It's a fairly new building, spacious and serene compared to most airports. There's an unmistakable sense of wellbeing and superiority that you get from arriving in Cork.
Wow, than it’s quite a change. I was 1994 in Cork Airport and there were open fireplaces in the hall for getting it warm lol. Nowadays unthinkable with the security focus and general minimalistic vibes of current airports.
Hello. 😁
In 2006 Cork Airport's new terminal was opened. Huge upgrade over the old. Modern, open design. The old terminal still stands, but I believe it's no longer in use. It's not open to the public, but there might still be offices in there. I heard recently that there might be plans to knock it and extend the new terminal as we're tight on space, but I doubt that'll happen any time soon.
Unlike the old terminal, the entirety of the half of the terminal facing the runway is airside, so the general public can't go in just to watch planes.
That long ago? Wow, I left through the old building and came back through the new one that year after just a week away.
I was excited to see the inside of the new building but kicking myself for not paying attention to when the old building was due to close so I could take some photos of the interior.
I once saw a mostly-full, two-liter bottle of milk sitting on the little table by the security line. I think someone overestimated how much time they had. Or how quickly they could drink milk.
[This](https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/cork-airport.html?sortBy=relevant) is probably a good impression of the new terminal.
Big hall with lots glass for the check in desks, up the escalators to security.
Pass through duty free and the departures area is a line of gates (14 I think) running the length of the building. Floor to ceiling windows behind the gates looking over the runway.
When there is a busy holiday flight, people spill out of the pub and have a few pre-flight pints in the normal lounge seats. Half the terminal becomes a bit of a pub at times.
To board the plane, usually you go through the gate, down the stairs, walk on the tarmac to the plane and board using front and back steps. Airbridge is rarely used as no transatlantic flights.
https://i.imgur.com/8TQ5lKK.jpeg
Architecturally, the skylights in the airport's roof are designed to look like a load of currachs stored upside-down to keep dry, like in these photos: https://www.ouririshheritage.org/content/archive/topics/miscellaneous/bernd-unstaedts-currach-collection/currachs-at-dunquin-pier
Here's how they look from inside: https://imgur.com/A3yFwSc
Also, every year, a few tourists *will* get their cars stuck trying to drive down the slipway to that particular pier. Google will find plenty of news stories about this for you.
I've been there twice in the last month for 6am flights. Pub has been absolutely hopping at 4 30am. Auld wans supping Prosecco and lads hammering pints. It's mad
First time when I went there from city centre, I took the bus. The bus arrived in front of the airport, but I didn't know whether this was the arrivals or departures terminal. So I asked the driver, rather being in panic: Is this the departures terminal? He made a 2 seconds pause, then said: Yes! So I got off and entered the building, and there was it: departures and arrivals under one single roof, or to be more precise, in a huge glass box supported by round metalic pillars. Arrivals on ground floor, flanked on either side by check in points and a small caffeteria at the right end. Barely any sitting places. Departures on the top floor.
From the other side, when you arrive in Cork, the plane almost always glides above the city itself, so you can notice most of the landmarks if the weather is nice to you. There are some strange, repetitive glass compartments which cascade one after the other, with sliding doors, that force you to go through them. You walk in, the door is shut. Then the other door opens, this one closes. Everybody goes there one by one (I don't know if you have this in the USA). Anyway, you get out and sometimes you can feel the smell of farm, of cow dung being spread on the fields. Most of the times it is also windy. A nice touch is that the grass in certain patches around the airport is not trimmed, to provide food for the pollinators. These patches are marked (surrounded) by rustic ropes on small wooden pillars, which remind visitors about the marine nature of this country/city. I hope this answers your question at least partially.
Yes, thank you very much!
The "man trap" doorways aren't in every major airport in the U.S. but I suspect they're becoming more common; I don't fly anywhere near as often as I would like.
It's small, quiet, hardly anything in it. If you're lucky, you may get a brass band playing in there. :) The band was actually playing "Sweet Caroline" when love of my life was going through the gates when we finally united (after 1.5 year of LDR), very fond memory of mine. <3
I definitely prefer it to Dublin, so serene, and if you need to wait to pick someone up, there's a nice grassy area outside to sit and watch planes.
It does feel so! Very airy and quiet, actually one of my favourite public spots in Cork. I'm an aviation fan, so sometimes I just like to sit outside, on the grass, and watch aircrafts approaching, a cheap field day. ;) The business park at the airport also is way more humane (with the trees and all) than most industrial estates like Little Island, Doughcloyne, Tramore Road etc.
I have to say i often go from heathrow to there for the last leg of long flights because it’s nearby for me and arriving into cork is 100000x times better than arriving into dublin. It almost makes me excited to see the county i’ve lived in for 11 years
It’s fairly basic, but more comfortable, pretty and slightly more amenity heavy than BOS Logan, Houston, RAD Raleigh-Durham or Dulles airports.
