Ryanair to reopen Cork base
Ryanair has this morning announced that it will reopen its two-aircraft base at Cork Airport.
The announcement was made during a press conference at the airport as Ryanair announced a $200m investment which will bring 20 routes to Cork, including the introduction of new services to Birmingham and Edinburgh which are unserved following the collapse of Stobart Air.
Cork Airport and the DAA have worked closely with Ryanair over the past number of months, to extend the traffic recovery scheme to the end of October 2022 to incentivise Ryanair traffic to return to pre-pandemic levels. Ryanair has responded by reopening it’s base and restoring its traffic at Cork in full for summer 2022.
The restoration of the two-aircraft base will secure 60 Ryanair jobs.
Niall McCarthy, Managing Director, Cork Airport said: “I am delighted with today’s announcement by Ryanair reopening their base at Cork Airport in December. Twenty routes on sale from Cork Airport on the Ryanair website will ensure that Christmas 2021, spring and summer 2022 contains lots of travel options for our passengers. Outbound sun and city breaks and inbound visitors from the UK and Continental Europe is good news for jobs in aviation, tourism and hospitality and the rebound of our economy in 2022.”
Ryanair said it has now restored traffic to pre-pandemic levels for summer 2022 in Cork, Shannon, Knock, and Kerry airports.
Ryanair DAC CEO Eddie Wilson said: “Ryanair is delighted to confirm the reopening of its two aircraft base at Cork Airport. This $200m investment secures 60 Ryanair jobs at Cork, but more importantly restores passenger traffic at Cork to pre-pandemic levels for summer 2022. Cork along with Shannon, Kerry, and Knock have had their Ryanair traffic fully restored to pre-pandemic levels of capacity ensuring the recovery of tourism, jobs, and connectivity.”
He added: “Unfortunately, traffic at Dublin is set to fall by up to 35 per cent next summer as the DAA traffic recovery scheme does not have the required funding from Government to incentivise traffic recovery for the entire summer season ending in June instead of October. We call on Eamonn Ryan the Minister for Transport to urgently confirm the extension to the current DAA scheme until October 2022, similar to the scheme at Cork Airport. This extension of the traffic recovery scheme will ensure that Ryanair will fully restore all of its pre-pandemic capacity at Irish airports in preparation for summer 2022, securing Ireland’s tourism industry, and the thousands of jobs that depend on air connectivity.”
Conor Healy, CEO of Cork Chamber said: “Today’s announcement by Ryanair that it is to reopen its base at Cork Airport is a huge vote of confidence in the region. It will help to position Cork on the road to economic recovery as the airline facilitates a great deal of business and tourism not only in Cork but throughout the entire southern region.”
Ryanair’s Cork winter 2021 schedule includes:
•Alicante
•Birmingham
•Edinburgh
•Gdańsk
•Lanzarote
•Liverpool
•London Gatwick
•London Luton
•London Stansted
•Malaga
•Poznan
•Tenerife
Ryanair’s Cork summer 2022 schedule includes:
•Alicante
•Birmingham
•Bordeaux
•Carcassonne
•Edinburgh
•Faro
•Gdańsk
•Girona
•Gran Canaria
•Lanzarote
•Liverpool
•London Gatwick
•London Luton
•London Stansted
•Malaga
•Mallorca
•Milan Bergamo
•Poznan
•Reus
•Tenerife