A new central Munster airport

Terrible idea and an absolute waste of money when we already have 2 decent airports in the area. Shannon already has a large runway which isn't at capacity so can increase flights without any need for new infrastructure.

The big issue with Dublin is it's a massive hub for connections so you need to increase Cork and Shannon's ability to provide this.

Cork airport is tiny.

A really short runway, a serious lack of parking for aircraft….

No point in extending the runway to facilitate larger aircraft if you’ve no ability to park said aircraft…

A new airport ? Might be better as Dublin is around capacity.

or put a rail link into Shannon.

There absolutely should be a rail link to Shannon. It's only a few miles of rail to link up with the Ennis Limerick line. A service every 20 minutes with a stop near the free zone would be huge for Limerick, Shannon and Ennis

The triumvirate of DUB, SNN & ORK must mean that at least 1 of those airports is very easily within 2hrs drive of at least 85% or so of the population? With SNN probably 2nd to DUB in terms of that reach. Taking in the N20/M20, M7, M18, N17, N21 and other road coverage would IMO that SNN is accessible in that 2hr window to far more people than ORK?

I'm saying that as a best guess on my part, not looked at road user data. But Cork City is 70minutes from SNN, Galway 50mins or so and then take into account the populations served by the roads above and my initial take would be that in addition to the longer runway and larger apron space at SNN to accommodate any expansion,that it also has a larger pool in the 2h4 drive range.

It also has the easiest route to link into rail service and already has US pre-clearance and acres of parking.

Surely all good things.

Like some of the others here, I believe that we have too many airports too and that rather than a 3rd for Munster? That we'd take an all island view and look towards what we can do to bring all of the N.E within the 2hr drive to an airport. If that means contributing to motorway building and Airport expansion in NI? Let's do it 🤷‍♀️

So what is your solution when Dublin is at capacity ?

It's already struggling.

The 51 bus is already good enough as a route but it needs more frequency at least on the Limerick to Ennis leg.

More flights to Shannon should be done regardless of some way off in the future train. Better to upgrade now which is possible with what is available than to wait on something like a train link.

The idea of expanding the airport could mean it will have flights not serviced by Dublin or flights on different days to Dublin.

Or maybe you go to Shannon because Dublin is an absolute disaster.

Because each airport would service substantially different routes and hubs. And yes it does include part of Wales, as was actually stated in my post. It's a quick and dirty example to outline the populations served by each airport.

If you carry through on a little consequential thinking for that Dublin population estimate as a result of your wonderfully astute observation? It would actually increase the viability of SNN & ORK as alternatives as Dublin's population on the basis of the quick estimate on the basis of the map,would drop by 1mln+

It’s nonsense though, can you name any country in the world that reverse engineers their airports to share flights between cities? Every country chases scale for the economies that come with it. It would be madness to try and shrink Dublin airport.

Limerick has huge problems with lack of commuter trains on lines that already exist.

We are now relaying Foynes which runs through Adare on an existing line with no plan for passenger services.

Shannon would be a brand new route. It's just not going to happen sadly.

The Cork to Limerick motorway is a no-brainer and up a massive failing of 25 years worth of governments.

There is a reason we can't (won't) do it like your New York example and its simply that Dublin people can't handle the "insult" of being asked to travel to their airport the way the rest of the country has to.

They "get this nonsense" from a report that it is already past growth projections and that something will have to be done in the next 10/15 years.

That's why there has been so much talk recently about upgrading either Dublin/Shannon/Cork or building a midlands airport.

It is not very far from capacity.

There are not plans for a 3rd terminal.

This is deranged.

I do apologize if I said "at capacity" I was wrong there.

Runways are not the only thing that counts for capacity. It will require lots of money to keep increasing Dublin's capacity and the whole conversation here is could it be better spent elsewhere.

Yes of course Dublin can be increased but should it be.

"There is absolutely nothing stopping both passengers and airlines from using Shannon"

Well fair enough I agree about airlines but passengers don't really get a choice.

I also agree about Metrolink because my biggest issue with booking a holiday from Dublin is the bus part. No problem with the train to Dublin but hate that bus in/out.

Dublin airport is in the right place for Dublin and for "stealing" passengers from the M1 corridor. Its on the wrong side of Dublin to steal passengers from Cork or Limerick or Galway or Waterford directions, due to M50 traffic and the need to do complicated changes in Dublin to get to it on anything other than a bus.

Shannon may take off a little if the M20 gets built as it could steal traffic from Cork.

As it stands I for one would rather eat my own luggage then drive to Dublin for a flight. All buses to Dublin airport leave from the middle of Cork, not anywhere where I can put my car while I holiday. Shannon is just stressful with the N20 or with the M8/Hospital route.

With Cork I can leave the house 1h45m before the flight and watch it land before walking into the terminal. Aside from a slight lack of the routes and the fact that it only has a Cat2 runway for jets (and the resultant problems with fog then) its my favourite airport. When they get the new CT scanners in it'll be even better.

On that last bit connectivity has nothing got to do with catchment area and people are already driving or travelling to Dublin from outside the catchment area.