Almost half a million more passengers used Irish airports in the second quarter of 2024 when compared with the same period last year, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.
The CSO published aviation statistics for the five main airports of Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Knock, and Kerry on Tuesday.
Some 11.2 million passengers passed through the five airports, compared with 10.7 million passengers in the same period in 2023 – a 4.7 per cent increase – and 10.5 million in the second quarter of 2019.
Looking at the data for the first half of the year, 19.5 million passengers passed through Irish airports which was 1.1 million more passengers when compared with the same period in 2023, and 1.5 million more than the same six-month period in pre-pandemic 2019.
The number of flights to and from Irish airports increased by 1,083 in the second quarter, when compared with the same period in 2023. Taking the first six months of the year, the number of flights to and from Irish airports increased by 4,217, up from 130,572 to 134,789.
About 5.7 million passengers departed from Ireland in the second quarter, which was 227,430 more than the same period in 2023.
More than 75,000 flights were handled by Ireland’s five main airports in the same period, with Dublin handling 84 per cent (63,485), while Cork handled 7 per cent (5,559).
London-Heathrow, Amsterdam-Schiphol, and Malaga were the most popular routes for passengers travelling through Dublin Airport in the quarter. The top route for Cork and Shannon was London-Heathrow, while it was London-Luton for Knock, and Dublin for Kerry.
Almost nine out of every 10 passengers on international flights in the five main airports were travelling to or from Europe during the same period.
The two most popular countries of origin or destination were the United Kingdom and Spain. Outside of Europe, the United States was the most popular country of origin or destination.
The number of passengers arriving to or departing from Ireland in June was over 40 times that of Covid-hit June 2020, and up by 6 per cent when compared with June 2019.
Air freight handled by Irish airports in the second quarter was up 9 per cent when compared with the same period last year.
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