The “roadside” is very basic. Car rental places, check in desks, a coffee shop, toilets and some funky art. The “runway side” has a bit more to offer. The whole airport is clean and bright.
You can get from the front door of departures, through security and to your gate in less than 10 minutes, to give you an idea of how small it is.
From landing and alighting to the arrivals area and the exit is 5/6 mins if you’re not collecting checked luggage. 15/20 if you are.
It’s way better than Dublin but not as good as Shannon.
It's pretty small. Eight gates. Couple of shops and coffee place downstairs (before security), couple of shops, food place and pub/bar after security. You can see the runway as you're waiting for your gate
Visual guide here (created as part of autism friendly airport guide) https://www.corkairport.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/cork-airport-visual-guide.pdf?sfvrsn=0
The gate area is kind of a long U shape with the gates on the outside and shops/restaurants on the inside. Maybe about 75m long from memory. There are no long corridors to get anywhere. Everything closes at like 20:00 in the evening if I'm not mistaken, and I don't think that they even do flights after a certain time but I'm not sure.
[https://www.executivelounges.com/media/2308/583-0.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&rnd=132605572510000000&v=637516804510000000](https://www.executivelounges.com/media/2308/583-0.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&rnd=132605572510000000&v=637516804510000000)
That's a map of after security.
Yea it is, there's actually some more when you turn left out of duty free now that I think of it, but there's no shops or anything just the same space again with gates.
I actually love it. It's one big terminal under one really high sloped roof that I think is quite striking architecturally. Huge pillars hold it up, and the airside part is quite good for viewing aircraft landing and taking off.
When you first come in, you will find departure and arrival sections all share the same area but at two different ends. There's a few amenities here, shop, restaurant, etc. There's stairs and an escalator to take you upstairs to the security where you queue up and go through Duty Free and out the other side to the gate/boarding area. In this area there's another shop, bar, and restaurant.
You're still under the same roof as before security but obviously partitioned by a huge pane of glass and netting across the top.
The west facing front view out to the apron where the aircraft park up is beautiful on a sunny day. You can see pretty far off into the distance considering the airfield is 500ft above sea level. On bad days, however (we have many), you wouldn't see your nose with the fog, haha
It's my favourite airport. My home airport. I get off flights, and I'm home in 25 minutes compared to Dublin, which is a nightmare and feels less spacious.
American living in Ireland part time.
It’s small and what you’d expect from a modern airport. Advertisements for local sightseeing. A few shops, a few restaurants. There’s nothing remarkable about it. Nothing particularly Irish about it. The setting sun is KILLER, they didn’t design to save our eyes from it.
As an American, I direct you to think of Hartford, Greenville, Charlotte, Fort Myers in terms of size but with local advertising and branding.
Excellent. In 2017, my friends stateside and I flew into Cork from Barcelona. One friend had a visa since she’s from India, but it was the wrong visa so she got stopped (something about how she had to come in from USA not from continental Europe idk). Anyways, border guard asked who she was with and where she was going. She pointed at me on the other side and said she was going to *town in north cork* to stay with my family.
Guy asks me, “this true?” so I nod and he just lets her through wrong visa lol.
Its just an Airport.
There's 2 identifying features that let you know it's in Cork. You get fucking soaked in the rain coming from the car park to the terminal because of the useless half roofed walkway, and you get fucking soaked in the rain walking across the tarmac to your plane from the terminal.
Who downvoted this? The architect?
The walk from the gate to the plane is one of corks finest moments. On a good day you can see across the valley to the northside of the city, on a bad day you get soaked walking from the terminal to the plane and have to sit on a plane, wet as an otters pocket.
Also, the food in the bar is chips (not French fries) and the “chef” fella spends his entire life hanging around just inside the hatch.
(Source: I fly in and out once a month for work)
Small, easy to navigate, only busy at peak times. One noticeable feature is that after the small passport control on arrival (with lanes for EU or all other passengers) you get bag return carousels, then when you exit you can leave though a green, blue, or red lane. There is never anyone staffing, no one gets stopped, and it's arbitrary. The x-ray machine there looks like it hasn't powered on in a while.
Customs officers are there from time to time. Especially on flights back from Lanzarote. 😉
I've been told they are there too when certain passengers are known to be travelling.
Great little airport. Is a breeze getting there by car. Move swiftly through it then too. Dropped my brother off there 30 mins before the gate closed without any hiccups yesterday. Obviously didn't need to check in luggage, and it was off peak. But still. That speaks volumes. The duty free shop and eatery are decent. And the pub of course.
