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| Courtesy: Sean Flynn |
Ryanair today celebrated carrying its 9.5 million passenger to/from Cork. In just 26 years Ryanair has grown from a one route operation at Cork to now offering passengers in the South West a choice of 24 top European destinations across 7 countries.
The airline set up Cork as it’s 14th European base on 24th November 2005 initially with a single Boeing 737-800 operating four routes to Dublin, London Gatwick, London Stansted and Liverpool. At the peak of the Celtic Tiger over 340,000 passengers used the Dublin-Cork route in 2009, which was in the top 10 ten routes with 5 daily flights (20-F SEC Annual Report 2008/9).
In June 2011 it added a second Boeing 737-800 to the base on a seasonal basis launching routes to Alicante,Bordeaux, Carcassonne, Las Palmas, Lanzarote, La Rochelle, Reus and Tenerife South.
The carrier progressively expanded it’s European network in 2012 with the launch of new routes to Gdansk, Krakow, Vilinus,Warsaw and Wroclaw, for the summer peak months an additional Boeing 737-800 is based in Cork.
Cork Airport Director Niall MacCarthy said “I am delighted to welcome Ryanair’s 9.5 millionth Passenger through Cork Airport and to be within reach of another significant milestone within the next 12 months. The growth in Ryanair’s passenger base at Cork Airport since 1987 has been impressive and we are delighted to see the airline serve 24 destinations from Cork this year. The announcement of the new East Midlands service for the forthcoming winter season will contribute a further 60,000 Passengers to the 9.5 million in the next twelve months”.
Ryanair’s Maria Macken said “Ryanair is delighted to celebrate carrying 9.5m passengers to and from Cork Airport. Ryanair began operating at Cork airport 26 years ago with a route to London Stansted and today it offers passengers in the South West a choice of 24 destinations across 7 countries including a new winter route to East Midlands.”
Irish Aviation Research Institute © 16th July 2013 All Rights Reserved.
