Frankfurt, Brussels, and Berlin are the most desired destinations from Cork Airport among businesses, while there is a growing clamour for a direct flight to New York City, a new report has shown.
Cork Chamber’s analysis of business trips from Cork Airport revealed 25% of firms each took more than 100 business trips in 2018.
Around a quarter of business trips from Cork were long-haul flights, with 60% of businesses opting to connect from Cork Airport through Heathrow for onward connections, the report said. Amsterdam was the next most popular connection.
The greatest uptake of the new routes has been on Air France’s twice daily connection to Paris which was used by three out of five businesses, while over a third used the Zurich route.
Cork Chamber president Paula Cogan said the report showed the “unquestionable importance of international connectivity” through Cork Airport to business.
While inbound traffic supports thousands of jobs within the hospitality industry in Cork and the wider southern region, outbound access through Cork Airport is critical to the FDI sector, employing 38,000 people in Cork and for opening global business opportunities for indigenous businesses.
"We welcome new route announcements, but we must make sure that new routes also meet business need and not only the leisure market,” she said.
Ms Cogan said New York and Frankfurt are “consistently flagged as key business routes” by members.
“With an ambitious strategy in place to grow passenger numbers, it is critical that State investment also supports the development of further capacity at Cork Airport and the economic growth potential in this region so that together we can strengthen international business links from Cork,” she said.
Cork Airport managing director Niall MacCarthy said it was consistently working to secure new routes.
“We continue to work with our airline customers to expand the route network from Cork even further and look forward to the ongoing support of the business and wider community across the south of Ireland to sustain these routes and those in the pipeline,” he said.
Frankfurt, Brussels, and Berlin are the most desired destinations from Cork Airport among businesses, while there is a growing clamour for a direct flight to New York City, a new report has shown.
