CORK Airport sprang into February with 34,000 passengers flying to and from the hub over the St Brigid’s bank holiday weekend.

Since its introduction in 2023, the bank holiday has proven to be a popular weekend for international travel with thousands of overseas visitors arriving to enjoy local festivals including the Kinsale Beatlemania weekend and the impressive line-up of arts events in Bandon.

Cork Airport has recorded a strong start to 2026, reporting that its ski services have been exceptionally busy with very strong load factors on services to Lyon, Munich, Salzburg and the newest addition, Geneva.

Over the past two weekends, Topflight for Schools has introduced its seasonal charter services to Verona, with students from schools across Munster and beyond flying to the slopes for ski holidays.

Throughout January, large numbers of passengers also took the opportunity to travel to sunnier climes, with flights to Malaga, Faro, Alicante, Lanzarote and Tenerife all experiencing considerable increases in load factors.

With the 2026 Summer Schedule starting in March, three new routes will be added this year – two new Aer Lingus routes to Nice, France and Santiago de Compostela, Spain along with a new SunExpress route to Antalya in Türkiye.

European hub connectivity is set for a major boost this year with 60% more seats to/from some of Europe’s busiest and best-connected airports – Amsterdam Schiphol, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt and Zurich.

Niall MacCarthy, managing director at Cork Airport said: ‘2026 is off to a fantastic start and we’re looking forward to another excellent year. As we invest in our facilities and make progress on some major capital investment projects, I’m very proud of our team who are delivering a safe and pleasant arriving passenger journey despite extensive construction within the terminal and on the campus.’