Learning to fly again - What needs to be done to give Cork Airport a new chance

There are few things that really get my blood boiling. I may curse a bit, spew out a few more or less original wishes for damnation, but all in all, I calm down relatively quickly. Years and years of working in customer service do that to you. One of these few things for it, however, is hypocrisy, and just last weekend, Cork got a full load of it straight in the face, compliments of the government of Enda Kenny, namely Minister for Transport, Paschal Donohoe. 

The issue was the ongoing malaise at Cork International Airport, the second largest airport in Ireland, which has been in constant decline ever since the start of the crisis. From an all-time high of 3.71 million passengers in 2008, passenger numbers have dwindled to just about 2.14 million passengers in 2014. While the airport had in the past seen service from airlines such as Jet2, Easyjet, British Airways or Wizzair, only Ryanair, Aer Lingus, as well as Aer Arann (Now operating as Stobart Air), the latter operating under the Aer Lingus Regional brand remain. And even these airlines have further curtailed their services, with routes to Nice an Lisbon being cut just this summer. All of a sudden, that sparkling new terminal building seems to be just a memory to the folly of the Celtic Tiger years. The future for Cork Airport certainly looks bleak - or does it?
Well, the situation is not great, that much is for sure. No airport wants to see routes being cut, and passenger numbers falling, that goes for huge hubs like Frankfurt just as much as for smaller regional facilities like Cork. And there are certainly a number of issues that need to be resolved.

The new terminal at Cork airport is certainly a nice, comfortable facility. The Check-In area is certainly nice and airy.

The arrivals section is nothing to scoff at, either.

The Airside area is more than adequate for current traffic levels, although the number of airside concessions is understandably rather limited.

While this ramp shot, taken while boarding a flight to Bristol  with Aer Lingus Regional does not really show it, ramp space is an issue at the airport.

The big thing of course is a debt load of 113 million Euros, owing from the construction of the nice, modern new terminal at the airport, that is hanging around the neck of the airport like a huge deadweight. This was originally to be shouldered by the Dublin Airport Authority, which also operates Cork Airport. However, in a controversial decision championed by the then Minister for Enterprise, Micheál Martin of Fianna Fail. This decision effectively castrated the airport's possibility to efficiently and aggressively market itself as an alternative for both Shannon and Dublin Airports.
This in itself would not have been to much of a problem, however two factors conspired to form a multiyear "perfect storm" that has been pummelling the airport ever since. On one hand we have both the global economic crisis, as well as the effective disintegration of the Irish economy following the collapse of the Celtic Tiger. Why Cork has fared comparatively well compared to the counties surrounding Dublin, both the city and county still suffered significantly, resulting in an understandable loss of traffic at the airport.
Things took a sinister turn though, when Shannon Airport was split from the DAA in 2012, and also managed to hoist its debts onto the DAA, basically giving the Airport a clean sheet and a new beginning. The Airport immediately began using that additional freedom, and began aggressively marketing new routes, attracting significant new traffic from Ryanair, and Aer Lingus. 
That leaves Cork Airport operating under an owner (DAA), who has numerous reasons to channel as many new airlines and routes to their main Airport, Dublin, while at the same time struggling with debts it hadn't been supposed to take on. Not a pleasant situation at all.
And that is before you factor in the lack of political support. I've already mentioned the backstabbing by Micheál Martin, who first put the airport in this unenviable position and is now howling in parliament against the governments unwillingness to tackle the issue. To be fair, hypocritical as he may be, as both Minister Donohoe and many of the local members of the Irish parliament (TDs, as they are called over here) continue to either wilfully ignore the airport, or suffer from incredible lapses of judgement. In fact, when contacted by the Irish Examiner over the issue, many government TDs could not even give a straight answer about whether the issues mentioned above should be rectified.
However, those who do support the airport are by no means free of blame, either. First of all, there seems to be a certain taste for hysteria in the pro-airport camp. Read the comment section of the local papers, or check the Facebook Page of the Save Cork Airport campaign,  and you could be forgiven for thinking that the demolition crews are already warming up their engines. The situation, while certainly not great, is nowhere near as bad as these individuals like to claim.
Lets take stock for a moment:

• The Airport provides multiple daily connections to three of Europe's major hub airports, London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, and Amsterdam.
• Aer Lingus Regional operates a sizeable schedule to secondary airports like Bristol, Glasgow, or Manchester
• Ryanair, while constantly bullying the airport to lower charges, as per their regular modus operandi, still serves a good selection of destinations
• The Airport has seen significant investment, with not just the new terminal, but also a new air traffic control tower.

That doesn't sound too bad anymore, does it? 

However, some of the solutions offered by the airport supporters do. One of the most frequently heard suggestion from their side is "just give Ryanair the old terminal already."

To be frank, that would make about as much sense as expanding Kerry Airport to handle multiple daily Airbus A380 movements. The old terminal is mainly just that: old. It was originally built when the airport opened in 1961, an is, quite frankly, no longer fit for purpose. The building ceased to operate before the new hand-luggage restrictions following the 2006 airline bombing attempt went into force. Getting it to be compliant with the new screening guidelines, not just for hand luggage, but for all liquids sold airside would require a significant investment in the facility, and would also take up considerable space within the building, reducing its capacity. 

Though much refurbished and expanded, the original terminal is not up to the standards of modern air travel anymore. It would be better for the airport to just tear it down.

Quite frankly, the best thing that can be done about the old terminal is to tear it down, and replace it, and some of the car park behind it, with aircraft stands. That would incidentally also help to alleviate one of the big problems of Cork Airport: The availability of stands for aircraft staying at the airport overnight.

At the moment, the airport has 13 stands suitable for aircraft the size of a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320. 10 of these stands are routinely occupied overnight by aircraft being parked there for early morning flights. The situation will further get worse when CSA Czech Airlines begin their twice weekly service to Prague in May of this year, because the aircraft will also stay in Cork overnight. That also means that there is little space left should more airlines want to serve the airport during the morning or evening waves, or if one of the big crate pushers like UPS or DHL decide to return to Cork with their large freighters. 

As far as I'm concerned, the legacy debt issue is not the big problem with regards to Cork Airport. From what I can see, it is the ownership structure. With Dublin Airport just three hours away via the M8 motorway, there is a real motivation for DAA to ensure that Cork Airport doesn't attract too many attractive routes. This is the point that the government must address, either by separating the airport from DAA, and turning it into an independent company, or by selling it to an airport operating  company from outside Ireland, should a suitable buyer be found. 

In the meantime, it is up to the people of Cork, both the city and the county, to do their part to support the airport. This means to use Cork Airport as much as possible, instead of driving through half the island just to get to a flight that is supposedly cheaper. It also means to accept the fact that some airlines might have to charge higher fares to cover their costs, as I personally have been doing for some time now, choosing to fly Aer Lingus and KLM via Amsterdam, instead of taking the Aircoach to Dublin. And finally, it means shitcanning the inane superstition that turboprop aircraft are in any way inferior to jet aircraft as far as reliability or comfort are concerned. Cork Airport, despite all its issues, is still a very attractive little airport, and it should under no circumstances be overlooked anymore.