Cork to Lisbon Aer Lingus Route Cancellation

nekkennek

Aer Lingus used have a route from Cork to Lisbon every year over the summer months. My fiancée and I have flown there the last few years and have now booked our wedding in Cascais (beautiful beach town) near Lisbon next August 2014. After initially consulting with Aer Lingus about this route (when it wasn’t showing up online) they said they were still to announce the flight dates. Now we are after finding out from a Travel agent who had a direct contact in Aer Lingus that they have CANCELLED this route. This even baffled the travel agent as they said it was a very popular route every year and getting more popular.

Our options now are to fly out of Dublin (in which Aer Lingus have increased the flights to Lisbon to everyday!!) or get a connecting flight to Lisbon. Is this effecting anyone else and does anyone know what is the reason behind Aer Lingus cancelling this route? Maybe Ryanair may jump on this route if the demand is there according to the travel agent?

Bessarion

To be fair EI have not "CANCELLED this route", they have not re-instated a previous route. There is always a big difference to Summer/Winter schedules. Airlines chop and change schedule all the time. The travel agent was probably right in saying that it was popular however EI may believe that aircraft could be better deployed elsewhere with a better return. (Perhaps they believe they can fill the DUB-LIS flight and use the ORK aircraft to operate elsewhere?)

I do sympathise with you position. However most airline Summer schedules are only confirmed 6 months in advance. I think EI announced their Summer routes about a month ago.

BuffyBot

Pretty much: a route may be popular, but if they have to sell the fares at a low/lower price to fill the plane than they can achieve elsewhere, then off they will go.

Aircraft are a finite resource for an airline..and they'll send them where the profit happens to be greater.

Zyox

This should be in travel.

IngazZagni

Ryanair are also starting a new daily service from Dublin to Lisbon next Summer. Maybe there was a feeling that this much increased capacity from Dublin to Lisbon could have a knock on negative effect for the Cork service?

Zonda999

I wouldn't expect Ryanair to pick up this route, not for 2014 anyway. Ryanair have said they won;t be basing anymore aircraft thatn whats presently at Cork, next year. I expect this route wasn't as high yielding as other routes tbh, the parents went there a few months ago and I had been keeping an eye on fares and they weren't that high.

Presumably, the aircraft that did this route from Cork was also doing routes like Munich this year as well, is that route still there for 2014 does anyone know?

andy_g

Zyox wrote: »

This should be in travel.

Correct.

Moved to travel forum, Travel rules apply.

munchkin_utd

To answer one of the questions, cork munich is twice a week till at least November. Used to be three times a week, but twice will do, especially with the Dublin flights and an aircoach should the times not suit completely.

But for you, you can get from Dublin to Lisbon daily with two days even with two flights. You'd be in Dublin airport from cork quicker than someone coming from donegal. It's not far and there's hardly an emptier motorway in Europe . My wife is from cork and I get the whole love for the local airport, but Dublin airport is far from the hellhole it used to be.

kub

At this rate maybe the DAA should consider shutting down Cork airport all together and get Aircoach to put a bus stop where the airport was. Afterall Aircoach goes to the majestic airport in our fine capital city a few times a day on a motorway which changes in name as it filters onto the motorway between Dublin and Limerick. :rolleyes:

nekkennek

Thanks for clearing this up. Not a good sign for Cork Airport into the future if they see as increasing flights from Dublin by sacrificing Cork flights as the approach to take (assuming this is strategy undertaken for the aircraft).

