Cork International Airport

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{| class="infobox bordered" style="width: 220px; font-size: 95%;" |- ! colspan="4" style="text-align: center; background-color: #4682B4; color: white;" |Cork International Airport
Aerfort Chorcaí |- |align="center" colspan="4"|

Cork International Airport or Aerfort Chorcaí in Irish, is one of Ireland's principal airports, situated on the south side of Cork City in an area known as Ballygarvan. The airport is currently operated by Dublin Airport Authority. Cork Airport handles scheduled and charter flights to domestic and European destinations as well as cargo services and general aviation. As the airport had over 2.730 million passengers pass through its doors in 2005, it makes it Ireland's second busiest airport after Dublin, in terms of passengers starting of finishing their journey at the airport^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. Aer Lingus and Aer Arann are the largest operators at Cork Airport by number of aircraft movements. Aer Lingus and Ryanair are the largest operators by number of passengers. It acts as a main European hub for Aer Lingus.

Contents

1 New Terminal
2 Operator
3 History
4 Ground Transportation
5 Airlines and Destinations
6 Cargo airlines
7 See also
8 External links

New Terminal

Corks new terminal is due to open to all traffic on 24 July 2006 (see below for more) and will have 30 check-in desks, capacity for 5 million passengers per annum, In time 8 air bridges, but when opened will have 1 air-bridge and an increased number of shops and restaurants.

Operator

From its opening in 1961 the airport was managed by the Department of Transport and Power. Aer Rianta took control of Cork and Shannon airports on April 1, 1969 and the assets of the airports were transferred to the company under the Air Navigation and Transport (Amendment) Act, 1998. The name of Aer Rianta was changed to the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) under the State Airports Act 2004, which also created the Cork Airport Authority and the Shannon Airport Authority. These companies were charged with preparing a business plan in preparation for taking over the assets of their airports from the DAA not earlier than May 2005. As Dublin Airport/DAA do not have sufficient distributable reserves under company law, the separation of Cork (and Shannon) will not be completed for at least a year.

History

In 1957 the Irish Government agreed in principle to the building of an airport for Cork City. After viewing many sites in the area it was agreed that the airport should be built at Ballygarvan. Tenders were invited for the construction of the airport in 1959 at an estimated cost of £1 million. The airport was officially opened on October 16, 1961. However, proving flights by Aer Lingus and Cambrian Airways (later taken over by British Airways) had taken place four days earlier. In its first year the airport handled 10,172 passengers - currently the equivalent of a single busy day at the airport. Throughout the 1960s the airport expanded with more advanced aircraft and more destinations. The first jet, a BOAC Comet, landed at Cork Airport on March 29, 1964. By 1969 Aer Lingus were operating to London Heathrow, Manchester and Bristol.

On August 27, 1970 a unique event occurred. Due to adverse weather conditions at Shannon Airport and Dublin Airport Aer Lingus' transatlantic fleet (three Boeing 707s from New York, Boston and Chicago) were diverted to Cork. In 1972 the Duty Free shop opened for service. In 1975 Aer Rianta undertook a passenger terminal study aimed at improving the terminal facilities. The findings resulted in the provision, over the next couple of years, of new departure and arrival halls, new check-in area and office complex, new information desk and duty office and new VIP Lounge. In 1977 a Duty-free shop was opened, while the following year completed extensions and facilities were officially opened.

The 1980s began with an extension of the main apron being built. New services to London Gatwick began while Aer Lingus' commuter division started a new internal service to Dublin Airport. In 1985 due to huge growth at the airport Aer Rianta carried out a survey of the terminal facilities with a view to carrying out a major expansion and development programme. On June 8, 1987 Ryanair began a new service at Cork Airport. In 1988 Phase 1 of the Terminal Expansion and Development Plan completed. The following year the main runway extension of 1000 feet was opened.

The 1990s began with the completion of Phase II of the Terminal expansion in 1991 and Phase III being completed in 1992. The Terminal Expansion and Development Plan was completed in 1994. Duty free sales for travel within the European Union, a substantial income stream, ceased in 1999 but were retained for travellers to final destinations outside the EU.

