Almost 1.8m passengers passed through Dublin Airport in February, a 4pc increase over the same month last year. But the rate has growth has slowed down – as February 2016’s 1.7m figure was 17pc up on 2015.
Despite it being a leap year, passenger volumes to and from continental Europe increased by 4pc with more than 852,000 passengers travelling. British traffic dipped slightly, with 750,000 passengers travelling to and from Britain in February. A year earlier that market recorded an increase of 19pc with over 752,000 passengers travelling.
Passenger volumes to and from North America grew by 28pc last month, with almost 127,000 passengers travelling on this sector. That’s a jump even on the corresponding figure (20pc) for February 2016, when 98,000 travelled.
Other international traffic, principally on routes to and from the Middle East, grew by 10pc, with over 55,000 passengers travelling on these routes in February. That’s a reversal from last year, when traffic dropped by 1pc in February 2016. Almost 7,000 passengers travelled on domestic routes last month, a 9pc increase over February 2016.
The number of passengers using Dublin Airport as a hub to connect to another destination increased by 81pc as more 59,000 passengers connected through the airport last month. Again, it’s a big jump on last year’s rise of 51pc to 33,000.
More than 3.6 million passengers have used Dublin Airport in the first two months of this year, which is a 6pc increase on the same period in 2016.