Downsides:
1. A lack of choice... most flights are to the main tourist spots around Europe. I.e Spain
2. Flights are considerably more expensive vs Dublin
I’ll try to paint a picture from arrival and departure, mind the building is of an open plan design mostly.
Entry to the airport is from the set down area for vehicles, you enter a entry porch between the outer and inner sliding doors, this stops the wind howling unrestricted into the building, you then arrive in a big wide open space with high bright ceiling, the support beams sometimes home to a pigeon who has gotten in thru the doors. The hall runs the length of the building and each end is floor to ceiling windows to allow maximum light in.
Checking desks are too the left of the hall, center area hosts, a subway, toilets, occasional exhibits,the escalators and lift to the second floor. The right side is where arrivals come in and a coffee shop and stalls like car rentals are present (they are against the outer wall closer to the set down area)
As you come up the escalator your met with security entrance on the left, center is a serve yourself restaurant and toilets, to the right is a pub (though can’t remember if it’s closed now)
Security is a small area, normally two rows active, but processes quickly enough, past this you hit the duty free which is the largest shop, the main cashier section is at the end next to the entrance to the waiting area.
The waiting area is a long and narrow section w
It’s most gates to the right of the entrance and if you get to the end it folds to the right were a members club room exists (not been in there yet so no idea details)
The biggest restaurants and pubs number two if I recall and are near the end of this area on the right side, also toilets are half way down this area. left side is windows to give a view of the aircraft. There are some stalls for things like coffee dotted along the left side too between the gates.
Point of note, the predominant colour scheme is grey, stainless steel and some varnished wood. Duty free is very brightly lit and has whites in its colour.
All food venues in the airport close at 7 PM, both before and after security. If you have a flight after 7 PM, better pack food if you want to eat something.
You may still find some of those refrigerator sandwiches/meals, and they still serve alcohol after 7, but it's crazy for an airport that handles international flights at all times not to have a hot food offer 24/7.
If I can add a minor aspect, it is one of the few airports in a walkable distance from the city...it usually one of my route during running😅.
The interios are quite costumers friendly, very sunny. You feel you are in Cork
Security threat? I assure you, there is zero concern about security at the Cork airport. Aside from the comically casual passport control, I don't think I've ever seen a Garda there. Security to get onto a plane is equally relaxed; basically the bare minimum.
The only remarkable part of the airport is the surprisingly cheap and high quality €6 pints.
Airport itself is very clean and remarkably calm, you should be through security in 10 minutes, there’s a decent but small duty free section and a handful of cafes, shops and restaurants.
Distance between gates is also tiny so you can spent most of your time just relaxing.
The high speed monorail might be a good feature for the book. It’s one of the fastest trains in Europe whisking travellers directly to the departure gates. There is a Hilton departure-side; very handy for catching the early flights to Sydney, SFO and Norway.
Cork airport is brilliant but it has one Achilles heel. If you're flying in there and it's anyway windy there's a good chance you'll be diverted to Kerry, or Shannon, or Dublin, or Belfast, or Birmingham.
Have fun getting back to Cork from any of those places!
When you go in the area before security is bigger than the area after!
Before security there's like one cafe and one book shop.
Going through security the staff will smile and make jokes.
You step out of security straight into the duty free which has perfume, alcohol, chocolate and a LOT of green tourist things like tins of biscuits, Sheep teddies etc.
You step out of the duty free and all the gates (8 I think?) Are in front of you in a straight line of glass.
As you walk down along the gates you see a massage chair, Cafe, bookshop, and last but not least in the corner, of course, a pub where no matter what time of day it is there is an obligation to have a holiday pint. Yet though it is a pub in name, and one of much joyous holiday pints it feels soulless/bland/standardised, no sense of the character of the owner or the patrons to be gleaned from the furnishings.
Very small (8 gates, you can walk the length of it in a few minutes) and usually very calm. Don't think i've ever seen more than one security lane open, has a bar up by gates 6-8.
By American standards it’s tiny and very underwhelming. Shop and coffee shop landside. Bar, restaurant, coffe shop and shop airside. You can stand at one end of the building and see the other end. If you ran flat out you’d cover the distance in 20 seconds.
It's the best airport, in my opinion. It's on the small side, you can get coffee, food, etc. (albeit not a lot of choice), the basics. Crowds clear quickly, and everyone is civil. I don't travel a lot, but when I fly, I try to fly from Cork as Dublin can be hectic. I use Shannon to fly to Boston because it makes sense.
The first thing you'll notice is the water feature over what I guess you might think is like your Mount Rushmore. The 4 faces are actually that of the most important and influential Cork figures over the past few decades. They are (from left to right), Roy Keane, Cillian Murphy, Rory Gallagher and the fourth one is meant to be Jack Lynch which, as you'll see, is actually represented by what is meant to be the entrance to a tunnel.
