain an easyJet service from Gatwick?

I certainly hope so. I for one am rather shocked to see Easyjet pull out of Cork. I suspected that Knock and Shannon would occur, but thought that loads were sufficient in Cork, plus the fact that up until last Friday, Easy were still advertising Cork on their frontpage.

Lets start a campaign to save Easy in Cork !! :)

[runawayedge]

Tom.....it won't be Easy!

[en2r]

I'm surprised Easyjet couldn't have replaced the Gatwick service with a service from their main base at Luton, meaning they wouldn't be in direct competition with Ryanair. I suppose they reckoned that Ryanair would start a Cork-Luton Service just to spite them.
Easyjet's problem was that their fairs were similiar to AerLingus, without the convenience of Heathrow. I flew from Cork to Gatwick with Ryanair at the weekend and the return flights were both full. Ryanair are obviously doing very well on the route even with Easyjet still here. Will they be able to absorb all the three flights daily Easyjet Traffic with one single morning flight?

[ryan2000]

Air Baltic will be operating a Cork Riga flight for the August weekend, maybe a foretaste of a scheduled service. Lots of Latvians and Lithuanians living and working by the Banks of the Lee.

[StephenM_SMC]

I'm surprised Easyjet couldn't have replaced the Gatwick service with a service from their main base at Luton, meaning they wouldn't be in direct competition with Ryanair. I suppose they reckoned that Ryanair would start a Cork-Luton Service just to spite them.

I find it strange then that FR fly NOC-LTN and not from Cork, surely it would be better for them at Cork? Anyway I'm sad to see Easyjet leave Knock, :{ and one thing is for sure, I wont be flying Ryanair! :ok:

[FlightDetent]

The CSA 737 on 6T had a very impressive paint scheme,something to do with brandenburg
OK-DGL got that livery 2 years ago during a major maintenance check and it is 80th anniversary of the company. Aero A.14 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_A.14) Brandenburg was the first type operated commercialy .
But anyhow, DGL is -500 with about 104-109 seating. Last time i visited ORK was with A320 with 144 layout. What is the CSA's load factor and is A320 a regular visitor or was that just a coincidence?

edited for stupidness...

[EI896]

Yes finally it's opening!!! I've waited two whole years for the terminal to open and finally it is.

It's a fierce pity that BMI Regional, Jet2, easyJet and Loganair are all pulling out of EICK, easyJet say it's cause of stiff competition with Ryanair, Jet2 are pulling out I'd say cause of BMI Baby's route to Durham Teesval, BMI Regional cause of Aer Arann have announced a new route to Leeds/ Bradford and Loganair are just pulling out altogether.

And if Aer Lingus plan goes well on the new Prague route it'll be bye bye CSA, although CSA have been competing with Aer Lingus out of Dublin for years so lets just hope they get through it.

[EI896]

. Last time i visited ORK was with A320 with 144 layout. What is the CSA's load factor and is A320 a regular visitor or was that just a coincidence? Yes that was a coincedence usualy CSA operate B737-500s.

[FlightDetent]

Yes that was a coincedence usualy CSA operate B737-500s.
Well, anyhow. I clap mie handz for the new builiding and I hope 320 is a business case rather than an OPS issue NEXT time. We'll see unless AerLingus kicks our butt major time.


nothing relevant in this space...,




They will.:ugh:

[Tom the Tenor]

Hearing today that Aer Lingus are dropping the Wednesday Cork-Rome flight from 13th September and are putting on an extra Faro rotation in it's place.

However, four Rome flights from Cork from the middle of September must be harder to fill than an exta Faro flight which will fill far more easily with groups of golfers as the weather ought to be far more clement for Irish tastes around then and the resorts and bars are likely to be a little less crowded too so for EI it is all about yield management along with the full aeroplanes.

Certainly, last September the EI Faro flights were jammed with parties of golfers and there is even more money to be made too with the heavy weight of golf bags etc.

Smart move for EI apart from the inconvenice caused to the poor Rome passengers whom will now have to travel to Rome via DUB not to mention Th'Other Place!

[Provance]

I've heard today that both EI and FR will not be using the air bridges in CORK as they are too expensive

[asianfly]

well, there is only the one anyway so I guess that avoids any bun fight between the two on the ramp :rolleyes:
So now there will be one air bridge and no users....its almost enought to make one cry. 160m and we still get drenched on a rainy day :eek:

[840]

No surprise about Ryanair, although I had heard that Aer Lingus were planning to use it for LHR flights. So, will any of the others use it - Baby, CSA, Malev?

