Why is Cork Airport being left behind?

Cork Airport, despite existing since 1961, has no direct US flights, unlike Shannon and Dublin.

Cork has been left behind, while Dublin has taken centre stage. There seems to be no willingness to maximise Cork Airport’s potential, despite a debt of €113m for the new terminal building. The powers that be seem to be more interested in terminal construction than destinations and accessibility.

Cork should push hard for direct flights to the US, especially to New York, as a major hub for business and tourism.

It is onerous going to Clare for Shannon, but many Cork travel agents push Dublin as the way to depart for the USA. Dublin is a three-hour train journey, followed by tedious travel to the airport from the train station. This is nonsense and a bias towards Dublin.

How does it cost more to go to Shannon than Dublin, from Cork, as some travel agents are claiming, notwithstanding badly connected trains or taxis/ buses that add hours to the journey?

There is no good reason why direct US flights cannot come into Cork, and it is time that those responsible for the promotion of the airport made it happen. The taxpayer has spent enough on it, and the people in Cork, and the southern region, are sick of Dublin and Shannon and the inconvenience involved in going to and from the United States. It is nothing but crass discrimination to leave out Cork as a US departure point.

Maurice Fitzgerald

Shanbally

Co Cork