Cork Airport boss 'confident' about securing more transatlantic routes in the coming years

Ryanair operates 23 routes out of Cork Airport and carries 2.3m passengers a year. 

Cork Airport managing director Niall McCarthy said he is confident there will be enough demand in the coming years for airlines to operate more transatlantic flights out of the county.

Mr McCarthy said he is not seeing cost-of-living pressure dampening outbound demand and said “there’s a clear market in Cork” for an increase in routes across the globe.

“We have had discussions with several American airlines and Aer Lingus about a New York route. It’s safe to say, they believe the Irish market is saturated with transatlantic flights because obviously there’s a lot of connections in Dublin and a lot of connections in Shannon but we haven’t given up,” said Mr McCarthy.

“We are relatively confident that in a three to four-year trajectory that we will have transatlantic services back at Cork Airport, but we have no one sign for that at the moment,” he added.

At the announcement of Ryanair’s 2023/24 winter schedule for Cork Airport were Dara Brady, Director of Marketing and Communications, Ryanair; Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director, Cork Airport; Dorothy Coffey, General Manager – Operations, Safety and Facilities, Cork Airport. Picture: Brian Lougheed

Mr McCarthy said the airport is also focusing on growing the number of short-haul flights from the airport.

“There are gaps still in our market that we want to fill. We would like to get Nice back, we would like to get Malta back,” he said.

In terms of inbound traffic, he suggested that the shortage of hotel accommodation mid-season is becoming a deterrent for holidaymakers.

Winter schedule

Mr McCarthy made his comments following the launch of Ryanair’s winter schedule from Cork Airport.

The schedule includes five new routes to Barcelona, Fuerteventura, Paris, Seville, and Treviso, along with increased frequencies on another six winter sun routes to Faro, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Malaga, Rome, and Tenerife.

Ryanair operates 23 routes out of Cork Airport and carries 2.3m passengers a year.

Cork Airport predicted it would fully recover its pre-pandemic traffic this year, two years ahead of schedule, through a boost in airline activity and ongoing consumer demand.

Ryanair has continued to benefit from Europe's post-covid pent-up demand despite price pressures hitting consumers' pockets. The airline is currently operating at 130% pre-covid levels.

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Earlier this year, the Irish Examiner reported that Ryanair was Europe’s most polluting airline last year, according to research from pan-European sustainable travel non-governmental organisation Transport & Environment (T&E). The report showed Ryanair emissions surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

At a press conference for its new schedule, the airline also announced 30 new jobs will be created at Cork Airport as part of an overall €279m investment by the airline.

The new roles will be filled by pilots, cabin crew, and engineers. The jobs will be used to enable the operation of the three aircraft based at the airport over the winter period.

Meanwhile, Dara Brady, director of marketing, communications and digital at Ryanair did not give any clarity on whether Ryanair will pay a shareholder dividend following its growth this year.

He company board will “look at what’s left in the pot” after paying down company debt and implementing a capital expenditure programme.