'Devastating' move by Ryanair has airports 'on their knees'

Many Ryanair flights to and from Cork Airports have been operating with fewer than 10 passengers on board. Picture: Larry Cummins.

Cork and Shannon airports are "on their knees" and will need massive State support to survive the winter, airport bosses have warned.

Ryanair has confirmed it will close its bases at both airports for the winter season following the collapse of international travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The decision, described in both regions as “devastating”, puts the jobs of up to 60 Ryanair pilots, cabin crew, and engineers based at Cork Airport, and a further 55 airline staff based at Shannon, at risk.

Added to this, Aer Lingus is continuing a review of its operations in Cork and Shannon. It employs 350 people in total at the two airports.

Both airports will now operate skeletal flight schedules in the months ahead — a situation that will have a huge impact on the local economies, threatening the future of hundreds of other jobs in the aviation supply chain network, and thousands more in the tourism and hospitality sectors.

Shannon Group chief executive Mary Considine said aviation is on its knees and desperately needs a clear path to recovery.

Ms Considine said State supports are needed to ensure the airports can recover next March.

Cork Airport managing director Niall MacCarthy said they did everything in their power to retain the Ryanair base, but that many Ryanair flights to and from Cork have been operating with fewer than 10 passengers on board.

Despite concerns that Cork Airport may close at quiet times given the drastic reduction in the level of scheduled flights, Mr MacCarthy said it will continue to support search-and-rescue operations, air corps flights, as well as medevac, organ donor, and similar flights.

Cork Airport today marks the 59th anniversary of its first commercial flight and official opening, but is now left with just five routes — down from 53 in January.

Ryanair, which has had a base at Cork Airport since 2005 and has become the airport’s biggest carrier, flew about 1.3m of Cork Airport's 2.6m passengers last year. 

It has accounted for about 81% of the airport’s traffic so far this year.

Airport management has stressed that Ryanair will continue to operate services from Cork to London Stansted, and to the Polish cities of Katowice and Gdansk over the winter season.

Arrival and departure screens at Cork Airport. The small volume of flights is evident. Picture: Larry Cummins

However, Cork Airport is now facing the kind of passenger numbers it last saw in the early 1960s.

The Government has been urged to opt-in quickly to the EU’s new traffic light system on international travel and to approve a low-cost rapid-result Covid-19 testing regime at Ireland’s airports to give the aviation industry a fighting chance.

Cork Chamber chief executive Conor Healy said Ryanair’s decision will be “hugely damaging for regional and national connectivity” and raises very real concerns about the airport’s ability to avoid closure without further direct financial support from Government.

“Beyond this, a firm commitment to EU travel standards, and most importantly the ability to implement proactive travel-testing without delay, remains acute and essential,” he said.

If Cork Airport cannot stay on its feet, supports for tourism and hospitality announced in the budget can only be partial and temporary at best.

Labour TD Sean Sherlock raised his concerns for the airports in the Dáil again yesterday.

He said the €10m allocation in the budget to Shannon and Cork airports was welcome but was not not enough, and he said a decision to opt into the EU traffic light system must be made immediately.

A quiet check-in area at Cork Airport. Picture Larry Cummins

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the Government wants to see planes flying, airports busy, and aviation workers back at work as soon as is possible. “And for that reason, the Government next week will consider whether we opt into the EU system which was agreed at a European level only this week,” he said.

“While that isn’t going to get planes flying again over the winter period — because they probably shouldn’t be — this at least means that if the pandemic goes back into retreat, that we will have a safe system in place for the summer period.”