Transatlantic Flights from Cork Airport to launch in 2016?

The Irish Examiner are running a front page story this morning, (September 25th) which was broken by journalist Eoin English on twitter last night, regarding the impending announcement by Cork Airport of Transatlantic flights to launch in 2016.

If the story is accurate, the flights will be between Cork and Boston and will be operated by Norweigan Air.

This would be a major boost for Cork Airport coming hot on the heels of an announcement by CityJet of a new route between Cork and London City Airport.

Cork Airport is widely regarded as one of the most passenger friendly in the world and with EMC, a major employer in the region having its HQ in Boston, we expect the service will be widely supported.

The development will bring to 4 the number of airports to which you can fly to Ireland directly from the USA .

Airplane Crash At Cork Airport

There are unconfirmed reports of 8 people being killed on a flight from Belfast to Cork Airport this morning.

The Manx2 MN710 aircraft crashed on the airfield on approach to landing in dense fog  just before 10am.

The airport has been closed until further notice

Aer Arann Blow for Cork Airport

Cork Airport suffered a major setback today with the announcement that Aer Arann is to abandon two routes from the Airport on September 1st.

The routes to Cork & Belfast face the axe as Aer Arann claims it has a fleet capacity issue.

While the Cork-Dublin route is currently also served by Ryanair, the Belfast route will be left without a carrier.

The move is also a blow to passengers who travel from Cork to Derry airport as Aer Arann operated a link via Dublin to the Northern city. Passengers traveling to Derry will now have to take the much less convenient Ryanair-AerArann connection in Dublin.

New Cork Airport Flights

Aer Lingus Regional, in partnership with Aer Arann, has announced an increased service at Cork Airport. The increased schedule will see visitors come to the Southern Irish airport from Manchester and Birmingham airports in the UK. The new schedule will be operated from october of this year.

Aer Lingus Regional is a franchise brand used for commuter and regional flights operated by Aer Arann on behalf of Aer Lingus. The partnership was first announced in January 2010 and since then has been adding routes.

Cork Airport to get new ryanair routes

Cork Airport is expected to be the beneficiary of a major announcement on new routes from budget airline Ryanair today.  The announcement is expected to centre around a series of routes from Cork to a number of sun destinations according to this morning’s Irish Examiner. The enwspaper speculates that Ryanair will undercut Aer Lingus prices and could offer deals to the popular sun locations for €60 return.

Ryanair Chief executive Michael O’Leary flies into Cork this morning to make the announcement before he jets off to New York to address an airline conference.

The airline is also expected to base a new aircraft at Cork Airport. Mr O’Leary said yesterday that Ryanair plans to “swamp” the sun destination market over the summer months with a raft of low fares. “We have 11 aircraft to allocate for the summer and there’s a number of airports bidding for them,” he said.
Aer Lingus operate flights from Cork to Alicante, Faro, Lanzarote, Malaga and Tenerife but Ryanair is expected to offer prices for significantly less than what Aer Lingus are offering. Mr O’Leary said Ryanair will “explode” Aer Lingus’s market. He said fares to sun destinations will be higher than average but lower than others charge in those markets.

Lonely Planet names Cork as top vacation destination

The world’s top tourist guide, Lonely Planet, has named the hot places to visit in 2010 as Singapore, Vancouver, Sarajevo …… and Cork.

The Lonely Planet has included Cork in its list of the ‘Best in Travel 2010’.

The listing of Cork inthe influential guide will come as a massive boost for tourism in the region.
El Salvador, Germany and Greece are among the best countries in the world to features, but there is no place for Ireland on the list.

The Irish representation comes in the category of top cities – where Cork is listed alongside Abu Dhabi, Istanbul and Singapore.

The guide says visitors should be able to find inspiration in each city.

Cork Airport is the perfect access point to include Cork in your Ireland vacation.

Cork Airport gets new air traffic control tower

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) today officially opened the new control tower at Cork Airport.

 Construction of the tower began in August 2007 and took 10 months to complete at a cost of €7.5million ( $11.25m).

A spokesperson for the Airport said today that “notwithstanding the current decline in traffic figures, this move positions the IAA to deal with anticipated traffic levels at the airport for the next 15 – 20 years”

Cork Airport is located 5 miles to the south of Cork City and is very conveniently located for visiting destinations in the South West of Ireland.

Transatlantic flight lands at Cork Airport

A transatlantic flight diverted to Cork Airport at 11:35 this morning because of a medical emergency.

A passenger on the plane is understood to have fallen ill, but no further details were immediately available. An ambulance was waiting when the flight landed in Cork and transported the passenger to Cork University Hospital.

New Flights: Cork, Derry, Donegal, Galway and Knock

Aer Arann has today launched new routes connecting Cork Airport to Derry, Donegal, Galway and Knock via Dublin Airport. This is a major breakthrough for people traveling for business or leisure and could save considerable time.

As someone who often embarks on the almost 400 mile journey from Skibbereen to Carndonagh in North Donegal, I particularly welcome the Cork Airport – Derry Airport  link.

The move is expected to bolster the Cork-Dublin route for Aer Arann which has come under considerable competitive pressure from RyanAir. The connecting flights to the four regional airports will make the AerArann option much more attractive to passengers. While more expensive on the headline price, Aer Arann often works out cheaper as they do not charge for baggage or check-in.

Up to this announcement Aer Arann already operated scheduled services on 40 different routes between Ireland, France, and the United Kingdom with over 600 flights per week.

Ireland Weather is warmer in 2009, – Cork Airport

It’s official….The weather in Ireland in 2009 is better than 2008 so far.

Cork Airport recorded 99 hours of sunshine in March with temperatures being above normal.
Sunshine throughout Ireland was between 10% and 20% above normal for the month with the highest amount of 121 hours being recorded at Dublin Airport according to Met Éireann.

While there are no guarantees and predicting the weather into the Summer is impossible, it is a godd start and welcome news following the uncharacteristically wet summers of 2007 and 2008.

Aerlingus to cut 1500 jobs, close Shannon and heathrow bases

Up to 1,500 jobs are to be lost at Aer Lingus in a dramatic new cost-cutting plan.

The plan, which includes outsourcing of the airline’s entire ground operation, was announced in a meeting with union representatives at Dublin Airport this afternoon.

The company’s bases at Shannon and Heathrow will be closed with staff being redeployed to Dublin or Cork airport, or made redundant.

The measures, which aim to save at least €74m a year, are due to come into affect from the first of December this year.