Cork Airport expecting 300k more passengers than predicted as Ryanair expands operations

Ryanair has marked 35 years of operations in Cork by announcing its largest-ever winter schedule from the airport

The European low-cost carrier commenced operations in June 1987. Since then, Ryanair has grown to become the largest operator at Ireland’s second busiest airport

Cork Airport has revised its post-Covid passenger recovery figures upwards as Ryanair announced its largest-ever winter schedule from the airport. 

On the back of surging leisure travel demand, airport chiefs said they now expect to handle 2.1m passengers by the end this year - up from earlier forecasts of 1.8m.

The airport, which handled 2.6m passengers across 52 routes in 2019 and which saw passenger numbers collapse during the pandemic, now has 42 routes and hopes to recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2024 - much sooner than previously forecast.

The news came as Ryanair celebrated the 35th anniversary of its operations out of Cork on Wednesday.

The airline, which operated its first flight from Cork to Luton in June 1987, with fares from £99 compared to the state-set fares on existing London routes of £204, carried 300,000 passengers that first year.

Last month, the airline carried 15.3m passengers across its network. With three aircraft based in Cork, it operates more than half of the airport’s 42 routes to destinations across the UK and Europe.

The six summer routes that will now become winter services are Faro, Milan Bergamo, Bordeaux, Venice, Valencia and Gran Canaria. 

Ryanair’s head of communications, Jade Kirwan, said this connectivity will continue to grow this winter, with the previously announced twice-weekly routes to Newcastle and Rome from the end of October, and an extension of six summer routes into the winter – to Faro four times weekly, to Milan Bergamo, Bordeaux, Venice and Valencia twice weekly and Gran Canaria once a week.

Roy O’Driscoll, the airport’s acting CEO, said government supports have been crucial to attracting new routes, with discounts of up to 30% available.

Ms Kirwan said the low charges are vital.

“We are only still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic and tourism is still impacted. So it’s fundamental to us that we see low airport charges throughout," she said.

Asked if the airline is looking more at the regional airports following the security queue issues at Dublin Airport, she said: “We will continue to invest where we see demand. We are always looking for new opportunities. But if we see charges increase, we might have to look elsewhere."

Mr O’Driscoll dismissed suggestions that the airport is now too reliant on Ryanair and said it has also added KLM, Air France, Vueling and Swiss Air to its network.

While an extension of the government route supports funding beyond this year would be ideal, he said they plan to continue offering competitive incentives to keep growth “on an upward trajectory”.

He also assured the airport is fully staffed to handle the projected passenger figures this year.

Cork Chamber welcomed Ryanair’s announcement but said there is always room for enhanced support of regional airport growth both from the government and the Dublin Airport Authority (daa).

“It isn’t as simple as Cork versus Dublin - some airlines will simply not be interested in flying out of anywhere except a capital city without significant incentivisation programmes," Chamber CEO Conor Healy said.

“But Dublin’s growing dominance is certainly an issue and we need to see a concerted effort post-Covid to grow routes and traffic from Cork Airport and ensure that the supports and incentives are in place to ensure Cork’s offering is attractive enough to draw airlines and new routes to Cork."