The major airlines need to offer more choice and more routes to travellers going to and from Cork and Shannon, the Minister for Tourism has told travel sector leaders.
At the moment, Dublin Airport handles 84% of all flights to and from Ireland with Cork, Shannon and Ireland West/Knock left – as one leading figure in the travel sector in Munster put it recently: ‘fighting over the crumbs’ .
Cork Airport is operating at around 40% below full capacity, despite scoring highly on passenger satisfaction scores. The Government has urged airlines to switch flights to Munster but travel industry figures in the south west have pointed out that as Cork Airport is run by the Dublin Airport Authority, it is always likely to play second fiddle to the capital.
And just last week, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary warned rival airlines thathe would ‘nick’ the slots left open by any movement of routes from Dublin to Cork.
But with Dublin now capped to 32m passengers a year, Tourism Minister Catherine Martin has today called for a ‘regional balance’ and more routes for Cork and Shannon.
Speaking at the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) conference in the capital, MInister Martin pointed out that our regional airports faced “no capacity issues” and urged for the “dispersal of tourists” to regional areas as a “win win”.
The Minister said that while Dublin remained the crucial hub for our economy, she would “also recognise that there there are no capacity constraints in our regional airports. Even if there wasn’t a cap in Dublin Airport, we should be really focusing on regional tourism.”
Business leaders on Leeside have pointed out the ‘serious imbalance’ which they say is limiting opportunities for tourism, trade and business growth, saying Cork needs more year round flights to the major European cities and business centres.
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