Almost 1.4 million more passengers used Irish airports in Quarter 3 (Q3) 2023 when compared with Q3 2022.
In Q3 2023, 11.8 million passengers passed through the five main Irish airports, compared with 10.4 million passengers in the same period in 2022 and 11.6 million in Q3 2019.
Almost 30.2 million passengers passed through the main Irish airports in the first nine months of 2023, which was 5.9 million more passengers than those using the airports in the same period in 2022.
The number of flights to and from Irish airports in Q3 2023 increased by 9,370 when compared with the same period in 2022. However, there were 670 fewer flights when compared with the same period in 2019.
Over 78,000 flights were handled by Ireland's five main airports in Q3 2023, with Dublin handling 83% of all flights (65,020), while Cork handled 8% of all flights (5,891).
London-Heathrow, London-Gatwick, and Amsterdam-Schiphol were the most popular routes for passengers travelling through Dublin airport in Q3 2023. The top route for Cork and Shannon was London-Heathrow, while it was London-Stansted for Knock, and Dublin for Kerry.
The number of passengers arriving to or departing from Ireland in September 2023 was over 8 times that of September 2020 (3,636,419 versus 430,627) and up by 3% when compared with September 2019 (3,636,419 versus 3,538,610).
Air freight handled by Irish airports in Q3 2023 was up 8% when compared with Q3 2022.
Figure 1 shows data on passenger numbers by quarter from Quarter 3 2018 to 2023 while Figure 2 shows data on passenger numbers for main Irish airports from September 2019 to 2023. Passenger numbers are exceeding 2019 levels as shown in Figure 2.
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (15 December 2023) published Aviation Statistics for Quarter 3 (Q3) 2023. 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 an increase in international travel during July, August, and September (Q3) 2023. Passengers travelling to and from Ireland were up by 2% when compared with Q3 2019 and up by 13% compared with Q3 2022.
Almost 672,000 more passengers travelled to Ireland in Q3 2023 when compared with Q3 2022, and this was almost 110,000 more passengers when compared with the same period in 2019.
In Q3 2023, 5.8 million passengers departed from Ireland, which was 683,000 more than the same period in 2022, and almost 92,000 more people when compared with Q3 2019.
It is interesting to note that the number of flights to and from Irish airports rose in Q3 2023 by 9,370 flights, when compared with the same period in 2022. However, there were 670 fewer flights when compared with the same period in 2019.
More than 78,000 flights were handled by Ireland's five main airports in Q3 2023, with Dublin handling 83% of all flights (65,020), while Cork accounted for 8% of all flights (5,891).
Most Popular Routes and Destinations
London-Heathrow, London-Gatwick, and Amsterdam-Schiphol were the most popular routes for passengers travelling through Dublin airport in Q3 2023. The top route for Cork and Shannon was London-Heathrow, while the busiest route for Knock was London-Stansted, and the most popular route for passengers using Kerry airport was Dublin.
In Q3 2023, almost nine out of every ten passengers (85%) on international flights in the five main 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 Q3 2023.
Looking at the data for the first nine months of 2023, 30.2 million passengers passed through Irish airports which was 5.9 million more passengers when compared with the same period in 2022, and 651,000 more than the first nine months of 2019.
The amount of air freight handled by the main airports increased by 8% to 44,379 tonnes in Q3 2023 when compared with the same period in 2022.”