Eoghan Corry Talks Travel – August 2023

The latest on Winter flight schedules, Dublin airport’s planning cap is approaching, and September may be the busiest in years – Eoghan Corry talks travel this month.

Travel agents are reporting that September bookings are the strongest in many years, and a record 120,585 passengers passed through Dublin airport on the 30th of July. However, Dublin is approaching its planning cap of 32 million passengers in a year and could hit it at end November, says Eoghan Corry. We also have the latest cruise news, updates on winter schedules, and wild fires have reminded us of how travel has become a two-tier service.
 

Busy September

Travel agents report that September bookings are the strongest in many years, exceeding pre pandemic levels. This reflects a demand that could lead to a record number of passengers through Dublin airport, beating the 3 million that travelled in September 2019.

With 30,000 rugby fans scheduled to travel to get to France for the egg-chasers’ world cup, it will hopefully be a record October as well. The final (let’s be positive), is on October 28th. Book that car park space now.
 

The 120k question

Dublin airport managed to make it without mishap through the busiest days in the airport’s history. On Sunday July 30, 120,585 passengers passed through. The previous record was 118,480 on Friday June 28th 2019. The monthly total was a near record with 100,000 passengers through the airport every day in July, although the 3.4m passenger total was still down marginally 2pc on July 2019.
 

 
As is usual, 102,500 transfer passengers were counted twice. Beyond that we have little information to work on. Dublin airport no longer separates long haul, Britain and short haul in its monthly route flow report. The numbers mean there could be trouble ahead.
 

 
Dublin is approaching its planning cap of 32 million passengers in a year and could hit it at end November. Unlike the cap on night flights, which is a Fingal Council condition, the 32 million limit is decreed by An Bórd Pleanála.

It requires the airport to apply for planning permission for a third terminal once the 32 million limit is passed, which should happen just in time for Christmas. Daa has already asked Fingal County Council to raise the annual cap on passenger traffic at Dublin Airport to 35 million from 32 million, and requested that transfer passengers not be included in the total tally.

The long running issue about restrictions on night flights, including the pre 7am part of the rush hour, has been parked (ahem) until November. DAA headquarters could be a warm place in December.
 

Blue to the rescue

So what was the fuss about? When it was needed, the blue car park at Dublin airport rose to the challenge and took its place among the nations of the earth. While the famous 6,111 car park spaces at Santry remain unavailable, the DAA was able to mobilise 23,000 car parking spaces of its own.
 

 
Normally neglected and unloved on the road to St Margarets, located just at the point when everyone looking for it thinks they have taken a wrong turning, the blue car park served the passengers of Ireland well when airport’s other car parks filled up. It may have to do so for a long time to come.

Meanwhile the planning process continues to treat the island’s main airport like a troublesome fast food takeaway. The car parking issue has been parked (pardon the pun) in its own long term car park.
 

 
The competitions authority has decided to move to phase two of the process without completing phase one, which translates as STARTING an investigation process, on whether reopening the Quickpark causes problems about “price, consumer choice, quality and innovation.” The authority has pleaded that the merger review process has not prevented either party from operating a carparking business.

How does that make sense? No, me neither.
 

Hill fires.

Hill fires in resort islands have reminded us, if we needed reminding, of how travel has become a two-tier service. Travel agents and tour operators, notably TUI, whose Lardos properties were evacuated, responded quickly to demands for date changes and refunds. Aer Lingus, who fly to Kos and Corfu but not to Rhodes or Sicily, were also quick to offer date changes.
 

 
Travel insurance companies have been trickier, as have Ryanair. Unless the DFA tells people not to travel, they will not refund ticket prices. The DFA, unhelpfully, warned people to avoid the area rather than the island. They had a point.

The size of the islands meant that other holiday makers made their trip without being affected: Rhodes is the size of Co Kildare and Corfu is the size of the Isle of Man, three quarters the size of Louth. While villages were evacuated further south, business continued as normal in Faliraki and Kolymbia.
 

 
Another learning was the effectiveness of local emergency services and how modern communications can help keep holiday makers safe: the sound of mobile phone alarms could not be missed when the decision was made to evacuate the Cosmos Maris and the other hotels along the Kiotari coast. The system works. Hopefully we will not have to hear them again.
 

Strikes: the lesson of the summer.

Is this the summer that passengers became immune to strike threats. Of the many that were threatened (count the “travel chaos” headlines in your push notifications over recent months) only a few reached the runway. The Ryanair pilots issue in Belgium proved the most disruptive.
 

 
It affected those aircraft based at Charleroi, which left Ireland and many other countries unscathed. A heavily publicised Eurocontrol manager’s strike proved was confined to the offices. Even French air traffic controllers were uncharacteristically quiet, having expended their efforts on 60 separate strikes of diminishing impact during the campaign against pension reform.

The reign of terror of Roger Rousseau and SNCTA has not quite come to an end, but those of us flying over Marseilles have less turbulence than any of us expected.
 

Viva NCL

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Norwegian Viva, the latest cruise ship to hit the water at one of those lavish industry ceremonies in Trieste, is an interesting design on an ocean where the big ships all look the same. It has bigger rooms and bathrooms in the standard cabins, and more outdoor deck space than Breakaway and its other bigger sisters, more than any cruise ship, if NCL are to be believed.
 

