Ryanair will reopen its aircraft base at Cork (ORK) in Ireland and operate 12 routes from the airport in the upcoming winter season.

In 2022 the plan is to increase that to 20 routes for the summer season. This number will include 18 previously operated by the Irish LCC, plus two new UK routes from ORK for the carrier: Birmingham (BHX) and Edinburgh (EDI). Both the BHX and EDI routes will be among the 12 operated by the carrier in the upcoming winter schedule.

Ryanair said it worked with the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), which operates ORK, for several months on the restoration of the LCC’s base. The airline said DAA extended a COVID-19 recovery scheme at ORK until October 2022, which gave it the incentive to reopen the base with two aircraft. By summer 2022 Ryanair says it will have restored or exceeded its pre-pandemic flying at Irish airports ORK, Kerry (KIR), Knock (NOC) and Shannon (SNN).

It will continue to operate a reduced schedule at Dublin (DUB), where summer 2022 flying will be 35% below 2019 levels. The airline is pushing DAA to extend COVID-19 recovery pricing at DUB until October 2022, as with ORK.

In addition to BHX and EDI, the destinations Ryanair will fly to from ORK in the summer 2022 season include: Alicante (ALC) in Spain; Bordeaux (BOD) in France; Carcassonne (CCF) in France; Faro (FAO) in Portugal; Gdansk (GDN) in Poland; Girona (GRO) in Spain; Gran Canaria (LPA), Lanzarote (ACE) and Tenerife (TFS) in Spain's Canary Islands; Liverpool (LPL) in England; London Gatwick (LGW); London Luton (LTN); London Stansted (STN); Malaga (AGP) in Spain; Mallorca (PMI) in Spain's Balearic Islands; Milan Bergamo (BGY) in Italy; Poznan (POZ) in Poland and Reus (REU) in Spain.

“Twenty routes on sale from Cork Airport on the Ryanair website will ensure that … spring and summer 2022 contains lots of travel options for our passengers,” ORK MD Niall McCarthy said.

“Outbound sun and city breaks and inbound visitors from the UK and Continental Europe is good news for jobs in aviation, tourism and hospitality and the rebound of our economy in 2022.”

Photo credit: Joe Pries