Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Mr Jacobs said Cork would grow again this year on the back of extra routes added by the main airlines Ryanair and Aer Lingus.

“We would be looking at double-digit growth through Cork this year,” he said. “Traffic for 2023 will be over 2.8m and we will definitely be over 3m this year. Flights to places like La Rochelle, Paris, Bristol, and Barcelona all did well in 2023.”

As head of the Daa, which operates Dublin and Cork airports, Jacobs said a range of major infrastructure upgrades are planned for both airports to increase capacity. The Daa lodged a 5,000-page planning application with Fingal County Council before Christmas for upgrades at Dublin Airport, to increase its capacity to 40m.

The airport is currently capped at 32m, which means restrictions will be in place for new flights. However, he said Cork was unlikely to benefit from any displaced routes from Dublin.

“We would urge airlines to consider Cork anyway, but it is not a case of them moving a route from Dublin to Cork, but they will have that option,” he said. “In general, Cork sells itself.”

Mr Jacobs said work would commence this year on what would be the largest upgrade to Cork Airport’s terminal since it opened in 2006.

It is planned to extend the mezzanine over the check-in desks to expand the footprint of the security section and allow the installation of new C3 security scanners.

“It will also allow us to expand the duty-free area and add new food and beverage facilities,” he said.

“These upgrades are needed. Based on Cork’s planned population growth, it needs a terminal with a capacity for 5m passengers per year.”

Capital funding of €6m has been made available to Cork Airport from the Government this year to support the security screening project.

With plans to increase both business and tourist passenger numbers, Mr Jacobs said it was important that the country’s tourism infrastructure is further developed.

He said concerns about the large number of tourism beds being used to house refugees were understandable, but said he was confident that capacity would
increase to meet demand.

“I would not be worried in the long term,” he said.

“There are a lot of new hotels under construction in Cork and elsewhere, and more beds will come on stream.”

The Daa chief said that in the longer term they are looking at adding extra gates and airside piers to accommodate more aircraft.

“The old terminal is slated to be demolished,” he said. “There is no specific timeline yet for its demolition but we have plans for new aircraft stands in that area.”

Mr Jacobs said a strong focus remains on sustainability, with a huge global focus on the carbon footprint of air travel.

“Ireland is in a strong position because we have two big carriers with modern fleets of aircraft and the carbon footprint per passenger will continue to come down,” he said.