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E-mail: transport@cso.ie Noreen Dorgan +353 21 453 5260 Olive Loughnane +353 21 453 5281
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This release was compiled during the COVID-19 pandemic. For further information see Press Statement Aviation Statistics Quarter 2 2020.

CSO statistical release, , 11am

Aviation Statistics

Quarter 2 2020

Number of passengers handled by main Irish airports
 Quarter 2 January to June
 20192020% change20192020% change
Total passengers10,479,523164,400-98.4 17,915,1196,080,877-66.1

Decrease of 98.4% in number of passengers handled by main Irish airports in Quarter 2 2020

Figure 1: Passenger numbers handled by main Irish airports
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In the second quarter of 2020, 164,400 passengers passed through the five main Irish airports, a decrease of 98.4% over the same period in 2019.

The data shows significant decreases in all months in passenger numbers for April, May and June. These decreases are associated with the restrictions imposed in March 2020 due to COVID-19. See table 1B.

Passenger numbers decreased in all five airports. Dublin airport accounted for 94.6% of all air passengers handled in the second quarter of 2020. Note: Knock airport was closed for April, May and June 2020.

In the first half of 2020, 6.0 million passengers (6,080,877) travelled through the main Irish airports, a fall of two thirds (-66.1%) compared with the same period in 2019.

The results also show that:

  • Over 6,000 flights were handled by Ireland's main airports in the second quarter of 2020. This is a drop of 91.4% compared to the same period last year. Dublin accounted for 85.6% of all flights (5,474). See tables 3A and 3B.
  • Amsterdam-Schiphol, London-Heathrow and London-Stansted were the most popular routes for passengers travelling through Dublin airport in the second quarter of 2020.
  • In the second quarter of 2020, almost nine out of every ten passengers (86.9%) on international flights in the main airports were travelling to or from Europe. The two most popular countries of origin/destination were the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Outside of Europe, the United States of America was the most popular country of origin/destination in the second quarter of 2020. See table 5.
  • Ireland's main airports handled a total of 32,593 tonnes of freight in the second quarter of 2020, the vast majority (94.4%) of which was international freight. See table 6.

Seasonally adjusting the Aviation data series during the COVID-19 crisis period will be challenging until the scale and shape of its impact on the time series is better understood. The initial seasonally adjusted results might be revised for some months ahead as future observations become available. Users should be aware that there is increased uncertainty around the seasonally adjusted figures during this period.

Table 1A: Number of passengers1 handled by main airports, Quarter 2 2018-2020
AirportQuarter 2January to June
201820192020% change 2019-2020 201820192020% change 2019-2020
Dublin8,558,2448,957,586155,593-98.314,595,72615,437,8235,294,721-65.7
Cork665,643728,5487,879-98.91,094,2611,202,845405,266-66.3
Shannon486,168468,422120-100.0763,238738,309216,348-70.7
Knock217,471222,4330-100.0348,705365,002107,971-70.4
Kerry103,617102,534808-99.2 169,056171,14056,571-66.9
Total10,031,14310,479,523164,400-98.4 16,970,98617,915,1196,080,877-66.1
1 Passenger numbers refer to commercial passengers only. Transit passengers are included and are counted twice (i.e. both as arriving and departing passengers).
Table 1B: Number of passengers1 classified by month handled by main airports
201820192020% change 2019-2020
AirportAprMayJun AprMayJun AprMayJun AprMayJun
Cork186,906219,400259,337 210,510239,077278,9611,1402,1164,623-99.5-99.1-98.3
Dublin2,603,3562,857,1553,097,733 2,789,6602,965,5173,202,40923,95142,66188,981-99.1-98.6-97.2
Kerry33,60233,42136,594 32,17134,21336,150110219479-99.7-99.4-98.7
Knock68,91668,96879,587 71,56373,85077,020000-100.0-100.0-100.0
Shannon134,074162,043190,051 128,840160,902178,680851718-99.9-100.0-100.0
Total 3,026,8543,340,9873,663,302 3,232,7443,473,5593,773,220 25,28645,01394,101 -99.2-98.7-97.5
1 Passenger numbers refer to commercial passengers only. Transit passengers are included and are counted twice (i.e. both as arriving and departing passengers).
X-axis label201820192020
April3026854323274425286
May3340987347355945013
June3663302377322094101
Table 2: Passenger1 numbers classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports
   Number
AirportQ2 2018Q2 2019Q2 2020
Arrivals   
Cork325,824354,9003,920
Dublin4,235,5244,411,31768,795
Kerry50,88750,575398
Knock105,687108,4810
Shannon240,187231,14162
Total arrivals4,958,1095,156,41473,175
   
Departures   
Cork339,819373,6483,959
Dublin4,322,7204,546,26986,798
Kerry52,73051,959410
Knock111,784113,9520
Shannon245,981237,28158
Total departures5,073,0345,323,10991,225
   
