Cork Airport is expecting 164,000 passengers over the festive period, with 58,000 passengers between today and Christmas Eve alone.

Passenger numbers this Christmas are up 7% compared to the same period last year with Sunday, December 21st being the busiest day for arrivals and Sunday, December 28th the busiest for departures.

Passengers arriving over the coming days can look forward to the warm, festive Cork Airport céad míle fáilte as the ever-popular Christmas choirs and musicians will continue to perform on the Arrivals stage until December 23rd.

Cork City Council, as part of its “Corkmas” campaign will be giving away some great prizes and gift cards to some arriving passengers, which they can spend in the city and suburbs over the Christmas period and beyond.

Niall MacCarthy, managing director at Cork Airport,said: 'There is nothing like an airport at Christmas and as airport welcomes go, nothing like a Cork Airport welcome.'

'We’ve seen them home and will see more home over the next week. Then we’ll see the waves and farewells from Saint Stephen’s Day through New Year’s Day. That’s the tide of an airport and we take great pride in the friendly service we deliver at Cork Airport every season, but particularly at Christmas.'

Cork Airport has also received notification that Santa Claus’ flight plan has been filed and he is expected to arrive on schedule on Christmas Eve, potentially even earlier with favourable winds and weather conditions.

With no flights operating during the times indicated on Santa's flight plan, the airspace in the Cork and wider Munster region will be fully cleared at that point and shall enable him to travel without hinderance as he delivers presents to girls and boys throughout the region.