Passenger numbers at Cork Airport are already soaring ahead of the launch of a new summer route to Madrid.

The airline planning to launch the first transatlantic flights from Cork has urged US authorities to make a decision on its licence application and clear its ambitious expansion plans for take-off.

An agreement by pilots at Spanish airline Iberia to raise productivity as part of a turnaround programme eliminating more than 3,000 jobs, was hailed as “a bold deal” by parent group CEO Willie Walsh yesterday.