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For more information on this release:
E-mail: transport@cso.ie Noreen Dorgan +353 21 453 5260 Brendan Curtin +353 21 453 5120
For general information on CSO statistics:
information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-7581
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Aviation Statistics

Quarter 2 2017

Number of passengers handled by main Irish airports
 Quarter 2 January to June
 20162017% change20162017% change
Passengers8,814,2899,359,722+6.2 15,233,33616,038,342+5.3

Increase of 6.2% in number of passengers handled by main Irish airports in Quarter 2 2017

Aviation Statistics Q2 2017 Figure 1
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In the second quarter of 2017, almost 9.4 million passengers passed through the main Irish airports, an increase of 6.2% over the same period in 2016. See Table 1.

Passenger numbers increased in quarter 2 of 2017 in Cork, Dublin, Knock and Kerry airports, while passenger numbers decreased in Shannon, when compared with quarter 2 of 2016. Dublin airport accounted for 85.0% of all air passengers carried in the second quarter of 2017.

In the first half of 2017, 16.0 million passengers travelled through the main Irish airports, an increase of 5.3% compared with the same period in 2016.

 

The results also show that:

  • Almost 68,000 flights were handled by Ireland's main airports in the second quarter of 2017. Dublin accounted for 83.1% of all flights (56,488), while Cork handled 7.8% of all flights (5,308). See Table 3.
  • London-Heathrow, London-Gatwick and Amsterdam-Schiphol were the most popular routes for passengers for Dublin airport in the second quarter of 2017. For Cork airport, the top three routes were London-Heathrow, London-Stansted and Amsterdam-Schiphol. The top route for Shannon was London-Heathrow, the top route for Knock was London-Stansted and the top route for Kerry was London-Luton. See Tables 4A to 4E.
  • In the second quarter of 2017, almost nine out of every ten passengers (86.4%) travelling on international flights in the main Irish airports were going to or from Europe. The two most popular countries of origin/destination were the United Kingdom and Spain. Outside of Europe, the United States of America was the most popular country of origin/destination in the second quarter of 2017. See Table 5
  • Ireland's main airports handled a total of 38,563 tonnes of freight in the second quarter of 2017, the vast majority (93.7%) of which was international freight. See Table 6.
Table 1: Number of passengers handled by main airports, Quarter 2 2015-2017
AirportQuarter 2January to June
201520162017% change 2016-2017 201520162017% change 2016-2017
Dublin6,733,0567,415,5597,960,069+7.311,473,98012,950,53813,755,223+6.2
Cork580,130625,599637,491+1.9959,6831,044,9331,055,949+1.1
Shannon470,946481,657454,971-5.5731,571764,586726,724-5.0
Knock200,042200,402208,655+4.1313,455323,436342,876+6.0
Kerry88,30991,07298,536+8.2135,115149,843157,570+5.2
Total8,072,4838,814,2899,359,722+6.2 13,613,80415,233,33616,038,342+5.3
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q2 2017 Table 1 (XLS 11KB)
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Table 2: Passenger numbers classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports
   Number
AirportQ2 2015Q2 2016Q2 2017
Arrivals   
Cork283,498306,021311,454
Dublin3,323,2283,660,6373,918,185
Kerry43,45544,90248,461
Knock97,00896,801100,360
Shannon232,763237,537223,091
Total arrivals3,979,9524,345,8984,601,551
   
Departures   
Cork296,632319,578326,037
Dublin3,409,8283,754,9224,041,884
Kerry44,85446,17050,075
Knock103,034103,601108,295
Shannon238,183244,120231,880
Total departures4,092,5314,468,3914,758,171
   
