In July the DAA brought in a 33 cent fee for all departing passengers. An EU directive was put in place so all passengers would share the cost for disabled services. Ryanair is however charging a 50 cent levy.

Shannon and Cork Airport passengers are also been charged a 50 cent levy in spite of the DAA set cost of 45 cent. Passengers at Cork Airport are paying fifteen euro in taxes and charges that it is claimed Ryanair do not have to pay according to the Evening Herald.

Ryanair flights make up forty percent of the European low cost flights market. Despite growing passenger numbers they are expected to announce a loss in profits this year. This is thought to be due to rising fuel costs.

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Passenger numbers at all three airports have dropped in the last three months. There was a big drop in numbers at Shannon Airport in 2008 due to the withdrawal of the Aer Lingus Heathrow service. DAA are reporting a likely drop in traffic in 2008 in comparison to the previous year once all figures are in.

An internal review is set to place to analyze the effects lower passenger numbers may have in the coming year. The DAA say the planned finish date for terminal 2 at Dublin Airport will not be affected. Despite the current drop in passenger numbers, the DAA still believe the future to be bright for the airline industry.

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Vincent Wall of the DAA has yet to confirm that the cuts will include redundancies however it is widely believed to be the case. He refused to go into detail on how the cost cutting measures would be implemented without first having meetings with union reps.

Wall also stated that plans for a 2nd runway at Dublin Airport have been put on hold for the time being. Currently the DAA employs two thousand seven hundred staff spread over three airports, Cork, Shannon and Dublin

Pay rates have already been frozen for top DAA employees with voluntary redundancies now expected.

You can fly from Cork Airport to 17 different airports. Some routes such as Manchester even have competing airlines flying from Cork. Between Ryanair and Aer Lingus there are 55 flights to London a week.

Last year at Cork Airport, the busiest routes were

• Heathrow
• Stansted
• Birmingham
• Gatwick
• Liverpool

Irish Airlines account for the bulk of flights at Cork Airport. Aer Arann has become a major player in recent years. Polish Airline Wizz Air does a lot of business with flights from Cork to Katowice, Gdansk and Warsaw.

Aer Lingus offers many routes from Cork to Europe including Malaga, Berlin and Prague.

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Perhaps it was best to have spent July in the west with Shannon Airport having the hottest day of the month at 25.3 degrees on the 24th of July.  Ireland tourist board officials insisted that the wet summer was normal for an Irish climate; however the bad weather took a heavy toll on the country’s tourism.

Of course rain will always interfere with plans in Ireland but people know that and they need to work around it.  Perhaps instead of complaining, the wet summer should be something to be embraced?  Believe it or not but some American tourists found the weather soothing as it gave them a break from the heat at home.

The outage was within the operation’s management system and it affected air conditioning and power.  However, runway lights, navigation tower, and radar were working just fine.  Airport management had been doing their best but the operation was obviously slower.  However, it was not known what had caused the outage.

Power was restored in the evening time, but management continued to study the situation.  Passengers complained of being unable buy food or water since electronic vending machines were not working.  Shops and restaurants were also closed.  Despite the inconvenience, airport management thanked the staff and the passengers for their patience, understanding, and co-operation.

The flight was to take off from Reus at 2.30pm, Monday, but because of technical difficulties, flight FPO 926 departed after 10pm.  After take off, passengers were informed that the captain decided to land the plane to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and a full-scale emergency was declared.

It was horrifying as kids were crying and people were terrified. There were people who were without money and low on medication. Nobody from Budget travel was there to help. Many said that they have decided to make formal lawsuit to Budget Travel. Budget Travel, However, apologized for what had happened and insisted that safety had to come first.

This came on the back of a statement from Aer Lingus – who currently offer 16 routes from Cork – insisting they were dedicated to Cork Airport, with plans for new destinations in the offing.

Concern regarding Cork routes had increased as some of the top brass from Aer Lingus came under mounting pressure to reinstate the Shannon-Heathrow route which was cancelled last week to cater for the new Belfast routes.

Kevin Cullinane (marketing manager, Cork airport) fervently denied suggestions that in recent years the airport had lagged behind other Irish airports like Shannon and Dublin in terms of Destination choices.

Mr. Cullinane stated that Cork airport currently serviced over 40 destinations with plans for 25 more destinations in the coming year. He also predicted that Cork airport would see over 3 million passengers coming through its doors this year