Airline announces three new routes from Cork Airport

AER LINGUS announced three new routes out of Cork Airport yesterday as part of a major route expansion.

The low fares airline will operate three new routes out of Cork — to Lanzarote twice weekly, and to Prague and Madrid three times a week — from late October.

Introductory one-way fares were available online yesterday from €25 to Madrid and Prague and from €49 to Lanzarote.

The low-fares airline also announced new routes out of Dublin to Turin and Newcastle.

Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion said last night that in addition to the new Cork routes, the airline plans to base an extra Airbus A320 aircraft at the city’s airport later this month, increasing capacity by a third on its Amsterdam, Warsaw and Alicante routes.

He also confirmed that existing summer flights from Cork to Berlin, Birmingham, Faro and Tenerife, and from Dublin to Poznan and Seville will operate year- round.

Mr Mannion said the new routes, additional capacity and the extension of year-round services on a number of existing european routes was a direct response to strong customer demand.

“We are very encouraged with the level of growth on our network and particularly in the southern region where demand has increased significantly,” he said.

“This development is testament to the fact that Aer Lingus’s service is second to none and we will continue to deliver on our proposition of low fares and greater choice of new destinations to convenient city airports for our customers.”

Yesterday’s expansion brings to 11 the number of new Aer Lingus routes introduced so far this year.

Fianna Fáil’s Cllr Tom O’Driscoll, a member of the South West Regional Authority’s Airport Consultative Committee, welcomed the new routes.

“These are new markets for Cork and are to be strongly welcomed,” he said.

Aer Lingus will be competing directly with Czech Airlines on the Prague route.

Meanwhile, a decision on when Cork Airport’s new terminal will open has yet to be made.