Cork Airport - *Read Mod Note in First Post Before Posting*

I flew out on the 12th - no fancy new x-ray machines then.

There won't be an immediate effect as it takes months or years to get a new airline to start serving an airport, or even for an existing one to start a new route, between feasibility studies, market analysis, commercial negotiations, fleet planning, etc.

Having said that, I'm sure that a number of airlines will start taking a closer look at other Irish airports in the wake of this and I'm equally sure that the route development team at Cork airport are getting their marketing package up to speed as well. And to be fair, between attracting the likes of Air France, Swiss, Lufthansa, getting Vueling to go year round on the Paris Orly route, or getting KLM to park one of their aircraft overnight in Cork for the twice daily Amsterdam flight, they have been doing a cracking job in recent years, far better than public perception gives them credit for.

I don't think package holidays are the way forward at all. That market is shrinking and increasingly volatile, just look at how many package-first airlines have gone under in recent years, even before the pandemic: Thomas Cook, Monarch, Germania, LTU/Air Berlin, XL Airways, and those are just the ones that immediately spring to mind.

From what I can see, Cork's best bet is to increase flights to European hubs such as Frankfurt or CDG with the large network carriers and alliances, as well as attracting one of the big players from the Middle East to feed flights into one of their hubs. The best bet here would likely be Turkish Airlines with a flight to Istanbul, as they have aircraft that can safely operate into Cork Airport, unlike Emirates. Etihad would be another option, but I'm not sure whether their A321s have the "legs" to make it from Cork to Abu Dhabi. The important part here is to increase the number of airlines operating into Cork to make the airport less vulnerable to Ryanair throwing a hissy fit or Aer Lingus fully abandoning the regional airports in favour of Dublin, the latter of which I fear is only a matter of time.

It might redirect passengers 1st and hopefully knock one effects of routes served

Cork needs to look at the hub airports and then cities with good transport connections. Sonewhere like Prague or Vienna covers you for multiple cities with train/bus journeys.

Prague can cover you for Prague, Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest and you're looking at 4 to 5 hours between there and those cities.

@the beer revolu - when you say "no fancy x-ray machines", do you mean in Dublin or Cork.? According to cantalach they were in place in Cork when they travelled on 21st May.

Thanks for clarifying - hoping to travel out of Cork soon and just wanted to make sure.

I travelled on Sunday 15th and the usual stuff had to come out?

I really don’t know what way it all operates. Maybe it’s a training issue. Who knows. All I can tell you is my experience. Circa 6:15 that morning of 16th, everyone going through was being told quite firmly, “please don’t remove anything from your bag.”

Flew out on the 20th, very strictly on the old system, laptops and liquids out etc.

Perhaps they've had one new machine installed and were in a testing phase? I don't think these machines are just a software upgrade, I thought they were basically CT scanners which is a whole raft of new hardware and commissioning.

Which airline did you fly to Munich with? Do they do other German airports? I am still going through LHR or AMS for German flights with work at the moment. (Hamburg , Hannover) thinking about reconsidering my routes to use trains at the German end.

It was KLM through AMS. Bit of a fan of both the airline and the airport, well, I was until my last experience at Schiphol. There’s a twice weekly direct flight to Frankfurt with Lufthansa over the summer, but I’m honestly not sure if that’s the best option for Hannover or Hamburg.

Yes, frankfurt is too far alright to make that one viable. You had my hopes up there!

That KLM flight was my usual through AMS, but it’s a dose it’s so early in the morning. Its a whole lost days work by the time you connect onwards. Even if I’m working in The Hague or someplace nearby that doesn’t need a connect, I’m still brainless by 3pm after getting up to make that blasted flight. Barely able to string a sentence together, let alone in another language. The air Lingus to ams one was 15 mins later which I started taking. But for connection to Hamburg the BA flight to LHR is around 7am. Makes all the difference to my sleep.