It’s up, up and away for Cork Airport in 2025

As Andy Williams used to sing, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” - and what a year it has been!

If you happen to be in and around Cork Airport during the festive season, you’ll be able to experience first-hand the wonder and magic of homecomings and reunions in our Arrivals area, as families reunite and reconnect at this special time of year.

And as we approach the end of 2024, it is important to take stock and reflect on what has been a very busy year for Cork Airport - the busiest year for international passenger traffic in the airport’s 63-year history in fact.

This year, Cork Airport will welcome nearly 3.1 million international passengers, a significant milestone and almost 10% growth on 2023. It is currently the fastest growing airport in Ireland, testament to its ever-growing popularity with consumers across the South of Ireland. In fact, our traditional catchment area of Munster has grown to include counties in south Leinster, and it is not unusual now to see passengers travelling all the way from Laois, Offaly, Wexford, and even as far away as Kildare - all to fly out of Cork Airport.

We pride ourselves on providing a friendly, easy, convenient and safe airport experience for all our passengers and take that commitment very seriously. As we like to say, your holiday starts once you lift the handbrake in one of our three conveniently located car parks, all within a few minutes’ walk of the terminal building.

Our passengers love our swift security screening, being greeted by the friendly airline or airport staff, an extensive duty-free shopping experience with world-renowned brands and locally produced artisan products, and a relaxed and easy ambience while they await their flight.

We all know how much people love to see new routes being added, and it is fair to say that they will be pleased with some of the great announcements we have made with our airline partners recently.

Next summer, SunExpress will operate a new service to Izmir in Türkiye. It’s our first scheduled service to Türkiye and our first connection with the continent of Asia. SunExpress is a new airline to operate at Cork Airport and it will bring to nine, the number of scheduled carriers that now operate here.

Other new routes include TUI services to Corfu (Greece) and Dalaman (Türkiye), which will operate next summer, and Aer Lingus will offer two new services next summer - to Bilbao and Bordeaux.

Our business development team are listening to the demands of our catchment area for more direct routes and more connectivity out of Cork. We are confident that 2026 will bring even more new airlines and routes to Cork.

As we grow our direct, point-to-point route network, we are also incredibly proud of the extensive hub connectivity that is available from Cork Airport. With airlines like Aer Lingus, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa and SWISS, you can travel to the four corners of the world with a convenient connection en route in one of the major European hub airports.

That is something we don’t take for granted and Cork Airport offers that seamless connectivity through the likes of London Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, and Zurich.

The beauty of it all of course, is that you can check-in at Cork Airport, get all your boarding passes, check your luggage through to your destination - and of course, starting and ending your long-haul trip from the convenience and ease of Cork Airport.

While we make great strides in expanding our route network, sustainability always remains a key focus for us at Cork Airport.

We’re the Best Performing Commercial Semi-State Body for energy reduction for two years running, as assessed by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). We’ve made significant investments in the electrification of our vehicle fleet. We’ve installed new fast-charging public electric vehicle power points, doubling our capacity for charging in the process. Lighting on the airport campus has been replaced by energy efficient LED versions, we made our runway fully LED during the reconstruction and we invested in a new, state-of-the-art electrical substation for Cork Airport - all in the last four years.

We have exciting plans for a new solar farm which will generate up to 25% of the airport’s electricity needs into the future and is being submitted for planning approval. Separately, we continue to work closely with Bus Éireann, National Transport Authority and other bus operators to improve the bus connectivity with Cork Airport - for inbound visitors and outbound holidaymakers alike.

Public transport has improved in recent times, but there is scope for further improved coverage and connectivity in public bus services to the airport.

As we look to the future, Cork Airport will be preparing for continued growth in passenger numbers. The airport plays an integral part in supporting tourism and industry in the region, supporting over 12,000 jobs and contributing an estimated €1bn to the south of Ireland economy. As our route network grows, so too will our passenger numbers and we have to plan ahead for that growth.

Key items on the infrastructure agenda in near term will be the development of a new mezzanine floor for security, on which work will commence next year. Further down the line, we will be looking towards the requirement for more parking stands for aircraft, more boarding gates, more seating and improved facilities for our passengers and bringing more international visitors directly into the south of Ireland through Cork.

This is an incredibly exciting time for our local airport. Cork Airport is here to serve the needs of the region, whether that be for leisure, business or otherwise.

The future looks very bright indeed and, throughout it all, we will continue to provide the fast, friendly and enjoyable airport experience that Corkonians have grown to love.