Wriggling, ducking and diving - looks like they are at it again at Cork Aiport!

Yesterday's Cork Evening Echo had a story on page two headed -Airlines reject air bridge proposals. The story explains how Cork Aiport passengers may be left out in the cold and wet when the airport completes the Euro 140 million new terminal next year.

The plan was to include the building of four air bridges. Cork says this is now in doubt as major users like Ryanair and Aer Lingus do not want to pay for airbridge facilities which would cost Euro 7.50 for thirty minutes of use.

Aer Rianta, the airport operator of Cork, Dublin and Shannon airports now say the contract with the builder of the new terminal at Cork is under review. Will one, two or more airbridges be built at Cork at all or will the providing of airbridges be completely abandoned?

Look like the management at Cork are trying to pass the buck to the airlines? Save some more money and give it to Shannon for even more waste? How many wettings have Cork management got in the ramp with this summer and had to accompany other passengers smoking and worse on the ramp walking to and from the more remote stands?

What if the money is not now spent on the building of the airbriges but they are sought for new transatlantic services etc in a few years time? How much will it then cost the airport user in increased taxes and charges?

It is not as if Cork has had a good summer. It has been a summer of disgrace what with the inactive ILS to 17, the diversions and the regular severe drenchings of passengers walking to and from remote stands and worst of all the three peak summer months of June, July and August have all seen dramatic fall offs in the number of passengers using the airport. Hardly a job well done?

Definitely a brave operation (albeit a tad uncouth).

Airlines like Ryanair don’t want airbridges as they like passengers to board front and back to speed up turnarounds. There is no point building something their airlines don’t want

Not a nice sight....but I wonder is it solely a monetary issue. I know FR do not like airbridges not only from a cost perspective, but also because of turnaround time. I remember seeing figures quoting 10 mins additional using airbridges. I don't think however the airlines should be dictacting this, the airport should put them in anyway and when they are available insist they are used. Far too often airlines are imposing issues on pax that cause inconvenience. It's about time some airports realise that passengers are also their customers, and fight for better conditions on their behalf!

Fair enough if you can provide a coach to carry pax to and from aircraft parked away from the terminal all the time and not kind of deciding on the day in question if it is going to be wet or dry. Right, lads, looks as if is going to rain later today, let's hire in the CIE bus/Green Line bus for the day so they wont be whinging about getting wet!

I am afraid Tom the T my sentiments are with you!

I am now sitting in my friends flat in london, afraid to open my bag to see how much my clothes got soaked this evening as I sat in the "cafe cuisine" looking at at it lashing rain and my bag sitting in an uncovered baggage trolley left abandoned in the middle of the concourse.
Not to mention of course of course the soaking I got when walking down to the FR parked down by the TNT cargo plane!!

I do agree that the air bridges are essential. Not everyone will want to use, but in the future who knows what might happen?
We could have trans altantic etc with airlines business pax which would require airbridges.

There is air bridges at STN where Ryanair park, they just dont use them, but for BAA going forward in the future, if LHR gets too congested and they get spill over, they will have the air bridges to be able to provide the service if needed.

I am sure for ORK that it would be a hell of a lot cheaper to install the bridges now, rather than in 10 years time decide that they are required where the cost to install them would be 3 times the cost not to mention the disruption to PAX etc.......

The EI 321s are v slow boarding at LHR (airbridges) but fairly quick at ORK (stairs both ends). If EI handling at LHR boarding last rows first and told queue jumpers to get the hell back it might help though.

An cantilever roof anyone?

At Stansted the airbridges were provided on Piers 1 & 2 by the mid 1990's before the LCCs had really started, so it wasn't known then what we know now. The newest Pier 3 (opened 2 years ago) has no airbridges and was designed with LCC's in mind. RYR share Pier 2 with others but are the sole Pier 3 operator.

Apart from the extended turnaround time airbridges are expensive to provide and maintain and also need additional resource to operate them so it is not in every airport's or airline's business model to have them. They also can take up valuable ramp space that may be better used for other puproses.

Musket90, I stand corrected.

What I had taken as air bridges in STN at pier 3 were the walkways out at departures before you go down stairs.
I would think that these would be quite easy to modify going forward if BAA wanted to provide air bridges at 3? Just knock the end of these gateways and install the moving part of the bridge?

I would like to see my Irish tax payers money "wasted" on a couple of extra million making provisio's for air bridges now and never use them rather than in 10 years time finding out they are needed where it would probably cost five times what it would now while the terminal is being built?

On a note of air bridges. I happened to fly on a LCC from STN last week on holidays. Airline is question was SkyEurope and I got to experience at 1st hand the delays in turn around time that air bridges can cause.
Everyone going down the same ramp, not a good idea. To compound matter's, SkyEurope do seat allocations so we were further held up by people in the aircraft searching for their seat numbers. I was truely shocked at how slow boarding was.

Now, SkyEurope's policy of using air bridges at STN (dunno if this is forced on them or not by BAA as they may not have the facility at pier 1 to provide any other means of boarding?) and using seat allocation may not be the wisest and there is already has been discussions on them in other threards if they are going to survive in the long term so I dont want to start that debate here!

As a note, I couldn't help thinking if this was a FR flight we would have been boarded and 1/2 ways to Warsaw by the time we were ready to go!