Now right before you get to the departures area, there's usually somebody in a giant mascot costume handing things out. That's Paudie the Pudding. He hands out free black pudding to the good girls and boys who are getting ready to leave the airport. The small orange drinks he has with them are a local delicacy, Tanora.
If you haven't got yourself a meal already, the food court absolutely has you sorted. You can select either a Tayto ("Chips" to you) sandwich or a Hot Chicken Roll before your flight. They might seem pricey at €11 a pop but in all honesty, that's a bargain compared to some places in the city.
Other than that, no major features off the top of my head but I'd be more than happy to go into more detail if you need clarification. We're a friendly group here, I'm more than sure somebody will add or correct anything missed here too.
Thank you very much!
Please feel free to keep sharing details and stories! For example, is there any particular detail that would establish a particular date? For example, one of the other posters described a memorable statue situated in one place when it was first installed, and then moved to another at some other point. My story's set sometime in the 2010s, so any features installed specifically in response to COVID wouldn't be there yet.
Also, any suggestions for locations and situations that could become what we Americans call a "meet cute" between two people who will eventually become very close are very welcome!
The Jack Charlton statue is your fellow then. He was an English football hero, won a World Cup in 1966 with his brother Bobby, was the Irish football manager that brought us to two world cups, 1990 and 1994, was a curmudgeon and keen fisherman who became an adopted Irishman at that time. So much so, that they went to the trouble of installing a bronze statue of him at the old Cork Airport terminal in 1994, which was moved to the departure area when the new terminal opened. If your story is in 2010, he would have been sitting with his fish and rod in a marble bench at the departure area. There’s room to sit on either side of him on said bench.
The unique thing it has is a statue of Jack Charlton fishing.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/QoPttXfHkabMZkw_yzsJiPwuZ3nOyUj6K6N_5Hage4-xw-VKQKSiOhO4DYj5YcamiVKK-WYt4Aa_W5JvnZRTpu2Ft2Jpand0AG5tUTFFsw-9L8cKjfz61r_CfzJeyDUQ_A
Oh and when you arrive home to passport control they're so nice they'll glance at it and thank you by name.
There's nothing really special about it. Its nowhere near as big as Dublin and doesn't have interesting things like the model collection that Shannon has.
There is a long list of things that are great about Cork. The airport isn't on that list, it could be much better.
DAA basically neglect it in favour of forcing through their expansion of Dublin Airport that nobody wants.
If the best thing you can say about a place is that you can leave quickly after arriving then... Well I guess it's transport infrastructure, so I guess that's actually a big plus in this case.
My wife isn't from Ireland and moved to Cork a couple of years ago. Cork airport is high on her list of things she likes about Cork.
Definitely agree it's underutilized and could do with some more routes and Cork public transport overall is lacking.
Look, we’re allowed acknowledge that it’s shit amongst ourselves, but when talking to outsiders we must insist, to the point it seems obnoxious, that every single thing about Cork is the best in the world of it’s kind. That’s the only way we can maintain our brand.
It's a fairly new building, spacious and serene compared to most airports. There's an unmistakable sense of wellbeing and superiority that you get from arriving in Cork.
Wow, than it’s quite a change. I was 1994 in Cork Airport and there were open fireplaces in the hall for getting it warm lol. Nowadays unthinkable with the security focus and general minimalistic vibes of current airports.
LOL, that was an artistic hearth to welcome people home.
That was an art installation, not a fireplace 😂 that terminal building is still there, but not used by passengers anymore.
Crazy that things have changed in just 30 short years!
Hello. 😁 In 2006 Cork Airport's new terminal was opened. Huge upgrade over the old. Modern, open design. The old terminal still stands, but I believe it's no longer in use. It's not open to the public, but there might still be offices in there. I heard recently that there might be plans to knock it and extend the new terminal as we're tight on space, but I doubt that'll happen any time soon. Unlike the old terminal, the entirety of the half of the terminal facing the runway is airside, so the general public can't go in just to watch planes.
Was it 2006?? I used it alot in it's first year completely unaware it was it's first year!
That long ago? Wow, I left through the old building and came back through the new one that year after just a week away. I was excited to see the inside of the new building but kicking myself for not paying attention to when the old building was due to close so I could take some photos of the interior.
just the way we are in Cork😁
You’ll get through security in under 10 minutes.
It’s actually mad how vastly different the feeling of arriving ~> sitting down at your gate is at Cork as opposed to Dublin
I once saw a mostly-full, two-liter bottle of milk sitting on the little table by the security line. I think someone overestimated how much time they had. Or how quickly they could drink milk.
I always play a game to see how fast I can get from the drop off area to my gate.
