Cork Airport breaks passenger records for November

November was another record-breaking month at Cork Airport, with passenger numbers up 7% on the same month in 2024, as work to enhance the airport is well underway.

A total of 214,790 passengers travelled through the airport in November. The busiest day of the month was Sunday, November 2 and, in total, 1,653 flights took off from Cork Airport in November, with the top destinations named as London Heathrow, London Stansted, Manchester, Amsterdam, and Lanzarote.

The airport’s efficiency performance continues to be strong, with 99.1% of people through security in less than 15 minutes and 100% in less than 20, compared to 96.5% and 99% at Dublin Airport, while 80.9% of departures were on time compared with 11.9% in Dublin. Additionally, the average bag return time was 10 minutes in Cork Airport, compared to 22 minutes in Dublin.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has increased its operations from two to three daily flights to Amsterdam Schiphol, Air France extended their previously summer-only Paris Charles de Gaulle service to a year-round operation and the new twice-weekly Aer Lingus service to Prague, which started in late October, is performing strongly, a spokesperson for DAA, which manages Cork and Dublin airports, said.

Kenny Jacobs, CEO of DAA, said: 

“There is no let-up in the record demand for flights to and from our island as the year draws to a close.

“This bodes well for the new national tourism strategy published this week, which aims to grow inbound visitor numbers by 15% by 2031. Both Dublin and Cork airports have an important role to play in helping to realise this vision for Ireland.

“Cork Airport’s success in attracting new routes was on show last month, with increased services to major European hubs in Amsterdam and Paris. Aer Lingus’ new Prague route is off to a strong start,” he added.

“Work on the ground to enhance Cork Airport is also progressing at pace, with the construction of Cork’s new mezzanine floor well underway. 

"This will be the location of the new passenger security area, which will make travelling through the airport even more seamless than before.”