Almost 6.9 million more passengers used Irish airports in Q3 2022 compared with Q3 2021.
In Q3 2022, 10.4 million passengers passed through the five main Irish airports, almost three times that of 2021 but still 10% lower when compared with the same period in 2019.
Almost 24.3 million passengers passed through the main Irish airports in the first nine months of 2022 which was more than five times higher than those using the airports in the first nine months of 2021.
The number of flights to and from Irish airports in Q3 2022 increased by more than 36,000 when compared with the same period in 2021 but were still 13% lower than the same period in 2019.
Slightly more than 68,700 flights were handled by Ireland's five main airports in Q3 2022, with Dublin handling 84% of all flights (57,611), while Cork handled 7% of all flights (5,131).
London-Heathrow, London-Gatwick and Amsterdam-Schiphol were the most popular routes for passengers travelling through Dublin airport in Q3 2022. The top route for Cork airport was London-Heathrow, the top route for Knock and Shannon airports was London-Stansted, and the top route for Kerry airport was London-Luton.
Air freight handled by Irish airports in Q3 2022 was up by 3% compared with Q3 2021.
Figure 1 shows data on passenger numbers by Quarter 2 2017 to 2022 while Figure 2 shows data on passenger numbers by April, May and June 2019 to 2022. Whiile passenger numbers are increasing, the graphs show that they are not yet back to 2019 levels.
© Central Statistics Office, Ireland
https://data.cso.ie/table/TAQ01
© Central Statistics Office, Ireland
https://data.cso.ie/table/TAM06
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (16 December 2022) published Aviation Statistics for Quarter 3 (Q3) 2022. 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 in the Agriculture, Transport & Tourism Division, said: “The figures show an increase in international travel during Q3 2022. However, data shows that passengers travelling to and from Ireland were still down by 10% compared with Q3 2019.
Almost 3.5 million more passengers travelled to Ireland in Q3 2022 when compared with Q3 2021, but this is 0.6 million fewer passengers when compared with the same period in 2019.
In Q3 2022, 5.2 million passengers departed from Ireland, which was 3.5 million more than the same period in 2021, but still fewer by 0.6 million when compared with Q3 2019.
In the first nine months of 2022, 24.3 million passengers passed through Irish airports, which was 19.7 million more passengers when compared with the same period in 2021 but 5.2 million fewer than the same period in 2019."