Lack of new routes at Cork airport

Nonoperational · 19-04-2014 3:23pm

I'm sure if they committed to a certain number of seats per year it would mean a lot more than a survey.

Rhys Essien · 03-06-2014 12:18pm

Latest comments from Varadkar.:rolleyes:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/business/lsquoairport-costs-too-high-in-corkrsquo-270765.html

blindsider · 03-06-2014 1:36pm

"The Transport Minister said that independence for Cork “is not right for the DAA now because it carries a debt of €200m as a result of the new terminal”.

Would this be the debt that would not be Cork's in the event of the break up of the DAA?

http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2006/0731/world/airport-debt-decision-in-september-9642.html

Well worth a read - it's blood boiling stuff.

How did we get from €160m debt to the current €200m?

Nobody seems to have the remit to go out and get flights into Cork. They need to get 1-2 people who can sell slots to airlines - and offer them a basic salary - with lots of commission for every new flight into Cork. Let them off then to negotiate with Ryaniar, Easyjet, Cityjet, BMI and whoever else is out there.

There are 24 low-cost airlines in Europe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_low-cost_airlines

That doesn't include AL, BA, Air France and Lufthansa.

Someone somewhere needs to be responsible for selling flights into the airport - not marketing, selling. Hard-nosed, cold-hearted sales. Without this, the airport, and the region, are never going to generate real revenue.

blindsider · 03-06-2014 1:48pm

From Cork Airport site:

http://www.cork-airport.com/gns/at-the-airport/latest-news/14-03-05/Cork_Airport_Stakeholder_Body_Holds_First_Meeting.aspx

This is the list of the members of the new Committee:

The 15 members of the Cork Airport Development Committee are as follows:
Pádraig Ó Ríordáin, Chairman (Chairman DAA, Corporate Partner, Arthur Cox)
Fiona Buckley, (Head of Operations, Fáilte Ireland)
Conor Healy, (Chief Executive, Cork Chamber of Commerce)
Niall MacCarthy (Managing Director, Cork Airport)
John Mullins, (Chairman, Port of Cork)
Dr Michael Murphy, (President, University College Cork)
Eric Nolan (Director, DAA)
Anne-Marie O’Brien, (Ballydoyle Racing Stables)
Emma O’Brien, (Director and Vice Chairman of the Clonakilty Chamber of Commerce);
Joe O’Flynn, (General Secretary, SIPTU)
Ann-Marie O’Sullivan (Director DAA, Director of H+A Marketing + PR)
Bob Savage, (Vice President and General Manager, EMC, Cork)
Kevin Toland, (Chief Executive, DAA)
Jim Woulfe, (Chief Executive, Dairygold Co-operative Society)
Gerry Walsh (Director DAA, Director Spruce Consulting)

Too many wafflers for my liking - not enough locals who NEED the airport to succeed.

rebs23 · 03-06-2014 4:09pm

blindsider wrote: »

"The Transport Minister said that independence for Cork “is not right for the DAA now because it carries a debt of €200m as a result of the new terminal”.

Would this be the debt that would not be Cork's in the event of the break up of the DAA?

http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2006/0731/world/airport-debt-decision-in-september-9642.html

Well worth a read - it's blood boiling stuff.

How did we get from €160m debt to the current €200m?

Nobody seems to have the remit to go out and get flights into Cork. They need to get 1-2 people who can sell slots to airlines - and offer them a basic salary - with lots of commission for every new flight into Cork. Let them off then to negotiate with Ryaniar, Easyjet, Cityjet, BMI and whoever else is out there.

There are 24 low-cost airlines in Europe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_low-cost_airlines

That doesn't include AL, BA, Air France and Lufthansa.

Someone somewhere needs to be responsible for selling flights into the airport - not marketing, selling. Hard-nosed, cold-hearted sales. Without this, the airport, and the region, are never going to generate real revenue.

How much debt is the DAA carrying for the development of T2?
Ryanair claim €2 Billion?
How much of a subsidy does Kerry, Waterford, Sligo, etc get from central government every year?
How much of a debt was written off to allow Shannon become independent and debt free?
How much did it cost the taxpayer to amalgamate Shannon Development into Shannon Airport?

When it comes down to it, my simple reasoning as to why Cork Airport is getting treated like this is because the DAA does not want it to succeed.

Varadkar does not want it to succeed. Simply rehashing the debt issue without coming up with solutions is a cop out. They want to give Shannon a help out at the start of its independence, let it undercut Cork and not have Cork competing with either Dublin and Shannon.
Where is Varadkars greatest support base outside of Dublin for the upcoming FG leadership contest? It's the Mid West/Shannon.

who_me · 03-06-2014 7:01pm

I still don't understand why the Cork board voted to take on that debt, given they had an assurance it would be debt-free. Turkeys voting for Christmas.