The Aer Rianta run Great Southern Hotels opened a hotel on the airport campus in 2001. The first phase of the [newest expansion], originally estimated at €140 million was launched in 2003. The project was to provide a new air traffic control building (an element since shelved), a multistorey car park, improved internal roads, realigned and improved utility services and a new second passenger terminal. The new terminal has been the subject of much local controversy for a number of reasons. Originally designed with 4 airbridges, only one has since been installed due to budget cutbacks imposed by the [Dublin Airport Authority (DAA)]. Despite promises by the then Minister for Transport, Seamus Brennan, that the costs of the new terminal would be assumed by the DAA, it now seems likely that Cork will have to take on at least half of the debt. Recent newspaper reports have indicated a high level of dissatisfaction from airport users such as airlines and car hire firms as to the suitability of the new terminal, both from a design and floorspace point of view. Finally, despite an original opening date of November 2005, the terminal is still not open and no date has been announced. The extension will bring annual capacity to 3 million passengers (Cork handled 2.730 million passengers in 2005). The design allows for a pier extension which would increase capacity to 5 million.

A charter service from Cork to JFK, New York was [planned] using 210-seat Boeing 757 equipment for Autumn 2005 but an increase in the cost per seat (due to fuel costs) charged by the charter company forced the [cancellation of the service] prior to the first trip.

An ongoing problem for the airport is adverse weather. The airport is equipped with a Category II Instrument Landing System but weather conditions are often below the minimum requirements for a Cat II landing, causing diversions to Shannon, Kerry or Dublin

There has been ongoing conflict between the Minister for Transport and the Dublin and Cork Airport Authority's (June 2006) as to when the new terminal would open. The terminal is now expected to open to arrivals (only) on 10 July 2006, to charters (inbound & outbound) on 17 July 2006 and to all traffic on 24 July 2006. Due to the high level of charter traffic in July, this reduced level of traffic will provide a training experience for airport staff, whilst alleviating congestion, albeit for only a week, in the existing terminal.

The abolition of the Shannon stopover in 2007 may allow Cork to establish transatlantic flights as planes will no longer be forced to stop at Shannon.

Ground Transportation

Regular city buses connect to Cork Bus Station in about 25 minutes. The service to Kinsale also calls at the airport.

Cork airport has no railway station. Kent Station is across the River Lee from Cork Bus Station on Parnell Place in the city centre..

The airport is also served by taxi and car hire companies. Taxis to the city centre cost about €12.

SkyLink is a bus service that provides transportation for passengers to all major hotels in the city on a half hourly basis.

Airlines and Destinations

The following scheduled airlines use Cork International Airport (as of July 2006):

Aer Arann (Cardiff, Belfast City, Bristol, Dublin, Edinburgh, Galway (from October 2006), Jersey, Leeds-Bradford (from October 2006), Lorient, Nantes, Newquay, Southampton)
Aer Lingus (Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin-Schönefeld, Birmingham (UK), Faro, Lanzarote (from October 2006), London-Heathrow, Madrid (from October 2006), Malaga, Nice, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Prague (from October 2006), Rome-Fiumicino, Tenerife, Warsaw)
bmi (Leeds-Bradford) (to end in July 2006)
* bmibaby (Birmingham (UK), Durham Tees Valley [formerly Teesside], Manchester (UK))
British Airways
* Loganair (Glasgow) (To end in October 2006)
Centralwings (Krakow (from October 2006), Wroclaw (from October 2006))
Czech Airlines (Prague)
easyJet (London-Gatwick)
Jet2.com (Newcastle)
Malév (Budapest)
Ryanair (Dublin, Liverpool, London-Gatwick, London-Stansted)
Wizz Air (Gdansk (from December), Katowice)

Cargo airlines

Cargo plays a vital role in the future of Cork Airport. A new cargo village, south of the airport, on 40 acres, will be developed to serve existing and new cargo customers. Three cargo airlines currently operate from Cork Airport, serving the European markets daily. These are:

UPS (Operated by BlueBird Cargo)
TNT
DHL

External links

Airports in Ireland

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