Thousands of tourism jobs at risk unless Government adopts new travel policies - airport chiefs

Cork Airport revised its forecasts as Ryanair reduced its schedule.

Thousands of Irish tourism jobs are at risk unless the Government adopts new aviation and travel policies within weeks, airport chiefs have warned.

The stark message came from management at Cork Airport where the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its operations was laid bare during a behind-closed-doors briefing for tourist leaders.

The board of Visit Cork was told that passenger numbers at the State's second largest airport have plunged by over 95% during the pandemic, leading to a catastrophic impact on its finances.

Management said urgent State support is required to keep the airport in business as it faces operating losses of over €20m after depreciation.

The pandemic has effectively wiped out its passenger growth over the last five years, which grew from around 2m passengers in 2015 to just over 2.6m last year.

The airport was forecast to handle 2.7m passengers this year but when lockdown hit, it was reduced to two London services only from April to June.

It remained open throughout lockdown, handling repatriation flights, medical transport and transplant flights, search and rescue operations, off-shore gas platform supply flights, and garda air support missions.

But the latest forecasts suggest it will handle just 600,000 passengers for the entire year. It follows a revision downwards in recent days after Ryanair scaled back its scheduled winter services.

Passenger figures are not expected to recover to 2019 levels until 2024.

Airport management say decisions made by Government over the next eight weeks will determine how airlines plan for next year's tourism season.

The Visit Cork board was also told that Cork Airport is facing several costly capital expenditure projects over the coming years which it will be unable to finance without State support, including a hold baggage screening system and an essential runway reconstruction and remediation project, which are expected to cost tens of millions of euro.

The board was told that the current regulatory framework does not allow the relevant airport authority (DAA) to fund Cork Airport’s capital projects, and that Cork will be unable to fund them independently due to the collapse in its finances.

Airport management said without these key projects, the airport just won’t be able to function in the years ahead and they are seeking access to the State's regional airports capital expenditure scheme, which funds capital projects in Knock, Kerry, Donegal, and other regional airports, at least until traffic recovers to 2019 levels.

Shannon Airport received some €6m in emergency capital expenditure support from the Government in June.

But management in Shannon has also asked the Government to map out a pathway to restore confidence in air travel to and from Ireland.

Amid ongoing uncertainty over the so-called green list, it is understood that Ireland's airports want NPHET to consider replacing quarantine measures with a robust pre-flight Covid-19 testing programme for all passengers.

They have pointed to a new system in Alaska where all non-residents arriving into the US state from another state or country must arrive with a negative Covid-19 test taken within 72 hours prior to departure, which can be uploaded on to a travel portal.

It is understood other European countries are examining or implementing such a system.

Cork Airport, directly and indirectly, supports 12,180 jobs and contributes €904m annually to the economy across the southern region.