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CORK AIRPORT’S PASSENGER numbers continue to drop because of the perks handed to other Irish hubs, its management says.
The head of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), which runs both Dublin and Cork airports, today told an Oireachtas Transport Committee that the southern hub was now in danger of being overtaken as Ireland’s second-busiest airport.
DAA chairman designate Pádraig Ó Ríordáin said Cork Airport was a ”world-class product” that was faced with the “challenging situation” of terminally-declining traffic figures.
Ó Ríordáin revealed passenger numbers last year fell nearly 5% to 2.1 million. That figure is about 15% down on the 2.43 million passengers who used the airport in 2010.
In contrast, Shannon Airport’s total passenger numbers last year grew 17% to 1.64 million.
Ó Ríordáin said much of the drop had come because Ryanair had re-routed many of its eastern European flights to Shannon, which was made independent of the DAA in 2013.
Traffic at Cork has continued to decline despite the fact that airport charges at Cork have not increased in more than 10 years and are highly competitive when compared to Cork’s peers in Britain and central Europe,” he said.
Ó Ríordáin said when Shannon Airport was split from the DAA it was given debt and asset write-downs which handed it a major cost advantage.
That meant the airport could offer more-competitive deals to airlines and poach business from Cork Airport, he said.
There is quite a bit of an advantage that is given to various airports. (Cork) is a sparkling airport, it has got fantastic connectivity, it has got a very good hinterland, but it has got decreasing numbers.”
Ó Ríordáin said there needed to be better, “cohesive” planning with tourism bodies and the government to attract inbound passengers to the Cork region.
At least they still have Dublin
But the airport chief was bullish about the performance of Dublin Airport, which last year added 8% to its traffic to end the period with 21.7 million passengers.
The country’s biggest airport was now Europe’s sixth-busiest route for transatlantic traffic behind only major international hubs like Heathrow.
Ó Ríordáin said Dublin would feature an extra 15 services this year and continue to see “strong growth”.
He added that the proposed IAG buyout of Aer Lingus has “potential positives” for Dublin Airport as a regional hub.
Cork Airport management would work hard to keep existing routes and add more services if the takeover happened, he said.
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Cork Airport needs to be freed from the DAA, the DAA have an extra terminal in Dublin that they want to fill before Cork gets any new flights. Just look at how Shannon has flourished since it was given independence from the DAA.
Dublin traffic would have zero impact on Cork. If Cork gets more routes it will not affect Dublin.
Ronan approx 30% of the traffic to Dublin Airport comes from the Cork airport catchment area I will leave you work out for yourself the implications
Just because its in the catchment area doesn’t mean i s Cork traffic. Cork will never cater for its full catchment as they will never have 150 routes which Dublin has and recent stats show 60% who the Cork area fly from Dublin even thought they have the direct route from Cork.
I like flying from Dublin and would pick it over my local catchment area
Ronan, I simply don’t believe you’d rather fly from Dublin airport than Cork. Generally from arrival to gate in Cork is about 5-10 minutes. Often less.
Last time i used Cork was 2006, not i couldn’t get to where i want from Cork
But at times I could. Dublin is a great airport and its only around 20 mins longer to there than Cork from my family home.
Cork people don’t want any airport, they need big buses to bring them to Dublin. The Capital. Ron
Take Waterford 90 minutes to Cork but since the M9 Dublin is 105-110 minutes.
The motorway network has crippled regional airports.
Ah well, of course you’d go the extra 20 mins to Dublin then, Ronan. It sounds like you don’t actually have a local airport.
I’ve recently moved back to Cork from Dublin and I like Dublin airport too. I just don’t fancy driving or bussing up at 4am in a suit when I have to make a presentation in the late morning or afternoon.
The bus is excellent for making a personal trip, but it’s not such a great option for people visiting one of the many Pharma and IT companies in Cork. The main thing needed to protect business travel is the Heathrow link.
I don’t actually think we should have vanity flights all over Europe, but I would like to connect to the many business flights from Dublin via a Cork-Dublin link. It doesn’t even make sense from an Aer Lingus perspective. I do 2-3 transatlantics a year, and it’s almost never with Aer Lingus, other than a connecting flight to the UK. I fly BA or KLM via LHR/AMS respectively to European cities that are served directly via Dublin.
I would LOVE to take a 6am flight to Dublin T2, have a leisurely breakfast in the terminal and get an onward connection to Europe.
Waterford is my local but cant yet anywhere!!
Ronan I live in Dublin, convenient to the airport and have flown in and out of Cork once. It was the most pleasant flying experience I’ve had. Even long term parking costs at the time were very good. If I lived in Portlaoise I’d still opt for Cork. Over all it would probably work out quicker from door to door when you allow for traffic, parking and getting to your flight gate. And a lot less stress.