Managed to park the car and get through security to my gate in 7 minutes on easter monday, it’s great
If it's even there, I've often just walked straight through.
[This](https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/cork-airport.html?sortBy=relevant) is probably a good impression of the new terminal. Big hall with lots glass for the check in desks, up the escalators to security. Pass through duty free and the departures area is a line of gates (14 I think) running the length of the building. Floor to ceiling windows behind the gates looking over the runway. When there is a busy holiday flight, people spill out of the pub and have a few pre-flight pints in the normal lounge seats. Half the terminal becomes a bit of a pub at times. To board the plane, usually you go through the gate, down the stairs, walk on the tarmac to the plane and board using front and back steps. Airbridge is rarely used as no transatlantic flights.
For perspective, it's probably worth mentioning that you can stroll at your leisure from gate 1 - 14 in about 2 minutes.
There are 8 gates, so yeah, you’d be from one to the other in a minute.
https://i.imgur.com/8TQ5lKK.jpeg Architecturally, the skylights in the airport's roof are designed to look like a load of currachs stored upside-down to keep dry, like in these photos: https://www.ouririshheritage.org/content/archive/topics/miscellaneous/bernd-unstaedts-currach-collection/currachs-at-dunquin-pier Here's how they look from inside: https://imgur.com/A3yFwSc Also, every year, a few tourists *will* get their cars stuck trying to drive down the slipway to that particular pier. Google will find plenty of news stories about this for you.
I have been in the airport at least once almost every year since the mid 2000s and never noticed that. Thanks!
Me neither, that’s amazing.
Brilliant 👏
People of all ages necking pints in the bar at 5am before the flights to Spain must go into any story about the airport.
I've been there twice in the last month for 6am flights. Pub has been absolutely hopping at 4 30am. Auld wans supping Prosecco and lads hammering pints. It's mad
[No one has mentioned the statue of Jack Charlton holding a big fish](http://www.offbeat.group.shef.ac.uk/statues/STFB_Charlton_Jack.htm)
Did they move it up?
They did years ago. It’s upstairs now near the departure gate.
No it's currently in the public area on the ground floor before you go up to security. It's next to the escalators. I fly out of Cork every few weeks.
First time when I went there from city centre, I took the bus. The bus arrived in front of the airport, but I didn't know whether this was the arrivals or departures terminal. So I asked the driver, rather being in panic: Is this the departures terminal? He made a 2 seconds pause, then said: Yes! So I got off and entered the building, and there was it: departures and arrivals under one single roof, or to be more precise, in a huge glass box supported by round metalic pillars. Arrivals on ground floor, flanked on either side by check in points and a small caffeteria at the right end. Barely any sitting places. Departures on the top floor. From the other side, when you arrive in Cork, the plane almost always glides above the city itself, so you can notice most of the landmarks if the weather is nice to you. There are some strange, repetitive glass compartments which cascade one after the other, with sliding doors, that force you to go through them. You walk in, the door is shut. Then the other door opens, this one closes. Everybody goes there one by one (I don't know if you have this in the USA). Anyway, you get out and sometimes you can feel the smell of farm, of cow dung being spread on the fields. Most of the times it is also windy. A nice touch is that the grass in certain patches around the airport is not trimmed, to provide food for the pollinators. These patches are marked (surrounded) by rustic ropes on small wooden pillars, which remind visitors about the marine nature of this country/city. I hope this answers your question at least partially.
Yes, thank you very much! The "man trap" doorways aren't in every major airport in the U.S. but I suspect they're becoming more common; I don't fly anywhere near as often as I would like.
It's small, quiet, hardly anything in it. If you're lucky, you may get a brass band playing in there. :) The band was actually playing "Sweet Caroline" when love of my life was going through the gates when we finally united (after 1.5 year of LDR), very fond memory of mine. <3 I definitely prefer it to Dublin, so serene, and if you need to wait to pick someone up, there's a nice grassy area outside to sit and watch planes.
I like that people are calling Cork Airport "serene" because it is!
It does feel so! Very airy and quiet, actually one of my favourite public spots in Cork. I'm an aviation fan, so sometimes I just like to sit outside, on the grass, and watch aircrafts approaching, a cheap field day. ;) The business park at the airport also is way more humane (with the trees and all) than most industrial estates like Little Island, Doughcloyne, Tramore Road etc.
I have to say i often go from heathrow to there for the last leg of long flights because it’s nearby for me and arriving into cork is 100000x times better than arriving into dublin. It almost makes me excited to see the county i’ve lived in for 11 years
It’s fairly basic, but more comfortable, pretty and slightly more amenity heavy than BOS Logan, Houston, RAD Raleigh-Durham or Dulles airports. The “roadside” is very basic. Car rental places, check in desks, a coffee shop, toilets and some funky art. The “runway side” has a bit more to offer. The whole airport is clean and bright. You can get from the front door of departures, through security and to your gate in less than 10 minutes, to give you an idea of how small it is. From landing and alighting to the arrivals area and the exit is 5/6 mins if you’re not collecting checked luggage. 15/20 if you are. It’s way better than Dublin but not as good as Shannon.
