31-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Cork woman gets special gift from Cork Airport on becoming its two-millionth passenger of 2025
The airport is 64-years on the site at Farmer's Cross, with 2025 set to be the busiest in its history. In fact, the two million-passenger mark was passed a month earlier than last year, showing the facility's ever-growing popularity with travellers right across the region.
The milestone passenger was a Corkonian, however. Benvon Deasy from Rochestown, Cork, who was travelling to Cape Town, South Africa via London Heathrow was greeted by airport management and presented with a special gift before departing on Aer Lingus EI722 to London Heathrow.
Benvon was joined on her travels by her husband Killian and daughters Síofra, Aoibhe and Laoise, who will no doubt be eyeing up the bag of Jo Malone goodies!
However, the family weren't the only special visitors to the airport this week. A Swiss businessman landed his Douglas DC-3 in the airport on Saturday, as aviation lovers revelled in the historic arrival, whose service dates back to World War II, and first flew in 1936.
The beautifully chromed, retro Swissair livery was finished off with the Swiss flag on the tailfin. However, the plane wasn't long in Cork before carrying on its journey, with a range of only just over 3,000 km, less than half of a more modern equivalent.
It's continued excitement at the airport, which is preparing to welcome 74,000 passengers this August Bank Holiday weekend, with Sunday, August 3 expected to be the busiest day. Airport bosses say that passenger traffic this August Bank Holiday is up 14pc compared to the same weekend last year.
And with Waterford Airport still nowhere near being ready for commercial travel, and Kerry having a limited selection of flights, travellers from not only all over Munster, but also the South-East are using Cork as a gateway to the world. According to market research, passengers from Laois, Kilkenny, Carlow and Wexford are all making their way Leeside to jet off.
Cork Airport has recently launched a €200 million Capital Development programme, to put in place the necessary infrastructure to support its growth to beyond 5 million passengers per annum in the next number of years.
