26 October 2018
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Cork Airport, Ireland’s welcomes the addition of Nice and Dubrovnik to Aer Lingus’ summer 2019 schedule.
The two new routes out of Cork were announced today (26 October) by Aer Lingus, with flights to Nice, France commencing on May 1 on Wednesdays and Sundays while the new service to Dubrovnik, Croatia will take off from May 4 on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The announcement comes ahead of Aer Lingus’ inaugural flight from Cork Airport to Lisbon this evening, which will operate year-round on Mondays and Fridays.
In 2019, over 50 routes will now be on offer from Cork Airport across the UK, continental Europe and the USA. It’s forecasted that 2.6 million passengers will travel through Cork Airport next year, up 7% on 2018.
Cork Airport Managing Director Niall MacCarthy stated: “Aer Lingus is our longest serving and biggest airline partner. We are delighted to see the airline continuing to grow and invest in Cork with Nice and Dubrovnik flights now bookable for 2019, along with the commencement this week of a new year-round Lisbon route. This now brings to 23 the number of routes served by Aer Lingus from Cork Airport.
“Scheduled Nice and Dubrovnik connections from Cork have been among the top-requested from passengers across the south of Ireland. We are delighted that these routes are now available from Cork Airport, giving travellers greater choice, along with the award-winning customer service, convenience and low cost car parking that the airport offers.”
Mr MacCarthy added: “We are working extremely hard with our airline partners to further grow and expand choice from Cork Airport. This announcement brings to seven the number of new destinations announced in as many weeks for Cork Airport. We are forecasting overall passenger growth of 7% in 2019 which, despite Brexit, will demonstrate a strong performance once again next year.”
Speaking at today’s announcement, Greg Kaldahl, Chief Strategy and Planning Officer at Aer Lingus said: “Aer Lingus is excited to announce two brand new routes to Dubrovnik and Nice for Cork in 2019, as well as additional seat capacity and the extension of the recently added Cork Lisbon route to all year round. We have a proven track record of servicing a broad array of European destinations from Cork and we are delighted to announce our new Cork summer schedule today. Each new Aer Lingus route opens up new travel opportunities for the people of Cork for both leisure and business, and we remain committed to enhancing our offering from Cork Airport in the coming years.”