Media

Dublin, 13 March, 2018 - The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) confirmed today that total air traffic safely handled by the IAA increased by +1.7% (73,088 movements) in February 2018 compared to the same month in 2017.

There was an increase of +0.6% in Ireland’s overflight traffic movements (flights, which do not land in Ireland) during February 2018, in comparison to February 2017.  Similarly, the IAA’s analysis of North Atlantic Communications flights (Europe /North America Flights) saw an increase of +0.3% in February 2018, when compared to February 2017. Ireland is the gateway between Europe and North America and handles up to 90% of all traffic between the two continents.

Peter Kearney, IAA Chief Executive Designate commented; “These are positive figures for February. Aviation continues to open Ireland up to the world and management of air traffic growth is a key driver for our economy. The IAA continues to invest in its state-of-the-art air traffic management system and in the development of our staff, to deliver a world class service to our airline customers.”

In relation to international arrivals and departures, the commercial terminal traffic for Shannon, Dublin and Cork airports was up by +2.5% in February 2018, when compared to February 2017. Individually, the February 2018 figures for the three State airports, when compared to the same month in the previous year are:

• Commercial terminal flights at Dublin were up by +2.6% with an average of 516 daily commercial movements at Dublin.
• Commercial terminal flights at Cork were up by +4%, with an average of 46 commercial daily movements at Cork.
• Commercial terminal flights at Shannon were down by -1.2% with an average of 43 commercial daily movements at Shannon.