I was checking if they have flights between Dublin and Shannon. There were NO flights! How could be business or personal trips between major cities? It's surprise me there are no flights. How come?


Q

I believe its quite easy to commute to Dublin for flights, Ireland isnt a big country after all.

Have you ever done the drive? It’s quite easy with the M7. A bit more than 2 hours.

The drive is less than 3 hours. Not worth it to fly, by the time you show up early, go through security, wait, etc. You will arrive sooner if you just drive.

What if tourists or business travelers do not have car? They want to visit other town to travel to either cities.

Q

Q wrote:

What if tourists or business travelers do not have car? They want to visit other town to travel to either cities.

Q

Seriously? They rent a car or join a tour.

Shannon isn’t really a big city it’s little more than a hamlet - the total population nearly outs at a whopping 10,000 on a good year !
The nearest sizeable town is Limerick (still under 100,000 poluation] and that has an hourly fast train service to Dublin that takes just 2hours and 5 minutes.

Times past when there were TALC Government legislations and a short runway at Dublin flights were operated with aircraft right up to the 747 by Aer Lingus with local traffic rights.
EU - US open sky’s pretty much ended that traffic overnight.

Aer Lingus Regional and Ryanair operated flights on and off since however in general the many changes and strengthening of security measures across Europe aviation has become rather too combersome and far from frictionless, when competing land journeys can be completed in under 4 hours.

Q wrote:

What if tourists or business travelers do not have car? They want to visit other town to travel to either cities.

Q

The same as here in the US. I live in Wichita, KS and we are within a 3 hour drive to Kansas City, Omaha (5 hr), Tulsa and Oklahoma City. There are no flights between Wichita and these cities. If you want to go, you go by car.

Q.

If you are an independent tourist and don’t want or can’t hire a car for what ever reason ( no credit card, age or just no license)
Much / most of Europe has extensive domestic and regional international rail networks including significant and developing high speed systems.
For tourists several all in tickets can be purchased under the Eurorail or Interail brands typically retailing from arround $150 upwards allowing virtually unlimited travel for a given period of time .
Similar and more local bus and train tickets are also available .
Seriously tourists have a multitude of options without the need for a Bazillion regional jets flying through those mega hubs typical of the USA

There are domestic flights between Dublin and Kerry on Aer Lingus Regional operated by Stobart Air. Otherwise, all Irish regional airports have flights to major airports outside Ireland where you can transfer.

Sassiciai perhaps you should like me click the warning triangle and have it moved to travel poles and preferences.
It’s true that of late there has been a proferation of these rather teadious what if and why type threads that add little to the overall knowledge basis imho.

rutankrd wrote:

Q.

If you are an independent tourist and don’t want or can’t hire a car for what ever reason ( no credit card, age or just no license)
Much / most of Europe has extensive domestic and regional international rail networks including significant and developing high speed systems.
For tourists several all in tickets can be purchased under the Eurorail or Interail brands typically retailing from arround $150 upwards allowing virtually unlimited travel for a given period of time .
Similar and more local bus and train tickets are also available .
Seriously tourists have a multitude of options without the need for a Bazillion regional jets flying through those mega hubs typical of the USA

I agree public transport is very good in Europe, much better than it is in America. Trains are very frequent and strictly on schedule, so for short distances you don't need flights at all. Same goes for busses, ferries, etc.

Now Ireland is relatively parsely populated so traffic isn't bad. I've driven in Ireland myself and the only place it gets busy is around Dublin. Once past Dublin you can be at the other end of the country in a few hours, the roads are good and the traffic is light. This can be different in other parts of Europe that are more densely populated and traffic can become a nightmare. You seriously don't want to drive there, so people prefer to take the train instead.

Q wrote:

What if tourists or business travelers do not have car? They want to visit other town to travel to either cities.

Q

Take the train or bus. Faster and more comfortable.

Very quick to get around - between key places - overland due to motorways. The two largest cities, Dublin and Cork, for example, are about 3h apart - by coach. It is very, very easy to get around by car, coach, train, or tour. It is partly for the increased speed that some Irish regional airports struggle to attract service.

