Irish Examiner view: Regional tourism set to take flight

Twenty routes winter and summer out of Cork Airport were announced by Eddie Wilson, CEO Ryanair. Picture: Dan Linehan

Many people in the southern region may have been bemused at the decision of management at Cork Airport to shut down the facility for 10 weeks just as Covid restrictions are easing.

In fact, not only was it essential to allow repairs of the main runway but it is sensible to do them now in order to be fully functional in the run-up to Christmas. 

It was originally intended to shut down next year but that was brought forward because passenger numbers are still very low.

Hopefully, that will change when it reopens in November as Ryanair has announced that its Cork Airport base, which closed last October, will reopen with two aircraft from December 1, serving 12 routes for the winter season. 

Pre-pandemic capacity

Ryanair has promised to restore all the company’s pre-pandemic capacity at Cork from December, and includes new services to Birmingham and Edinburgh. That will be expanded to 20 routes from next March.

According to Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson, the decision to reopen its Cork base represents an investment of almost €200m, will secure 60 Ryanair jobs and deliver thousands of tourism jobs in the region.

Ryanair has committed to restoring traffic to pre-pandemic levels for summer 2022 at Cork, Shannon, Knock, and Kerry airports. 

That is a welcome vote of confidence not just in the airport but in the southern and western regions in general.

Like the flights, it will help our regional economies take off.