[ryan2000]

Heard the bill is closer to 200m. Just imagine the reaction when a plane parks in Stand 2 on the first wet windy day and the passengers have to walk a quarter of a mile to the new terminal.



At present visitors to the new terminal are shown the six nose in stands outside the terminal but when they're full you better have your rain coat on.

As for walkways or buses, dream on for another while.

[fanatic1]

Baby, ha, I doubt it.

Definitly CSA and Malev. ''The real airlines!''

At least the flights are at different times.
I heard an other two airbridges will be added by the end of the year.

[Charlie Roy]

Air Baltic will be operating a Cork Riga flight for the August weekend, maybe a foretaste of a scheduled service. Lots of Latvians and Lithuanians living and working by the Banks of the Lee.

Indeed, quite a large Lithuanian and Latvian population in Cork / Munster / Ireland. I know a good number of them myself who would be overjoyed with a Riga service. And it would also appeal to city breakers, stag parties etc.
What's more, Air Baltic would probably offer connections to other destinations via Riga.

Is this August weekend thing going to a chartered service then? And why the August weekend? Majourity of Latvians in Cork work in service industry, so bank holiday Monday wouldn't necessarily mean they've all time off that weekend. Quite the contrary... Or is there something happening like the Latvian national holiday that weekend? The flights aren't bookable on their website either. Have the tickets been on sale through travel agents? And have they been advertising it?

Strange to just operate flights for one weekend of the year... How would they expect to fill a plane without spending money on costly once off advertising....

Anyway, 'twud be great if it was to become a regular service. Defo a market there for it. Long enough distance though...

[Charlie Roy]

The Guardian has a nice article encouraging English people to fly Aerlingus and visit Cork.

http://travel.guardian.co.uk/shortbreaks/story/0,,1827778,00.html?gusrc=rss

PS: Shannon is getting more new routes with Ryanair. Bournemouth and Edinburgh to start with...

[Charlie Roy]

Ryanair's website announcing that Cork to Dublin is going to be 4 times daily from November.

Not quite clear yet, but it looks like they'll be using their Cork aircraft to do the 4 Dublin flights!!
Meaning Gatwick could be reduced to ONE afternoon flight!
Huff!

[Charlie Roy]

Jet2 winter flights are now bookable between Cork and Newcastle :)
Fridays and Sundays.

Pity about the reduced number of flights, but at least they are not abandoning us, phew! :ok:

[Global Pilot]

I've heard today that both EI and FR will not be using the air bridges in CORK as they are too expensive

Heard from an airport employee who attended the RYR press conference to announce the Cork base. When asked if they would use airbridges at the new terminal, MOL responded with (I might be paraphrasing here):

"Use airbridges..are you joking....our 737 will pull on to stand on time or ahead of local time and the bridge doesn't move because the idiot supposed to drive it is having a coffee and when he finally makes it he is in such a rush that he smacks the side of the aircraft"

Use of airbridges just doesn't lend itself to quick turnarounds. Two points of note, I passed thru SNN two weeks ago and there was a RYR on stand 27 with a bridge attached while next to it on 26A was a shamrock A320 with pax walking to it. Must have been the way they arrived that day. On another note, I arrive into ORK last Thursday from Laranca. We were parked about as far away from the old terminal as possible. Not impressed with the long walk after an exhausting 5hour flight. If it was raining it would just have made my experience of ORK all the more miserable. Come on ORK authority, ask yourself what your passenger need to make life more comfortable and provide some kind of ground transport to remote stands.

[EI896]

Charters maybe for the airbridge, But I can see the Air2000 B757 using it when it comes in every Tuesday.

[asianfly]

Global Pilot is spot on....ORK really has to do something so that passengers boarding or disembarking from distant stands are not drenched on rainy days (of which there are quite a few at Cork). I don't mind not using air bridges but I do object to getting soaked trying to get on a plane. I don't know how much an airside bus would cost, or some form on extendable canopy, but surely management there could figure it out. I just find it ludicrous that after all the money invested, passengers are still left in the lurch :ugh:

[brian_dromey]

Not quite clear yet, but it looks like they'll be using their Cork aircraft to do the 4 Dublin flights!!
Meaning Gatwick could be reduced to ONE afternoon flight!
Huff!

There was talk that FR would be basing a second 738 @ ORK so maybe thats why there increasing the frequencies. There should also be new routes if this is the case.

Lets see!

