CORK AIRPORT - 2007 ANNUAL REPORT
2007 witnessed the first full year of operations at the new Cork Airport terminal with a record 3.2 million passengers availing of an increased number of flight options from the southern gateway. Eleven airlines accommodated 2.8 million passengers on 42 scheduled routes over the course of the year with a further 0.4 million passengers travelling on charter flights.
Cork Airport surpassed the record of three million passengers previously set on New Year’s Eve 2006 in November 2007. During what proved to be a solidly performing year, both airline and travelling customers alike signalled their strong approval for the new facilities and services at Cork Airport.
Overall passenger numbers continue to rise by 6% and new two airlines – Air Southwest and SkyEurope were secured to operate additional flights to Newquay and Bratislava (Vienna) respectively. Significantly, Ryanair also launched new services to Glasgow Prestwick and Nottingham’s East Midlands Airports towards the end of the year.
2007 proved to be the 15th consecutive year for passenger growth to and from Cork Airport.
3.2 million passengers flew into and out of Cork Airport in 2007. This
is the second consecutive year that the three million barrier was broken in the
46 year history of Cork Airport. The figure represents a 6% increase on
the previous record of 3 million passengers who used Cork Airport in 2006.
European scheduled routes, principally those operated by Aer Lingus were the
strongest performers in terms of growth in 2007 at +30%
Intense competition
between Ryanair and Aer Arann on flights to and from the capital witnessed an
increase in passengers using the Cork-Dublin services of +20%.
The 3.2
million passengers who travelled through Cork Airport in 2007 can be further
broken down as follows:
2.8 million passengers flew with the 11 Airlines
that operated scheduled services from Cork Airport during 2007.
Over 1.4
million passengers availed of flights to and from the United Kingdom in 2007,
with connectivity to the three London Airports – Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted
– emphasised by the 892,000 pasengers who flew to and from Cork
Airport.
Half a million (500,000) passengers availed of internal
flights within the Republic of Ireland primarily on the Cork-Dublin and
Cork-Galway routes.
390,000 passengers flew on chartered flights to an increasing range of
winter sun, winter ski, summer sun and pilgrimage destinations.
205,000
passengers flew direct to and from the five Polish cities now served directly
from Cork Airport, an increase of 173% or two and half times (2.5) that achieved
in 2006.
Two new airlines, Air Southwest and SkyEurope began operations from Cork
Airport in 2007 with additional capacity added on many routes into Europe and
six new routes launched in total.
1.2 million passengers
flew with Aer Lingus – Cork Airport’s biggest customer in 2007, an increase of
almost 20%.
Ryanair, with the addition of Glasgow and East Midlands, flew
863,000 passengers to six Irish and UK destinations during the year – an
increase of 5%.
Aer Arann flew 332,000 passengers on 11 Irish, UK and French
routes during the year, an increase of 8%.
Bmibaby carried 147,000
passengers in 2007, while Wizz Air grew four-fold to 83,000 passengers and
Centralwings eleven-fold to 79,000 passengers after a full year of operations at
Cork Airport.
Roy Keane’s move to Sunderland boosted Jet2.com’s service to
Newcastle by 22% in 2007 to a new high of 39,000 passengers.
Budapest
continued to prove to be a very popular destination in 2007 with 28,000 people
flying with Malev Hungarian Airlines an increase of 6% on those flying in 2006.
7,000 passengers flew with Air Southwest to Newquay during their first year
of operations from Cork Airport while a further 5,000 travelled with SkyEurope
to Bratislava (Vienna).
Cork Airport currently offers passengers a choice of
42 destinations with ten airlines operating scheduled flights to these
destinatons.
Aer Arann
Aer Lingus
Air Southwest
BMI Baby
Centralwings
Jet2.com
Malev Hungarian Airlines
Ryanair
SkyEurope
Wizz Air
