Cork Airport passenger numbers passed key 3m mark last year

Record number of international passengers used the airport in 2024

The numbers highlight the strong recovery global and Irish aviation has made following the covid lockdowns.

Cork Airport saw record passenger numbers last year breaking the key three million figure for the first time since 2008.

It was the busiest year for international passengers in the airport's 63-year history with 3.1m passengers flying in and out of Cork, up 10% on 2023.

The numbers highlight the strong recovery global and Irish aviation has made following the covid lockdowns which saw passenger numbers through Cork in 2021 plummet to just 258,000. 

The record for passenger numbers through Cork was set in 2008 when 3.3m passengers used the airport but that included an estimated 500,000 passengers using the numerous flights between Cork and Dublin. However, the opening of new sections of the Cork to Dublin motorway saw demand for the route fall with the last flight between the two cities ending in 2011.

Cork Airport managing director, Niall MacCarthy, said new routes and new airlines last year made Cork the fastest-growing airport in Ireland with traffic increasing to almost all destinations. Passenger numbers to and from Poland jumped 33%; traffic to Spain rose by 20%; France increased by 19% and Germany rose by 12%.

2024 began strongly with the months of January, February, and March up 14%, 23% and 25% respectively.

"In 2025, we’re embarking on a number of capital projects to grow and improve the airport infrastructure and cater for the planned growth we have in the year ahead and the years following," he said. "We want to thank our loyal customer base, both in the South of Ireland, the UK and continental Europe for the continuing and growing use of Cork Airport.”

This year, the airport will offer direct services to 14 countries with 56 routes, operated by nine scheduled airlines. New routes this summer include Bilbao, Bordeaux, Corfu, Dalaman and Izmir in Turkey.