Eoghan Corry Talks Travel – May 2023
Direct flights to China resume this month, but will Rio be the hottest destination next summer? Eoghan Corry talks travel this month.
Direct flights from Dublin to Beijing will resume from June 27th, but will there be a direct service from Dublin to South America next summer – Eoghan Corry thinks so!
Meanwhile airfares continue to rise and Ryanair continues to grow market share, while passengers pay an average of €23 in ancillary charges. The lack of parking spaces at Dublin airport is likely to be an issue for passengers travelling this summer, and last years car rental woes have not all gone away. Eoghan Corry discusses all this and more in this month’s top talking points.
Fly-ed Price
Air fares are refusing to drop. Those high prices the airlines threw into the res systems for summer are staying in the six mile high club, if you pardon the pun. Most fares are about 40% ahead of last year, but demand has not been affected as most airlines get back to 90% of pre-pandemic levels or more.
This is one subject that will likely get an airing (sorry) when the high (sorry) and mighty CEOs of the big airlines gather in Istanbul to plan their strategy for 2024. They will complain that SAF is not available, that rail competitors are subsidised even as they lobby governments to ban domestic flights in the manner of France, and that fuel is costing about $1bn a year more for the top airlines.
One or two airlines are complaining about lower yields in the autumn, which translates into better value for those of us on the ground, but that is too late for families looking at those inflated air fares in July and August.
Between the Ryan lines
Ryanair’s annual results is usually a chance for pointy heads to take out their calculators and the boys in the braces to work out what runway and what headwinds will be faced by the share price. Between the lines there is a lot to interest those of us trying to smuggle an extra few kilo on board without being shaken down by a stern looking lady at the gate.
Ryanair’s average passenger now pays a whopping €23 in something the airline calls “ancillary revenue” but the rest of us know as hidden extras. Most of this is for priority boarding, which is neither priority nor gets you boarding ahead of the queue anymore, but does allow you to bring on board a bag that is larger than a mouth organ.
The average fare, meanwhile, is up about 10% which brings it to around €44, virtually unchanged in 15 years. Ryanair is back in profit while staying well below its rivals in the headline fares.
Car barking mad
Dublin airport’s car park charges are also boarded and belted for take off. The missing Quick Park car parking spaces, 6,122 of them, are proving a double discomfort for those who have to bring their car to the airport, ignoring the advice to use public transport.
The DAA chief pilot Kenny Jacobs thinks he could get the privately owned and NAMAstrung car park up and running within a week if he was given the clearance to do so. Government agencies, sadly, don’t work with that speed.
Coach operators are now charging for extra luggage, adding to the dismay of those who cannot get a car park booking. The good news is that the service connecting Dublin airport with Maynooth and Tallaght, Airporthopper, has made a welcome return, adding to the services available from Aircoach, Bus Eireann, Citylink, Dublin Bus, Dublin Express, Go ahead Ireland, Gobus, JJ Kavanagh and Translink.
China in our hands.
The speed with which China reopened has been the international tourism story of the year so far. Dublin’s Hainan service to Beijing was optimistically being talked about for a return in 2024. Amazingly, It is back up and running at short notice, twice weekly from June 27 on Tuesdays and Saturdays using an Airbus A330 in 21-271 configuration.
The Chinese community have been mobilised but awareness is low elsewhere, which means the chance of a few late specials to kick us all back into China mode.
Rio is next.
Dublin to Rio de Janeiro via Lisbon is TAP air Portugal’s most profitable route on the entire network. So inevitably, the talk is of a direct service from Dublin next summer, the first in the airport’s history to South America, although it is not certain yet which airline will be first into the fray.
Your correspondent might even get to visit his great friend Paulo Cuelho, who had a house in Waterford during the early part of his career. You read it here first.
Conference season
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Travel writers have set off on our inter continental adventures to cover conference season, Rendez Vous France, Rendez Vous Canada, Germany Travel Market, Tianguis Turistico Mexico, Indaba South Africa, Arabian Travel Market, Australian Tourism Exchange (marred by a Covid outbreak, some of our colleagues spent a fortnight in quarantine), TTM Thailand and IPW, the American inbound trade fare that was in San Antonio this year.
To sum up, a lot of product scheduled for before or during the pandemic has struggled to get noticed amidst the great reconnection. It is unusual to hear California and Orlando complaining that they have not made enough of a splash.
Rental disorder
Car hire companies have a new problem, the NCT. Big pandemic losses mean that they have been slower to replace the fleet. The NCT system is not built for someone arriving with 500 cars for testing at the same time.
This industry has more problems than most, when state supports were being doled out they were told they were in the transport business, not the tourism business, and now they are told they are in the tourism business, not the transport business. That means they will be slower to rev back into action. Prices are sticking very high for key holiday destinations.
Read: 12 Top tips for renting a car abroad
Share raising
Another sign of the times from the Ryanair results, how much market share they gained since pandemic: Ireland is up 9 points to 58% as Aer Lingus retreats further from short haul, Italy is now up 13 points to 40%, Poland up 10 points to 36%, Hungary on Wizz’s home ground up 12 points to 31%, Austria up 10 points to 19%, Spain up three points to 22% and England up two points to 21%, level with Easyjet on their home ground.
The Dutch, French and German markets are the only ones where market share had not been gained, as Ryanair battles belligerent government policies.
New this month
The Museum of the Irish Wake in Waterford is undoubtedly the zaniest opening of the month. Hopefully there will be no dead bodies in sight, and enough whiskey and snuff to go around.
Ireland’s trendiest urban hotel, The Marker, has now joined the Minor hotel group and has just been through a multi million euro refurb.
Limerick’s greenway is up and running for domestic and international visitors, and Limerick’s International Rugby Experience opened its door’s on May 2nd.
Missed last month’s post?
Read: Eoghan Corry talks travel April 2023
