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THE BUZZ

Review Of The Month

It’s been a great summer but you can definitely see that winter is upon us now and the passenger volumes in the terminal are much lower. We expect to end the year with 3.1 million passengers versus 2.8 million in 2023 which will be 9% annual growth. This is a tremendous achievement and I’m very grateful to you all for your hard work and friendly customer service.

We have lots of projects underway to cater for planned growth and future development. Within the next four weeks, we will be submitting planning for a 1.74 mwp Solar Farm located on steel frames over the parking in the Holiday Blue Carpark. This will off-set 511 tons of carbon dioxide annually and provide a quarter of our current airport electrical needs. Subject to getting planning permission, we will commence works in Autumn 2025 and complete by Christmas 2025.

We have also submitted a planning application for a second Fuel Farm on the airport to store over 200,000 litres of aviation fuel. This will add additional storage capacity and improve competition for airlines and handlers. The second farm will be located airside near Compass House.

We are up-grading our out of gauge machine to C3 and this will provide the latest technology for screening out of gauge bags. There will be some civil works and this project will start in March 2025 and be complete by end of June 2025. We will also be up-grading our Gate 19 facility to replace the equipment there with C3 technology which will also involve some civil works and an amendment to our fire cert for the area. These works will commence post summer next year and be completed by year-end.

In terms of the biggest project so far – the build of a mezzanine floor over arrivals. The design is proceeding well and we have five contractors short-listed following an RFI process and these will be issued tender documentation in March next year. Works will commence on this in late Q3 2025 and proceed all through 2026. I’m very grateful to Kenny Jacobs, our group CEO, and the daa board for the funding support for these projects.

You may notice the wooden cladding at the side of the terminal building at the southern end which was almost twenty years old and quite worn has recently been replaced. I want to congratulate Eamon O'Donovan for over-seeing this project and the quality of the work.

I would like to welcome all of our new recruits and I am very proud to see the new recruits on board in our airport Police and Fire Service.

Congrats also to Tara on all of the great business development works with airlines and the continued growth which we are factoring in next year.

We had lots of political and stakeholder engagement this month and were well represented at the Ploughing Championships. daa director Paula Cogan chaired our Cork Airport Development Council meeting in October and Kenny Jacobs chaired a meeting with some key local stakeholders.

With election coming, we are getting lots of political attention and visits to the airport which is always welcome. Generally our stakeholder community are very supportive and want to see continued growth and more choice and more routes from Cork Airport.

May I take the opportunity to wish you all a Happy Halloween and thank you again for all you do for Cork Airport.

Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director

National Ploughing Championships

The Communications Team attended the National Ploughing Event in Ratheniska, Co Laois, from September 17 to 19. Over the three-day event, more than 300,000 visitors passed through.

The goal was to highlight the convenience of using Cork Airport and the extensive range of routes available for passengers from the Midlands. The team received numerous compliments from passengers from Kerry, Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, Offaly, Tipperary and Galway who have already used the airport or heard about it through friends and are eager to try it for themselves the next time.

We were thrilled to welcome some VIP visitors to our stand, including Late Late Toy Show guests ‘Captain’ Aaron, who mentioned he will be flying from Cork Airport soon, and Sheamie Garrihy from last year’s show. It was also a pleasure to welcome Karen Morton, a non-executive director on the daa board.

Aer Lingus generously sponsored return flights for two to London Heathrow, and Pat O’Connor from Cork and Dublin Duty Free provided a luxury hamper. The lucky winner of the flights was from Wexford, and the hamper winner was from Youghal.

Inter-Firm Dragon Boat Challenge 2024 Champions

daa Cork Social Club took to the water on Saturday, September 21 for the Cork Interfirm Dragon Boat Challenge. Organised by Meitheal Mara and Cork Harbour Festival/Ocean to City, seven teams participated in a half-day of dragon boat racing on the River Lee. After a resounding win in their first race, Team Cork Airport went on to win their second race and bagged themselves a spot in the final where they faced the team from Cork City Council.

After a neck-and-neck start to the race, Team Cork Airport (led by Team Captain Tracey Devereux) edged ahead and emerged victorious at the finish line.

Well done to all the team!

daa International 2024 Future Leader Graduate Visit To Cork Airport

daa International has launched a 5-week International Programme for the 2024 Future Leader Graduate Programme. This initiative included time spent at Cork and Dublin Airports, as well as a week at the Irish Management Institute (IMI) in Dublin.

Cork Airport had the honour of hosting the graduates from Riyadh Airport for their first week in Ireland. Various departments at Cork Airport provided an immersive introduction to various aspects of airport operations, including Landside and Airside Operations, Fire Service, Asset Management, Safety, Business Continuity Management, Aviation Development, Non-Aero revenues, and Air Traffic Control (ATC). The programme was packed with presentations, exercises, walkabouts, and tours, all facilitated by our dedicated airport subject matter experts who generously shared their time and expertise throughout the week.