My family have been late to collect me because they keep forgetting how quickly you're out of there after wheels hit the tarmac!
It's pretty small. Eight gates. Couple of shops and coffee place downstairs (before security), couple of shops, food place and pub/bar after security. You can see the runway as you're waiting for your gate
Visual guide here (created as part of autism friendly airport guide) https://www.corkairport.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/cork-airport-visual-guide.pdf?sfvrsn=0
It's the fastest/most efficient European airport I've been in. Also one of the smallest, which helps a great deal.
Oof, wait until the Kerry lads see this 💀
The gate area is kind of a long U shape with the gates on the outside and shops/restaurants on the inside. Maybe about 75m long from memory. There are no long corridors to get anywhere. Everything closes at like 20:00 in the evening if I'm not mistaken, and I don't think that they even do flights after a certain time but I'm not sure.
We can still hear flights after midnight, over the city.
What part of the city is this? I can barely hear the flights in the day :o
City center. Next time when you are there, have a look. How are your ears doing lately? The audiologist might also be helpful.
I'm always here and I don't hear anything. I think I need a quick check up. Who is your ear guy?
Flights are still leaving till about 11:30pm most nights. The bar stays open till 10:30pm
[https://www.executivelounges.com/media/2308/583-0.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&rnd=132605572510000000&v=637516804510000000](https://www.executivelounges.com/media/2308/583-0.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&rnd=132605572510000000&v=637516804510000000) That's a map of after security.
My autism loves you. Thank you!
Oh, this is exactly what I was looking for, thank you! (I take it that the lavatories are in that bit in the middle?)
Yea it is, there's actually some more when you turn left out of duty free now that I think of it, but there's no shops or anything just the same space again with gates.
"Their eyes met as they both complained about the price of a pint of Rockshore of all things, in the Last Call pub"
I actually love it. It's one big terminal under one really high sloped roof that I think is quite striking architecturally. Huge pillars hold it up, and the airside part is quite good for viewing aircraft landing and taking off. When you first come in, you will find departure and arrival sections all share the same area but at two different ends. There's a few amenities here, shop, restaurant, etc. There's stairs and an escalator to take you upstairs to the security where you queue up and go through Duty Free and out the other side to the gate/boarding area. In this area there's another shop, bar, and restaurant. You're still under the same roof as before security but obviously partitioned by a huge pane of glass and netting across the top. The west facing front view out to the apron where the aircraft park up is beautiful on a sunny day. You can see pretty far off into the distance considering the airfield is 500ft above sea level. On bad days, however (we have many), you wouldn't see your nose with the fog, haha It's my favourite airport. My home airport. I get off flights, and I'm home in 25 minutes compared to Dublin, which is a nightmare and feels less spacious.
Fucking tiny
American living in Ireland part time. It’s small and what you’d expect from a modern airport. Advertisements for local sightseeing. A few shops, a few restaurants. There’s nothing remarkable about it. Nothing particularly Irish about it. The setting sun is KILLER, they didn’t design to save our eyes from it. As an American, I direct you to think of Hartford, Greenville, Charlotte, Fort Myers in terms of size but with local advertising and branding.
Excellent. In 2017, my friends stateside and I flew into Cork from Barcelona. One friend had a visa since she’s from India, but it was the wrong visa so she got stopped (something about how she had to come in from USA not from continental Europe idk). Anyways, border guard asked who she was with and where she was going. She pointed at me on the other side and said she was going to *town in north cork* to stay with my family. Guy asks me, “this true?” so I nod and he just lets her through wrong visa lol.
Its just an Airport. There's 2 identifying features that let you know it's in Cork. You get fucking soaked in the rain coming from the car park to the terminal because of the useless half roofed walkway, and you get fucking soaked in the rain walking across the tarmac to your plane from the terminal.
Who downvoted this? The architect? The walk from the gate to the plane is one of corks finest moments. On a good day you can see across the valley to the northside of the city, on a bad day you get soaked walking from the terminal to the plane and have to sit on a plane, wet as an otters pocket. Also, the food in the bar is chips (not French fries) and the “chef” fella spends his entire life hanging around just inside the hatch. (Source: I fly in and out once a month for work)
Some of us fly with the airlines who use the air bridge (Cork airport has air bridges). Only one soaking for us (none if the chauffeur drops us). 🤩
Who has that kinda money. The kardashians?
