"This route will do more than almost anything we can do to transform Cork's fortunes," he said.
Passenger traffic at Cork airport fell significantly in recent years due to the downturn and the ending of the Cork-Dublin route in 2011. It had been operated at the time by Ryanair, but it was pulled because it was uneconomical.
The number of passengers passing through Cork airport was 2.3 million last year compared with 2.77 million in 2009.
"While the position in Cork is down by some 20pc since its peak, it could easily have been 30pc," Mr Toland said in the interview. "Cork's tourism potential is tremendously strong, with a hinterland which extends to Kerry and Tipperary – only 30pc of traffic is inbound, so frankly we have to hold our nerve and build up the business."
Mr Toland also predicted passenger traffic at Dublin would continue to rise and that the west coast of Canada would also be a likely growth area for business.
"I want us to do better," he said. "We're obviously not where we planned to be seven or eight years ago, but the team here has made a lot of cuts and taken a lot of hard measures.
"But we now have a clear strategy and a set of goals appropriate to our circumstances – in Dublin the near-term objective is 25 million passengers by end-2017."
That compares with a peak of 23.4 million passengers in 2008 and 20.2 million last year.
The DAA has also been luring more passengers from the North. The numbers using Dublin airport last year rose 11pc to more than 570,000.
Flybe plans new Dublin route to London City
DUBLIN Airport has secured another boost to its services after UK airline Flybe announced plans to launch a new service between London City Airport and the capital.
The airline will have four daily services between the two cities from October, including business-friendly flights arriving in London before 9am.
Irish Independent
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