Ryanair fury over Cork Airport repairs

RYANAIR has been accused of ‘playing politics’ with Cork Airport after the airline hit out at plans to shut the airport in the autumn for runway repairs.

The no-frills airline said it will not restart flights to Cork until winter due to the construction plans, as it launched a scathing attack on the airport, as well as on Taoiseach Micheál Martin, over the timing of the revamp.

The repairs will close the airport during September, October and November, when it is hoped restrictions will have eased.

Cork Airport has brought the work forward from 2022 to later this year, and explained it could not carry out the job during lockdown as it had to go through proper tendering processes to make sure the project was done at a fair price. Ryanair went on to claim that the Government’s international travel restrictions had ‘failed’ while the border with the North remained open.

‘Micheál Martin’s Government needs to provide a clear roadmap for the recovery of Cork Airport, which in fact continues to be the most expensive of Ireland’s major airports,’ it declared, adding the works ‘would prevent Ryanair’s Cork-based aircraft taking off early in the morning or returning late in the evening’.

Fine Gael senator Jerry Buttimer hit back at the airline, saying: ‘Ryanair should stop playing politics with Cork Airport and rather engage in a meaningful way with the airport authorities to ensure that services are ready to restart whenever public health guidelines allow.’

He said the planned works will be ‘round the clock’, leaving summer and Christmas ‘untouched for whatever [air] traffic is ready to fly at that stage’.

The airport described the work as ‘a once-in-20-years project’ which involves rebuilding 2.2km of its runway.

An airport spokesman said: ‘We want to get the project done as efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible, so it has to go to a tender to get the best return for our investment and get the job done as quickly as possible.’ He added that the airport has been talking to airlines, including Ryanair, about incentive schemes it plans such as cutting its landing charges, to make it a cheaper destination than Dublin.

Travel expert Eoghan Corry said: ‘If Ryanair was in charge there, it would have been dug up, finished and put back in order over a bank holiday weekend.’

Meanwhile, Cork Business Association president Eoin O’Sullivan said he supported the decision to close the airport.

‘It just makes sense to do it now because passenger numbers are down to 40 people where normally we could have up to 7,000 passengers a day.

‘As much as we would like to avoid any disruption to trade and tourism and travel into the city, now is the best time to do so. Get the job done.’