The future is green

Ireland’s Cork Airport is an ambitious gateway with a clear sustainable development plan and growing route network, writes Joe Bates.

With growing passenger numbers and an impressive sustainable development strategy, it feels like Cork Airport (ORK) is finally beginning to emerge from the shadow of its bigger and better known cousin in Dublin having overtaken Shannon Airport as the second largest airport in Ireland many years ago.

Both Dublin and Cork are, of course, managed by Irish airport operator, daa, and although DUB is always likely to remain the gateway to the Republic of Ireland, ORK is going from strength to strength and for now, its future growth is unconstrained, unlike the country’s capital city airport which has a 32mppa capacity cap imposed upon it.

While not quite at that level yet, Cork Airport is on an upward trajectory and is set to handle 3.1 million passengers this year to cement its status as the second busiest and fastest growing airport in the country.

The total, which represents a 10% upturn on the 2.8 million handled in 2023, follows a good summer and strong end to the year, with some new airlines and new routes announced to broaden the network.

Indeed, its impressive traffic growth, work starting on an upgrade to the airport terminal with the construction of a mezzanine floor over arrivals, and the unveiling of a host of sustainability initiatives that include plans to construct a new 1.74 million KWH solar farm, 2024 will probably go down as one of the best years in the history of Cork Airport.

Traffic and route development

The latest statistics from operator, daa, show that in recent months, sunshine destinations in Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands, Italy and Greece proved particularly popular with passengers, and load factors to the UK market and major European hubs of Amsterdam Schiphol and Paris CDG remained high.

Records continue to tumble at Cork Airport, which enjoyed its busiest ever November when 201,000 passengers (+5%) passed through its facilities.

It followed a record break October when inbound numbers were boosted by the annual Guinness Cork Jazz Festival, while outbound traffic benefitted from an October Bank Holiday and the launch of the winter schedule, which has brought new services to Glasgow (Aer Lingus Regional) and new winter services to Fuerteventura and Rome Ciampino (both Ryanair) as well as increased frequency to Bristol (Aer Lingus Regional).

In addition, Ryanair has opted to continue its service to Brussels Charleroi throughout the winter.

When revealing the October traffic figures, the airport also announced that SunExpress will become the airport’s ninth scheduled carrier when it starts operating from Cork in summer 2025, offering a direct service to Izmir in Turkey to complement the service since announced by TUI to Dalaman.

Talking about the new Izmir service, Cork Airport’s managing director, Niall MacCarthy, notes: “It is really fantastic to see a new route, to a new country, operated by a new airline added to our schedule next year.

“Cork Airport is the fastest growing airport in Ireland with growth of over 10% this year, and increasing numbers of people across the South of Ireland are choosing Cork over competing airports for the quality, friendliness, and speed of using our airport.”

As of today, Cork Airport is served by eight scheduled airlines that between them operate non-stop services to over 50 destinations across Europe.

“Growth at Cork Airport continues on a very healthy and a very strong trajectory,” enthuses daa CEO, Kenny Jacobs.

“Cork is the fastest growing airport in the state with passenger numbers increasing in September, October and November compared to the same period last year.

“I know that the team in Cork is working incredibly hard to secure new and additional services and I expect that there will be further good news from Cork as the months progress.

“Cork Airport has the fullest of support from daa in continuing that robust growth into the future.”

One of the ways the airport hopes to expand its route network is to encourage airlines to move seat capacity from Dublin to Cork by way of discounts on airport charges at Cork Airport.

“Good connectivity throughout the island is critical to attracting tourists and investment to Ireland, and there is a real danger of losing out to other countries while the Dublin cap remains in place,” says Jacobs.

“Airlines that move routes and traffic from Dublin to Cork Airport will be offered lower charges at Cork Airport to encourage airlines to keep those routes in Ireland and to support jobs and connectivity.”

What new routes would the airport like to see launched from Cork and, realistically, how quickly could this happen?

MacCarthy says: “The business development timeline from first meeting with an airline to route launch tends to be two to three years for short-haul and three to five years for long-haul once they believe in the business case.

“In terms of short-haul, our passengers are seeking Paris CDG as a year-round service rather than just a seasonal service, and we see demand for Lisbon, Madrid and more Polish and German connections.

“In addition, we see demand for connectivity to Istanbul as a long-haul hub. Undoubtedly, there is a strong demand in the Cork region for transatlantic services and, in particular, Cork–New York. We are talking to a number of carriers on all of the above and delivery is likely to be in the timeline outlined.”

