The impact has been devastating.

As the aviation and tourism industries continue to count the cost of Covid-19, Cork Airport has revealed that passenger numbers have declined by an eye-watering 95%, with a loss of two million passengers now expected this year.

The country’s second-largest international airport has released its traffic figures for the first half of 2020, which reveal €23 million in expected lost revenues by year-end.

Before the pandemic hit, Cork Airport was the fastest growing airport in Ireland in 2019 with 8% growth and it had witnessed further growth of 6% in January and February this year.

Taking a positive first two months into account, passenger traffic is down by 799,000 passengers and down by 66% versus the same period in 2019.

‘Financial supports are now critical’

“Cork Airport strongly welcomes the Taskforce for Aviation Recovery Report published recently and we look forward to engaging with the Department of Transport in its implementation,” said Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director, Cork Airport.

“An appropriate financial support mechanism is now critical to support the recovery of Irish Aviation in tandem with the policy recommendations”.

“Cork Airport has been dramatically impacted in lost revenues at the half-year and the impact is likely to be more than €23 million for the full year. Hospitality, Tourism and Aviation are amongst the three sectors most affected by this terrible pandemic and our passenger numbers at the half-year reflect this reality,” he added.