'Sky is the limit' for Cork Airport expansion plans

Airlines are to be encouraged to move routes and traffic from Dublin to Cork Airport, the daa chief executive has revealed, with the airport announcing it intends to expand by 40% to serve 5m people per annum over the next decade.

Daa has said new incentives will be offered to airlines — who are capped from growing at Dublin — including lower charges in Cork airport.

The revelation was made at the launch yesterday of Cork Airport’s Economic Impact Study, which revealed the airport contributed €1.045bn to the economy and supported more than 12,650 jobs in 2023.

Launched by Minister of State for Transport James Lawless, EU Commissioner designate Michael McGrath, and Tourism Ireland’s chief executive Alice Mansergh, the report set out several positive accomplishments for Cork Airport.

Expand

Speaking at the launch, daa chief executive Kenny Jacobs said: “Cork Airport will continue to expand its route network, including offering new incentives to encourage airlines that are capped from growing at Dublin to take advantage of Cork Airport’s great facilities.”

Mr Jacobs said there is “a real danger of losing out to other countries” while the Dublin cap remains in place, so offering airlines lower charges to move to Cork would help keep traffic in Ireland.

He said: “We have an ambition to grow Cork Airport to 5m passengers a year within the next decade, we want to grow 40%.”

Mr Jacobs said the 33% population growth predicted for Ireland by 2050 means that capacity for Cork Airport should further increase to 7m.

The new scheme will see time-limited incentives to relocate over the next 30 months, he said, and they will be telling airlines who are not able to expand in Dublin that “the best place you can go is Cork Airport”.

“A lot of that capacity will stick,” he said, adding that he does not predict a loss of flights or jobs if the cap in Dublin is lifted, as “Cork is a great airport, it is extremely well organised, and we think when you get airlines to fly from Cork, they generally stay”.

Commercially viable

Ms Mansergh said: “Not every flight can simply be moved, but some can be, so we’re working really hard to identify those flights that would be commercially viable to bring to Cork.”

Mr McGrath said all Cork Oireachtas members work together despite their party alliances to support Cork Airport. “We would not have tens of thousands of foreign direct investment jobs if we didn’t have Cork Airport.”

He welcomed the airport’s aim of 5m passengers, saying “this will require sustained investment over the next five years.

“There were many grim predictions during covid how long it would take Cork Airport to get back to their previous numbers, the truth is, it didn’t take long at all.

“It is already beyond the pre-covid peak, and this year it is on to hit 3m.”

Pleasure

Mr McGrath said that “it’s always a pleasure to go through Cork Airport” and that he hopes to see additional flights to Brussels so he can fly to and from Cork in his new role as EU commissioner.

Minister of State for Transport James Lawless agreed that Cork’s quick bounceback from covid to having its busiest ever year last year was a testament to the growth that was possible for the airport. “There’s no cap in Cork, so the sky’s the limit in every sense.”