Almost 4.5 million people flew between Dublin and London last year, underscoring its position as one the world’s busiest international air routes.
Passenger numbers between Dublin and the five London airports served by airlines from the capital rose by 370,000 or 9 per cent in 2015 as carriers boosted capacity on a number of flights, according to official figures.
Dublin-London is the busiest route in Europe and the second biggest in the world,coming after Hong Kong-Taipei, on which more than five million people travel every year.
News of last year's performance comes after Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) announced that a record 25 million people passed through there in 2015.
Dublin Airport manager Vincent Harrison said that the London market, a key destination for the hub, had a very strong year in 2015.
Population equivalent
“The number of people who travelled by air between Dublin and London last year was the equivalent of almost the entire population of the Republic of
Ireland
, ” he said.
“That meant that every week last year 86,000 people flew between Dublin and London – that’s more than a full Croke Park stadium or an almost full Wembley Stadium flying between the two cities every seven days.”
The route accounted for almost 18 per cent of Dublin Airport’s total traffic last year and drew a large number of business travellers.
Marketing campaign
“A quarter of all of passengers on Dublin-London services are travelling for business, which is high by European standards,” Mr Harrison added.
Trade between the Republic and the UK is worth €58 billion a year, according to the British-Irish Chamber of Commerce.
This is made up of €32 billion of exports from here and €26 billion of imports from the UK.
DAA, local hotels, the Guinness Storehouse, Brown Thomas, Chamber of Commerce and Retail Excellence Ireland have contributed to a €1 million Fáilte Ireland marketing campaign in Britain, France and Germany that Dublin's four councils are also backing.