I think you'll find that, like most things in aviation these days, it's all down to cost and the financial return the airport can make.

Look at it this way, the airport operator plans the new facility, say it costs £50m, the locos know that their charges will be based around funding this, so they say "take out the airbridges and save £2m" we don't want them and aren't going to pay for them. If you were the airport operator why would you borrow an extra £2m and pay interest on it, when you're not going to get any return ?

The airline only cares about an on time departure and swift turnaround, do really think any airline cares about its passengers once they have departed the aircraft on arrival ?

Calm down Chaps!

I have flown into Cork almost every week for the past 15 months,

it is a fine airport with the most friendly (by far) staff I have ever encountered.

stop knocking it, it is an asset to the area it serves and will soon have a fab new terminal

my best regards to all at EICK/ORK

Rabbs

I have mixed views re. airbridges; they're great when it's raining but clearly have their limitations:

1. Turn-around time as mentioned. The operator always seems to take ages aligning the bridge to the front door which just adds more time.
2. Boarding from stairs is more fun; you appreciate the sheer size of a large a/c when this happens.
3. Most airports only have single airbridges ie. no boarding at the rear door which is a real pain on large a/c. The gates on Pier F at AMS are impressive; the overwing airbridges must have cost a fortune.

Having never Travelled through ORK I dont know how things are there but dont the have coachs?

FR/RYR at MAN/EGCC use T2. Aibridges 9/10
watp,iktch

Terrier 21, a coach from the national state owned bus compay, Bus Eireann was used on the ramp one Sunday about a month to six weeks ago.

It is likely this happened as a result of complaints that made into the local newspaper, The Irish Examier, from a councillor from Cashel, Co Tipperary. Cllr Wood had got a fierce Cork drenching from heavy rain and gale force winds as he returned from his sun holiday in Spain as his aircraft was parked remotely a long way from the terminal in the inclement weather.

The Sunday the coach was used was dry and sunny and has not been spotted since that famous day!

http://tinyurl.com/5y2xb

Funny stuff, sure enough. The essential stage Corkman in full flight, so to speak. However, if lips have to get wet in praise of being back in Cork again much better to have those wet lips around a pint of Murphys than slobbering kisses over a wet and windswept ramp surrounded by smokers lighting up on the long walk back to the terminal.

Obviously, must agree with the bit allowing our North Atlantic visitors to get to us directly without the hinderance of visits to west Clare villages!

Up the Rebels, whatever that means! If Cork Airport is to remain without some airbridges for the new terminal it looks like Cork people are happy to be 2nd class citizens with 2nd class facilities.

Cork Airport and her passengers will get what they deserve but you can bet Shannon Airport would not be without whatever facility they'd want. That is the difference - coming to the conclusion there is a certain weakness among Cork people. It must be all the rain? A numbness eventually creeps in?

All a Corkman wants is his hurling and his week in Santa Ponsa?

Anyone see the letters page of Saturday's Irish Examiner newspaper? I am told there is a good letter by Simon Coveney, TD (MP) on the airbridges debate at Cork Airport. Anyone who has read the letter care to comment?

for TTT: de paper

http://www.irishexaminer.com/pport/w...L11Zs5FWAE.asp
05/03/05

Cullen holds key to air bridges
I AM extremely concerned at the controversy which has arisen in relation to the provision of air bridges at Cork airport.

In a reply to a question from my Dáil colleague, Deputy David Stanton, on February 8, the Minster for Transport, Martin Cullen, indicated that based on information which he had received from the Dublin Airport Authority, "the main airline customers using Cork airport do not support the provision of air bridges as recently envisaged in the plans for the airport development programme and, accordingly, the current works do not provide for air bridges".

As I understand it, the proposed development at Cork airport always included the provision for air bridges. To fail to provide them at this stage would be extremely retrograde. Aer Lingus and Ryanair have indicated that they do not wish to use air bridges at Cork. However, if they were available at Cork airport and were being used by other airlines, then I believe Aer Lingus and all other airlines would follow suit if only in response to customer demand.



I also believe that the future expansion of the airport under the Cork Airport Authority will result in many other carriers perhaps including North American as well as European airlines using the airport. It is quite likely that those carriers and their passengers would expect air bridges in a modern European airport. The present airport layout means that many aircraft are parked a considerable distance from the terminal building. In poor weather this means passengers may have to walk up to 200 yards in wind and/or rain to reach the aircraft.

A decision by the Dublin Airport Authority to deny Cork airport the air bridge facilities would be extremely shortsighted. While it might save the Dublin authority the cost of such facilities now, ultimately the air bridges will have to be installed undoubtedly at far greater cost then.

The problem seems to revolve around three companies, all of which are the responsibility of Minister Cullen: the Dublin Airport Authority, which is refusing to provide the air bridges; Aer Lingus, which says it won't use them even if they are there; and Cork Airport Authority, which is seeking to have the bridges retained in the plans. They are all semi-state companies under the ultimate control of the Department of Transport.

The business community in Cork, as well as the travel trade, disability groups and other users of the airport, are all seeking to have the bridges retained. I have called on the Minister for Transport to re-examine the matter. I am convinced these problems can be resolved by firm action on the part of Mr Cullen and his department.

Simon Coveney TD, MEP
6A, Anglesea Street
Cork

Airbridges are a pain in the backside. What Cork needs is cheap high frequency air services on jets.

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