Cork Airport enjoys busiest January in six years

CORK Airport enjoyed its busiest January in six years with more than 161,000 passengers travelling through the airport during the opening month of 2023.

The number of passengers travelling through Cork Airport in January was 12% higher than in January 2019 and more than double, or 149%, the numbers seen in January 2022.

The early part of January saw some very busy days at Cork Airport as thousands of people travelled home after the Christmas break. Nevertheless, security screening moved smoothly throughout January with 97.7% of passengers passing through in less than 20 minutes and virtually all through in under 30 minutes. There were 1,267 flights in and out of Cork in January.

At Dublin Airport, the other Irish airport operated by daa, the number of passengers in January totalled 2.1m, which was 113% higher than January 2022 and 2% higher than January 2019.

Overall, the total number of passengers carried by daa’s two Irish operated airports during January this year was 2.27m, up from 2.15m in January 2019 and 956,000 in January 2022.

Reacting to the January performance at daa’s Irish airports, daa chief executive Kenny Jacobs said: “The volume of people travelling through both Cork and Dublin airports during January shows the continued strong appetite that exists for overseas travel post-Covid.

“The addition of an extra bank holiday weekend in February, combined with Valentine’s Day and the mid-term school break, means February will be another very busy month at both airports. The busiest day at Cork Airport during the month was Tuesday, January 3, with 6,900 passengers travelling through, while the busiest day at Dublin Airport was Monday, January 2, with 88,900 passengers.

“The most popular destination from both Cork and Dublin airports was London Heathrow,” added Mr Jacobs.

Meanwhile, there have been no recent drone related incidents at Cork Airport.

“The legislation which prohibits the use of drones in the vicinity of airfields applies to Cork Airport as it does to all aerodromes in the country,” said a spokesperson.