Absence of transatlantic flights ‘costs Cork jobs’

The absence of transatlantic flights from Cork Airport is costing the county jobs, the developer of a huge office campus at the centre of Cork’s latest jobs boost has warned.

John Cleary, the managing director of JCD Commercial Property Developments, was speaking as US cloud computing firm VCE announced 150 software engineering jobs over the next two years at a new global research and development hub at JCD’s massive City Gate Park in Mahon.

“I believe the only challenge facing Cork now is accessibility,” Mr Cleary said. “We need transatlantic flights, and more links to Europe. I get that feedback directly from client companies. If it was easier to get here, I’m sure there’d be more companies coming back here. We must focus on making it easier to get here. As a location, we need to prioritise it.”