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Press Statement

Preasráiteas

16 September 2021

Press Statement Aviation Statistics Quarter 2 2021

Number of flights to and from Irish airports increase compared to 2020 levels but remain below 2019 levels
  • More than 400,000 more passengers used Irish airports in Q2 2021 compared with Q2 2020 but were down 94% when compared with the same period in 2019
  • Number of flights to and from Irish airports in Q2 rose by 5,145 flights compared with the same period in 2020 but were down by 84% when compared with the same period in 2019
  • Air freight handled by Irish airports in Q2 2021 was up 25% compared with Q2 2020

Go to release: Aviation Statistics Quarter 2 2021

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (16 September 2021) published Aviation Statistics for Quarter 2 2021. Passenger numbers are received for the five main airports: Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Knock and Kerry.

Commenting on the release, Dr Nele van der Wielen, Statistician, said: “The figures show a substantial decline in international travel during Q2 2021 compared to 2019 but show increases in comparison with Q2 2020. There were increases in passenger numbers for April, May and June 2021. Data for June 2021 shows that passenger numbers were more than three times higher than June 2020, but they were still 92% lower than June 2019.

In Q2 2021, more than 274,000 passengers travelled to Ireland and almost 322,000 passengers departed from Ireland. These numbers represent a fall of 95% in the number of passengers arriving to Ireland and a drop of 94% in the number departing from Ireland, when compared with the same period in 2019.

There were 11,539 flights in Q2 2021 compared with 6,394 in the same period in 2020. Of those 11,539 flights, 5,754 arrived to Ireland and 5,785 departed from Ireland.

The amount of air freight handled by the main airports increased by 25% to 40,710 tonnes in the second quarter of 2021 when compared with the same period in 2020.”

Further commenting on the results, Dr Nele van der Wielen said: “Nine out of every ten passengers (92%) on international flights were travelling to or from Europe. Within Europe, the United Kingdom and Poland were the most popular routes. While outside of Europe the most popular routes were to or from the United States of America.

For further information contact:

Dr Nele van der Wielen (+353) 21 453 5379 or Noreen Dorgan (+353) 21 453 5260

or email transport@cso.ie

or email Nele.vanderWielen@cso.ie

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