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Simon Fagan (Chief Commercial Officer, Aer Arann) and Niall MacCarthy (Cork Airport Director) with Caroline Bigger (cabin crew, Aer Lingus Regional) and Teresa O’Mullane (cabin crew, Aer Lingus Regional) pictured at Aer Lingus Regional, operated by Aer Arann’s expansion announcement in Cork airport. Photo: Clare Keogh

Aer Lingus Regional, operated by Aer Arann, has announced it is to expand its services at Cork Airport, including the addition of 50,000 seats, as well as announcing new and expanded routes.

The airline said it expects to grow total passenger numbers from Cork to over 300,000 by the end of 2014, an increase of 20%. A new route from Cork to Newcastle has been launched with four weekly services, building on the success of the Dublin-Newcastle route launched last October.

The airline confirmed that the decision to expand its services to and from Cork was directly related to the Government's budget announcement to abolish the travel tax from April 2014.

The addition of the Newcastle route and expansion of other routes will increase flights between the UK and Cork to 174 flights per week. As part of a €35m investment, two brand new Aer Lingus Regional aircraft will be based in Cork from April to service the expanded routes.

Due to growing demand from the business community, expansions on other UK - Cork routes have been announced. The Manchester - Cork route will grow from 28 to 34 flights per week, including three flights on peak days.

The Cork - Bristol route grows to 18 flights from 14 flights per week. The Glasgow - Cork route capacity will grow by 10pc whilst existing services to Birmingham, Edinburgh and Jersey will be retained.

There will also be a doubling of capacity of flights to Rennes, in Northern France from early June. In order to accommodate tourism travel, Aer Lingus will be adding a Wednesday flight to complement the Saturday service.

Making the announcement in Cork alongside the airport's Director, Aer Arann's, Chief Commercial Officer, Simon Fagan said its Cork expansion programme was a key part of the airline's growth plan, and will provide further choice for passengers flying to and from the region.

"We are delighted to announce our Cork expansion programme. The airline is determined to grow both our passenger numbers and route network. The addition of a new service to Newcastle and increasing of our capacity on three key routes from Cork, provides real choice to the travelling public, and will serve to bring further visitors to the region."

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