CORK Airport is once again open for business following a €10m refurbishment of its runway.
At the opening ceremony on Saturday, ahead of the first flights arriving last Monday morning, Taoiseach Micheál Martin emphasised the importance of the airport, not only to the future economic and social development of the city, but of the county as well.
‘This project future-proofs a critically important strategic asset for Cork, the south west region, and for Ireland for many years to come,’ the Taoiseach said.
‘The investment by the government of €10m in this project will ensure continued, essential connectivity connecting people and places, families and friends, economies and businesses; with enormous benefits for the city, the wider region and for the country.’
Taoiseach Micheál Martin on the new runway with Minister Hildegarde Naughton TD, Minister of State at the Department of Transport; Dalton Philips, DAA group chief executive and Niall MacCarthy, managing director, Cork Airport.
Having taken the decision to close the airport for the duration of the refurbishment, Cork Airport’s managing director Niall MacCarthy emphasised the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in the project that ensured that the refurbishment of the runway was completed on schedule and within budget.
‘Rebuilding and reopening the new runway here is a major milestone on our road to recovery post Covid-19,’ Mr MacCarthy said.
‘Rebuilding major infrastructure is always disruptive but we have confined the disruption to a 10-week off-peak period and now we can reap the benefits of recovery.’
There was good news for the tourism sector in West Cork as well, with the announcement that Ryanair are to base two aircraft at Cork Airport.
Swiss International Air Lines will also introduce a new weekly service to Geneva and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has announced it is to double its daily service between Cork and Amsterdam.
‘Seeing the quality of the finished product today is a testament to the tight teamwork undertaken by our airport team, our DAA group team and all our skilled construction partners,’ added Mr MacCarthy. ‘We are very confident about the future of Cork Airport and, with the support as stakeholders, we will grow this airport back to be an engine of growth for the south of Ireland economy once again,’ he said.
