Media

Total commercial air traffic at the State airports saw a significant increase of over 10% in April 2014, when compared to the same month last year. Shannon experienced an impressive 31.7% increase, while Dublin continued to perform very strongly with growth of 9.7%.

The growth at Shannon is partly attributable to a number of new routes operating at the airport, including new services to Munich, Paris, Faro, Warsaw, Krakow, Nice, Poitiers, Berlin, Fuerteventura and Bristol. The airport also saw the first full month for the year-round six times weekly JFK New York service, which commenced at the end of March.

Total flights in Irish airspace in April 2014 have increased by 3.1% with an average of 1,488 daily flights. The busiest day was the 25th April with 1,613 flights in Irish airspace

Eamonn Brennan, IAA Chief Executive said: ‘The IAA is committed to supporting aviation in Ireland and it is very encouraging to see such strong air traffic growth at both Shannon and Dublin. This is the clearest sign yet that domestic aviation industry is firmly in recovery’.

Individually, the April 2014 figures for the three State airports, when compared to the same month in the last year are:

• Dublin up 9.7% with an average of 490 daily commercial movements.
• Cork down 1.1%, with an average of 58 commercial daily movements.
• Shannon up 31.7% with an average of 61 commercial daily movements.

On a cumulative basis, commercial terminal traffic for Shannon, Dublin and Cork for the period January to April 2014 is up by 6.1%.

In terms of Ireland’s en route traffic movements (flights that pass through Irish airspace but do not land) during April 2014, there was a marginal decrease of 1.2%, in comparison to April 2013.

The IAA’s North Atlantic Communications flights (Europe /North America) saw an increase of 4.2% in April 2014, when compared to April 2013. On a cumulative basis, the change in en route traffic movements and North Atlantic Communications flights for the period January-April 2014, compared to the same period last year, was -5.6% and 2.7% respectively.

For media queries, please contact:

Tony Lane,

Communications Executive,

+353 86 791 1864.