15 December 2016
By Bryan T. Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Cork Airport has welcomed today’s announcement by Aer Lingus that it is to increase its capacity across a number of its most popular routes for Summer 2017. The announcement by Cork Airport’s largest airline partner will see 1.1 million available seats for next summer to London and popular sun and European city destinations such as Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Faro, Palma and Paris.
The announcement, which was made at a media briefing at Cork Airport today by Mike Rutter, Aer Lingus Chief Operating Officer, will see the Cork – London Heathrow service continue to expand for the summer season with an additional daily flight from Monday to Saturday. This boosts available seats to London by an additional 26,000, representing an increase 22% growth in weekly frequency and a total of 319,000 seats during summer 2017.
Aer Lingus will also increase availability to key summer sun destinations from Cork Airport to a total of 319,000 seats to Alicante, Malaga, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Palma among others. Peak summer will see a growth of almost 50% on Alicante flights, 15% growth on its Barcelona route and increased flights (11%) to Faro. There will also be additional early season flights to Palma and Malaga and additional end of season flights to Las Palmas from Cork Airport.
Speaking at today’s media briefing, Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director at Cork Airport said: ““I am delighted that our oldest and largest airline partner, Aer Lingus, is here today in Cork to announce further capacity and passenger growth for next year. Heathrow, our largest route across all our airline partners, is a mainstay of our Cork operation for both direct London and long haul connectivity. Our business community particularly will welcome the extra capacity on that key hub. Our leisure customers will welcome the extra capacity on Summer sun favourites Alicante, Faro, Palma, Malaga and city break destination Barcelona. We look forward to building on that growth further with Aer Lingus in 2017”.
Mike Rutter, Aer Lingus Chief Operating Officer, said today: “Aer Lingus is delighted to announce 1.1 million seats in and out of Cork as part of our 2017 summer schedule and to retain our position as the leading carrier operating from Cork and serving the wider Munster region. The Cork Heathrow route will enjoy greater connectivity with an additional 26,000 seats and during peak summer will operate five daily services during Monday to Saturday. We are also pleased to offer an additional 21,000 seats to the sun and greater frequency on key sun routes such as Alicante and Faro. We look forward to welcoming our Munster guests on board in summer 2017.”
Today’s announcement is further good news for Cork Airport following recent new route announcements from WOW air, Swiss International Air, Norwegian Air and Volotea. According to MacCarthy: “We have had a tremendous twelve months and will finish the year in a very strong position with increased passenger numbers and choice of routes. 2017 is looking very bright indeed and we’re optimistic about what the future holds for Cork Airport”.
