Cork Airport set for busiest year ever as passenger numbers hit 2.75 million

Last month alone saw 191,000 passengers fly through the airport, up 14% on the same period last year

Noting the upcoming festive period, Mr Jacobs added, "December will be a very busy and important month for us at our Irish airports in Dublin and Cork as we facilitate the journeys of millions of passengers coming home for Christmas."

Cork Airport is set to have its busiest year in its 62-year history with 2.75 million international passengers set to fly in and out in 2023. 

Last month, Munster's busiest airport saw a 14% increase in passenger numbers compared to the same period last year, with 191,000 flyers in total across November.

According to new figures published by airport operator daa, the last day of the mid-term school holidays, November 5th, was last month's busiest day, with almost 10,000 passengers flying to or from Cork Airport.

Celebrating growth of 22% in the space of twelve months, chief executive of the daa, Kenny Jacobs said, "The significant growth of passenger numbers at Cork Airport is due to the increasing number of destinations at the busiest airport serving the South of Ireland. Cork Airport remains the most popular choice for passengers from across Munster and South Leinster."

Noting the upcoming festive period, Mr Jacobs added, "December will be a very busy and important month for us at our Irish airports in Dublin and Cork as we facilitate the journeys of millions of passengers coming home for Christmas."

In Dublin Airport, almost 2.2 million passengers passed through in November, a 4% increase on the same month last year. A further 102,000 transfer and transit passengers used Dublin Airport during the month.

November 5th was also the busiest day in Dublin Airport last month, with almost 98,000 passengers passing through in 24 hours.

Ahead of the Christmas period, Mr Jacobs said there will be a new Infrastructure Application submitted to Fingal County Council which would enable Dublin Airport to grow beyond the current 32 million passenger cap. 

"As it stands, that application is likely to take at least two years to be approved, which will result in stalled growth at Dublin Airport in both 2024 and 2025,” said Mr Jacobs.  

“We continue to have discussions with our airline customers about their schedules for next spring, summer and beyond to ensure that passenger numbers for 2024 will remain below the 32 million level. Until planning permission to grow beyond 32 million passengers is granted, daa will continue to manage the passenger capacity to ensure that current planning restrictions are not breached.”

The daa added that an independent analysis has found that keeping the current 32 million cap would lead to Ireland forgoing an additional 17,800 jobs and €1.5bn in gross value added by 2030. 

"By 2055, the number of jobs lost to Ireland would be 53,300 - the equivalent to the population of Waterford - while €4.4 billion would be lost in GVA to the Irish economy. We simply need to build for Irelands future population and economic growth," Mr Jacobs concluded.