[Charlie Roy]

Brian

Ya, a 2nd FR aircraft in Cork would be the JOB! :ok:
I'm dubious though. All this has materialised on the day Ryanair reshuffled its schedules to reduce capacity between its Irish regional airports and London. So I think this increase in Cork - Dublin will be directly linked to a decrease in Cork - Gatwick. The next few days will tell a lot... Anyone with some insider info?

It's looking like FR are going to use their Cork aircraft in winter to do:
Cork - Dublin
Cork - Dublin
Cork - Gatwick
Cork - Dublin
Cork - Dublin

How crap is that!? :uhoh:

Fingers crossed though that this 2nd aircraft rumour is true and that we might actually see some new FR routes from Cork!

[ryan2000]

The proposed Dublin schedule doesn't really fit one aircraft.

[Charlie Roy]

ryan2000

Ya there would seem to be a slight discrepency with the flight leaving Cork at 10am as it would only leave a 15 minute turnaround. I think this could be a typo that will be rectified sooner or later...
What's more is that there is no early morning Dublin flight appearing on Sunday mornings.
And I see also that there is a rather long hour break between the second last and the last Dublin flights. Like, it is rather strange for Ryanair to have their evening crew sitting around on their laurels for 60 minutes before the last flight of the day.
(Ryanair do have similar time buffers in place in the schedules of their other aircraft between the morning and evening shifts to absorbe potential delays).

However, it seems these new schedules were put together fairly hastily since Easyjet confirmed their departure from Ireland only last week. The times might become slightly adjusted over the next week, to reflect a more realistic use of the one Cork based aircraft.

(Also thought the aircraft would have started its day earlier than 0740...)

[anna_list]

As things stand at the moment, the flights to DUB and LGW would require 2 aircraft, as below:

1st plane:
06:20 LGW 09:35
10:00 DUB 12:05
12:55 LGW 16:15
16:40 DUB 18:55
19:20 LGW 22:40

The times for the first aircraft seem to fit very neatly into FR's usual way of working. The remaining flights would require a second aircraft, which would then have 2 free rotations:

2nd plane:
07:40 DUB 09:45
10:10 XXX ??:??
??:?? XXX 19:30
19:55 DUB 22:00

... but all of this could change ...

[Tom the Tenor]

Are we not used to hearing that a lot of the big money in Ryanair is made on the Ireland to London routes? Therefore, why would Ryanair not want to operate the winter schedules with their 3 flights to Stansted and 3 flights to Gatwick from Cork? They have got to give a better financial return than Cork - Dublin flights? The intended Cork - Gatwick flight at 0620 hours for the winter has got to be a winner to London and it would be plainly foolish not to take it up as you will still be in the London area before the EI710 even departs for Heathrow.

They like the headlines in FR, do they not? Well, look at the headlines they can drum up if they announce a second aeroplane for Cork on the day the new terminal opens on 1st August! It is my understanding that FR have a little over 17 pilots for the Cork base and if this is indeed the case it seems just a little high for a sole aeroplane operation, does it not? Were there not other rumors recently about FR hiring hotel space for Cork based Cabin Crew interviews?

The situation is certainly interesting and well worth watching for the outcome! A philosophy by Ryanair to reduce Gatwick to a mere token operation in the shadow of easyJet's sad exit from Cork would be a bizarre turn of events as three daily ORK-LGW flights will have absolutely no problem having financial success.

[Charlie Roy]

Ok, ok! Ye have me more and more convinced that my pessimism over FR's winter plans for ORK is unwarranted...

I won't be able to sleep or work with this potential second aircraft announcement floating around ;)

Cork - Charleroi, Cork - Charleroi, Cork - Charleroi, Cork - Charleroi, Cork - Charleroi, Cork - Charleroi, Cork - Charleroi, Cork - Charleroi :ok:

In general my hope would be that a second FR aircraft would bring real new routes to Cork Airport and not just be used to eliminate the competition!

[ryan2000]

A difficult one to call. The next few days could be very interesting. Maybe Charlie is right, the speculation has been intense all day on Prune and at the Airport.

Ryanair's competitors at Cork and there are several of them will be monitoring the website closely over the next week.

[EI896]

The times for the first aircraft seem to fit very neatly into FR's usual way of working. The remaining flights would require a second aircraft, which would then have 2 free rotations:

2nd plane:
07:40 DUB 09:45
10:10 XXX ??:??
??:?? XXX 19:30
19:55 DUB 22:00

... but all of this could change ...
Yes what Ryanair should do is start some new route over to Poland it would work much better and have plenty of competition between Aer Lingus,WizzAir and CentralWings who are starting in October. I think Poland from Cork are to Eastern Europe from Cork would be a great expansion.