Business body would welcome increase in services to Cork airport

The president of the Cork Business Association (CBA), Aaron Mansworth, says the organisation would welcome the “positive knock-on effects” of increasing services at Cork Airport.

It follows comments made by Junior Transport Minister James Lawless urging tourists to consider flying to Cork or Shannon airports as a solution to the ongoing passenger cap dispute at Dublin Airport.

Mr Lawless made the comments yesterday following a discussion on the passenger cap with key business stakeholders, including Ryanair, who have raised concerns that requests for additional flight slots this winter will be rejected by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).

Mr Lawless said it was his “preferred outcome” that planning authorities imminently lift the cap at Dublin Airport to 40m. 

He added that efforts to mitigate the effects of the limit had to be taken in the interim.

Passenger cap

The cap, currently in effect, means that a maximum of 32m passengers can pass through Dublin Airport per year, based on planning conditions set from 2007.

To date this year, Dublin Airport has seen 22.7m passengers travel through its terminals, with this figure expected to steadily increase, breaching the cap to an excess of 1m passengers.

The minister said an “obvious solution” was to increase the use of Cork Airport and Shannon Airport, which are not subjected to caps.

“There’s nobody in a better place than Ryanair and with a better proven record at marketing outlying airports as a destination,” said Mr Lawless.

“I would encourage Ryanair to revisit their Shannon, Cork, and regional airport schedules, [and] I would urge them to be more creative in their use of the regionals.

“Not everybody lives in Dublin, I can see no reason why sporting trips, or excursions to Lapland, cannot operate from other airports outside Dublin.

“I find it difficult to see how the marketing genius that drove traffic to so many other destinations cannot do more for our regional airports.”

Rejected

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary rejected the notion that the additional flights could operate from other Irish airports, saying “60% of the traffic is inbound and it doesn’t want to go to Shannon or Cork, it wants to go to Dublin”.

Mr Mansworth said: “CBA and its executives will continue to support Cork Airport with the view to seeing continued expansion.

“We welcome the indications of further opportunities for growth, which would benefit our members, particularly those in tourism and hospitality.

“Based on the junior minister’s comments, increased numbers to Cork Airport would always be welcomed and would have positive knock-on effects for many businesses, not just in Cork, but in the south as well.”