Cork Airport plans for faster security screening

Its managing director told the Oireachtas transport committee that further improvements would take place as he urged the Government to revise State aid rules

Cork Airport managing director Niall McCarthy has urged the Government to revise State aid rules to allow the airport to be eligible for more supports.

New screening facilities at Cork Airport in the next two years mean passengers won’t have to take liquids or laptops out of their bags going through security.

Dublin Airport has begun trialling such a system which will be rolled out to all its security machines, and Cork Airport will go out to tender for this with a view to having it in place by 2025.

Cork Airport managing director Niall McCarthy told the Oireachtas transport committee that further improvements would take place at the airport as he urged the Government to revise State aid rules to allow it to be eligible for more supports.

“We haven’t put up our airport charges in 20 years,” he said. “At small regional airports, airlines want low costs. We would be shrinking in growth terms if we were to put our charges up significantly. The Government has to be careful.” 

Cork Airport and Shannon Airport put their cases before the committee for a change in State aid rules that would see them eligible for supports under the regional airport programme, which provides key funding. Under current rules, airports with 1m passengers or less a year are eligible for these supports.

Cork and Shannon, however, want that increased to the maximum allowed under EU rules to 3m passengers a year. This year, Cork expects to have 2.4m passengers.

Mr McCarthy said that, even in the short term, Cork is operating in a difficult space with cost pressures and inflation having an impact.

“We’re operating in a very tight employment market,” he said. “It’s all about getting summer seasonable staff in place. We’re in good stead despite it being a tight market.” 

Customer service

Nevertheless, he said that a new customer service survey gave Cork a score of 4.7 out of 5.

“94% of people went through [security] in less than 15 minutes,” said Mr McCarthy. “It’s good but we’re going to make it better.” 

Shannon Airport Group chief executive Mary Considine said she believed the airport had a “strong proposition” but that further supports would be needed.

“We’re very fortunate to have three flights a day into Heathrow,” she said. “We’d love to have a second European hub, but it’s been challenging for us despite all our discussions.” 

Ms Considine said that, pre-pandemic, an agreement had been made for a link between Shannon and Paris Charles De Gaulle but that fell through due to Covid-19.

“We would continue to work really hard to try to secure a central European hub,” she said. “That will require support.” 

She said the upcoming Ryder Cup golfing tournament in 2027 is a “huge opportunity” for Shannon and the region as a whole has to be ready to maximise the opportunities it offers.

Kerry Airport CEO John Mulhern said one-quarter of all visitors to Ireland come to the county but to talk of 1m passengers, never mind 3mt, is a “long way away for us”.

“We’re a loss leader in a supermarket,” he said. “It costs us millions a year to keep ourselves running but our contribution to the economy in Kerry is multiples of what we do. We’re proud of that.”