Aer Lingus Cork - Amsterdam route stopping in March 2025

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

Hello Colm,

I understand that the cancellation of the Amsterdam - Cork route by Aer Lingus is extremely disappointing, and I totally agree with you that a large number of Dutch people use this route to enjoy their holidays in Ireland. The confusing dates and information on the website of course don't help either...

Maybe it's an idea to contact Aer Lingus directly to ask them to clarify the changes regarding this route? We are in no way affiliated with Aer Lingus, so we are unfortunately unable to give you any further information than what you've already received. 

Hopefully we can still welcome you on our island next year, and let me know if we can assist you in any other way!
Happy holidays Colm.

Kind regards,
Alinde 

Hello Alinde,
Thanks for taking the trouble to reply to my post and apologies for my late response. Aer Lingus are very reticent about why they have decided to stop this route as, anecdotally and from my own experience the flights are very often 100% full. I've read (Irish Examiner) that more than 208,000 passengers traveled (return trips) to Amsterdam from Cork (Aer Lingus & KLM) in 2023, and increase from 160,000 in 2019.

From a lot of trawling through social media, and for what it's worth, this is what I know so far:

Aer Lingus is part of the IAG network, which comprises Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Level. At Schiphol passengers who arrive from Cork and are in transit will not use BA to fly onwards (BA has only 2 routes from Schiphol, both to London). Aer Lingus would prefer these passengers to fly to London Heathrow and use British Airways to fly onwards (161 BA routes from London Heathrow).

The Amsterdam route is the third busiest out of Cork behind London Heathrow and London Stansted. Data from the Central Statistics Office shows Cork to Amsterdam grew strongly post-covid jumping from just under 160,000 passengers to and from both cities in 2019 to more than 191,000 in 2022 and more than 208,000 last year.

Best regards,

Colm O'Flynn

Hi Colm,

I came across your post when trying to do research into why the Amsterdam-Cork Aerlingus route has been suspended. I also saw you have spoken with media. 
I am in a similar situation to you, however, I am married to an Irishman and I travel every 6 weeks to Ireland to kerry via Cork to help care for my parents, both who are elderly and one with a terminal illness. I know several people in my situation who are devastated by the decision to pull the flight. I had been hopeful (perhaps dreaming) that Michael O'Leary would seize the opportunity but so far, no go. 
I don't buy for a second that they pulled the flight because of competition from KLM. I have been monitoring flights with KLM and it's double and even sometimes treble what I would usually pay. That to me is not competition. In fact, it makes my trips home completely inaccessible. 
I have been looking for who on earth to turn to, who to write a letter of complaint to. How to communicate the impact this has had on hundreds of not thousands of Irish people living in the Netherlands who travel home reguarly. 
I see you spoke with Irish media in January and I guess this didnt generate any traction or go viral or any such luck?!

It's a horrible situation and now makes my trips home to look after my parents, impossible due to the far too high price of KLM flights. 

Thanks anyway for reading and if you have any other insights I'd be happy to hear.