The global recession hit aviation hard in 2009 and while 2.77 million passengers travelled through Cork Airport, traffic was down 15% on the historic record high of 3.25 million in 2008.
London traffic receded by 5% to 879,000 passengers, while UK Provincial traffic was hit hardest due to the loss of connectivity to and from Glasgow and East Midlands and declined by a third to 438,000 passengers by year end.
Traffic to and from continental European destinations was more resilient and grew marginally by 1%, edging up to 875,000 passengers. A further 235,000 passengers flew to and from various sun, ski and pilgrimage destinations on charter flights during 2009 but this figure represents a decline of a third on 2008 as Tour Operators cut seat capacity as a result of declining consumer demand and shrinking consumer confidence as the recession hit home.
Domestic air traffic to and from Dublin fell by 24% to 336,000 passengers as a result of improvements in road and rail transport links between Ireland’s two largest city regions.
New routes introduced during the year included East Midlands (bmi baby), Lisbon (Aer Lingus) and Rennes (Aer Lingus).
