Ryanair is to base a third aircraft at Cork Airport for this summer, creating 30 new jobs.
The move is part of an increase in the carrier's summer schedule from the airport, the most extensive it has ever operated from there.
120 weekly flights serving 25 different destinations will be timetabled over the period.
New routes will include Alghero in Sardinia, Pisa, Valencia, Venice, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh.
"In addition, the frequency on London Stansted is being increased to three times per day, seven days per week and Manchester will also operate twice daily," said Niall McCarthy, Managing Director of Cork Airport.
"Research tells us that there is huge pent-up demand for travel after the pandemic."
"It has been a long wait, but we know that the travelling public across the South of Ireland will support these routes strongly."
The investment means that Ryanair will be operating at 150% of its pre-pandemic schedule in and out of Cork.
The airline credited the Government backed Cork Airport Recovery Scheme for its decision, which offers financial incentives to carriers that add new routes in an effort to rebuild damaged capacity.
However, it warned that Ireland must continue to maintain lower access costs for Irish airports, including Dublin, in order to be able to compete with other EU countries also battling for limited airline investment.
It said an extension of the recovery schemes into next winter would allow Dublin and Cork Airports to secure vital connectivity, jobs and tourism.
"This will ameliorate the damage caused by the pandemic and the Govt. needs to urgently support this vital investment in infrastructure at Irish Airports, particularly this Winter, to ensure the continuity of airline seat capacity at all Irish airports," said Eddie Wilson, Ryanair CEO.
Last month, Ryanair announced its biggest ever summer schedule for Dublin, backed by the recovery scheme.
Cork Airport said the extra Ryanair capacity should ensure a 750% increase in passenger traffic in 2022 compared to last year and would see 2 million passengers once again pass through the terminal this year.
Meanwhile, Ryanair's group CEO Michael O'Leary said yesterday that the airline expects average air fares during this year's summer peak season to be significantly higher than pre-Covid ticket prices in the same period in 2019.
Michael O'Leary told reporters in Lisbon that the airline still expected prices to be lower than 2019 levels from March to May but said they would increase starting from June, when schools will shut for holidays and families travel abroad.
"After that it will depend on what happens with the world economy, the price of oil and if there are any COVID developments," he said.
He said two weeks ago he expected huge pent-up demand to lead to record summer passenger numbers if the recovery is not thrown off course by a new COVID variant.
Last month, Ryanair reported a loss of €96m for the final three months of 2021.
"We think we will be back to our pre-Covid traffic volumes by March or April this year," he said in Lisbon yesterday.
