Ryanair spells trouble for airport income

SO Ryanair wants to use the old terminal at Cork airport and open 17 new routes. Exciting times. A million extra passengers per year.

But what will be the cost to Cork airport? Check with Shannon.

They lost five or six airlines with the arrival of Ryanair which is only paying 50c a passenger when the others were paying full rates of €9.

Gone are Hapag, Lloyd Express, Thomsonfly, FlyBe, British Airways and Eirjet, as well as Easyjet.

Ryanair drove Go Airlines and Easyjet out of Ireland.

When Easyjet left Cork airport, Ryanair reduced their flights by one a day to Stansted and Gatwick. Now Ryanair have Aer Arann out of Cork in their sights and, as Michael O’Leary says, “Aer Lingus are next”.

Shannon airport has an extra one million passengers, but at a cost of over €10 million in lost revenue.

Ryanair admits it cannot get the yield it wants in Shannon, so God help them when Ryanair cuts back and the others are gone.

Evan White

4 Victoria Villas

Western Road

Cork