RYANAIR HAS announced that it will add seven new routes abroad from Cork, in what will be a major investment in the region.
It also announced that a third aircraft will be based at Cork Airport this summer, representing a $100m investment and bringing the total investment by the airline at the airport to $300m.
Thirty jobs will also be created in the process.
The new routes will operate to Alghero (Sardinia), Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester, Pisa, Valencia and Venice.
From Cork Airport, Ryanair DAC’s CEO, Eddie Wilson, said:
"This is fantastic news for Cork Airport and the wider Southwest region, with Ryanair now operating over 120 weekly flights to 25 destinations this Summer, with great outbound sun destinations to Spain, Portugal, and Italy, but also giving inbound tourism a much-needed boost, restoring vital connectivity and securing jobs in the wider tourism industry.
"With support from the Irish Govt., daa have been able to implement innovative incentive schemes which are available to all airlines to rebuild and incentivise traffic recovery this Summer. Ryanair’s latest investment at Cork Airport, which will deliver our largest ever Summer schedule, has only been possible following the implementation of Cork Airport’s traffic recovery incentive scheme for Summer 22."
He also said that if Ryanair is to remain competitive against other EU countries and airports in the likes of Italy and Portugal, the Irish government must extend support to extend the scheme at all Dublin and Cork Airports until the end of winter 2022.
"This will ameliorate the damage caused by the pandemic and the Govt. needs to urgently support this vital investment in infrastructure at Irish Airports, particularly this winter, to ensure the continuity of airline seat capacity at all Irish airports."
Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director at Cork Airport, said he was delighted that a third aircraft will be based at the airport for the summer season.
"With the addition of seven new and exciting summer routes including Pisa, Alghero (Sardinia) and Valencia, this will bring the total number of Ryanair routes available from Cork Airport to 25, giving lots of travel options for our passengers and the largest choice of routes to date.
"In addition, the frequency on London Stansted is being increased to three times per day, seven days per week and Manchester will also operate twice daily."
He said he believes the travelling public across the South of Ireland will support these routes strongly.
"In that regard, we expect a 750% increase in passenger traffic in 2022 v 2021 and to welcome over 2 million passengers once again to our terminal in 2022. We thank Ryanair for this vote of confidence in Cork Airport."
