Air France and KLM upgrade aircrafts and add 20 seats between Cork and Amsterdam daily

A representative for Air France and KLM has announced that the airline will be introducing 20 extra seats every day between Cork Airport and Amsterdam as Aer Lingus is due to wind down its regular route in the coming weeks.

Speaking to The Echo, general manager for the Ireland and the UK with Air France and KLM, Jerome Salemi, said that the company is “committed to the Munster region” and wanted to take the opportunity to build a larger presence in Cork.

“With KLM, we already have two flights a day from Cork [to Amsterdam] [operating] all year, [but] because Aer Lingus has decided to stop their flight, we have decided to [upgrade] our aircrafts, meaning that we will have bigger aircrafts on the route,” said Mr Salemi.

“We will be adding an additional 20 extra seats every day between Cork and Amsterdam, which is quite significant. We wanted to take the opportunity to grow further. I think it is a signal of confidence for Air France and KLM in the Muster region.

“We immediately reacted when we heard that [Aer Lingus was winding down its route]. We liaised with our network of colleagues and said that we needed to increase capacity to take the space. We are committed to the Munster region — Cork Airport is convenient and smaller than Dublin Airport — our customers are very happy with it.”

Mr Salemi also highlighted how the airline will be increasing route frequency from Cork to Paris, starting with three weekly flights from now until the end of March, building to five weekly flights from the end of March, and building further again up to 10 weekly flights for July and August.

This frequency will then decrease again in the later months of September and October to six and five weekly flights, respectively.

“We are very confident that we will fill these aircrafts — we are monitoring the trends, and clearly there is a demand between Cork and Paris,” added Mr Salemi.