Irish air traffic grew by 8.3pc last year – making it a record year for aviation here. Overflight traffic movements (don’t land here) were up 7.3pc to 341,082 flights, while North Atlantic flights increased by 7.7pc to 476,790 flights.
There was also a 10.6pc increase in terminal movements to 290,388, covering total commercial and non-commercial flights at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports, according to the latest figures from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).
|
Ireland Top 10 Airport Pairs in December 2016 |
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|
Average Daily Flights |
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|
Airport Pair |
MONTH AVG FLIGHTS |
LAST YEAR VARIATION |
|
|
1 |
NEW YORK <-> LONDON/HEATHROW |
35.5 |
-4.9pc |
|
2 |
LONDON/HEATHROW <-> DUBLIN |
30.8 |
-5.8pc |
|
3 |
LONDON/GATWICK <-> DUBLIN |
25.3 |
15pc |
|
4 |
DUBLIN <-> BIRMINGHAM |
22.4 |
9.3pc |
|
5 |
MANCHESTER <-> DUBLIN |
20.9 |
0.6pc |
|
6 |
SCHIPHOL AMSTERDAM <-> DUBLIN |
19.7 |
15.3pc |
|
7 |
PARIS CH DE GAULLE <-> DUBLIN |
17.2 |
-4.7pc |
|
8 |
LONDON/CITY <-> DUBLIN |
16.7 |
-5.1pc |
|
9 |
LONDON/STANSTED <-> DUBLIN |
16.7 |
5.3pc |
|
10 |
LIVERPOOL <-> DUBLIN |
14.4 |
22.6pc |
Eamonn Brennan, Chief Executive of the IAA, said: “Air traffic growth at Irish airports is one of the key drivers behind the tourism boom in Ireland in recent years. We’ve safely handled over 1.1m flights in Irish-controlled airspace and at the three State airports, including nearly 300,000 flights at Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports.
“The industry is continuing to grow. We’ll see new routes out of all our airports in 2017 and through Irish airspace and we’re continuing to work hard to safely facilitate this demand so we can help keep the expansion going. Our systems and people will cope with these increases. “
The December figures alone showed 82,370 movements – an increase of 4.6pc over December 2015. Commercial terminal traffic for Shannon, Dublin and Cork airports was up by 4.9pc in December 2016, when compared to December 2015.
- Commercial terminal flights at Dublin were up by 5.9pc in December with an average of 495 daily commercial movements at Dublin.
- Commercial terminal flights at Cork were down by 2.4% in December, with an average of 43 commercial daily movements.
- Commercial terminal flights at Shannon were up by 1.1pc with an average of 43 commercial daily movements at Shannon.
An analysis of the December 2016 data, from EUROCONTROL, also shows that six of Ireland’s Top ten “Airport Pairs” (from a billing perspective) showed growth (or neutral growth), when compared to December 2015. The most significant growth was for Liverpool – Dublin (+22.67pc), Schiphol/Amsterdam – Dublin (+15.3pc) and London/Gatwick – Dublin (+15pc).
