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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 4 and Year 2018

Number of passengers handled by main Irish airports
 20172018% change
Quarter 47,876,4788,419,130+6.9
January to December34,439,29936,525,288+6.1

Increase of 6.1% in number of passengers handled by main Irish airports in 2018

Figure 1: Passenger numbers handled by main Irish airports
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In 2018, 36.5 million passengers passed through the main Irish airports, an increase of 6.1% over the previous year. See table 1.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, over 8.4 million passengers passed through the main Irish airports, an increase of 6.9% over the same period in 2017.

Passenger numbers increased in 2018 in Cork, Dublin, Kerry, Knock and Shannon airports, while passenger numbers decreased in Connemara and Inishmore airports, when compared with 2017. The five main airports accounted for 99.8% of all air passenger numbers, while Dublin airport accounted for 85.6% of all air passengers carried in 2018. See table 2.

The results also show that:

  • More than 266,000 flights were handled by Ireland's main airports in 2018. Dublin accounted for 83.6% of all flights (222,692), while Cork handled 7.7% of all flights (20,441). See table 5.
  • London-Heathrow and London-Gatwick were the most popular routes for passengers for Dublin airport in 2018. For Cork airport, London-Heathrow and London-Stansted were the most popular routes. 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 in 2018. See tables 6A to 6E.
  • In 2018, almost nine out of every ten (85.3%) passengers travelling on international flights in the main Irish airports were travelling 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 2018. See table 7.
  • Ireland's main airports handled a total of 157,364 tonnes of freight in 2018, the vast majority (93.6%) of which was international freight. See table 8.
  • When seasonally adjusted, there was a quarterly increase of 1.8% in the number of passengers that passed through the main airports in Quarter 4 of 2018 compared with Quarter 3 of 2018. See table 10.
Passenger number distribution by airport, 2018
Dublin85.6
Cork6.5
Shannon4.6
Other3.3
Passenger number distribution by airport, 2014
Dublin81.9
Cork8.1
Shannon5.9
Other4.1
Table 1: Number of passengers handled by main airports, Quarter 4 and Year 2016-2018
AirportQuarter 4January to December
201620172018% change 2017-2018 201620172018% change 2017-2018
Dublin6,466,7486,805,1977,292,712+7.227,778,88829,454,47431,319,419+6.3
Cork474,610493,363520,533+5.52,226,2332,301,4502,387,806+3.8
Shannon347,254341,394353,012+3.41,674,5671,599,3901,677,661+4.9
Knock158,563160,780170,600+6.1735,869748,505775,063+3.5
Kerry70,87175,74482,273+8.6325,670335,480365,339+8.9
Total7,518,0467,876,4788,419,130+6.9 32,741,22734,439,29936,525,288+6.1
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2018 Table 1 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 2: Total passenger numbers handled by all airports, 2014 - 2018
Airport20142015201620172018% change 2017-2018
Dublin21,694,89324,962,51827,778,88829,454,47431,319,419+6.3
Cork2,138,0572,065,6782,226,2332,301,4502,387,806+3.8
Shannon1,555,2251,642,8881,674,5671,599,3901,677,661+4.9
Knock703,670684,671735,869748,505775,063+3.5
Kerry294,955303,039325,670335,480365,339+8.9
Donegal35,41536,55244,15646,51446,537+0.0
Connemara19,23619,75321,34516,43715,322-6.8
Inishmore11,49112,07112,6679,3358,814-5.6
Waterford133,18934,24913,51100-
Total26,486,13129,761,41932,832,90634,511,58536,595,961+6.0
1 No commercial flights since June 2016 from Waterford airport
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2018 Table 2 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 3: Passenger numbers by month handled by main airports, 2018
MonthCorkDublinKerryKnockShannonTotal
January136,9971,960,87420,28039,77786,3132,244,241
February136,5871,836,02321,54742,89983,8982,120,954
March155,0342,240,58523,61248,558106,8592,574,648
April186,9062,603,35633,60268,916134,0743,026,854
May219,4002,857,15533,42173,039162,0433,345,058
June259,3373,097,73336,59479,587190,0513,663,302
July273,7393,309,15939,03988,119198,5273,908,583
August267,7123,220,96339,69091,425197,1103,816,900
September231,5612,900,85935,28172,143165,7743,405,618
October203,2342,796,44131,55167,378141,8853,240,489
November163,0872,264,11024,73752,584107,5082,612,026
December154,2122,232,16125,98550,638103,6192,566,615
Total2,387,80631,319,419365,339775,0631,677,66136,525,288
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2018 Table 3 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 4: Passenger numbers classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports, Quarter 4 and Year 2016-2018
 Quarter 4January to December
 201620172018 201620172018
Arrivals   
Cork239,299248,826262,1531,109,0671,148,7091,190,375
Dublin3,223,3613,396,6883,631,53213,862,17714,710,84315,634,251
Kerry35,52537,69041,119161,782166,207181,656
Knock79,82681,47286,454365,585370,695385,170
Shannon173,173170,361176,216831,481791,501833,275
Total arrivals3,751,1843,935,0374,197,47416,330,09217,187,95518,224,727
       
