There was an 8% increase in the number of passengers passing through the five main Irish airports in the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2023.
According to the Central Statistics Office, 8.2 million passengers passed through the airports between January and March.
That is up almost 40% on the figure for the first three months of 2020 when pandemic restrictions started to be phased in on international travel amid the spread of the Covid-19 virus globally.
The number of flights to and from Irish airports in the first three months of this year was up more than 2,400 compared with the same period in 2023.
Over 59,000 flights were handled by Ireland’s five main airports in the period.
Dublin handled over 50,000 – or 85% of all flights – while Cork handled 7% of all flights (4,296).
London-Heathrow, London-Gatwick, and Amsterdam-Schiphol were the most popular routes for passengers travelling through Dublin airport in the quarter.
The top route for Cork and Shannon airports was London-Heathrow, for Knock airport it was London-Stansted, while the top route for Kerry was Dublin.
“Almost nine out of every ten passengers – 88% – on international flights in the five main airports were travelling to or from Europe,” Damien Lenihan, CSO Statistician said.
“The two most popular countries of origin or destination were the United Kingdom and Spain. Outside of Europe, the United States of America was the most popular country of origin or destination in the first quarter,” he added.
Air freight handled by Irish airports in the first quarter was up 15% when compared with the same period in 2023.
Source: RTÉ