Two Ryanair routes to close at Cork

Ryanair has announced that two of its routes from Cork Airport are to be closed.

The low-cost carrier will cease operations of its East Midlands and Glasgow Prestwick routes at the end of October.

In an announcement made yesterday (August 27), Ryanair revealed that the East Midlands route will end on October 26 and the Glasgow Prestwick route will end on October 28.

These routes are being cancelled as a result of a 20 per cent increase in the charges imposed on the routes by the airport.

As a result, the number of routes operated out of Cork by Ryanair will drop from seven to five.

The airline has said that the loss of the Glasgow and East Midlands routes will reduce the number of passengers travelling through Cork by 100,000.

Chief executive Michael O'Leary said that the drop in passenger numbers is regrettable, as will be the consequent job losses, but explained that the routes will not be financially viable.

He said: "A 20 per cent increase in airport charges on these routes reduces our ability to offer really low fares at a time of higher oil prices and these higher costs will make these two new routes loss making this winter."

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