Departures       
Cork235,311244,537258,3801,117,1661,152,7411,197,431
Dublin3,243,3873,408,5093,661,18013,916,71114,743,63115,685,168
Kerry35,34638,05441,154163,888169,273183,683
Knock78,73779,30884,146370,284377,810389,893
Shannon174,081171,033176,796843,086807,889844,386
Total departures3,766,8623,941,4414,221,65616,411,13517,251,34418,300,561
       
All       
Cork474,610493,363520,5332,226,2332,301,4502,387,806
Dublin6,466,7486,805,1977,292,71227,778,88829,454,47431,319,419
Kerry70,87175,74482,273325,670335,480365,339
Knock158,563160,780170,600735,869748,505775,063
Shannon347,254341,394353,012 1,674,5671,599,3901,677,661
Total passengers7,518,0467,876,4788,419,130 32,741,22734,439,29936,525,288
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2018 Table 4 (XLS 13KB)
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Table 5: Number of flights classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports, Quarter 4 and Year 2018
 Quarter 4 January to December
Arrivals
Cork2,341 10,209
Dublin26,772 111,492
Kerry394 1,672
Knock710 3,125
Shannon1,532 6,864
Total arrivals31,749 133,362
   
Departures   
Cork2,344 10,232
Dublin26,706 111,200
Kerry393 1,671
Knock707 3,110
Shannon1,524 6,835
Total departures31,674 133,048
   
