Dublin Airport departures
- 27m mark hit on Sunday, December 19
- Figure up 2m on 201
- This November’s numbers up 9% to 2m
- Africa/Middle East traffic fell by 54,000
The number of passengers using Dublin Airport this year is almost three times the number of people who holidayed on the entire island in 2016.
With 12 days of business to go, passenger numbers rose above the 27 million mark – dwarfing the 10m who visited this country on trips during the year.
The 27m figure beat the airport’s previous record of 25m, which was set last year.
“We have had a very busy year at Dublin Airport and have been setting new passenger records every month,” said Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison. “Dublin Airport has been the fastest-growing major airport in Europe this year, due to the introduction of 19 new routes and also additional capacity in the form of extra flights or larger aircraft on 31 of our existing routes,” he added.
“We’ve seen growth from the vast majority of our major airline customers during the year and also across almost all major market sectors. European, British and transatlantic passenger numbers have all experienced double-digit growth so far this year. Transfer passenger numbers are also up strongly and have passed the one million mark, as more and more people are choosing to connect at Dublin Airport.”
A very strong November, which is traditionally one of the quieter months of the year for aviation, has also helped. “Last month was exceptionally busy, as the airport welcomed two million passengers in November for the first time ever,” Mr Harrison said.
Passenger numbers in November were up 9% to just over two million, due to growth in almost all sectors of the business. European traffic, which accounted for almost half the passengers during the month, was up 9% to almost 916,000 while British traffic increased by 8% to more than 833,000.
Transatlantic traffic was up 18% to almost 194,000 in November, while traffic to other destinations in Africa and the Middle East declined by just over 54,000.
A 2014 economic study by InterVistas found that Dublin Airport supports 97,400 jobs – including almost 16,000 jobs on the airport campus – and is worth €6.9 billion to the economy.
This Friday, December 23 is expected to be Dublin Airport’s busiest day during the Christmas season, with almost 83,000 passengers expected to pass through the airport. Friday, December 30 is expected to be the busiest day after Christmas, as passengers fly out to winter sun and skiing destinations and depart after spending the holiday season in Ireland.