Sustainability

Cork Airport recently received a welcome funding boost from Ireland’s Department of Transport in the shape of €2.284 million grant courtesy of the government’s Regional State Airports Sustainability Programme.

This funding will go towards the construction of a new solar farm over the airport’s long-term car park, which is expected to provide up to 25% of the airport’s energy needs in the future, along with the electrification of existing ground power units.

What can MacCarthy tell us about the planned new solar farm and the airport’s wider sustainabilty plans?

“The solar farm will be on an elevated steel frame creating a cover over vehicles within our Holiday Blue long-term car park,” explains MacCarthy.

“We applied for planning this year and construction is expected to commence (subject to permission being granted) in September 2025, with a view to completion in December 2025.

“We have a 30-point sustainability strategy at Cork Airport to deliver actions and projects between now and 2030. We are very proud that in the last two years, Cork Airport has been named as the Best Performing Commercial Semi-State Body for energy reduction, as assessed by Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).

“Even today [November 13], as a small example, we launched landside and airside plastic bottle and can recycling machines (return vending machines) which benefit Irish charities with every item recycled. We are the first transport hub in Ireland to introduce these new reverse vending machines.”

Cork Airport certainly has an impressive track record of investing in new technology and sustainability initiatives designed to reduce its carbon footprint.

These include the construction of a €6 million electrical substation – designed to future proof its electrical infrastructure for decades to come; upgrading lighting on the terminal campus to more energy efficient LED lighting; and the reduction of energy usage within the terminal building through the deployment of advanced energy monitoring and SCADA systems.

This summer alone, the airport added three new electric vehicles to its maintenance and electrical fleet; a range of new, state-of-the-art electric vehicle charging points; new waste management technology, and landscaping improvements in green areas.

Introduced in conjunction with ePower, the airport’s six new electric vehicle charging points are available for use by passengers, taxis servicing the airport, and airport vehicles where required.

“We have a very strong sustainability plan at Cork Airport,” confirms MacCarthy. “Further electrification of our fleet, high-speed electric charging points for our passengers, smart, electronic, solar bins on our forecourt, and improving the biodiversity of our campus with an attractive planting programme are just the latest in a series of very substantial projects to be delivered.

“We have a detailed and ambitious sustainability plan, and I look forward to further substantial initiatives to be rolled out in the future.”

The new electric vehicles join five new fully-electric, zero-emission vehicles added last year as part of the airport’s commitment to reducing emissions by 51% by 2030, in line with targets set out by the Irish government.

Cork has achieved Level 2 ‘Reduction’ status in ACI’s Airport Carbon Accreditation programme.

Infrastructure development

Cork Airport’s terminal opened in 2006 and remains an impressive looking building. Nevertheless, daa feels that after nearly 20 years in operation it is time to plan for the next 20 years and to map out a growth plan for the infrastructure to take it beyond five million passengers per annum.

The work includes extending the mezzanine over the check-in desks to expand the footprint of the security section and allow the installation of new C3 security scanners. The upgrade will also pave the way for the expansion of the airport’s duty free area and the addition of new F&B facilities.

The capital development plan also includes the provision of the solar farm previously mentioned, upgrade of the staff and goods screening area, improvement of aviation fuel farm facilities, development of new forward gates, improved public transport connections, and better facilities for car users including even more high-speed electric car charging points.

The electrification of the airside is also being progressed in 2025 with the purchase of new mobile electrical ground power units.

The Irish government is providing €6 million in funding to support the security screening project.

In the medium to long-term there are plans to add a complete new pier and gate facilities to the southern end of the existing terminal.

This will provide significant additional airside terminal capacity and will be served by new, nose-in aircraft parking stands which will be located directly where the old terminal is now and will require its demolition to upgrade and expand the apron.

In effect, the airport is planning now for a gateway capable of accommodating more than five million passengers per annum within the next decade.

Economic impact

Analysis by InterVISTAS Consulting shows that Cork Airport plays a critical role in supporting jobs in tourism and trade across the south of Ireland as a key economic enabler for industry and commerce. Indeed, the report reveals that the gateway contributed just over €1 billion to the Irish economy and supported more than 12,650 job in 2023, including 2,330 jobs directly across the airport campus.

Jacobs concluded: “Cork is a really great airport and daa is committed to supporting the excellent management team in place to grow the airport to five million passengers a year within the next decade, while maintaining the warm welcome and customer service our passengers know and love Cork for.”