I live in Limerick & I always choose Dublin over Cork. The m7 has me in D airport within 2 hrs, whereas the Lim – Cork n20 is a nightmare route. Throw in Buttevant horse fair & you could spend half the day getting to Cork airport!
How often is the Buttervant horse fare?
Re name it Michael Collins airport
Buttevant horse fair is once a year.
Did somebody in this thread just try to bemoan the arrival of our motorway network because it slows the planes down?
There’s always some Luddite!
Terminal 2 is almost at capacity.. Aerlingus are based at that terminal .
T2 capacity is 15 million
AL had 11 million passengers last year .
US Airways , American , Delta ,United all add another million passengers between them.
Emirates and Etihad had approx 160 K between them.
Basic maths means T2 alone covered 12.16 million passengers last.
Total capacity as I said is 15 million .
This year Ethiopian Airlines and AL are both adding more long haul flights from T2.
I don’t think Cork Airport will be affected either way by growth at Dublin. Corks problem is Shannon.
The parochial western based FG’ers in Govt are favouring Shannon . Even though its not even state run .
Cork still has 2.1 million passengers in 2014 . Shannon still had 1.66 million in 2014 despite biased Govt support.
Eoin….Cork Airport’s problem is Parochialism. This Western Based govt are actively supporting Shannon against either Dub or Cork. Please read my comment further down the page… Its not Dublin’s fault…
Go through Caherconlish and you’re on the m8 in 35mins
So Jerry with that theory around 6.3 million dublin pax come from cork catchement area? Wow if cork got those numbers back it would a real boost for the airport
Buttevant Horse Fair is held ONE day per year. Really not an issue when discussing using Cork Airport!
Fon, the Cork to Shannon road is shite, Horse Fair or not. While the bypass helps it’s a worse journey now than Cork-Dublin. If you get a bus you must change in Limerick. Ditto the train, twice.
Thanks Fon. I thought as much.
bull shit mate… cork people are being funnelled into dublin airport for selfish reasons and thats a fact.
Probably didn’t help when they refused the sale of the old terminal to Ryanair.
The DAA was afraid that doing this would take ryanair traffic from Dublin ive heard. The biggest problem was building the new terminal and hanging a massive debt to the airport.
Id rather the old terminal than the new one with limited flights!
Ryanair are all talk, they are on record for saying there is not enough passenger for both SNN and ORK to grow previously
If you sell to Ryanair as seen in Shannon they will target and bully every other operation at your airport until they are the only players there. Then they will threaten to up sticks if you don’t drop your airport costs. They would effectively own your airport
They also embarrassed the whole country when Britain’s queen was over. Who’d want to that kip anyway?
Sure who’d want to go to cork?
Paul , that was a DAA decision !!!
Sell Cork Airport and combine that revenue with PPP money to complete Motorway to Limerick. Shannon is plenty capable of serving Cork, Limerick, Galway and everything in between provided the road network is up to scratch
Cork simply needs more direct routes otherwise the decline will continue.
Cork airport is the one of the most user friendly airports there is and should get all the support it deserves.
This will be one of the top issues for the next election. Local management in Cork airport cannot go for a pis s without getting approval from Dublin. Cork has a huge number of multinational firm, Apple, Pfizer, J & J to mention a few. These firms are constantly bemoaning the demise of cork airport. Not one of the current members of government has spoken out on this. Coveney, that clown Kathleen Lynch and her brother in law Ciaran Lynch, I love the PAC Buttimer, Michael Creed, Jim Daly, Noel Harrington etc etc. They just care about their fat salaries and pensions. But believe you me the peoples republic of cork will not suffer these fools for long. Great to see Dublin airport doing well and fair play to Shannon all be it on a not so level playing field.
…not one of those Barrys, huh?
A quite embarrassing flier came in the door from Micheál Martin the other week (I live in his constituency) highlighting his push on the government for action on Cork Airport.
Embarrassing because he was in government when the decisions that got us here were taken.
A brief look at Michael McGrath’s literature from 2007…
https://irishelectionliterature.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/michael-mcgrath-fianna-fail-cork-south-central-2007-general-election/#more-6822
…reminds us that Seamus Brennan promised an independent debt free Cork airport as far back as 2003.
And now FF tout it as policy. Hmmm.
Make me a promise of a competitive Cork Airport, Micheál, you never know I might believe it.
Michael McG is everything that is wrong with FF. A worm that got in via corruption.
If that party wants my votes they can kick the likes of him and the old gang out.
