Authorities are ‘putting up barriers in front of the tourists’
While Anthony Kearns and Ronan Tynan promote their own counties, Finbar Wright encourages people, most of them Americans, to visit his native Cork.
However, he said he felt compelled to speak out about Cork Airport after US concertgoers approached him after shows and criticised access to the South. Wright said it was as if those in power were trying to make it difficult for tourists to get here.
“We encourage people to come to Ireland and it is galling to see the decision makers putting up barriers in front of the tourists. I am simply reflecting what I hear on the road, on my travels,” he said.
In a wide-ranging interview, he questioned why there are no flights between Dublin and Cork.
“Although the road and rail has improved immensely, it is often inconvenient for transfer passengers whose destination is Cork or south Munster.
“A flight takes about 50 minutes. We went from having about 10 a day, between Ryanair and Aer Arann, to having none at all.”
He criticised the refusal by certain airlines to use the airport’s €250,000 air-bridges, which provide a covered walkway between aircraft and the terminal building.
“I’ve experienced it myself. You come down the steps of the aircraft and could be half drowned before you get to the terminal.
“Some tourists could have pneumonia before they get in to the building. I don’t understand the sense of it or the charges involved.
“But to the ordinary person, they see the bridge sitting there, lying idle. What does it take to move it about 10ft up to side of the plane? It seems like a simple operation to me.”
And he also wondered if Cork would ever have transatlantic flights.
“Tourists are baffled by the fact that they have to fly via London, Amsterdam, Paris, or Manchester, if they wish to come by air to Cork, usually flying over the airport itself to come back.
“We have some of the iconic Irish visitor attractions in this region — the Blarney Stone, the Midleton Distillery, and Fota, with Killarney on our doorstep. But there is no doubt that we are making it very difficult for tourists to get here, particularly to the beautiful areas of Cork, Kerry, and Waterford.”
While there was praise for the airport’s facilities and staff, the choice of routes is “far from optimum” and the consensus is that we are far too patient with the relevant decision-makers concerned, said Mr Wright.
Pat Dawson, chief executive of the Irish Travel Agents Association, said he made valid points but said the airport had a long way to go before it could consider transatlantic services.
“You have to have the population to support it. Scheduled airlines need a wide-bodied aircraft, and a minimum of two or three rotations a week to get the required capacity,” he said.
“We had talks with Turkish airlines about a feasibility study of flights from Cork to Istanbul but the numbers out of Cork just didn’t stack up.
“By contrast, Dublin has 18m passengers. If an airline thought it had a chance of succeeding, they’d do it.”
And for the airport to succeed, it has to be separate from the DAA, he said.
However, Transport and Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar said independence at this stage could put the future of the airport at risk.
“The Government has acted to safeguard the future of Cork Airport by keeping it within the DAA structure for the foreseeable future,” he said.
“Revenue produced by Cork is not sufficient to pay for the cost of the new terminal, so it will have to stay within the DAA until Dublin Airport and the DAA’s international operations can generate sufficient profits to pay for it.
“The airport will also have to start generating an operating profit in its own right. Only then can independence be seriously considered.”
He also said Cork has performed reasonably well, recording an increase in international passenger numbers of 0.3% to the end of August against a fall at Shannon, and overall for the DAA, driven in part by its routes to Brussels, Pisa, Krakow, and East Midlands, and new services to Girona, Palma, and Gdansk.
A decision on the future of the airport is due before the end of the year.
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