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Transport Omnibus 2021

Aviation

Number of passengers handled by Irish airports increase by 10% in 2021 but were 76% lower than in 2019

Online ISSN: 2009-5643

CSO statistical release, 30 November 2022, 11am

COVID-19 Release Information

This publication has been compiled during the COVID-19 crisis. The results contained in this publication reflect some of the impacts of the COVID-19 situation.

Main results

Air travel continued to be significantly impacted by COVID-19 travel restrictions last year. In 2021, 9.1 million passengers passed through the main Irish airports, an increase of 10% on 2020 but still down by 76% compared with 2019. See table 7.1
A total of 9.1 million passengers passed through Irish airports in 2021, compared with 8.3 million in 2020 and 38.1 million in 2019.
Dublin airport accounted for 90% of air passengers carried in 2021. The number of passengers travelling through Dublin airport in 2021 was a quarter of those that travelled in 2019.
In 2021, the Dublin - Heathrow route carried the most air passengers (404,011).
The most popular country of origin/destination was the UK with 30% of passengers, followed by Spain with 15% and the USA with 5% of all international travel.

Figure 7.1 shows that in 2021, a total of 9.1 million passengers passed through Irish airports. This represents an increase of 10% on the 2020 total but a fall of 76% when compared with 2019.

	Passenger numbers
2015	29.8
2016	32.8
2017	34.5
2018	36.6
2019	38.1
2020	8.3
2021	9.1

Table 7.1 Total passenger numbers¹handled by all airports, 2016 - 2021
Airport	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Connemara	21,345	16,437	15,322	15,382	8,890	..
Cork	2,226,233	2,301,450	2,387,806	2,585,466	527,014	255,014
Donegal	44,156	46,514	46,537	48,542	18,067	14,603
Dublin	27,778,888	29,454,474	31,319,419	32,676,251	7,267,240	8,266,271
Inishmore	12,667	9,335	8,814	8,831	5,020	..
Kerry	325,670	335,480	365,339	369,836	82,959	115,398
Knock	735,869	748,505	770,908	805,443	142,532	174,027
Shannon	1,674,567	1,599,390	1,677,661	1,616,422	273,934	322,162
Waterford²	13,511	-	-	-	-	-
Total	32,832,906	34,511,585	36,591,806	38,126,173	8,325,656	9,147,475
Source: CSO
¹Passenger numbers refer to commercial passengers only. Transit passengers are counted twice (i.e. both as arriving and departing passengers).
² No commercial flights since June 2016 from Waterford airport.
³ Please note that Knock airport was closed from April 2020 to June 2020 and from February 2021 to May 2021. Cork airport was closed for October 2021.