Aer Lingus: No transatlantic flights from Cork before 2009 — if ever

AER LINGUS yesterday ruled out introducing transatlantic flights from Cork any time soon.

It will definitely not establish the service before 2009, the airline’s director of corporate affairs Enda Corneille said.

And despite clear demand from the public for such a service out of Cork, he said rising fuel prices could delay any possible introduction of a transatlantic service even further.

Cork’s proximity to Shannon airport — one of Aer Lingus’s long-haul bases — is also a factor, he said.

The airline has taken the decision to develop Cork as a short-haul base, he added.

Aer Lingus has two long-haul aircraft and operates transatlantic flights out of Dublin and Shannon to both the east and west coasts of America — Orlando in Florida is its best performing route.

Aer Lingus is expecting to take delivery of two new long-haul aircraft next year.

But Mr Corneille said the airline will look at increasing the frequency of its transatlantic routes out of Dublin or Shannon first, rather than launching a new service out of Cork.

“Cork may well come in the future, but it’s not on our books at the moment. But we are watching developments at the airport at the moment,” he said.

It is understood that a US-based carrier has in recent months looked at the possibility of launching a transatlantic route out of Cork.

Mr Corneille said the airline’s traffic growth out of Cork since 2002 proves there is a market in the region “that’s well able to travel and wants to travel”.

But Aer Lingus won’t be first to launch such a transatlantic service out of Cork, he said.

The uncertain global economic conditions coupled with the rise in fuel from $55 a barrel in 2006 to a predicted $146 a barrel in the second half of this year are major factors in its decision, he said.

Fuel costs now account for 20% of Aer Lingus’s entire costs — up 2% since 2006.

But all Aer Lingus routes out of Cork are profitable, and traffic on its Cork flights has risen 70% since the introduction of its Cork to Malaga route in 2002, Mr Corneille said.

He also stressed that there are no plans to change its Cork to Heathrow route.

At present, Aer Lingus bases four aircraft at Cork — one 212-seat A321 aircraft and three 174-seat A320 aircraft — and employs 270 people directly at the airport.