 
For the swimmers amongst us, it has multiple infinity pools and more pool space than any ship in the fleet (one of my books was called Viva, so must give it a try).

The gimmick (they all have gimmicks) is a karting track and a theatre that doubles as a nightclub, which should be a bit of a shock if you fall asleep during Beetlejuice The Musical.

Viva will spend autumn in the Greek islands, sailing from Trieste before heading to the Caribbean in winter, and will return to the Med for summer 2024, based out of Lisbon and Civitavecchia.
 

 
P&O have also launched Arvia in their own lavish beachside ceremony in the Caribbean. It will winter in Barbados before returning to the Med for next summer.
 

Double Dutch

Concerns have been raised about the proposed ban on ship arrivals at Amsterdam’s cruise terminal, much publicised but, behind the headlines, the details have become a little lost in the sea fog. Dick de Graaff of Cruise Port Amsterdam says there is “no immediate ban on ships, let alone an immediate closure of the terminal.”
 

 
Three points need to be made. Firstly, the ban will have to go through a few more phases of approval before the decision is finalised. Secondly, the rivercruise terminal will be unaffected, which is much more important to the Irish market. Thirdly, the cruise port at Ijmuiden near Harlem will remain open, more convenient for ships if not for passengers, who will now have an hour and a half journey to see their Dutch masters.
 

 
When Amsterdam introduced a tourist tax on cruise ship passengers in 2019, MSC, P&O and Cunard were among those who cancelled stops. The customer is still king so it is likely that cruise companies will have to find a workaround. Expect fewer city stops and more stops at the Ijmuidens, Civitavecchias and Ravennas of the world. City centre cruise ports will be less common than they used to be.
 

Back to Santander

Brittany Ferries’ direct service between Ireland and Spain will temporarily switch from Bilbao to Santander from November 7 to March 25 2024, before returning to Bilbao for summer 2024.

The Salamanca, carrying 1,015-passengers in 321 cabins will be joined by modern sister ships Santoña and Galicia. The service operates twice weekly year-round, with sailings taking around 30 hours each way.
 

Belfast, Cork and Shannon

Every time the Dublin airport question is aired, Belfast, Cork and Shannon put tup their hands and express their eagerness to take some of the passenger load (did someone shout Waterford?).
 

 
Three quick answers: build a high speed rail link to Shannon and they are back in the game. Belfast is in the wrong location and Cork’s route network is too small, but it could now make sense to restore direct Belfast-Dublin and Cork-Dublin flights for connecting passengers.

As for those longed-for rail links, the title of the rail review consultation paper: “Draft Report of the Review” does not fill us with hope.
 

Winter flights

Hints are emerging of the 2023-24 winter schedules and all the intrigue that involves. Cork’s French connection will be boosted by two airlines, a new Aer Lingus Cork-Lyon weekly and Ryanair Cork to Paris Beauvais 3 times weekly, to be introduced when Air France withdraw from Cork- Paris CDG in October. Aer Lingus are basing a third aircraft in Cork, enabling a new route to Tenerife South and increased Lanzarote frequencies.
 
From Belfast Ryanair is launching four routes to Porto, Turin, Warsaw Modlin and Lanzarote, all twice weekly. Easyjet is launching Southampton.
 

 
Ryanair’s announcement about seats from Dublin (anyone for Tirana?) will be much later than usual, thanks to a prolonged version of the annual spat with Dublin airport about slots and charges.

Pre pandemic the announcement happened before the previous winter schedule ceased. Last year it was in June. The delay may reflect problems with delays in aircraft delivery, with Boeing say that some deliveries may be delayed from April 2024 to June 2024.
 
Ryanair’s Rovaneimi Santa Claus route is to increase from 3 times weekly to 4 times weekly. It has, intriguingly, applied for slots in Geneva. Ryanair is already the third busiest operator to Switzerland, after Aer Lingus and Swiss.
 

 
Play are proposing to fly daily and revive the Keflavik connections popular a decade or so ago with cheap onward flights to BWI, Boston, Dulles and, Stewart International, conveniently beside Woodbury Common in upstate New York.

Sun Express, which will fly Irish travel agents to their conference in November, is proposing an increase from twice weekly to three times weekly to Antalya and Izmir.

Pegasus are looking at a flight from Dublin to Istanbul’s eastern airport, Sabiha Gokcen. Turkish airlines aspire to keep their four daily service to Istanbul, which it introduced for the first time this summer, which means passengers are bussed to the aircraft for some flights.
 

 
Wideroe is looking at adding Tromsø or extending the Bergen flight. Also in the mix are a second daily to Dallas with American, a third daily to Atlanta with Delta, an extra United to Newark, a mystery easyJet to an Austrian winter destination, a ramp-up of Hainan Airlines to Beijing to 3 times weekly from twice weekly, SAS going to 27 flights weekly without specifying routes, and increases from Swiss, TAP Air Portugal, Transavia France and Vueling.

Not all of these best laid plans happen, of MICE and men, as a famous conference organiser once said.
 

 
Missed last months post? Catch it here:

Eoghan Corry talks travel – June 2023