Cork Airport is ‘disappointed' at suspension of flights to Iceland

CORK Airport has said it is ‘disappointed' with the news that Icelandic carrier Wow Air will be suspending its services to Cork this winter.

The airline said the service was ending because there had not been enough of a demand for the routes. The service had allowed passengers to connect in Reykjavik with its services onward to the US.

‘We are obviously disappointed at Wow Air's decision to suspend services on their Reykjavik service after October 27th due to lower than expected demands, despite extensive marketing in Ireland, Iceland and the US,' said Niall MacCarthy, managing director at Cork Airport.

The airline admitted that some current flights have also been cancelled. ‘We can confirm that a small number of our Cork flights have been cancelled,' it said this week. ‘Affected customers have been informed and offered to rebook on another flight from Cork, to rebook on our Dublin services or a full refund. Most passengers have rescheduled for another day.'

 Wow Air said it would continue to operate its Cork to Reykjavik summer season service until October 27th, at which point the route would be suspended for the winter season ahead. However, the Dublin routes appear to be unaffected.

‘The airline will continue to operate its Dublin to Reykjavik route up to nine times per week, offering onward connections to nine US destinations for Irish passengers,' a spokesperson said, adding: ‘A decision on Wow Air's plans for summer 2018 from Cork will be made later in the autumn.'

Deflecting from the bad news about the Icelandic carrier, Cork Airport also said this week: ‘We are really pleased with the performance of our other new routes this year, including Zurich with Swiss, Verona with Volotea, Madrid with Iberia Express, Newquay with Aer Lingus Regional and of course year-round direct transatlantic services to Boston Providence with Norwegian,' he added. 

Cork Airport also welcomed an increase in passenger numbers, compared to the same month last year, with July passenger numbers up 6%.

Meanwhile, Norwegian Air has confirmed that flights from Cork to the US for the first three weeks of August are all sold out. There is also good demand in September and October but there are still some fares available from €129 one way and €220 return.

 ‘We've seen a great start to the new Cork transatlantic routes with thousands of tickets sold and many flights completely sold out over the summer,' said a spokesperson. ‘This is great news, not just for Irish passengers heading off on holiday, but also the thousands of US tourists flying in, offering a summer boost for local businesses,' he said.

‘We're grateful to local passengers, businesses and Cork Airport for the huge support they've shown the new route so far.'