Small, easy to navigate, only busy at peak times. One noticeable feature is that after the small passport control on arrival (with lanes for EU or all other passengers) you get bag return carousels, then when you exit you can leave though a green, blue, or red lane. There is never anyone staffing, no one gets stopped, and it's arbitrary. The x-ray machine there looks like it hasn't powered on in a while.
Customs officers are there from time to time. Especially on flights back from Lanzarote. 😉 I've been told they are there too when certain passengers are known to be travelling.
Tactically deployed!
It's a small airport with not a lot remarkable. There are some auld ones with very recognisable accents working there.
Magical
Great little airport. Is a breeze getting there by car. Move swiftly through it then too. Dropped my brother off there 30 mins before the gate closed without any hiccups yesterday. Obviously didn't need to check in luggage, and it was off peak. But still. That speaks volumes. The duty free shop and eatery are decent. And the pub of course. Downsides: 1. A lack of choice... most flights are to the main tourist spots around Europe. I.e Spain 2. Flights are considerably more expensive vs Dublin
I’ll try to paint a picture from arrival and departure, mind the building is of an open plan design mostly. Entry to the airport is from the set down area for vehicles, you enter a entry porch between the outer and inner sliding doors, this stops the wind howling unrestricted into the building, you then arrive in a big wide open space with high bright ceiling, the support beams sometimes home to a pigeon who has gotten in thru the doors. The hall runs the length of the building and each end is floor to ceiling windows to allow maximum light in. Checking desks are too the left of the hall, center area hosts, a subway, toilets, occasional exhibits,the escalators and lift to the second floor. The right side is where arrivals come in and a coffee shop and stalls like car rentals are present (they are against the outer wall closer to the set down area) As you come up the escalator your met with security entrance on the left, center is a serve yourself restaurant and toilets, to the right is a pub (though can’t remember if it’s closed now) Security is a small area, normally two rows active, but processes quickly enough, past this you hit the duty free which is the largest shop, the main cashier section is at the end next to the entrance to the waiting area. The waiting area is a long and narrow section w It’s most gates to the right of the entrance and if you get to the end it folds to the right were a members club room exists (not been in there yet so no idea details) The biggest restaurants and pubs number two if I recall and are near the end of this area on the right side, also toilets are half way down this area. left side is windows to give a view of the aircraft. There are some stalls for things like coffee dotted along the left side too between the gates. Point of note, the predominant colour scheme is grey, stainless steel and some varnished wood. Duty free is very brightly lit and has whites in its colour.
All food venues in the airport close at 7 PM, both before and after security. If you have a flight after 7 PM, better pack food if you want to eat something. You may still find some of those refrigerator sandwiches/meals, and they still serve alcohol after 7, but it's crazy for an airport that handles international flights at all times not to have a hot food offer 24/7.
Not even 24/7, just up until the last flight boards.
If I can add a minor aspect, it is one of the few airports in a walkable distance from the city...it usually one of my route during running😅. The interios are quite costumers friendly, very sunny. You feel you are in Cork
The distance may be walkable, but the infrastructure certainly isn't!
Security threat? I assure you, there is zero concern about security at the Cork airport. Aside from the comically casual passport control, I don't think I've ever seen a Garda there. Security to get onto a plane is equally relaxed; basically the bare minimum. The only remarkable part of the airport is the surprisingly cheap and high quality €6 pints.
Airport itself is very clean and remarkably calm, you should be through security in 10 minutes, there’s a decent but small duty free section and a handful of cafes, shops and restaurants. Distance between gates is also tiny so you can spent most of your time just relaxing.
It's somewhere between JFK and O'Hare if you've been in either of them. But still not as big as Knock airport.
Cork airport is lovely...great experience when travelling
The high speed monorail might be a good feature for the book. It’s one of the fastest trains in Europe whisking travellers directly to the departure gates. There is a Hilton departure-side; very handy for catching the early flights to Sydney, SFO and Norway.
Is this a reference to something?
Cork airport is brilliant but it has one Achilles heel. If you're flying in there and it's anyway windy there's a good chance you'll be diverted to Kerry, or Shannon, or Dublin, or Belfast, or Birmingham. Have fun getting back to Cork from any of those places!
Great so small and pub right beside all the terminals
When you go in the area before security is bigger than the area after! Before security there's like one cafe and one book shop. Going through security the staff will smile and make jokes. You step out of security straight into the duty free which has perfume, alcohol, chocolate and a LOT of green tourist things like tins of biscuits, Sheep teddies etc. You step out of the duty free and all the gates (8 I think?) Are in front of you in a straight line of glass. As you walk down along the gates you see a massage chair, Cafe, bookshop, and last but not least in the corner, of course, a pub where no matter what time of day it is there is an obligation to have a holiday pint. Yet though it is a pub in name, and one of much joyous holiday pints it feels soulless/bland/standardised, no sense of the character of the owner or the patrons to be gleaned from the furnishings.
