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The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) today announced that it had recorded another strong performance in 2006. The IAA's Annual Report and Accounts for 2006 show that turnover increased by 5.2 per cent to EUR134.4 million, up from EUR127.7 million in 2005. Profit after tax was recorded at EUR13.7 million, which was an increase of 2.3 per cent over 2005.

The IAA is a commercial semi-State body responsible for the provision of air traffic control services in Irish-controlled airspace and the safety regulation of the Irish civil aviation industry. The IAA's revenue primarily comes from charging aircraft that use Irish airspace. The majority of these aircraft do not land at Irish airports, but instead transit through Irish airspace between Europe and North America.

Air traffic levels increased during 2006 as follows;

• Terminal traffic (i.e. aircraft landing at the three State airports) rose by four per cent to 251,235 movements. Dublin increased by 5.3 per cent on 2005 to 181,220 aircraft movements; Shannon was up 3.6 per cent to 35,590 movements, while Cork increased by 3.3 per cent to 34,425 movements.
• The weaker dollar and increased competition amongst air carriers in 2006 saw North Atlantic traffic rise by 5.4 per cent over 2005 figures to 391,273 movements, which was a record year for North Atlantic air traffic. (These are aircraft which overfly Irish-controlled airspace en route between Europe and North America and do not touch down at Irish airports.)

In October 2006 the IAA took full control of a new block of airspace known as the North Oceanic Transition Area (NOTA), comprising 95,000 square kilometres, located to the North West of Ireland. This substantially increased the IAA share of air traffic transiting between Europe and North America to 379,791 movements, or an average of 1,040 aircraft every day. As a result, the IAA has reduced its charges to en route airlines by 20 per cent over the past two years. The IAA in 2007 is amongst the most cost effective providers of international en route services in Europe.

The Irish aircraft register and numbers continue to grow with a total of 1,046 aircraft on the register in 2006, up from 877 in 2005. In particular, heavy commercial aircraft rose from 341 in 2005 to 433 in 2006. Currently, the main carriers are Ryanair (135 aircraft), Aer Lingus (36 aircraft), CityJet (25 aircraft), Aer Arann (14 aircraft) and Air Contractors (20 aircraft). Aircraft on leases accounted for 201 aircraft. Helicopters also showed growth with 140 on the register at the end of 2006 compared with 56 in 2000. The IAA provides safety standards surveillance on all Irish air carriers, personnel, maintenance organisations and aircraft.

At the IAA's Annual General Meeting held today, Chairman Jerry Liston expressed his satisfaction at the results, saying "the Authority remains clearly focussed on overseeing safety standards whilst providing a cost effective and efficient service. The challenges of the EU's Single European Sky regulations and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) will be our key strategic focus in the years ahead. 2006 showed that we continued to respond in a positive manner to the changing European aviation environment."

Commenting on the results, IAA Chief Executive, Mr. Eamonn Brennan, said, "2006 was a successful year for safety and financial performance. Safety standards were maintained and we improved our profitability whilst reducing our charges significantly for en route customers, which account for 64 per cent of turnover. We also invested considerably during the year in new safety systems, radars and navigational aids and Ireland's Air Traffic Management technology is now amongst the most advanced in Europe. Overall it was an excellent year."