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Cork Airport plans to continue facilitating Aer Lingus to operate its reduced winter schedule from Cork as the airline continues its review of operations during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Cork Airport Communications Chief Kevin Cullinane, the airport is moving forward on the basis that Aer Lingus will continue its scheduled services to London Heathrow and Amsterdam during the winter months.
“Our intention is to facilitate all Aer Lingus, Ryanair and KLM flights that have been destined to operate from Cork Airport this winter,” Cullinane told The Irish Times today.
In July, Aer Lingus announced that it was reviewing the future of the bases during the winter months, after its parent group IAG reported huge global losses amid the Covid-19 crisis.
But according to The Sunday Business Post, an Aer Lingus source expressed frustration within the company with the Irish government’s handling of air travel compared to the approach taken by many other European countries.
The outcome of the Aer Lingus review will be determined by several factors, including government policy around the European traffic light system for Covid-19 countries and the travel demand of Irish passengers, he said.
Aer Lingus currently employs about 350 people at its Cork and Shannon operations, more than half at Cork Airport, where it accounted for 44 percent of all traffic from the airport last year.
Aer Lingus Mainline’s market share in Cork for the year to date is 33%, while Aer Lingus Regional operated by Stobart Air is 11% compared to Ryanair, which now accounts for 54% of the market.
But since Covid-19 continues to make a big impact, Ryanair accounted for 71 percent of all passenger numbers in September when it continued to operate a full list of flights compared to just 19 percent for Aer Lingus, which cut services. .
Earlier this month, Ryanair announced that it would shut down its Cork operations for the winter months, but the company will continue to fly from Cork to London Stansted, Katowice and Gdansk, but will not base the aircraft in Cork.
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