Airport welcomes ‘change in fortunes' at the end of 2015

CORK Airport says that 2015 marked a change in its fortunes, as it returned to growth in the second half of the year and celebrated 12 new route announcements during the year. 

As well as the new routes, Cork Airport also welcomed four new airlines as customers. 

New routes for 2016 will include Düsseldorf with Aer Lingus, London City, Nantes and La Rochelle with CityJet, Madrid with Iberia Express, Cardiff with Flybe, Southampton and Leeds Bradford with Aer Lingus Regional, as well as Menorca with Lee Travel and Stein Travel. 

 Norwegian Air announced its intent to commence a new Cork to Boston service in May 2016, subject to US approval. The airline also announced that it will be operating a Cork to Barcelona service and plans to launch its New York service soon after. 

As well as the fantastic choice of new routes, there will also be extra capacity across some of the most popular routes from the region. Aer Lingus announced additional capacity on its Paris, Faro, Barcelona, Palma and Tenerife services. 

Ryanair also announced increased capacity on its Faro, Reus and Bordeaux services, while Aer Lingus Regional, operated by Stobart Air, increased capacity on it Manchester, Glasgow and Newcastle services. 

‘The results of this year’s announcement are an even greater choice of destinations and an additional available 400,000 seats,’ airport management said.

Commenting on the past 12 months, managing director Niall MacCarthy said that 2015 had been a milestone year for all those connected with Cork Airport. ‘We are now firmly established as Ireland’s biggest airport, outside of Dublin. There is a greater number of destinations and more seats available from Cork Airport than any other airport in the region so we are unrivalled in terms of choice,’ he said.  

‘We are also delighted to welcome new airline partners, CityJet, Iberia Express and Flybe and look forward to working with them into the New Year to build on the new services launched this year.’