Media

Dublin, 11 October, 2017 – The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) confirmed today that September 2017 was a record-breaking month, as total flights handled for the month were recorded at 103,925 movements, making it the busiest ever September in Ireland. Air traffic was up at the State airports of Dublin and Cork. The 103,925 movements in September marks an increase of +4.1% over September 2016. The total movements includes; total terminal movements, North Atlantic Communications flights and overflights.

September also saw Air Canada announce its expansion plans for their transatlantic services, with plans for direct services between Dublin and Montreal and Shannon and Toronto, beginning in June 2018. Air Canada’s announcement follows the news that Cathay Pacific is to establish a direct Dublin to Hong Kong route in 2018.

In relation to international arrivals and departures, the commercial terminal traffic for Shannon, Dublin and Cork airports was up by +4.9% in September 2017, when compared to September 2016. Individually, the September 2017 figures for the three State airports, when compared to the same month in the previous year are;

• Commercial terminal flights at Dublin up by +5.9% with an average of 659 daily commercial movements at Dublin.

• Commercial terminal flights at Cork up by +2.9%, with an average of 60 commercial daily movements at Cork.

• Commercial terminal flights at Shannon down by -3.3% with an average of 59 commercial daily movements at Shannon.

The IAA’s analysis of North Atlantic Communications flights (Europe /US Flights) saw a significant increase of +5.5% in September 2017, when compared to September 2016. There was also an increase of +3.4% in Ireland’s overflight traffic movements (flights, which do not land in Ireland) during September 2017, in comparison to September 2016.