All   
Cork4,685 20,441
Dublin53,478 222,692
Kerry787 3,343
Knock1,417 6,235
Shannon3,056 13,699
Total flights63,423 266,410
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2018 Table 5 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 6A: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Dublin airport by number of passengers, Quarter 4 and Year 2018
Quarter 4January to December
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal  ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Heathrow222,163227,109449,272London - Heathrow893,526916,6001,810,126
London - Gatwick175,509168,275343,784London - Gatwick683,596664,9921,348,588
Amsterdam - Schiphol 147,572147,430295,002Amsterdam - Schiphol 601,969598,2941,200,263
Manchester132,975132,405265,380Manchester491,423494,242985,665
Birmingham123,537122,290245,827Birmingham462,382464,251926,633
London - Stansted116,714110,685227,399London - Stansted452,682444,295896,977
Paris - Charles De Gaulle91,03192,261183,292Paris - Charles De Gaulle360,592361,597722,189
Frankfurt - main80,66188,908169,569Edinburgh321,842315,685637,527
Edinburgh79,77577,060156,835New York - John F Kennedy304,431303,262607,693
New York - John F Kennedy74,78175,083149,864 Frankfurt - main296,208305,053601,261
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2018 Table 6A (XLS 12KB)
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Table 6B: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Cork airport by number of passengers, Quarter 4 and Year 2018
Quarter 4January to December
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal  ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Heathrow46,76347,43094,193London - Heathrow199,912203,357403,269
London - Stansted42,71641,50184,217London - Stansted173,694173,283346,977
Amsterdam - Schiphol 19,41520,25239,667Amsterdam - Schiphol 77,05178,901155,952
Paris - Charles De Gaulle17,54317,99435,537Malaga74,89174,837149,728
London - Gatwick15,31214,58929,901London - Gatwick62,18760,741122,928
Manchester13,20313,46126,664Paris - Charles De Gaulle60,73362,107122,840
Malaga13,68412,50326,187Faro59,14159,640118,781
Lanzarote11,41811,18622,604Lanzarote55,99756,424112,421
Liverpool - John Lennon9,9819,39819,379Manchester52,30853,997106,305
Birmingham9,2449,31818,562 Birmingham37,92239,24977,171
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2018 Table 6B (XLS 12KB)
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Table 6C: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Shannon airport by number of passengers, Quarter 4 and Year 2018
Quarter 4January to December
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal  ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Heathrow31,70834,69366,401London - Heathrow133,487142,749276,236
London - Stansted26,89824,26951,167London - Stansted104,15998,841203,000
London - Gatwick13,86313,69827,561New York - John F Kennedy58,10960,712118,821
New York - John F Kennedy11,70511,95823,663London - Gatwick58,98358,343117,326
Manchester11,22210,54421,766Boston - Logan46,21547,90694,121
Boston - Logan10,44411,27421,718Manchester42,87442,13985,013
Newark7,4276,93014,357Newark33,03434,58467,618
Malaga6,2295,69711,926Malaga29,65329,13058,783
Wroclaw - Strachowice5,0085,31610,324Faro28,83728,01956,856
Lanzarote4,7184,9049,622 Lanzarote23,16423,27046,434
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2018 Table 6C (XLS 12KB)
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Table 6D: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Knock airport by number of passengers, Quarter 4 and Year 2018
Quarter 4January to December
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal  ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Stansted18,90119,39438,295London - Stansted74,87781,059155,936
London - Luton14,98314,32829,311London - Luton66,73966,000132,739
Liverpool - John Lennon11,21711,20322,420Liverpool - John Lennon41,61543,25584,870
London - Gatwick9,9209,37919,299London - Gatwick41,56340,63582,198
East Midlands8,1858,21216,397East Midlands34,52135,21769,738
Bristol5,2164,95110,167Birmingham18,55918,67637,235
Manchester4,3144,2058,519Manchester18,61018,61337,223
Birmingham3,5803,5237,103Bristol17,69717,52135,218
Edinburgh3,0132,9365,949Faro15,72316,30832,031
Faro2,7612,2495,010 Edinburgh14,23614,14528,381
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2018 Table 6D (XLS 12KB)
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Table 6E: Top 5 arrivals and departures for Kerry airport by number of passengers, Quarter 4 and Year 2018
Quarter 4January to December
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal  ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Luton13,64112,91426,555London - Luton55,45455,295110,749
London - Stansted10,90910,39421,303London - Stansted40,16539,97280,137
Dublin6,1916,85213,043Dublin27,34030,19057,530
Frankfurt -Hahn4,5825,0839,665Frankfurt -Hahn26,06925,79651,865
Berlin - Schönefeld4,1874,4418,628 Berlin - Schönefeld16,39516,12332,518
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2018 Table 6E (XLS 12KB)
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Table 7: Number of passengers classified by country of flight stage origin and destination handled by main airports, Quarter 4 and Year 2018
ContinentCountryQuarter 4January to December
ArrivalsDeparturesTotal ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
EuropeAustria26,28028,41954,69984,79485,697170,491
 Belgium64,41865,118129,536254,968255,121510,089
 Czech Republic27,80529,54257,347103,072106,662209,734
 Denmark34,00834,22868,236138,483138,590277,073
 France208,146208,331416,4771,004,1671,012,2782,016,445
 Germany294,250310,582604,8321,259,5981,270,2922,529,890
 Hungary31,05431,63362,687119,139119,044238,183
 Italy147,574144,968292,542738,072736,3161,474,388
 Latvia13,73714,12027,85755,67856,980112,658
 Lithuania20,97021,34442,31486,63787,870174,507
 Netherlands179,709180,438360,147738,024734,9971,473,021
 Norway14,70015,74530,44573,20173,873147,074
 Poland121,077126,651247,728487,642492,120979,762
 Portugal103,33196,269199,600561,709564,8911,126,600
 Spain425,920416,321842,2412,163,1732,163,4974,326,670
 Sweden17,99918,86136,86078,65280,686159,338
 Switzerland44,24946,40390,652214,774215,761430,535
 Turkey19,96218,87638,838107,758110,470218,228
 UK - England1,448,3171,432,7582,881,0755,744,6605,770,97111,515,631
 UK - Northern Ireland168-1685215571,078
 UK - Scotland164,260161,473325,733667,102662,5791,329,681
 UK - Wales14,34514,10628,45161,88361,247123,130
 UK - Other5,2425,18210,42428,82029,26658,086
 Total UK1,632,3321,613,5193,245,8516,502,9866,524,62013,027,606
 Other 153,764152,315306,079712,612711,4211,424,033
 Total Europe3,581,2853,573,6837,154,96815,485,13915,541,18631,026,325
      
