Cork Chamber chief queries Dublin Airport's dominance of Irish skies

Conor Healy and a growing chorus of business leaders outside the capital question the Dublin facility's growing dominance 
Cork Chamber chief queries Dublin Airport's dominance of Irish skies

CEO of Cork Chamber, Conor Healy, said there needs to be a greater focus on driving traffic to other airports such as Cork's. File picture: David Creedon

Cork Chamber is the latest body to voice concerns over Dublin Airport’s monopoly on Ireland’s aviation industry.

CEO of the Chamber, Conor Healy said there needs to be a larger focus on driving traffic to other airports like Cork.

“Dublin’s growing dominance is certainly an issue and we need to see a concerted effort post-Covid to grow routes and traffic from Cork Airport and ensure that the supports and incentives are in place to ensure Cork’s offering is attractive enough to draw airlines and new routes to Cork,” said Mr Healy.

“There is clearly a need for more focus on the growth of Cork Airport and other regional airports, but there are also challenges in drawing airlines out of Dublin Airport,” he added.

Calls for more regional flights

Mr Healy is not alone in his belief that more routes need to go from regional airports. 

Cork and Limerick Chamber chiefs, Conor Healy and Dee Ryan, have already spoken out in support of the N/M20 and now both are questioning the growth of Dublin Airport at the expense of regional airports. File picture: Gerard McCarthy
Cork and Limerick Chamber chiefs, Conor Healy and Dee Ryan, have already spoken out in support of the N/M20 and now both are questioning the growth of Dublin Airport at the expense of regional airports. File picture: Gerard McCarthy

In recent weeks, the Limerick Chamber CEO Dee Ryan has called the recovery of Ireland’s aviation industry post-Covid-19 “imbalanced”.

Meanwhile, the new chair of Shannon Group Conal Henry recently said Ireland is facing "this weird situation of people driving past three airports to take flights from Dublin”.

In addition, Kevin Herlihy, the recently-appointed president of the Cork Business Association, suggested that flights be moved from Dublin to Cork to avoid “hard-working people’s time and money” being wasted.

The hostility around Dublin Airport’s dominance was dormant pre-Covid-19, but the issues were still there. 

Ms Ryan said that pre-Covid-19, between January 2013 and December 2019, passenger growth at Cork Airport was 250,000, while Shannon grew by 300,000. Dublin Airport during that same period grew passenger numbers by 14m, she said.

However, in recent weeks, as Dublin Airport became engulfed in controversy due to delays, queues and missed flights caused by pandemic-related staff shortages, industry bodies are calling for change.

“It isn’t as simple as Cork versus Dublin,” said Mr Healy. "Some airlines will simply not be interested in flying out of anywhere except a capital city like Dublin without significant incentivisation programmes.

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