A staggering 68,606 recorded passengers travelled through Kerry Airport during the first quarter of 2019, marking a 4.8% increase on the first quarter of 2018.
The airport recently became the helicopter base for oil and gas exploration rigs moving into the Porcupine Basin off the coast of Kerry.
The most frequently used service – Kerry to Dublin with Aer Lingus Regional and London Luton and London Stansted routes with Ryanair – carried nearly 54,000 passengers up to March 31.
The top route for Kerry was London-Luton, while the most significant increase on a single route was evident on the twice-weekly Ryanair service between Kerry and Berlin which was up 17% from January to March.
Outbound passengers accounted for most of the increase with 2,022 more people going through the departures hall and 1,446 more people arriving into Kerry in the first three months of the year.
CEO of Kerry Airport, John Mulhern, welcomes the positive figures and said tourists and business passengers have identified the Farranfore facility as a convenient and efficient gateway with regular flights to two London destinations as well as Berlin and Frankfurt Hahn.
“We’ve enjoyed a good start to the second quarter which saw the commencement of the Alicante and Faro sun routes and the increased frequency of the Frankfurt Hahn service for the summer season,” he said.
The twice daily route between Kerry and Dublin continues to grow with 4% more passengers availing of the service than during the first quarter of 2018.
Seamless interlining of the Aer Lingus flights from USA to Kerry via Dublin has seen growth in the number of American tourists coming direct to Kerry.
Source: Killarney Today