As for Cork airport, the new terminal was a disaster move for the place. Ryanair will move back from Shannon for better rates as usual in 3 years and it will be shannon suffering and so on as usual.
Shannon has been around since long before Cork and the only reason it was overtaken by Cork is that the latter was previously given unfair advantages. I guess payback’s a b*tch.
You’re right there Telbar. I remember when all planes from and to the USA had to land in Cork.
I guess you didn’t notice the 120 million euros spent on a now half-empty Cork Airport instead of the historically far more viable Shannon. An idiot could have told them that people would prefer to fly to Shannon, but they did everything they could to destroy Shannon and transfer its business to Cork. Well the free market doesn’t lie and Shannon is getting its old business back.
Cork airport would likely have taken over from Shannon completely if it had the runway for transatlantic operations. It has a bigger catchment area, is in the states second largest city and remember it’s further from Dublin airport than Shannons main catchment areas, Limerick and Galway cities!
Shannon airport’s catchment area contains 4 of the 5 biggest cities in the republic, so I’m not sure where you’re getting that from.
The metro population of the two western cities (Limerick and Galway) is 175,000. Thats less than half the metro population of Cork. Dublin, Cork and Kildare are the net contributors to the economy and NEED airports to support existing enterprise and trade. Who built what first is inconsequential. Needs must is what matters. I would be embarrassed to tell a client that they have to fly to an airport 150KM away and then drive to my office in Cork for a meeting. They just wouldn’t do it (and I wouldn’t ask them to). Considering the Dublin catchment area swallows up a lot more of the Shannon catchment area than it does the Cork one, your maths just don’t add up.
Love travelling from Cork airport. It’d be my 1st choice everytime if the destination options were there.
The drop in numbers in Cork airport are staggering and are certainly no reflection on the numbers flying from and even to Cork. But the loss of routes is a major weakness in attracting new investment to the second most important economic hub in the country.
It’s critical for the economic development of entire southern region that Cork airport is run properly and a comprehensive service of flights is provided. Action needs to be taken (mainly independence from DAA and debt relief) and immediately.
Cork Airport should be made an independent airport and should not be managed by DAA !
Time for Cork people to stand up and fight for Cork!
Emirates fleet has 50 x A380′s.
Time for Shannon to promote the longer runway.
Time for them to look for the high yielding passengers first!!
Old Terminal was perfectly adequate for at most a 1 hr stay before your flight and less on arrival. 200 million euro for what? 18 Euro bus to Dublin Airport gets you far better connectivity …. inflated Egos are no substitute for Brains!
As a frequent business traveller, I’d be happy with a Motorway to Limerick and a 6am Aer Lingus flight (with through ticketing) to Dublin to be honest, but the M20 isn’t happening any time soon, and there’s no flights to Dublin, so I need the Heathrow connection for transatlantic flights and Amsterdam for European cities.
Back in the day there was a Cork -> Dublin -> Paris flight. It was fairly full to Dublin, some people got off, and some people got back on. Some more of these types of flights would be very useful. Unfortunately it’s Aer Lingus practice to just get Cork passengers to London and let BA fleece us from there.
KLM look after us with connections generally, but they ignore the fact that Ireland isn’t in the Schengen zone and give you an impractical 40 minute layover that involves (1) run to security (2) run to passport control (3) run to gate (4) be last on the plane.
The blame lies squarely with the past and present Government Ministers that are supposed to be representing Cork……
And it used to be a huge election Mantra of Mr Martin…
The DAA have only one brief that is Dublin hence they have have hugely promoted it and ignored Cork
. In fairness Jerry Buttimore TD has constantly pushed its cause however we have one Senior Cabinet member in Cork being Simon Coveney who should really remember that all politics is local at the end of the day.
unless he starts make serious waves/ noises .He will get punished next time out.
Jerry….I’ve said it many times …Cork’s problem is Shannon…its not even State run yet this western based parochial govt are giving Shannon full support. Dublin has not been offered funding for a badly needed new runway. Cork cannot get funding to extend its runway because the Shannon “Lobby” are even more powerful than ever with Kenny in the oval office…
A Cork to Dublin 6am flight would make sense, that would allow you to catch transatlantic flights from 9am. Right now it’s the 8:20pm train the night before , the busy at 3am or leave cork in the car at 4:30am.
You should use Shannon for your transatlantic. Pre clearance there saves hours.
You can pre-clear from Dublin too on all direct flights.
10 mins to Cork airport, 1 hour 45 mins to Shannon (not on a motorway) – less stress in Dublin drive- nothing wrong with transatlantic out of Shannon but also flights to Newark & Philadelphia from Dublin never mind other destinations in Europe. Right now a lot of transfer business out of cork goes to Heathrow or Amsterdam rather than Dublin (I’m waiting for the 10pm Heathrow return to cork at the moment having transferred)
Flights to Luton and London City would surely work. Bring in Easyjet.