For my Fiancée and I travelling to Dublin is not too much of a problem, it is for our older relatives travelling from various places in Cork county that we are most annoyed about. You have to remember too that from some places in Cork county by the time you reach Cork city you’re only at the half way point to Dublin. A 5 hour journey is a long journey for them to take and only half it motor way. We booked here for our wedding on the basis of Aer Lingus telling us last month that these flights are going ahead! Would have looked elsewhere if we had known. Probably will take the approach of hiring our own coach to Dublin for the less abled travellers.

highlydebased

You could always consider flying from Cork to Heathrow, Paris or Amsterdam and connecting onwards to Libson from there

munchkin_utd

highlydebased wrote: »

You could always consider flying from Cork to Heathrow, Paris or Amsterdam and connecting onwards to Libson from there

or if someone is so far from Cork that they are near Kerry, fly up on the early flight to Dublin, wait the couple of hours with a cup of tea in front of them and get the midday flight to Lisbon.
On way back, theres an afternoon connection arriving in Dublin with a flight at 7pm to Kerry. All with Aerlingus.

Or get a Ryanair flight for next to nothing but is so early that you would nearly need to stay the night, but the saving on the flight over an afternoon option would pay for the Hotel and places like Bewleys let you leave the car there at discounted rates for the duration and drop you to the airport. The parents are "only" a 2hour spin from Dublin airport and at their age they have now given up on early morning drives and now are fans of the airport hotel the night before despite the extra cost

kub

With the way this country and airlines are treating Cork Airport i for one would choose to fly out of Cork and connect with another flight in another country rather than travel to another airport within this country.

Jamie2k9

Reported that Aer Lingus will reinstate Lisbon from Cork in 2014.

MoonMoose

nekkennek, some good news for you: the Lisbon route is running again from Cork from late July to late October. However, whilst I'm glad it's still there even in reduced form, I'm gutted that they've cut it back so drastically. I love the city and had been planning to go back again in June. That's scrapped now. I've also gone previously in May and September. Going in the lower season meant that it was affordable. I've never been able to manage the high season summer prices. Also, it was pure joy being able to take a ten minute trip to an airport after work instead of losing an entire day from annual leave or getting up at 1am, spending almost four hours on a bus, waiting another couple of hours for check-in to open, etc. The Aircoach is a great service and I appreciate it being there, but it's tiring, so I understand the point you're making about your older relatives. I'm also just fed up in general of what's been done to Cork routes. There's an excellent new terminal not functioning anywhere near its capacity or capabilities (with an older terminal that could also still be used gathering dust); in the meantime, airlines are cutting highly popular flights to Budapest, Rome, Berlin and Prague. Every time I went to Lisbon, the flight was either full or almost full, so it wasn't a case that people weren't making use of it.

Anyway, Cascais is beautiful. You picked well. Best of luck to you and your fiancée with the wedding. At least you have some good news now for your older relatives.

spank_inferno

kub wrote: »

With the way this country and airlines are treating Cork Airport i for one would choose to fly out of Cork and connect with another flight in another country rather than travel to another airport within this country.

No....no you wouldnt .

kitchenkid

Wishing you well, but perhaps you could consider celebrating the event in Ireland - not everybody who would love to be with you at the event probably wants to arrange flight and hotel etc to be there for you. Apart from older people who understandably may not "love" the idea, even younger people have austerity budgets and might see the event as a drain on money............instead of the wonderful day I am sure it will be.

Cork Airport

Aer Lingus will continue to operate their popular Cork-lisbon summer service for Summer 2014. To book simply logon to www.aerlingus.com

Airlines do not always load their full summer schedules at the same time and hence why there was a delay in loading flights on this route for next summer.

Thank you for choosing to fly from your local international airport and every good wish for your Wedding in Portugal.

Cork Airport

Aer Lingus advise that you will be able to book this route very soon, if not before Christmas, certainly very early in the New Year

nekkennek

That is great news, we are delighted! Have checked Aer Lingus website and flights will start on March 30th to October 25th 2014 (MoonMoose you may be able to get your early holiday in . Days changed from Monday/Friday to Monday/Thursday early morning. Thanks for all the help! Great to be able to say for Lisbon that you can fly out of Cork Airport and not having to tell people to go to Dublin.

Kitchenkid, we have considered a lot of various options and taken a lot of time on making this decision for this wedding abroad, all this has been considered but maybe a discussion for another forum and time

Munster2015

Looks the route has been cancelled again as no sign of it for summer 2015.