North AmericaCanada40,14644,08584,231237,045244,313481,358
USA433,662447,699881,3611,891,6751,909,6543,801,329
Other1054315362,7522,5545,306
Total North America473,913492,215966,1282,131,4722,156,5214,287,993
      
AfricaTotal Africa12,60113,72026,32157,89755,211113,108
      
AsiaUnited Arab Emirates77,65986,857164,516364,096361,371725,467
Other24,86426,77751,64195,27791,719186,996
Total Asia102,523113,634216,157459,373453,090912,463
      
Other1Total other7,2918,74916,0409,56210,43419,996
      
All continents2 4,177,6134,202,0018,379,614 18,143,44318,216,44236,359,885
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 Q4 2018 Table 7 (XLS 15KB)
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Table 8: Air freight classified by national and international traffic handled by main airports, Quarter 4 and Year 2018
   Tonnes
 Quarter 4 January to December
National freight traffic
Cork0 0
Dublin1,402 5,245
Kerry0 0
Knock0 0
Shannon1,141 4,809
Total national freight2,543 10,054
   
International freight traffic   
Cork7 51
Dublin31,911 138,463
Kerry0 0
Knock3 14
Shannon2,595 8,783
Total international freight34,516 147,310
   
All   
Cork7 51
Dublin33,312 143,708
Kerry0 0
Knock3 14
Shannon3,737 13,592
Total freight37,059 157,364
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2018 Table 8 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 9: Air freight classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports, Quarter 4 and Year 2018
   Tonnes
 Quarter 4 January to December
Arrival   
Cork3 25
Dublin18,807 75,333
Kerry0 0
Knock3 14
Shannon1,923 6,803
Total arrivals - freight20,737 82,174
   
Departure   
Cork4 26
Dublin14,505 68,375
Kerry0 0
Knock0 0
Shannon1,813 6,789
Total departures - freight16,322 75,190
   
All   
Cork7 51
Dublin33,312 143,708
Kerry0 0
Knock3 14
Shannon3,737 13,592
Total freight37,059 157,364
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2018 Table 9 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 10: Seasonally adjusted number of passengers handled by main airports
AirportQ4 2017Q3 2018Q4 2018% change Q3 2018-Q4 2018
Dublin7,549,0237,911,5848,051,570+1.8
Cork582,417607,644615,286+1.3
Shannon408,807418,963421,319+0.6
Knock190,524188,593204,164+8.3
Kerry85,88891,58692,861+1.4
Total passengers8,816,6599,218,3709,385,200+1.8
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2018 Table 10 (XLS 12KB)
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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 2018, the top five airports represented 99.8% 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.

Seasonal adjustment

Seasonal adjustment for passenger numbers is conducted using a direct seasonal adjustment approach. However, the overall passenger totals are estimated using the indirect approach, i.e. the ‘Total passengers’ is derived by adding the monthly seasonally adjusted passenger numbers for each airport. The main reason for adopting the indirect approach is to attribute the monthly and annual changes in passenger numbers to each airport. Seasonal adjustment models are developed for each airport based on unadjusted data spanning from January 2012 to the current period. These models are reviewed on an annual basis; however seasonal factors are updated each quarter.

The adjustments are completed by applying the X-13-ARIMA model, developed by the U.S. Census Bureau to the unadjusted data.  This methodology estimates seasonal factors while also taking into consideration factors that impact on the quality of the seasonal adjustment such as:

• Calendar effects, e.g. the timing of Easter,

• Outliers, temporary changes and level shifts in the series. 

For additional information on the use of X-13-ARIMA see https://www.census.gov/srd/www/winx13/

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 three regional airports in Ireland are Donegal, 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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