- 132,000 passengers through Cork Airport in January 2017
- Up 6pc on 125,000in 2016
- Winter sun breaks particularly strong along with English market
- Waiting on confirmation of Norwegian Trans-Atlantic services
Cork Airport saw passenger numbers rise 6pc in January 2017, up by 7,000 from 125,000 in January 2016 to 132,000 in January 2017. The increase comes on the back of a really strong performance in 2016 and positive to see that growth continuing into the new year.
While this growth was experienced across all markets, the biggest increase in passenger growth was on routes to and from the UK, despite the challenges posed by Brexit. Traffic to and from multiple UK destinations including three London Airports and multiple Provincial cities in England, Scotland and Wales was up 7% to 91,000 passengers from 85,000 the previous January. Winter sun destinations also grew strongly compared to 2016 with more choice and frequency now available from Cork
New routes already on sale for 2017 as follows:
- Newquay, Cornwall with Aer Lingus Regional 2 x per week Summer service
- Reykjavik to North America with WOW Air year-round 3-4 per week
- Zurich with Swiss 1–2 per week Summer service
- Verona with Volotea 1 per week Summer service
Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director at Cork Airport said “2017 will see nine scheduled airlines operating from Cork with existing airlines Aer Lingus, Flybe, Iberia Express, Ryanair, Stobart Air to be joined by four new airlines, WOW air, Swiss, Volotea and Norwegian. Our charter operators Topflight, Falcon, Sunway and Joe Walsh Tours will also operate in 2017. In total, 50 routes will be offered to 13 countries including four new routes already on sale. We are delighted also to confirm increased capacity on old favourites – Heathrow, Edinburgh, Malaga, Barcelona, Alicante, Gran Canaria,” he said. We expect Norwegian Air to confirm the details of its year-round transatlantic service from Cork Airport shortly, which is due to commence in July 2017. This will bring to five the number of new routes from Cork for 2017 on top of the growth already delivered in 2016”.
