Vol. 527 No. 1
53 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Public Enterprise her views on whether the growth in passenger traffic at Cork Airport has exceeded all expectations and that as a consequence there are huge pressures on the facilities there and that the terminal and other extensions will not be completed for about three years; and the measures that are being put in place to cope with the pressures in the meantime. [27379/00]
I am very pleased with Aer Rianta's success in growing passenger numbers at Cork Airport in recent years. Over the past five years, traffic at Cork rose by 55% to 1.5 million passengers in 1999. For the first ten months of this year, passenger numbers have grown by a further 13% at Cork compared to the same period last year. These growth rates have exceeded expectations and have understandably, created new pressures on the airport's infrastructure.
However, Aer Rianta is proceeding with its major development plans at Cork Airport to cater for this and future growth in passenger traffic including an expansion of the terminal which will increase terminal capacity to handle 2.5 million passengers per annum by 2003. Further expansion is planned thereafter to handle growth up to five million passengers per annum in the medium and long-term.
In the meantime Aer Rianta are engaged in ongoing consultations with airport users to identify and implement short-term measures to alleviate congestion. These include a better spread of flight times, especially holiday charters, to optimise the use of existing facilities.
