On 14th November 1959 , the gates of Cottrell's farm in Lehenaghmore opened to admit the bulldozers onto the land. Less than 2 years later on 16th October 1961 , Cork Airport opened for business. This article highlights what happened BEFORE , DURING and AFTER this historic event all those years ago. And so much more!
BEFORE
Not many people may be aware , but the majority of Cork Airport is actually in Togher! The main area of the Airport , including its terminal , control tower , apron and much of its runway as originally built in 1960/61 was constructed on Cottrell's Farm in Lehenaghmore , a townland of Togher ( see map below ) with the remainder of the runway extending into the neighboring townland of Ballygarvan.
Following independence in 1922 , the possibility of an Airport for Cork was mentioned in the halls of power. However its history is convoluted and would take almost 40 years to become a reality! At the time Ireland had no National Airports of its own which shall be discussed below.
The history of Cork Airport is forever entwined in its association with Aer Lingus ( named by Richard F. O'Connor , Cork County Surveyor ) its first National Airline carrier in use when it eventually opened in 1961. It is necessary then to look back briefly at the airlines own genesis. When the Irish Government first looked at the possibility of an Airport for Cork in 1928 , it took on board the advice of Colonel Charles Russell. That same year he was asked by the Cork Harbour Commissioners to address them on the subject. He had flown as a pilot for the R.A.F. during World War I , joining the I.R.A. when the war ended and along with William McSweeney ( shown above ) headed up the newly formed National Army Air Service in 1922 later renamed the Irish Army Air Corps in 1924. Going off on a tangent , Charles Russell was the pilot of an aircraft secretly located in England during the Treaty talks appropriately enough dubbed The Big Fella which was purchased as an escape craft should the talks break down and Michael Collins and his team needed to be evacuated. A price of £10,000 was on Collins head which was suspended for the duration of the talks. However , the Delegation accepted the terms of the Treaty and returned by sea and the aircraft was flown to Baldonnel by Charles Russell where it stayed until being scrapped in 1937. It was Charles who advocated for a National Airline which came into existence as Aer Lingus in 1936 operating out of Baldonnel ( Ex-R.A.F. base ) until Dublin airport was built in 1940 at Collinstown ( Ex. R.A.F. base ). Several sites were suggested for the location of Cork Airport over the course of the next few decades as will be shown below.
The first site suggested by Richard O'Connor in 1933 was at Belvelly ( east of the current Marino Point ) with a seaplane base at Cork Harbour. At the time land airports were deemed inferior to seaplane bases as these types of craft only required water for landing and takeoff and no infrastructure was needed. As mentioned earlier , Ireland post Independence already had some private airfields and ex-R.A.F. bases. Amazingly , a national airline of sorts did emerge on 8th June 1931 - Iona National Airways. This was a privately owned airline and operated out of Kildonan Aerodrome and Collinstown Dublin. A smaller operation than the future national carriers it only ceased operations on 14th December 1994!
The second proposed site in 1934 was at Ahanesk ( shown above ) in Midleton , Co. Cork. However , the looming Second World War in 1939 put paid to all plans. It was at that point that the Government had already approved plans for a land airport. By 1943 , Ahanesk and Lehenaghmore were now the top two contenders. Togher would soon be on the map in more ways than one!
Bizarrely , during The Emergency , even though Cork was put on hold , the Government managed to erect its first ever 2 Airports one at Dublin and the other at Shannon! 1940 saw the completion of Dublin Airport , formally Collinstown R.A.F. base. Aer Lingus , the national airline had been founded 4 years earlier in 1936 operating out of Baldonnell , an Army Air Corps base with 2 aircraft. In 1945 , Ireland saw the completion of its second airport at Shannon. It was also here that the first Duty Free shop in the world was opened! Cork meanwhile was still almost 2 decades off achieving its very own. It would appear that the war had not prevented other locations from gaining an airport.
AFTER
Once the construction phase of the new Airport had been completed it was time to test the runways and all of the equipment in the Control Tower. The very first plane to land on the runway at Cork Airport was an Aer Lingus Fokker Friendship on 12th October 1961 followed by Cambrian Airways from the U.K.
The Airport was now ready for business. It was officially opened on 16th October by Sean Lemass , the then Taoiseach. Also in attendance was Erskine Childers , the Minister for Transport & Power. He would go on to become President of Ireland ( June 1973 ) , being the only incumbent to die in office on November 1974. Also present was the Lord Mayor , Anthony Barry. The Airport handled over 10,000 passengers in its first year of operations which rose to 40,000 by the end of 1962. Today , that number is nearer to 3 Million!