All   
Cork580,130625,599637,491
Dublin6,733,0567,415,5597,960,069
Kerry88,30991,07298,536
Knock200,042200,402208,655
Shannon470,946481,657454,971
Total passengers8,072,4838,814,2899,359,722
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q2 2017 Table 2 (XLS 11KB)
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Table 3: Number of flights classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports, Quarter 2 2017
      Number
FlightsCorkDublinKerryKnockShannonTotal
Arrivals2,65328,2774458551,79934,029
Departures2,65528,2114448571,79333,960
All flights5,30856,4888891,7123,59267,989
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q2 2017 Table 3 (XLS 11KB)
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Table 4A: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Dublin airport by number of passengers, Quarter 2 2017
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Heathrow236,946252,944489,890
London - Gatwick167,709165,140332,849
Amsterdam - Schiphol 132,686136,838269,524
Manchester117,277121,062238,339
Birmingham110,105112,417222,522
London - Stansted109,908110,288220,196
Paris - Charles De Gaulle89,86792,088181,955
Faro85,90294,492180,394
Malaga85,68592,908178,593
Edinburgh83,31881,402164,720
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q2 2017 Table 4A (XLS 11KB)
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Table 4B: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Cork airport by number of passengers, Quarter 2 2017
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Heathrow50,51253,021103,533
London - Stansted46,81046,44793,257
Amsterdam - Schiphol 22,23122,75744,988
Faro20,25423,11843,372
Malaga20,02822,19142,219
London - Gatwick16,18716,10432,291
Lanzarote15,28515,78031,065
Manchester13,80314,15727,960
Paris - Charles De Gaulle11,94312,25424,197
Palma De Mallorca10,51911,77722,296
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q2 2017 Table 4B (XLS 11KB)
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Table 4C: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Shannon airport by number of passengers, Quarter 2 2017
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Heathrow33,77337,54071,313
London - Stansted25,91625,29751,213
New York - John F Kennedy20,39421,81142,205
London - Gatwick15,85215,94831,800
Boston - Logan14,50814,00828,516
Newark12,03212,23824,270
Faro10,73411,74822,482
Malaga9,0269,98319,009
Manchester8,7298,70117,430
Philadelphia8,0067,94015,946
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q2 2017 Table 4C (XLS 11KB)
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Table 4D: Top 5 arrivals and departures for Knock airport by number of passengers, Quarter 2 2017
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Stansted20,25321,81642,069
London - Luton16,35619,34235,698
London - Gatwick10,58610,52721,113
Liverpool - John Lennon9,59110,17219,763
East Midlands9,4729,71919,191
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q2 2017 Table 4D (XLS 11KB)
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Table 4E: Top 5 arrivals and departures for Kerry airport by number of passengers, Quarter 2 2017
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Luton14,94415,08830,032
London - Stansted11,25111,62422,875
Frankfurt - Hahn8,8728,70517,577
Dublin6,5477,16413,711
Alicante4,1434,4698,612
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q2 2017 Table 4E (XLS 11KB)
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Table 5: Number of passengers classified by country of flight stage origin and destination handled by main airports, Quarter 2 2017
ContinentCountryArrivalsDeparturesTotal
EuropeAustria18,04718,19336,240
 Belgium64,73665,849130,585
 Czech Republic23,77425,17148,945
 Denmark36,36737,41073,777
 France271,306286,359557,665
 Germany289,417296,925586,342
 Hungary29,47229,47058,942
 Italy189,747201,890391,637
 Latvia13,80114,68728,488
 Lithuania23,00124,50247,503
 Netherlands170,909175,413346,322
 Norway22,72122,66645,387
 Poland127,475133,903261,378
 Portugal175,527192,734368,261
 Spain604,370649,1461,253,516
 Sweden20,08219,98940,071
 Switzerland49,53451,325100,859
 Turkey25,90729,84055,747
 UK - England1,428,2591,471,4422,899,701
 UK - Northern Ireland1350135
 UK - Scotland172,350171,390343,740
 UK - Wales13,20713,76726,974
 UK - Other9,6729,67819,350
 Total UK1,623,6231,666,2773,289,900
 Other 161,293175,607336,900
 Total Europe3,941,1094,117,3568,058,465
   
North AmericaCanada58,71260,652119,364
USA477,798459,768937,566
Other1,4731,7923,265
Total North America537,983522,2121,060,195
   
AfricaTotal Africa9,4869,63519,121
   
AsiaUnited Arab Emirates90,76386,270177,033
Other2,6252,7315,356
Total Asia93,38889,001182,389
   
Other1Total other1,0341,4212,455
   
All continents2 4,583,0004,739,6259,322,625
1 Due to residual coding errors some passengers cannot be assigned a country of flight origin/destination.
2 This figure refers to international passengers only and excludes domestic passenger numbers.
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q2 2017 Table 5 (XLS 13KB)
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Table 6: Air freight classified by national and international traffic handled by main airports, Quarter 2 2017
     Tonnes
TrafficCorkDublinKnockShannonTotal
National freight traffic01,22301,1882,410
International freight traffic234,14252,00336,152
All freight235,36553,19138,563
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q2 2017 Table 6 (XLS 8KB)
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Table 7: Air freight classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports, Quarter 2 2017
     Tonnes
TrafficCorkDublinKnockShannonTotal
Arrivals - freight217,97151,65819,636
Departures - freight017,39401,53318,927
All freight235,36553,19138,563
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q2 2017 Table 7 (XLS 8KB)
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Background Notes

Introduction

Statistics on Aviation are collected under Statutory Instrument (S.I.) No. 91 of 2014 - Statistics (carriage of passengers, freight and mail by air) Order 2013.

The data in this release provides details on the number of passengers classified by arrivals and departures, and by reference to national and international traffic; the number of flights by arrivals and departures and information on air freight and mail (in tonnes).  The release also highlights the top routes for each of the five main airports: Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Knock and Kerry. In 2016, the top five airports represented 99.7% of all air passengers.

Data sources

Aviation statistics are compiled from data supplied by all Irish airports. The following Irish airports provide data to the Central Statistics Office: Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Kerry, Knock, Waterford, Connemara, Donegal and Inishmore. Galway and Sligo airports ceased operations in 2011. There have been no commercial flights in Waterford Airport since June 2016. Data for the five main airports is supplied on a monthly basis. Data for regional airports is supplied annually to the Central Statistics Office.

Definitions

Main airport: A main airport is defined as an airport through which in excess of 150,000 passengers fly per annum. The five main airports in Ireland are Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Knock and Kerry.

Regional airport: A regional airport is defined as an airport through which less than 150,000 passengers fly per annum. The four regional airports in Ireland are Donegal, Waterford, Connemara and Inishmore.

Scheduled flight: The term 'scheduled' in this release, refers to a commercial air service operated according to a published timetable, or with such a regular frequency that it constitutes an easily recognisable systematic series of flights.

Non-scheduled flight: The term 'non-scheduled' in this release, refers to a commercial air service other than scheduled air service e.g. chartered or private aircraft flights.

Direct transit passengers: These are passengers who, following a short stop, continue their journey on the same aircraft with the same flight number as the flight on which they arrived. These passengers are en route to another destination and generally do not disembark from their aircraft.

Transfer passengers: Transfer passengers or ‘connecting passengers’ are defined as passengers who make a stop at an airport without any purpose other than to board another aircraft to reach another destination. Unlike transit passengers, transfer passengers disembark the aircraft and pass through the airport en route to their connecting flight.

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