I doubt easyjet would come back. The last time ryanair increased capacity and floored prices on competing routes. Easyjet were bullied out. When they left ryanair reduced capacity and raised prices. Good while it lasted, I was going to London regularly for €1
The management of DAA are a disaster.
Since Shannon got out of their group it has boomed under new management who are keen to grow the airport.
The Directors of DAA are relying on their big salaries and big pensions and show no interest in promoting either Dublin or Cork
Why are they now spending more millions on Dublin Airport when a fortune was spent on it a few years ago?
Answers please?
Because Dermot, real international airports with large scale throughout require constant investment. Dublin airport makes money and to make more money they need to invest. Sorry for Cork though. Maybe they could levy a special tax on Munster to pay off or reduce the Cork airport debt? So many Cork people want the €100 million plus debt forgiven but nobody is suggesting how exactly this might happen. Are they suggesting the rest of us should stump up for the debt write off?
Sorry to say as a Cork man but this airport is fuucked and it is fuucked by this government and previous governments.
The problem in Cork was they were persuaded by the DAA to borrow a load of money to build a big fancy terminal that wasn’t necessary on the proviso that the DAA would make the repayments, only for the DAA to cut cork loose and tell them it was up to them to make repayments causing the airport to have elevated landing charges. Ireland has too many airports anyway.
Kind of was needed. The last terminal had long since reached its capacity and simply couldn’t handle the traffic any longer. With the population and enterprise growth in the city and it’s catchment area, there was a desperate need for new infrastructure. The problem is that it’s being managed by the DAA and, as such, the strategic decisions that need to be made in order to thrive are being taken out of Cork Airports hands.
The population of Cork city is 120k.
The population of Birmingham is 2.5 million. Birmingham airport is not that big. What we need is Cork people to drive to Dublin or Shannon.
We don’t need a Cork airport.
Tom…the Population of Birmingham is approx 1.5 million….same as Dublin…
Also the population of cork city is around 250k, with 500k in the county overall. Because of political fighting between the city and county councils for rates, the city boundary excludes most of the heavily populated areas.
Plus Cork’s encatchment area realistically includes Kerry , Waterford and Tipp. Well over 700k within an hour and a half of Cork airport. However as I keep saying..We have a parochial govt who will do anything to put west first and screw the rest of the country.
Actually the metro Cork area (city centre and suburban areas) is 399,000. More than double Limerick and Galway combined. Dublin, Cork and Kildare are the net contributors to the economy. When it comes to trade, a business day trip from London to Cork is not feasible when routed through an Airport 150Km away from the City.
A bit of creative marketing would help ! Something like ” There’s no langers in our Hangers ” ! Im available for consultation
Cork airport management have been sitting doing nothing for years.They build a second terminal for what…….. They believe that as long as the heathrow slots are safe then everything is grand.Then along comes AIG shit hits the fan and We get the usual media spin from Cork that they are looking at new business opportunities with whom? .The only airline operning new routes or moving its fleet around is Ryanair and typical country town mentality they turned down ryanairs bid for the old terminal which o leary was going to use as a hub…….And Ryanair and Aer Lingus have reduced or ceased offering new destinations or increased flights from this white elephant.Time that the banks called in the loans on Cork Airport or govt put the airport up for sale and let O leary have it.Debt wiped out and guaranteed growth and first decision from o leary is replace the airport management…….
I lost interest in Cork airport when aerlingus stopped the direct flights to Berlin a few years back. Dublin is a 2.5 hour spin compared to 40 mins to Cork. Pity.
“World class”???????
Cork just needs more langers 2 use it
When you go through security at Cork Airport you are forced to turn around and put 2 Euro in a machine for a tiny plastic bag, to put your make up in. Add to that the inconvenience of having your luggage go missing, and 6 months later it turns up without any explanation of where it has been, and you begin to think it might be a better idea to use another airport if it is at all possible.
Reading through the comments and its obvious that most people commenting aren’t cork people who have to travel four hours on a bus to use dublin airport. Its the usual dublin cork blah blah blah. I make this journey regularly because cork to Edinburgh return is about 220 euro the same flight out of dublin is about 50 euro l.i dont think its a convenience thing more a money thing
@Michael Fehily
The population of Birmingham and it’s urban area is far more than Dublin you gombeen. Also It’s easier to get to Shannon from North Cork, North Kerry and most of Tipp!
To be fair, Cork airport is in Cork. There’s your answer.
And I want one in my drive.
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