Cork airport sees huge growth, but manageable queues

Like Dublin airport, Cork has seen huge growth in passenger traffic. Last year, the 11,000 sq metre facility catered for 2.6 million passengers - more than twice the 1.1 million passengers anticipated after the last expansion in 1994, writes Barry Roche, Southern Correspondent

Cork airport director Joe O'Connor admitted recently that the terminal was nearly at full capacity but said the opening of the new €163 million 25,000 sq metre terminal, early next year would be a huge improvement in service.

"Our busiest months are July and August, when we have our biggest number of sun charters as well as our scheduled flights.

"Our busiest day is Sunday when we typically have 12,000 passengers. Even on our quietest day in the summer, we would have 7,500 passengers.

"At peak times when you have a combination of sun charters and scheduled flights leaving together, you can have congestion in the main terminal. But we have put in place a taskforce of around 20 people to direct people to the correct check-in desk," he said.

"For the majority of times, the maximum waiting time for security screening is 15 minutes, though occasionally it can stretch to 20 or 25 minutes. But that's the worst we would experience and would involve something exceptional like equipment breaking down.

"We've also put in an additional X-ray machine which has helped. We would have put in more but we are physically constrained by the lack of space there, but the taskforce has worked well there as well and we haven't had any major delays," said Mr O'Connor.

Student Laura Kearney (19) from Douglas in Cork, recently flew from Cork to Spain for a holiday and was satisfied with the service at the airport. "We had no delays either checking in or getting screened or collecting our luggage," she said. "I found the airport very efficient."

Construction work at the airport did cause some car-parking problems at the start of the summer when the seasonal increase in passengers began, but Mr O'Connor is satisfied that management had solved that with more than 4,000 car-park spaces now available.

Increasing numbers of flights means some aircraft have to be parked up to 500 metres from the terminal and while airlines have opted not to use shuttle buses, plans are being finalised for covered walkways to protect passengers from the elements.

"Probably our worst pinch point is in arrivals and the baggage belts. They were originally designed to handle baggage from two 123-seater aircraft at a time but with cheaper flights, aircraft have become bigger and are carrying more passengers," said Mr O'Connor.

"Those baggage belts now have to cater for up to four 187-seater aircraft at a time, the big Boeing 737-800 series and if there's any problem unloading one, then it can lead to delays and congestion in the arrivals hall," he admitted.

"We've tried to avoid huge congestion by spreading the charters a bit better this year so as they all don't clash with schedule flights and cause congestion. It seems to be working but we'll still be glad to move into the new terminal," he added.

Meanwhile, Kerry airport, which handles up to 400,000 passengers a year, is reporting no major delays at either departures or arrivals, while a spokesman for the South East Regional Airport in Waterford, which handles 70,000 passengers a year, similarly reported no delay problems at the airport.