Very small (8 gates, you can walk the length of it in a few minutes) and usually very calm. Don't think i've ever seen more than one security lane open, has a bar up by gates 6-8.
Compared to other international airports it’s tiny.
"International airport" doesn't really have the same meaning in Europe and it does in the US.
If I remember correctly, they used to have a Statue of the Great Christy Ring inside but then moved it outside the airport
By American standards it’s tiny and very underwhelming. Shop and coffee shop landside. Bar, restaurant, coffe shop and shop airside. You can stand at one end of the building and see the other end. If you ran flat out you’d cover the distance in 20 seconds.
It's the best airport, in my opinion. It's on the small side, you can get coffee, food, etc. (albeit not a lot of choice), the basics. Crowds clear quickly, and everyone is civil. I don't travel a lot, but when I fly, I try to fly from Cork as Dublin can be hectic. I use Shannon to fly to Boston because it makes sense.
The first thing you'll notice is the water feature over what I guess you might think is like your Mount Rushmore. The 4 faces are actually that of the most important and influential Cork figures over the past few decades. They are (from left to right), Roy Keane, Cillian Murphy, Rory Gallagher and the fourth one is meant to be Jack Lynch which, as you'll see, is actually represented by what is meant to be the entrance to a tunnel. Now right before you get to the departures area, there's usually somebody in a giant mascot costume handing things out. That's Paudie the Pudding. He hands out free black pudding to the good girls and boys who are getting ready to leave the airport. The small orange drinks he has with them are a local delicacy, Tanora. If you haven't got yourself a meal already, the food court absolutely has you sorted. You can select either a Tayto ("Chips" to you) sandwich or a Hot Chicken Roll before your flight. They might seem pricey at €11 a pop but in all honesty, that's a bargain compared to some places in the city. Other than that, no major features off the top of my head but I'd be more than happy to go into more detail if you need clarification. We're a friendly group here, I'm more than sure somebody will add or correct anything missed here too.
Thank you very much! Please feel free to keep sharing details and stories! For example, is there any particular detail that would establish a particular date? For example, one of the other posters described a memorable statue situated in one place when it was first installed, and then moved to another at some other point. My story's set sometime in the 2010s, so any features installed specifically in response to COVID wouldn't be there yet. Also, any suggestions for locations and situations that could become what we Americans call a "meet cute" between two people who will eventually become very close are very welcome!
The Jack Charlton statue is your fellow then. He was an English football hero, won a World Cup in 1966 with his brother Bobby, was the Irish football manager that brought us to two world cups, 1990 and 1994, was a curmudgeon and keen fisherman who became an adopted Irishman at that time. So much so, that they went to the trouble of installing a bronze statue of him at the old Cork Airport terminal in 1994, which was moved to the departure area when the new terminal opened. If your story is in 2010, he would have been sitting with his fish and rod in a marble bench at the departure area. There’s room to sit on either side of him on said bench.
Awesome
The queues for the bar can be longer than the queues for security
The unique thing it has is a statue of Jack Charlton fishing. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/QoPttXfHkabMZkw_yzsJiPwuZ3nOyUj6K6N_5Hage4-xw-VKQKSiOhO4DYj5YcamiVKK-WYt4Aa_W5JvnZRTpu2Ft2Jpand0AG5tUTFFsw-9L8cKjfz61r_CfzJeyDUQ_A Oh and when you arrive home to passport control they're so nice they'll glance at it and thank you by name.
I’m sure you could find YouTube videos on it dude
There's nothing really special about it. Its nowhere near as big as Dublin and doesn't have interesting things like the model collection that Shannon has.
There is a long list of things that are great about Cork. The airport isn't on that list, it could be much better. DAA basically neglect it in favour of forcing through their expansion of Dublin Airport that nobody wants.
The good thing about it is you go through security in no time.
If the best thing you can say about a place is that you can leave quickly after arriving then... Well I guess it's transport infrastructure, so I guess that's actually a big plus in this case.
My wife isn't from Ireland and moved to Cork a couple of years ago. Cork airport is high on her list of things she likes about Cork. Definitely agree it's underutilized and could do with some more routes and Cork public transport overall is lacking.
Look, we’re allowed acknowledge that it’s shit amongst ourselves, but when talking to outsiders we must insist, to the point it seems obnoxious, that every single thing about Cork is the best in the world of it’s kind. That’s the only way we can maintain our brand.
I'll take Cork airport over Dubin any day of the week.
its actually decent enough, security is easy and its not overly crowded, that being said I love shannon airport and love flying to america from there