However , from a social perspective , flying was still the reserve of wealthy businessmen and individuals. The typical cost of a plane ticket in 1961 was circa £20 - £30 or roughly 3 weeks wages based on the average industrial wage back then of £10.
So flying in the early days was for the most part confined to wealthy
people while working class had to content themselves with the Innisfallen ( a ferry which ceased operations in 1983 due to lack of numbers ).
A visit to the viewing stand was a day out for most working class who
would go up on Sundays to view incoming aircraft. However for security
reasons this was removed in the late 1970s.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s , many famous Actors and Musicians passed through Cork Airport , including Charlie Chaplin , The Bee Gees ( who played their first Irish gig at the Savoy Cinema , Cork City on 1st May 1967) , Paul McCartney and Corks homegrown hero Rory Gallagher , shown below as a youngster who would go on to be honoured by the Airport ( see later ). Another world famous visitor to Cork Airport was Cork born Danny La Rue , whose first cousin John Dennehy from Togher was Lord Mayor the previous year in 1983!
Cork Airport has played host to some International movies such as The Blue Max in 1966 starring George Peppard ( later of The A Team fame in the 1980s ) which saw the aircraft used in the movie flown in there and The Purple Taxi in 1977 starring Fred Astaire which shot some scenes at the Airport.
Sadly , Cork Airport has played host to two of the greatest aviation disasters of the 20th Century. The Tuskar Rock Air Crash of 1968 and the Air India Disaster of 1985. It is beyond the scope of this article to delve into the circumstances surrounding both tragedies. However , following the Tuskar Air Crash on 24th March 1968 , its flight number EI 712 was still in use up 22nd March , 2025! Following a request from a relative of one of the passengers of the plane it was finally removed. On board that fateful day were 57 passengers which included 33 Irish ( some from Togher ) , 9 Swiss , 6 Belgian , 5 British , 2 Swedes , and 2 US citizens. The Air India Disaster of 1985 broke international headlines when it crashed off the south west coast of Ireland. Irish Navy , R.A.F. and U.S. Air Force were involved in the search and recovery of bodies which were brought back to Cork Airport.
There is a 3 letter code assigned to all International Airports around the world but there is a reason why Cork has such an odd one! The rapid expansion in the number of international airports in the 1950s meant that some places got in first. Cordoba in Argentina which opened in 1958 got the code "COR" which meant that when Cork airport opened in October 1961 - it had to settle for "ORK". The two boarding passes shown below illustrate the oddity of the code!
As discussed earlier Cork Airport is in the Togher townland of Lehenaghmore. However the Catholic Bishop of Cork appointed the Catholic Parish Priest of Ballyphehane as Chaplain there. However this is merely an Eccesiastical appointment and it is not politically , geographically , historically or legally binding. It is simply an R.C. administration. Confusion can arise because of this ; especially when it must be considered that Togher itself spans many Parishes , both Catholic ( R.C. Parishes of The Lough , Togher , Ballyphehane & Ballinhassig ) and Protestant ( Church of Ireland Parish of Lehenagh in 19th Century and more recently Protestant Parish of Frankfield ). They are all very distinct from territorial Districts and bear no relation to them.
Terminals
Throughout the decades , Cork Airport has continued to modernise and expand. In 2006 , it opened its new Terminal. Plans are underway to demolish the old Terminal to make way for more aircraft parking. People will recall the open glass elevator , fish pond and statue of Jack Charlton. The statue has now been moved to the new Terminal.
In 1996 , Cork Airport expanded northwards to create a new Airport Campus -Cork Airport Business Park. It is home to over 50 businesses both local and International. These include Cork International Hotel , Amazon , Volvo and many others. As recently as 2023 , it completely repaved its entire runway as well as other works.
Pegasus Sculpture
In 1999 , Cork County Council commissioned a sculpture from Renn Associates in the form of a Pegasus , the Winged Horse. Its three copper and steel pieces mounted on stone masonry come together at a certain angle to form the centrepiece. At night fibre optic lights show the constellation of Pegasus. It is located on the southwestern approach to Cork Airport not far from Farmer's Cross.
When the Cork Business Park was completed in 2001 , its myriad road network was given the title of Avenue with nondescript numeral makers such as 2000 , 3000 , 4000 and so on. However the main entrance to Cork Airport was about to get a major renaming to honour one of Cork's legends of music both local and internationally. It was fittingly renamed as Rory Gallagher Avenue on June 2025. His family and friends were there in celebration of his 30th Anniversary. The 1.39 km road which passes through 4 roundabouts and runs alongside the new Terminal stands as a lasting legacy to the legendary Corkman.