The week was perfectly rounded off with an evening on the waters of Cork Harbour, followed by dinner in Crosshaven which was thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated by all the participants.

Cork Airport Managing Director and ITIC Chairperson, Niall MacCarthy opened this year’s ITIC Conference, entitled ‘Responsible Ambition’ which was held at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre.

The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) is the primary representative body of the Irish tourism industry. They are recognised by Government departments and agencies, North and South, by Tourism Ireland Ltd, by the EU, and other organisations whose activities impact on the business of tourism and represent the leading tourism interest and businesses throughout the Republic of Ireland.

Lord Mayor’s Visit To Cork Airport

Cork Airport recently had the pleasure of welcoming the Lord Mayor of Cork, Councillor Dan Boyle. The Lord Mayor received a tour of the airport terminal building and facilities, along with a business briefing from Cork Airport Managing Director, Niall MacCarthy.

It was great to have the opportunity to show the Lord Mayor about our positive growth, the strong inbound tourism connectivity, our latest sustainability improvements and initiatives, and our plans for the future.

2024 Staff Excellence Awards

Congratulations and well done to Stephen Callanan and Ethan Daly Harkin Harkin from our mechanical team for swiftly getting the fire tender back in service. Their quick action ensured that our new APFS recruits could continue their training without any interruptions.

Well done to the Car Parks Team who received a very grateful email from a family who had le open while on holidays. Due to the diligence of the team, went on holidaysthey ta remained dry despite the rain. great work being done by our car parks team.

l to r Niall MacCarthy,

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Congratulations and well done to the Car Parks Team for their excellent customer service! A grateful family reached out to thank them for taping up their car window, which they had accidentally left open while on holiday. Marc Shanahan and Cathal Motherway accepted the award on behalf of the team. Well done all!

Pictured

A very warm welcome to Adam Kelly who has joined Cork Airport on a two year rotation through the daa Graduate Programme.

Adam will be working with the Operation Safety Team initially for the first year and will contribute to the important work that is done in maintaining and enhancing safety standards across our operations. Adam will then move to another department for the second year before moving back to Dublin Airport for his final two years. Adam who hails from Macroom is a graduate of Economics in UCC

Best of luck Adam and we hope that you enjoy your time at Cork Airport!

Wedding Bells

Congratulations to Jean Alexander (Security Trainer) and her husband Daniel on their recent wedding.

Wishing you both many years of happiness!

Winter Schedule Launch

Ryanair has announced that it retain Cork Brussels (Charleroi) and Rome (Ciampino) for Winter 2024.

In total, Ryanair will operate 23 for winter and has also added extra flights on two of its most popular routes –Lanzarote and Manchester

Congratulations to Pat Kiely (CMMS Manager ) for his recent hole-in-one on the 16th hole at Youghal Golf Club.

Well done Pat!

Appointment

Congratulations to Jim O’Connor on his appointment as Head of Police, Fire and Operational Security.

A very warm welcome to our ten new APFS recruits who have commenced their intensive thirteen week training.

Pictured (l to r) Ciaran Walsh (Instructor), Aaron Griffin, Eoghan Cahill, Daragh O’Shaughnessy, Seamus McNamara, Ben O’Flynn, Eadaoin O’Riordan, Sean Boys, Jim Booth, Peter Finlay, Eric Brooks and Trevor Healy (Instructor)

Wishing you all the very best of luck!

Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines joint venture carrier, SunExpress Airlines, will operate a new, twice-weekly service to İzmir, Turkey as part of the 2025 Summer Schedule, commencing on May 31 and operating through October.

The new service follows strong demand for a direct Turkish route from Cork Airport and will provide even more choice for consumers across the South of Ireland when choosing their next summer holiday.

SunExpress will be the ninth carrier to operate at Cork Airport during the 2025 summer season.

STAKEHOLDER VISITS

We were delighted to host Senator Jerry Buttimer and James O’Connor at Cork Airport recently. The purpose of their visits was to meet Niall MacCarthy for a business briefing to discuss the airport’s ambitious terminal expansion plans, which aim to increase routes and passenger capacity.

It was also a pleasure to host the Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr. Joe Carroll and his Cork County Council colleagues, Cllr. Alan Coleman, Cllr. Seamus McGrath , Cllr MIchael Hegarty and Michael William Lynch, Divisional Manager - West Cork.

The sights and sounds of jazz bands and music greeted arriving passengers over the course of the October Bank Holiday weekend, with The Swing Bandits, the Blarney Brass & Reed Band and Rebel Brass all performing in the terminal much to the delight of over 55,000 passengers flying in and out of Cork Airport over the weekend.

There was a fantastic temporary installation of a Jazz Trio in the terminal which was provided by The Cork Community Artlink who are well known for creating the displays for the Dragons of Shanon Festival.

Cork Airport is a proud festival partner of the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival which contributes over €45 million to the local economy.