All   
Cork665,643728,5487,879
Dublin8,558,2448,957,586155,593
Kerry103,617102,534808
Knock217,471222,4330
Shannon486,168468,422120
Total passengers10,031,14310,479,523164,400
1 Passenger numbers refer to commercial passengers only. Transit passengers are included and are counted twice (i.e. both as arriving and departing passengers).
Table 3A: Number of flights classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports, Quarter 2 2020
FlightsCorkDublinKerryKnockShannonTotal
Arrivals1262,82617201643,288
Departures1262,64817101603,105
All flights2525,47434303246,393
Table 3B: Number of flights classified by month handled by main airports
 2019 2020 % change 2019-2020
AirportAprMayJunQ2 AprMayJunQ2 AprMayJunQ2
Cork1,7332,0392,1745,946 848088252 -95.2-96.1-96.0-95.8
Dublin19,53521,03221,09161,658 1,5841,8082,0825,474 -91.9-91.4-90.1-91.1
Kerry288316332936 107118118343 -62.8-62.7-64.5-63.4
Knock5695946091,772 0000 -100.0-100.0-100.0-100.0
Shannon1,0281,3061,3203,654 10089135324 -90.3-93.2-89.8-91.1
Total 23,15325,28725,52673,966 1,8752,0952,4236,393 -91.9-91.7-90.5-91.4
Table 4: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Dublin airport by number of passengers, Quarter 2 2020
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
Amsterdam - Schiphol 8,22912,28620,515
London - Heathrow9,80810,07619,884
London - Stansted4,4515,0559,506
London - Gatwick4,6124,7659,377
Berlin - Schönefeld 2,6514,3166,967
Paris - Charles De Gaulle2,4464,3066,752
Manchester2,9523,2426,194
Frankfurt - Main2,2663,7576,023
Lisbon1,9913,3125,303
Qatar - New Doha 4,1801,0965,276
Table 5: Number of passengers classified by country of flight stage origin and destination handled by main airports, Quarter 2 2020
ContinentCountryArrivalsDeparturesTotal
EuropeBelgium1,0392,1143,153
 Bulgaria391-391
 Croatia270676946
 Denmark167489656
 France2,6274,3546,981
 Germany5,8999,78415,683
 Italy3831,6382,021
 Latvia5781,1831,761
 Lithuania204694898
 Netherlands8,22912,28620,515
 Poland6551,1611,816
 Portugal2,3194,0186,337
 Romania2,6374,6137,250
 Spain9172,8243,741
 Switzerland5611,2071,768
 Turkey92385477
 UK - England28,92230,80559,727
 UK - Scotland2,1762,1524,328
 UK - Other088
 Total UK31,09832,96564,063
 Other 7111,5172,228
 Total Europe58,79581,977140,772
   
North AmericaUSA6,4664,76611,232
Other151631
Total North America6,4814,78211,263
   
AfricaTotal Africa9230923
   
AsiaUnited Arab Emirates1,0201651,185
Other4,6563,0327,688
Total Asia5,6763,1978,873
   
Other1Total other11460174
   
All continents2 71,98990,016162,005
1 Due to residual coding errors some passengers cannot be assigned a country of flight origin/destination.
2 This figure refers to passengers on international flights only and excludes passengers on domestic flights.
Table 6: Air freight classified by national and international traffic handled by main airports, Quarter 2 2020
     Tonnes
TrafficCorkDublinKnockShannonTotal
National freight traffic01,70501051,810
International freight traffic627,12903,64930,783
All freight628,83403,75432,593
Table 7: Air freight classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports, Quarter 2 2020
     Tonnes
TrafficCorkDublinKnockShannonTotal
Arrivals - freight617,37501,90419,285
Departures - freight011,45901,85013,309
All freight628,83403,75432,593
Table 8: Seasonally adjusted number of passengers handled by main airports
AirportQ2 2019Q1 2020Q2 2020% change Q1 2020-Q2 2020
Dublin8,211,8006,571,334138,398-97.9
Cork643,960546,0166,620-98.8
Shannon408,039349,8231201-100.0
Knock197,437165,03801-100.0
Kerry90,47979,5828081-99.0
Total passengers9,551,7157,711,793145,9461-98.1
1 Note: For Q2 2020 the unadjusted figures for Shannon, Knock and Kerry airports are being disseminated as the seasonally adjusted passenger numbers.

Background Notes

Introduction

Statistics on Aviation are collected under Statutory Instrument (S.I.) No. 10 of 2020 - Statistics (carriage of passengers, freight and mail by air) Order 2020.

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 2019, 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.

Coherence 

The statistics in this release are not fully coherent with the Air and Sea Travel statistics. The differences in passenger numbers which are typically less than 0.5%, arise because the Air and Sea Travel statistics exclude transit passengers, domestic air travel and flights to Northern Ireland. 

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. 

Seasonally adjusting the Aviation data series during the COVID-19 crisis period will be challenging until the scale and shape of its impact on the time series is better understood. The initial seasonally adjusted results might be revised for some months ahead as future observations become available. Users should be aware that there is increased uncertainty around the seasonally adjusted figures during this period. 

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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