IAA Handled an All-Time Record Number of Flights in 2019

31 Jan 2020

Over 1.17 million flights handled by the IAA in 2019* (up 2% on 2018)
351,731 overflight movements (up 1.5% on 2018) - flights, which do not land in Ireland
Cork airport made gains of almost 15% in air traffic movements on 2018

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) today announced that 1,175,337 flights were handled safely by its air traffic control division in 2019 - that’s 22,000 more than in 2018. This represents a 2% increase in Irish air traffic over 2018 figures and is the highest number of flights recorded travelling safely through Irish airspace.

IAA Chief Executive, Peter Kearney said that these figures demonstrate the IAA’s strong performance in air navigation services provision and why the Authority continues to be ranked as a top performing air navigation service provider in Europe. Notwithstanding the growth in air traffic and record numbers of flights handled safely, the IAA continues to meet all of its EU regulatory requirements in key areas, underlining our continued strong safety record:

“Including the 2019 figures, the IAA has experienced a growth of almost 3% over the past 5 years. Despite this significant growth, the IAA continues to minimise air navigation delays.”
“The strong growth in air traffic handled is made possible by the continued investment in our infrastructure and people. The new IAA air traffic control tower at Dublin airport, the establishment of Aireon ALERT in the Shannon region and our ability to attract talent to the company are some of the investments that enable us to continue offering world-class service delivery to our customers.”

State airport traffic:

Total flights handled at State airports in 2019 grew by 3.7%, with over 310,000 movements recorded, representing strong year-on-year trend of growth in State airport traffic.
In 2019 air traffic grew by 14.6% at Cork airport
Dublin airport recorded a 2.5% increase in traffic numbers compared to 2018 figures
Shannon airport saw a 3.3% decrease in movements in 2019

Further strong results were recorded in two key areas of the business:

There were 351,731 overflight traffic movements (flights, which do not land in Ireland) - up 1.5% on 2018 movements
511,294 North Atlantic Communications flights (Europe /US Flights) handled in 2019 - a 1.2% increase on 2018 figures

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