I recently posted about the potential (or not) for an aerial taxi business in Ireland. This post continues in a similar vein and criss-crosses with a recent OpenEir visit to the port town of Foynes on the Shannon Estuary, where I marked the waypoint for the wonderful Flying Boat Museum - "the only Aviation Museum in Ireland and the only dedicated flying boat Museum in the world."
While compiling the data for that OpenEir tour I paid a fresh visit to their website and am delighted to see the exciting investment and expansion plans for what is surely one of the most compelling, yet sadly overlooked, tourist attractions in mid-west, or the whole of Ireland for that matter. Did you know that Foynes was the European hub for transatlantic flights from 1937 to 1945? I didn't!
Make sure to download their future plans document (pdf) which details the the improvements to be made on foot of a funding announcement by John O'Donoghue TD, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism. In particular check out the diagram of the full scale interior cut-away model of the Boeing B314 including cabins, galley, dining room and cockpit. Wow! Did you ever imagine that air travel across the atlantic was so much more luxurious over a half century ago than it is today? The lucky tourists even had "beds to sleep in, a 14 seater dining room serving the finest of food and cabins to relax, read or play chess in". And I thought the luxurious interiors of the Airbus A380 were something new! This is one occasion where nostalgia for the past is more than justified.
So the question is - in this new era of massclusivity could there possibly be a niche market for luxurious, nostalgic/romatic transatlantic air travel? That is, could the era of the flying boat be revived? Could it tie in with what the 'luxury (Irish) travel experts' Adams & Butler offer? I read an article recently in an Irish newspaper (can't remember which one) about the money-no-object customized holidays Adams & Butler organise for their clients. That's the only reason I think why, what I'd otherwise dismiss as a completely unrealistic and fanciful notion, might just be in with a shouting chance. Or am I still dreaming?
Any aviation experts care to comment?
UPDATE: Ok, my dreams have been dashed as it has been confirmed to me this really is a fanciful notion because there are so few flying boats left in the world today and they're absolute gas gusslers. Ah well, an entrepreneur needs to be a dreamer..... and only some dreams can become reality.
Recent Comments