Eoghan Corry Talks Travel – February 2025

Nine new destinations denied by the Passenger Cap, to Airbnb or not to Airbnb, and could the Caribbean be on the cards for Aer Lingus? Eoghan Corry has this month’s latest travel news.

Dublin airport’s list of destinations that we should be flying to caused quite a stir, as did rumours that politicians are thinking of making changes to the short term rental market. However, its exciting times ahead for Aer Lingus as they have a queue of cities seeking direct Dublin connections for summer routes. Eoghan Corry has all this and more in this month’s travel industry news bulletin.

The cap of nine tails

There are a few surprises amongst Dublin airport’s list of nine destinations the airport management reckon we have been denied by the passenger cap, Austin, Bangkok, Delhi, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Pittsburgh, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore.

The standout is São Paulo, the most profitable indirect route through Dublin for TAP Air Portugal and within LATAM’s sights should they get the chance. Hong Kong and Shanghai are obvious candidates. Delhi and Singapore were talked about twenty years ago when technology was not as advanced, both Air India (178) and Singapore airlines (30) have considerable order books.

Pittsburgh is the most obvious candidate of all, has long been considered as Aer Lingus next stop and the airline has just signed a four year deal with the Steelers, commencing with a revenue boosting NFL match in Dublin next September. Austin, Texas is a strong base for Southwest. And is hungry for trans-Atlantic flights to build on its services to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Heathrow, which carried an impressive 220k passengers a year.

Bangkok and Johannesburg are two of the strongest outbound markets from Ireland. They are well served indirectly but tourist boards sometimes underestimate the huge boost a direct flight can bring in international visitation. Bangkok has daily flights to Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm, from two carriers from three of those four cities. Why not Dublin.

Aer Lingus winter-wishlist

At the Destinations Global Leaders Forum, Lynne Embleton said that Aer Lingus had a queue of cities, mainly in North America, seeking direct Dublin connections for summer routes. Negotiations will be tough in the coming months for summer services with the trendy Airbus A321XLR aircraft, two delivered and four on the way, but a bigger question is what to do with them in winter.

Las Vegas was a surprise success for Aer Lingus last winter, not just for Irish and transfer passengers heading out for a flutter and spot of Cirque du Soleil, but inbound as well. Where else are we likely like to go next winter? The A321XLR can make it to Montego Bay (7,152km), Cancun (7,515km) and San Diego (8,368km) but unfortunately not to Bangkok (9,851km) or Johannesburg (9,975km).

It still leaves us with a lot of range for the CCO to ponder between now and the Al Ireland final.

All on board including the baggage

Just before Christmas a Spaniard was thrown into the works, literally. Under an ancient Franco-era law, Spain decided to target airlines’ scheme to shake down passengers for a few bob to bring their bag on board. The huge fines burdened upon Ryanair and others by the Spanish competition authorities will certainly end up in the European court where the judges will (again) rule against Spain.

But Signor Garzón and his officials have a point: bringing a bag of reasonable sale on board is a gift taken away from us, especially since the airlines first decided to charge for check-in bags in 2006 (America followed two years later). We are reaching a point where bringing anything bigger than a snuff bag on board aircraft will incur a charge. Time somebody shouted pare. The Spaniards have just done so.

Irish prices for the summer

One of the mantras we are hearing from the Irish hospitality industry is how the hotels that were set out to government contract are now returning to the industry, all fresh with a lick of paint and a new carpet. In theory that should lead to sensible prices during the summer, but tour operators are already reporting a bed shortage in the hotel sector. To make matters worse, the housing crisis is tempting politicians to dabble in the short term rental market, effectively shutting down 85% of the rooms on AirBnB and its competitors.

A trawl of the websites show about 34,000 short term rental properties in Ireland are being used by holiday makers. How many will end up on the long term rental market as a result of government policy remains to be seen, but it may not be as many as the politicians or the officials hope. Fewer rooms means inbound tourists either have to stay away or spend more.

What’s on the menu?

Roasted beetroot is having a moment. The beetroot brigade have stormed the menus of every restaurant in Ireland and while the reign of avocado toast and pulled pork has not yet passed, fashion is favouring the humble. The big question is will there be enough restaurants still open to follow the trend.

The Restaurants Association calculate 800 food related business closed in 2024, another 100 in January and the trend could continue right through because it could be next January before we see the lower VAT rate promised by the parties in advance of the election, not included in the programme for government, but still apparently cooking in the kitchen. Ireland’s food revolution, particularly outside the cities, needs tourists to sustain it.

Causeway Coast

Exciting times for north Antrim. You wait twenty years for a new hotel and three of them come together, the 83-room Marcus hotel in Portrush, plush 35-room Dunluce Lodge, the tidy 17-room Gray’s in Bushmills. By any chance would there a golf tournament on its way?

Whither the passenger cap?

Confusion much confounded persists about Dublin airport passenger cap. Despite the distractions of a High Court case, an election, and a change of transport ministers, the Dublin airport passenger cap is still there.

The Irish Aviation Authority, reluctantly press-ganged into enforcing the cap next year by restricting flight slots, has been told not to do so. This is the equivalent of telling the traffic warden not to write tickets until the second yellow line is either painted or removed. It is too late for winter, leaving important decisions up in the, ahem, air, like what happens the 32 inbound charter aircraft carrying French fans to the Aviva on March 1st. It also raises the entire question about how the planning process should be dealt with when it comes to infrastructure.

The European court is no place to solve this.

Eoghan Corry is Ireland’s leading travel commentator and aviation specialist in Ireland, as well as being a historian, author and broadcaster. He has extensively travelled as a travel journalist and has been a speaker and moderator at tourism and aviation conferences including the World Tourism Forum, Tourism Ireland and Thailand Tourism.