Am I right in thinking too that the (then) Great Southern Hotel at the airport was transferred to the DAA, then sold? So the DAA get the Cork assets, but Cork keeps the Cork debt? Sweet deal, for Dublin.

kub · 03-06-2014 9:40pm

rebs23 wrote: »

How much debt is the DAA carrying for the development of T2?
Ryanair claim €2 Billion?
How much of a subsidy does Kerry, Waterford, Sligo, etc get from central government every year?
How much of a debt was written off to allow Shannon become independent and debt free?
How much did it cost the taxpayer to amalgamate Shannon Development into Shannon Airport?

When it comes down to it, my simple reasoning as to why Cork Airport is getting treated like this is because the DAA does not want it to succeed.

Varadkar does not want it to succeed. Simply rehashing the debt issue without coming up with solutions is a cop out. They want to give Shannon a help out at the start of its independence, let it undercut Cork and not have Cork competing with either Dublin and Shannon.
Where is Varadkars greatest support base outside of Dublin for the upcoming FG leadership contest? It's the Mid West/Shannon.

You are correct Varadkar does not want Cork Airport to succeed, has he even been in this county sense he was made a minister?

He hates the place obviously as he probably sees Simon Coveney as a threat.

Actually wouldn't it be great in the next cabinet reshuffle that Varadkar gets Health and Coveney gets Transport.

razorblunt · 03-06-2014 10:49pm

Edinburgh airport is going from strength to strength, we need to adopt their approach.

rebs23 · 04-06-2014 10:11am

kub wrote: »

You are correct Varadkar does not want Cork Airport to succeed, has he even been in this county sense he was made a minister?

He hates the place obviously as he probably sees Simon Coveney as a threat.

Actually wouldn't it be great in the next cabinet reshuffle that Varadkar gets Health and Coveney gets Transport.

That's it in a nutshell. Varadkar is relying on the Mid West/Shannon to try and boost his profile/political strength in a region outside of Dublin to get the FG leadership.
Coveney has Cork and the agricultural lobby sown up and Varadkar needs another region outside of Dublin to boost his chances.
Its amazing the easy ride he gets from the Dublin media.

lisasimpson · 14-08-2014 7:01pm

http://www.irishexaminer.com/business/airline-passengers-up-14-at-cork-279475.html

aerlingus regional numbers up 14% this year in the airport. pitty the increase in passenger numbers doesn't result in a decrease in some charges to attract more flights to new distinations

kub · 14-08-2014 11:11pm

Dublin airport have as many passengers now going through it a month as what Cork has in a year. Fair dues to Dublin airport.

So with small figures as Cork has compared with Dublin, the DAA hardly even know the place exists and care even less about the place.

I imagine that as far as they are concerned Cork can stew in it, it is probably akin to a little fly annoying them.

This board that was set up will just be a talking shop and will achieve nothing and some transport minister will have an excuse for doing nothing as he will say we set up a development board. The DAA control the place and as long as that is the case it will stagnate.

shnaek · 15-08-2014 11:02am

kub wrote: »

This board that was set up will just be a talking shop and will achieve nothing and some transport minister will have an excuse for doing nothing as he will say we set up a development board. The DAA control the place and as long as that is the case it will stagnate.

They need it to stagnate so Shannon can thrive.

evilivor · 28-08-2014 2:57pm

AER LINGUS AXES BRUSSELS, CUTS MORE CORK FLIGHTS

AER Lingus is canceling the flight connection between Cork and Brussels this winter and reducing flights to Munich and Malaga.

In a significant blow to Cork Airport’s attempts to increase passenger numbers and attract new routes the airline is understood to have made the decision due to reduced passenger numbers on the route.

Aer Lingus confirmed it is suspending the Cork to Brussels service for the winter from October 27. It had operated twice per week last winter. The Cork to Munich service has been reduced from two flights per week to one, from December 20 until the end of March, when it will revert to two per week.
The Cork to Malaga service has reduced from three flights per week to two per week between November-March when it will revert to three per week.

http://www.eveningecho.ie/2014/08/28/aer-lingus-axes-brussels-cuts-cork-flights/

Paz-CCFC · 28-08-2014 3:08pm

In unrelated news, Dublin Airport are delighted to announced additional flights to Brussels, Munich and Malaga.

THENORTHSIDER · 28-08-2014 3:46pm

evilivor wrote: »

AER LINGUS AXES BRUSSELS, CUTS MORE CORK FLIGHTS

AER Lingus is canceling the flight connection between Cork and Brussels this winter and reducing flights to Munich and Malaga.

