69,000 Passengers Expected At Cork Airport This June Bank Holiday Weekend

Cork Airport is gearing up for one of its busiest weekends of the year, with 69,000 passengers expected to pass through the terminal over the June Bank Holiday. The busiest days will be Friday, 29 May and Monday, 1 June.

The surge comes as post-primary schools break for the summer holidays, driving high demand for international travel. Ironically, as Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director at Cork Airport, noted, many Leesiders are heading abroad on what has been the sunniest week of the year.

"Once again, the summer is upon us and we are ready to welcome our June Bank Holiday weekend influx of passengers. Visitors this week were marvelling at the summer sunshine and we hope for a repeat again in the week ahead. As post-primary schools finish for the summer, we're looking forward to welcoming lots of families from across the South of Ireland and beyond as they head off on their well-deserved holidays. Despite our ongoing large-scale construction works, our team are still providing the same friendly, easy, smooth travel experience."

Monday will also mark the launch of a brand new Aer Lingus service to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. Operating every Monday and Thursday between June and October, the new route is expected to appeal to those wishing to experience the Camino de Santiago, as well as the food and history of the Galicia region.

This week also sees the return of four popular Ryanair summer routes from Cork, to Carcassonne, La Rochelle, Rhodes and Zadar. All four services will run twice weekly for the summer and into the early autumn. Services to Carcassonne and Zadar will operate between June and late September, while La Rochelle and Rhodes will run until late October.

The weekend will also bring a healthy influx of international visitors, arriving to enjoy what the South of Ireland has to offer. Locally, the Cork Harbour Festival runs from 30 May to 8 June, celebrating Cork's maritime culture and heritage. Further west, the Kinsale Trad Festival takes place from 31 May to 1 June.

Cork Airport, part of the daa Group, is the second largest airport in the Republic of Ireland and was voted Best Regional Airport in Europe by ACI Europe in June 2025.

The airport's €200 million Capital Development Programme remains on-time and on-budget, with the works designed to support growth to beyond five million passengers per annum in the coming years.

Passengers travelling this weekend are advised to arrive at Cork Airport at least 90 minutes prior to boarding.