GoldCircle

Say what now???

That means a longhaul base in Cork... not getting this as a proposition. Fair enough, A 321 will have fewer staff associated with it than a 330/350, and the new engine variant will be cheaper to operate than the current generation of craft, but hasn't EI just spent a tonne extracting itself and its crews/ground staff from ORK? And surely the smaller no. of pax on a 321 won't justify this?

Or will these craft be based in LHR and offer continuing service? And do I smell union trouble as a result?

irishguy28

If they have, that's news to me. I fly AMS-ORK regularly and as far as I can tell, the Aer Lingus operation at Cork is the same as it always was (more destinations served now, though) and there are crews based there.

But a larger aircraft definitely wouldn't justify it either - they'd have a hard time filling the plane I reckon.

There were plans back in 2004 to run a weekly charter from Cork to NYC during the summer, but the sales must have been quite poor because the plans were dropped again fairly quickly.


Would it be any cheaper to base a long-haul craft at Heathrow than just keeping it in Dublin, or in Cork? I don't think so. I suppose they could try and sell seats from LHR to NYC, but a stopover in Cork would not be very attractive, especially given the absence of pre-clearance, so if they were to do something like that, it would surely be LHR-SNN/DUB-JFK.

Anyway, I really think that the days of seeing transatlantic flights from Cork are a long way off. If it ever did happen, I would expect it to be a stopping service (so combining Cork and Belfast, or even Cork and Shannon, or Cork and Dublin perhaps - routing through Dublin would allow an extra frequency from DUB, help fill the plane, and also do pre-clearance) and only operating on a low frequency.

Or perhaps these "extra" services could alternately originate from Belfast, then Cork, return to Dublin, pick up more pax, and benefit from pre-clearance. The DUB passengers would benefit from the extra frequency, the Cork and Belfast passengers wouldn't mind the "detour" so much, particularly as they can depart from their own local airport and still arrive pre-cleared thanks to the stop in DUB (or SNN).

Though I suppose that is not really the reasoning shown - why bother putting an A321 on the route, if it's not commercially viable to operate it directly...