Generally flights work better where the ground transport take longer then 3-4 hours. As said Limerick is the nearest city to Shannon (about 15 miles from the airport) and you can reach it from Dublin in 2 hours by train, 3 hours by bus or 2 hours by car. With Check in and Security requirements air can't compete

PatrickZ80 wrote:

There are domestic flights between Dublin and Kerry on Aer Lingus Regional operated by Stobart Air. Otherwise, all Irish regional airports have flights to major airports outside Ireland where you can transfer.

Donegal too, both are PSO routes.

tlecam wrote:

Have you ever done the drive? It’s quite easy with the M7. A bit more than 2 hours.

It is easy to say "rent a car". However. to just get to the airport it does not make a lot of sense: 1. Cost of pick up in one city, drop in another 2. Insurance 3. If you do not drive stick you are very limited and automatic cars are very expensive in Ireland. 4. Unfamiliar roads 5. Not use to driving on that side of the road. The list can go on. 6. Age So, it is easy to say "just drive" if you live in Ireland, have a car, know where to go, are use to non automatic and other side of the road. So, please, do not just quickly say "rent a car".

TonyBurr wrote:

tlecam wrote:

Have you ever done the drive? It’s quite easy with the M7. A bit more than 2 hours.

It is easy to say "rent a car". However. to just get to the airport it does not make a lot of sense: 1. Cost of pick up in one city, drop in another 2. Insurance 3. If you do not drive stick you are very limited and automatic cars are very expensive in Ireland. 4. Unfamiliar roads 5. Not use to driving on that side of the road. The list can go on. 6. Age So, it is easy to say "just drive" if you live in Ireland, have a car, know where to go, are use to non automatic and other side of the road. So, please, do not just quickly say "rent a car".

Then take the train. Ireland has a rather good railway network and there are frequent bus services from all airports to the nearby railway stations. You can get anywhere in Ireland within a reasonable amount of time by train.

Ireland has a reasonable intercity rail system that radiates out from Dublin, making most trips to and from the capital very easy by train. Intercity coach services are deregulated and competitively priced, and now very fast with the modern motorway network.

There has been one other flight between two airports on the island of Ireland not already mentioned, namely between Belfast City and Cork. This is still a four hour drive, and longer by train with no direct services.

I believe JetMagic was the first airline to serve it, using ERJ135/145 from 2003-04. When JetMagic collapsed after just a year of operations, Aer Arann stepped and continued for almost six years until 2010. I flew the route in 2005 - here's my airliners.net Trip Report from almost 13 years old, sadly with image links now lost. There were at least twice daily flights on weekdays to support business day trips. Manx served the route for a couple of yearsuntil the fatal accident involving a Fairchild Metro at Cork in 2011.

There are Helicopters that do these routes

TonyBurr wrote:

tlecam wrote:

Have you ever done the drive? It’s quite easy with the M7. A bit more than 2 hours.

It is easy to say "rent a car". However. to just get to the airport it does not make a lot of sense: 1. Cost of pick up in one city, drop in another 2. Insurance 3. If you do not drive stick you are very limited and automatic cars are very expensive in Ireland. 4. Unfamiliar roads 5. Not use to driving on that side of the road. The list can go on. 6. Age So, it is easy to say "just drive" if you live in Ireland, have a car, know where to go, are use to non automatic and other side of the road. So, please, do not just quickly say "rent a car".

So say there was a flight, how would that person cope at the other end? Would they just sit in the airport till the flight back?

Fred


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

TonyBurr wrote:

tlecam wrote:

Have you ever done the drive? It’s quite easy with the M7. A bit more than 2 hours.

It is easy to say "rent a car". However. to just get to the airport it does not make a lot of sense: 1. Cost of pick up in one city, drop in another 2. Insurance 3. If you do not drive stick you are very limited and automatic cars are very expensive in Ireland. 4. Unfamiliar roads 5. Not use to driving on that side of the road. The list can go on. 6. Age So, it is easy to say "just drive" if you live in Ireland, have a car, know where to go, are use to non automatic and other side of the road. So, please, do not just quickly say "rent a car".

