| Dublin Airport top flights | Arrivals | Departures | Total |
| London – Heathrow | 854,842 | 896,847 | 1,751,689 |
| London – Gatwick | 664,204 | 645,320 | 1,309,524 |
| Manchester | 487,979 | 493,649 | 981,628 |
| Amsterdam – Schiphol | 469,960 | 467,302 | 937,262 |
| Birmingham | 463,683 | 463,901 | 927,584 |
| London – Stansted | 463,575 | 451,464 | 915,039 |
| Paris – Charles De Gaulle | 345,174 | 345,731 | 690,905 |
| New York – John F Kennedy | 317,794 | 320,860 | 638,654 |
| Edinburgh | 300,455 | 296,887 | 597,342 |
The number of passengers passing through Irish airports rose by over 10pc last year compared with 2015, according to latest CSO figures.
In 2016, almost 33m passengers (32.8m) passed through Irish airports, and passenger numbers increased in all airports with the exception of Waterford. Dublin Airport accounted for 84.6pc of all air passengers in 2016.
Of the 3.1m additional passengers travelling through Irish airports in 2016, 2.8m (92pc) passed through Dublin. The report found that more than 247,000 flights were handled by Ireland’s five main airports in 2016. Dublin accounted for almost 83pc of all flights (204,563) while Cork handled 8pc of all flights (19,908).
London-Heathrow, London-Gatwick and Manchester were the most popular routes for passengers in Dublin airport in 2016. For Cork, the top three routes were London-Heathrow, London-Stansted and Amsterdam. In Shannon, the main routes were London-Heathrow, London-Stansted and New York-John F Kennedy while London-Stansted, London-Luton and Liverpool-John Lennon were the most popular routes to and from Knock.
In 2016, almost nine out of every ten passengers (87.8pc) on international flights in the five main airports were travelling to or from Europe. The two most popular countries of origin/destination were Britain and Spain. Outside of Europe, the United States was the most popular country of origin/destination in 2016.
Ireland’s main airports handled a total of 146,829 tonnes of freight in 2016, the vast majority (94pc) of which was international freight.