In a significant blow to Cork Airport’s attempts to increase passenger numbers and attract new routes the airline is understood to have made the decision due to reduced passenger numbers on the route.

Aer Lingus confirmed it is suspending the Cork to Brussels service for the winter from October 27. It had operated twice per week last winter. The Cork to Munich service has been reduced from two flights per week to one, from December 20 until the end of March, when it will revert to two per week.
The Cork to Malaga service has reduced from three flights per week to two per week between November-March when it will revert to three per week.

http://www.eveningecho.ie/2014/08/28/aer-lingus-axes-brussels-cuts-cork-flights/

Aer Lingus don't appear to be flying Munich out of Cork from the 1st of November until the 20th on December

KCAccidental · 28-08-2014 3:55pm

It's very frustrating to watch routes from the airport being cut back and suspended. Any attempts by the Airport to attract other Low Cost Carriers leads to Ryanair swamping them short term until they leave (for example, easyjet and Wizz), only in turn to cut back and suspend those routes themselves (e.g Krakow, Gdansk and Wroclaw) afterwards.

Meanwhile Aer Lingus have no interest in the airport outside of the Heathrow slot and Sun routes.

Not sure where the airport goes from here.

Fabio · 28-08-2014 4:10pm

Does the fact it is still owned by the DAA hamper it?

Pitcairn · 28-08-2014 4:17pm

Fabio wrote: »

Does the fact it is still owned by the DAA hamper it?

Definitely, Shannon has had a series of new flight announcements since it was made independent and in recent months has overtaken Cork as the State's second busiest airport.
https://www.iaa.ie/traffic_monthly_review

KCAccidental · 28-08-2014 4:41pm

Pitcairn wrote: »

Definitely, Shannon has had a series of new flight announcements since it was made independent and in recent months has overtaken Cork as the State's second busiest airport.
https://www.iaa.ie/traffic_monthly_review

They took most of the Ryanair flights and routes that were introduced in 2011/12.

makes depressing reading.

coleen · 28-08-2014 4:48pm

I would use Cork Airport to go to Tenerife during the winter time. I see that Ryan Air do not seem to be going to Tenerife this winter so they have less and less options for winter which forces us to use either Shannon or Dublin.

ssbob · 28-08-2014 5:07pm

Frequent business user of the Brussels flight, always above 80% full since I have been flying it. Strange also that it is axed given that Brian Crowley and Liadh Ni Riada are frequent users. You would think their political influence would weight heavily on this!

pwurple · 28-08-2014 11:11pm

Brian Crowley lost significant political clout since his recent defection i would guess.

Rhys Essien · 28-08-2014 11:40pm

Time for crisis talks.Whats happening here is a fcukin disgrace.Its now starting to look like a conspiracy to put Cork airport out of business.The Cork politicians need to pull the finger out fast and justify their big fat salaries.

Rhys Essien · 29-08-2014 12:03am

There are nearly a million people(940k) living in counties Cork,Tipp,Kerry and Waterford and Cork airport is fast becoming like a remote airstrip.

Not good enough.:mad:

notharrypotter · 29-08-2014 12:19am

Kerry and Waterford

Have airports too.
:eek:

Rhys Essien · 29-08-2014 12:51am

notharrypotter wrote: »

Have airports too.
:eek:

Im well aware of that but you know what I mean.eg Would it not be handier for Kerry people to fly out of Cork rather than Dublin.

notharrypotter · 29-08-2014 12:57am

I do.

However there was a post regarding Galway airport where Knock had made an approach to Galway County Council (?) seeking support.
Don't think there was much forthcoming.

Too many chasing too few.&#55357;&#56848;

shnaek · 29-08-2014 9:25am

I'm inclined to think that Bareclona wouldn't stand for their airport being owned by Madrid, or Melbourne their airport owned by Sydney. But they aren't 'rebels', so I guess in this case the rebel element is doing exactly the opposite to what other second cities do. And might I also add fair play to our politicians here for doing so much for Cork airport and enticing international business here, in a 'rebel' way of course.

AugustusMinimus · 29-08-2014 11:32am

Coveney is the highest ranking politician from Cork and he looks next to useless.

The DAA aren't going to hand over control of Cork Airport as it might hurt Shannon. The whole situation is an absolute mess.

beer enigma · 29-08-2014 11:47am

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Coveney is the highest ranking politician from Cork and he looks next to useless.

The DAA aren't going to hand over control of Cork Airport as it might hurt Shannon. The whole situation is an absolute mess.

daa dont have any involvement in Shannon so why would that concern them ?

Lack of new routes at Cork airport

Comments