Little dramatic, no?

rutankrd wrote:

Sassiciai perhaps you should like me click the warning triangle and have it moved to travel poles and preferences.
It’s true that of late there has been a proferation of these rather teadious what if and why type threads that add little to the overall knowledge basis imho.

Regarding your last comment I couldn't agree with you more, just clicking through the amount of tedious threads of late on here is getting a bit much and to think that a.net was a once great sight to find important information regarding the world of aviation, now it's full of hypothetical if not why not are they do they threads.

jetblueguy22 wrote:

TonyBurr wrote:

tlecam wrote:

Have you ever done the drive? It’s quite easy with the M7. A bit more than 2 hours.

It is easy to say "rent a car". However. to just get to the airport it does not make a lot of sense: 1. Cost of pick up in one city, drop in another 2. Insurance 3. If you do not drive stick you are very limited and automatic cars are very expensive in Ireland. 4. Unfamiliar roads 5. Not use to driving on that side of the road. The list can go on. 6. Age So, it is easy to say "just drive" if you live in Ireland, have a car, know where to go, are use to non automatic and other side of the road. So, please, do not just quickly say "rent a car".

Little dramatic, no?

Very much so.

Shannon airport has several bus providers which service limerick (the nearest city to Shannon), Galway (city about an hour away from Shannon), and Dublin (the capital). Limerick and parts of Clare, Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Galway, Sligo, Mayo (both west counties in Ireland), are all linked to Dublin via effectively hourly service. Indeed, in the case of Limerick, you can get to Dublin city Centre and Dublin Airport within 2.5 hours using public transport which is very much so a 24 hour thing between the 2 cities.

Aer Lingus used to provide a service between Shannon and Dublin, I used it several times before we got a good motorway service, and even then, the majority of services were effectively empty, these were using the A330’s that would carry on to the USA (the days of the Shannon Stopover).

The reality is, you don’t need air service between Shannon and Dublin airport.

jetblueguy22 wrote:

TonyBurr wrote:

tlecam wrote:

Have you ever done the drive? It’s quite easy with the M7. A bit more than 2 hours.

It is easy to say "rent a car". However. to just get to the airport it does not make a lot of sense: 1. Cost of pick up in one city, drop in another 2. Insurance 3. If you do not drive stick you are very limited and automatic cars are very expensive in Ireland. 4. Unfamiliar roads 5. Not use to driving on that side of the road. The list can go on. 6. Age So, it is easy to say "just drive" if you live in Ireland, have a car, know where to go, are use to non automatic and other side of the road. So, please, do not just quickly say "rent a car".

Little dramatic, no?

Not really. Many americans have zero business trying to drive stick on the other side of the car on the other side of the road. So there is a point there.

That being said - on the whole - I agree - stick to the busses. The bus system in Ireland is one of the best out there.

I remember when the rules meant all transatlantic flights had to go through Shannon when leaving Ireland (similar to Scotland had to leave via Prestwick). There used to be daily services from Belfast (BFS) to Shannon usually with a BAC1-11 and occasionally with a B747 or B707. Aahh..those were the days. They also tried an Aer Lingua Commuter service between BFS and DUB for a few years but this was unsustainable. More recently there was a Derry to Cork but again there wasn't the market.

There was a long history of domestic air services in Ireland, which predates more recent improvements in road and rail infrastructure which made them unsustainable. As well as the SNN/DUB/SNN operation, which was a consequence of the crazy "Shannon stopover" obligation, EI also operated Dublin - Cork services primarily to connect with services out of Dublin but also with a fairly good business base for day visits, using mainly 737's and F50's, and also Dublin - Sligo. IIRC Ryanair also tried DUB-ORK for a while.

Currently two domestic routes are served by PSO government supported services, Dublin to Kerry (where the road or rail trip is still slow) and Dublin to Carrickfin in Donegal. ( Carrickfin Airport is located in a remote part of mountainous Donegal by no means convenient to all users up there, who would use City of Derry Airport across the border, or Sligo in the past with no air service there now, or Knock).

Maybe it is because there are other easy ways of transportation between Dublin and Shannon. M7 Motorway hardly takes 2 hours and 30 minutes to cover the distance between these two cities.