Ryanair chief cites lower costs after moving aircraft from Cork Airport to Shannon 

Michael O’Leary was speaking as Ryanair Holdings reported an after tax profit of €820m between April and June

Michael O'Leary said he thinks they will be able to put the fourth aircraft back into Cork 'next summer, but we don't have enough aircraft to run four aircraft out of Cork during the winter'. 

Lower costs for the airline was the reason why Ryanair made the decision to move an aircraft from Cork Airport to Shannon Airport for the coming winter period, the chief executive of Ryanair Holdings Michael O’Leary has said.

Last month, Ryanair announced that it will be adding a fourth aircraft at Shannon Airport for this winter period which will see three new routes this winter added including to Lapland, Madeira and Madrid. The announcement is expected to deliver a 20% increase in traffic at the airport.

However, this announcement comes at Cork Airport’s expense which will lose a Ryanair aircraft for the winter.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Mr O’Leary said that Shannon Airport “has lower costs than Cork”, so the fourth aircraft this winter will be in Shannon.

"I think we'll be able to put the fourth aircraft back into Cork next summer, but we don't have enough aircraft to run four aircraft out of Cork during the winter,” Mr O’Leary said.

He added that both Shannon Airport and Cork Airport have grown strongly in the last year or two as they have benefited from the capacity restrictions at Dublin Airport.

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Mr O’Leary was speaking as Ryanair Holdings reported an after tax profit of €820m between April and June - the first quarter of its latest financial year - compared to an after tax profit of €360m during the same period last year, representing a 128% increase.

This was driven by a 21% increase in average fares and a 4% increase in passenger traffic to 58 million over the three-month period.

However, Mr O’Leary said that the quarter was “not quite as strong as it looks” as back in the period April to June 2023 the airline saw €660m in profit during the quarter before a large fall last year.