Flying high once more

CORK Airport held a ceremony at the weekend to mark the opening of its newly reconstructed main runway. It was the fastest large-scale construction project undertaken in the State in recent years.

It took just 12 months from funding approval to the completion of the works. It was also the single biggest investment by any government at Cork Airport in what was described as the reconstruction of ‘a key strategic asset’ for Cork and the south of Ireland, for the next 20 years.

It was a good employer, too – with over 430 people working to complete the ambitious project.

The airport was back in business by Tuesday morning, with eight airline partners on its books – Ryanair, Aer Lingus, KLM, Air France, SWISS, Lufthansa, TUI and new airline Vueling – flying to 34 destinations across Europe and the UK this winter and into summer of next year. 

Now the hard work is done.

Let’s hope the optimism shown by the completion of this project can be borne out in the return of passengers to international air travel over the next few months.