The ongoing saga surrounding the new €160 million Cork airport terminal took another twist yesterday when the airport authority announced it was deferring the operational opening of the building by up to a month because of delays in construction.
The Cork Airport Authority issued a statement yesterday evening confirming it had informed employees and customers that, due to delays in the construction programme, access to the terminal for testing and training would not be possible until May 8th.
The authority said the opening of the terminal for operational purposes was therefore not expected before early June. "As the terminal completion dates become more definitive, an operational date will be advised."
Construction began in mid-2003 and it had originally been scheduled to open in late 2005. However, this was first put back to early 2006, and then until May 10th, and it now appears that it will be June at the earliest before it is operational.
Informed sources have told The Irish Times that the authority is pushing to have the building opened before the end of June, as trying to train and transfer staff in July and August would be extremely difficult.
"The summer months are easily the busiest at Cork airport . . . trying to transfer then would be very difficult," said one source. "If they can't get the new terminal open and business transferred over by middle to late June, it will be very difficult to transfer over all the operations and it would probably be September before they could make the transition."
The Irish Times has learned that the airport may also face difficulties next month, when thousands of Munster rugby fans going to the Heineken European Cup Final in Cardiff on May 20th will increase pressure on the airport, which is already stretched at weekends.
The 25,000sq m terminal is designed to cater for three million passengers a year, with the capacity to expand to take up to five million. The existing 11,000sq m building was designed for 1.1 million passengers but is catering for 2.6 million.