Hello,
On 12th December 2024 Aer Lingus decided to cancel the Cork - Amsterdam route with effect from March 2025 onwards. As a large number of Dutch visitors use this route every year, it may mean a fairly big reduction in Dutch visitors to Southern Ireland.
One very odd aspect is that no announcement of any kind is present on the Aer Lingus site. There's a link to 'Latest Travel Updates' where you would imagine a fairly drastic move like this would be announced. No luck there. I had made a booking for May next year on 9th December, and on 12th December I received an email informing me of the cancellation from March 2025 onwards.
The alternative, a KLM Amsterdam - Cork route, is 256% more expensive. For example, I booked a return flight for two to Cork from Amsterdam (8/5/2025 - 23/5/2025 ) for 272 euros. The KLM equivalent (same dates) is a whopping 698 euros.
As my Aer Lingus flight is now cancelled, I hope you can understand I'm very sore about this, along with a large no. of Dutch travel agencies who have already reserved fly/drive arrangements. I live in the Netherlands and I know that many Dutch people plan and make reservations for their holidays months in advance.
If you go to
https://www.aerlingus.com/html/en-NL/home.html, and even if your Dutch is not too good, you'll see they are still offering flights from A'dam to Cork for 49.99 euros, right up until April 30!
Very strange.
I speak and read Dutch so reply in Dutch to this message if you want to.
Colm O'Flynn, Alkmaar, the Netherlands