Ryanair Fuert-ifies Cork route offerings
Ryanair has answered the pleas of Leeside sun lovers with the announcement of a new route to Fuerteventura this summer.
The announcement coincides with more good news from Cork Airport operator DAA who have confirmed that Cork remains the fastest growing airport in the country.
Speaking to the Cork Independent, Ryanair Chief Marketing Officer, Dara Brady, said the future is bright for the airport.
“We know that passengers who fly out of Cork and that are in the catchment of Munster are very fond of sun, so your Alicantes, your Malagas, your Grand Canarias go very well,” he said.
Ryanair believes its new route from Cork to Fuerteventura will be extremely popular considering the area’s close proximity to already popular spots like Lanzarote.
“You can see it right across from the tip of Lanzarote on a clear day – it's only a 15 minute ferry journey,” added Mr Brady.
This year will also see the airline increase frequencies on 14 other popular routes to and from Cork, including Alicante, Barcelona, Edinburgh, Gdansk, Girona, Liverpool, London, and Manchester. Ryanair has also added extra seats from Cork to Birmingham for the Cheltenham Festival (11-14 March) and to Rome for the highly anticipated Six Nations Rugby match between Ireland and Italy on 15 March.
Overall, Ryanair has enjoyed a 21% growth in traffic at Cork Airport in the past year.
“Ultimately, Cork has always been an airport of great potential,” said Mr Brady.
“We've grown from having two aircraft based in Cork to four aircraft over the last number of years,” he added.
Looking ahead, Mr Brady said he predicts Ryanair will be “adding and adding” to its schedule at Cork Airport.
However, while Ryanair continues to evolve, the company feels growth is being unfairly limited by the Government’s Regional Airports Programme (RAP), a national policy designed to optimise conditions for regional development and connectivity in line with Project Ireland 2040. The policy only supports airports with less 1 million annual passengers. Mr Brady said: “Having limitations on it, with Knock as an example - if they went over the current passenger threshold - I think they're at about 950k passengers - if they broke a million passengers, they would lose funding that supports infrastructure and then they would have to make it up elsewhere - that means they'd have to put up the cost - if they put up the costs, they'll lose flights.
“What's most important is that Cork retains its low cost access, and if it retains a low cost base, well then it means we can offer low fares, and low fares stimulate demand,” he added. Ryanair is now calling on the new Government to lift the RAP traffic cap on regional airports to 3m passengers p.a. in line with EU State Aid rules and allow Ireland’s regional airports to grow and flourish.
To celebrate the launch of Ryanair’s Summer 2025 schedule for Cork and new Fuerteventura route, the airline has launched a limited-time seat sale with fares available from €24.99 available only at ryanair.com.