Norwegian Air Discussion

kub wrote: »

It is expected that Norwegian Air International will announce its Cork to Boston routes first, with flights landing at TF Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, about 112km south of Boston.

Great to see Norwegian using the Ryanair ploy of dumping you nowhere near the City you want to go to. :mad:

Should be marketed as a Cork to Providence route.

After coming off a T/A flight the last thing I want to be doing is spending another couple of hours actually getting to Boston, which is 60 miles away.

The_Wanderer wrote:

Great to see Norwegian using the Ryanair ploy of dumping you nowhere near the City you want to go to.
Should be marketed as a Cork to Providence.
After coming off a T/A flight the last thing I want to be doing is spending another couple of hours actually getting to Boston, which is 60 miles away.

I agree with you, but it is a hell of lot more than what our once national airliner has ever done for Cork with regard to trans Atlantic.

JCX BXC wrote:

National airline stands for feck all nowadays, it's privatised and will pursue profit.

Indeed and that was why I mentioned our once National airliner.

The_Wanderer wrote: »

Great to see Norwegian using the Ryanair ploy of dumping you nowhere near the City you want to go to. :mad:

Should be marketed as a Cork to Providence route.

After coming off a T/A flight the last thing I want to be doing is spending another couple of hours actually getting to Boston, which is 60 miles away.

Ditto.

After coming off an overnight T/A flight into Dublin mostly with no sleep, the last thing I want to be doing is spending another couple of hours on a Aircoach or driving back to Cork.

But at least now we've another option which will suit alot of people but not everybody on here.

marno21 wrote: »

Cork is doing ok without transatlantic flights at the minute. Although I'm from Cork, I think if the M20 was built, a decent transatlantic service from SNN would be more beneficial for Cork than flying on 737s to airfields miles from the intended destination.

It also depends on how long Norweigan sustain this service for. Wow Air's connections via KEF look more appealing at the minute, although more expensive.

I'm getting more than a little tired of this BS about T.F. Green Airport being out of the way. I could understand it if Norwegian flew to some godforsaken former air base in the hinterland of New Hampshire or Vermont, where you've only got trees, locals desperate to procreate, and wildlife desperate to get away from said locals. This is the main airport for Providence, Rhode Island we're talking about, a significant, and well connected airport. Granted, it's not Logan, but then again, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'd actually consider it an asset, as Providence gives you access to pretty much every destination between Boston and NYC without having to brave the Boston city traffic, a huge catchment area for the US end of the route.
It is even better for carless passengers, as the airport has a dedicated train stations, something this country hasn't even managed for its primary airport. There's regular weekday connections to Providence station, which sits smack on the Northeast Corridor and gives you access to the Acela high speed trains running on that route. With just one change of train, every major city between Boston and Washington is within reach. As for Boston itself, there's a weekday direct train service to South Station. I'm not even counting all the bus lines. Pretty good connections, and an even better location if you ask me.

As far as WOW Air is concerned, I doubt many people will use them for connections to the northeast of the US once the Norwegian service starts operating. From what I've seen, their onboard product is basic even by LCC standards. They might prove popular for passengers going to Canada, the US west coast, or down to Miami, though. It all depends on whether Norwegian adapt their onboard product on the 737 for long-haul services, and what kind of equipment their 737 MAX will get.

tippman1 wrote: »

What sort of flying time for a B738 from Cork to TF Green Airport?

Will it be using the NATS tracks or is there any ETOPS issue necessitating a Northerly track hugging Iceland or Greenland, thus making for an 8+ hrs. flight time?

The -800's come standard with 120 mins, not sure bout the new Max though

Mebuntu wrote: »

Leaving aside that airline bashing comment I think you may be assuming that everyone wants to go into or come from Boston itself.

People living in areas to the South/SouthWest/SouthEast of Boston will most likely be pleased to be able to comfortably drive to TF Green with its cheap parking and less hassle rather than go up to Logan and all that entails. Alternatively, they can use buses or trains that connect to/from Connecticut/Providence and New England area generally or even Boston itself. The same applies in reverse.

Likewise, those originating from Ireland have similar options using car hire or the alternatives. They may well consider those options better than having a long drive after arrival back in Ireland.

Personally, travelling long-haul on a 737 is not all that appealing but most passengers wouldn’t even know what type they are on or even care.

Of course, we will have to wait and see what the actual fares are going to be before the real discussion starts but I hope Norwegian succeeds on this route and Shannon and Dublin if they decide to expand. It is long overdue for other airlines to do a Ryanair on Long-Haul and put it up to the airlines (Irish and American) that are still ripping off their passengers and adding on fuel surcharges (or by another name) for half price fuel.

No such thing as 'airline bashing' here when it comes to Ryanair, now if it was Aer Lingus it'd be a different story, the bias on here somedays shines through like sun through a windscreen. Just my opinion of course, I could be wrong.

The fuel surcharge is a non event, doesn't matter if fare is 100 with 125 surcharge or 225 fare with no surcharge, it's all revenue for EI and customers just look at final price. Removing the fuel surcharge will not impact the fare as EI factor it in when setting prices.

(1) You've just confirmed the rip-off factor and (2) we are not just talking EI here.

The facts are that, at a certain point in time, fuel prices began to go through the roof and airlines, who had already factored in "normal" fuel costs into their fares, decided to add fuel surcharges. Nobody could argue with that in principle but could argue with the exorbitant fees being charged. The subsequent major reductions in fuel prices should have been followed by corresponding major surcharge reductions and, when fuel became half price, the fees ought to have been removed. The airlines, with no opposition, saw it as an opportunity to make hay. Now, with increasing opposition on the way, provided it is worthwhile, they may be forced to think again.

Do Delta, United, American as well as connection options with BA, AF, KLM, WOW, etc not already offer competition? Aer Lingus offers competitive fares to them, the fuel surcharge doesn't affect this. As has been said, it's absorbed into the fare, it's not like the fare is 400 + 125/whatever the surcharge is, on top of the fare.

If the final fare is competitive, I fail to see the issue, and if the final fare is not competitive, people will choose other airlines and I again fail to see the issue.

Fuel is factored into the fare, and it could be argued that taking out the fuel surcharge infact reduces transparency in the fare.

You appear to be missing the point of this discussion. As I've already said this is not about EI Versus current competitors who together all impose these extra charges (call them fuel or by any other name) in order to artificially inflate their fares. They are all equally guilty. It's about the current "all" including EI Versus the newcomers and what they might bring to the table in terms of real competition but we have to await their fare structures before we can see exactly what that entails and if it makes an appreciable difference.

What happens next is very important. Before Ryanair, flights LHR/DUB were priced way beyond most people's means (£400 return both EI and BA). Imagine what that would be in today's money. Something revolutionary is required to ensure that similarly inflated prices for T/A are challenged in the same way. Let's hope it works out.

Realistically fuel surcharges became irrelevant when the legislation was brought in that the fare quoted had to be the full fare including taxes fees surcharges (all non-optional costs). The fuel surcharge isn't necessarily seen by the passenger, unless you go through the fare breakdown - generally the price quoted is the final price. Hence the push towards optional charges like luggage to make up for low headline prices.

I think the flights from Cork were just political leverage to get USA rights for the Irish AOC and would be surprised if they continue past one season:(