Multinationals would pay more for Cork-New York flights

Multinational companies based in the Cork region say they would be willing to pay more to fly direct to New York rather than having to travel from either Shannon or Dublin.

A study carried out by Cork- based corporate travel agency, TravelAgent.ie found not only are most multinationals in favour of transatlantic flights, but more than 75% of them would willingly pay at least €100 on top of the regular air fare for the luxury.

When asked how likely they would be to use the service, if an airline offered a non-stop, all-year- round return route from Cork to New York, more than 62% of multinational respondents said they would use the service.

Furthermore, more than 50% of respondents said they deemed it “extremely important” to have such a service in place.

“Cork is home to 133 overseas companies, employing 21,500 permanent staff in Cork and we are experiencing continued investment in the region by multinational corporations,” according to TravelAgent.ie director Paul Sexton.

“A twice-weekly Cork-New York service operating a 757 aircraft with 174 seats, would provide 36,000 seats annually. This would require 31,000 seats to achieve an 85% load factor, which equates to 9% market share [of Ireland-US traffic emanating from Cork-based passengers],” he said.

Mr Sexton’s company is now planning to directly lobby US-based airlines — which currently do not provide any services in or out of Ireland — regarding setting up in Cork; specifically those which could offer onward connections to other US destinations.

The survey showed 14% of respondents purchase up to 500 tickets from Ireland to North America every year and would use a Cork-New York route to connect with other cities including Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle and Las Vegas.

Mr Sexton also estimates that 60% of traffic through Cork Airport from a transatlantic service would be inbound from the US, and 40% would be outbound.

While the likes of Aer Lingus, British Airways and United Airlines have said they would consider a Cork-US east coast service, such a development could dilute their existing transatlantic services operating out of Dublin and Shannon.

Attracting a US player would be a huge shot in the arm for Cork Airport, which recently saw discussions falter with Ryanair, with the low fares airline saying the airport’s landing charges were too high to expand existing services.