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E-mail: transport@cso.ie Olive Loughnane +353 21 453 5281 Noreen Dorgan +353 21 453 5260
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information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-7581

COVID-19 Release Information

This release was compiled during the COVID-19 pandemic. For further information see Press Statement Aviation Statistics Quarter 1 2020.

CSO statistical release, , 11am

Aviation Statistics

Quarter 1 2020

Number of passengers handled by main Irish airports, Quarter 1 2018-2020
 Q1 2018Q1 20191Q1 2020% change Q1 2019-2020
Total passengers6,939,8437,435,6735,916,477-20.4
1 Minor revisions to some airports

Decrease of 20.4% in number of passengers handled by main Irish airports in Quarter 1 2020

Figure 1: Passenger numbers handled by main Irish airports
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In the first quarter of 2020, over 5.9 million passengers passed through the five main Irish airports, a decrease of 20.4% over the same period in 2019.

The data shows modest increases in passengers numbers for January and February but passenger numbers for March 2020 showed a drop of 57.5% compared to the same month in 2019. This decrease is 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 86.9% of all air passengers handled in the first quarter of 2020.

The results also show that:

  • Over 51,000 flights were handled by Ireland's five main airports in the first quarter of 2020. This ia a drop of 11.4% compared to the same period last year. Dublin accounted for 84.6% of all flights (43,513) while Cork handled 7.6% of all flights (3,911). See tables 3A and 3B.
  • London-Heathrow, London-Gatwick and Amsterdam-Schiphol were the most popular routes for passengers travelling through Dublin airport in the first quarter of 2020. For Cork airport, the top three routes were London-Heathrow, London-Stansted and Amsterdam-Schiphol. The top route for Shannon was London-Heathrow, the top route for Knock was London-Stansted and the top route for Kerry was London-Luton. See tables 4A to 4E.
  • In the first quarter of 2020, almost nine out of every ten passengers (88.5%) 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 the first quarter of 2020. See table 5.
  • Ireland's main airports handled a total of 37,135 tonnes of freight in the first quarter of 2020, the vast majority (95.3%) of which was international freight. See table 6.
  • When seasonally adjusted, there was a decrease in the number of passengers (-18.7%) that passed through the main airports in Quarter 1 of 2020 compared with Quarter 4 of 2019. See table 8.
Table 1A: Number of passengers handled by main airports, Quarter 1 2018-2020
AirportQ1 2018Q1 20191Q1 2020% change Q1 2019-2020
Dublin6,037,4826,480,3145,139,128-20.7
Cork428,618474,297397,387-16.2
Shannon277,070269,887216,228-19.9
Knock131,234142,569107,971-24.3
Kerry65,43968,60655,763-18.7
Total passengers6,939,8437,435,6735,916,477-20.4
1 Minor revisions to some airports
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q1 2020 Table 1A (XLS 12KB)
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Table 1B: Number of passengers classified by month handled by main airports
201820192020% change 2019-2020
AirportJanFebMar JanFebMar JanFebMar JanFebMar
Cork136,997136,587155,034 148,939150,482174,876158,078159,12180,1886.15.7-54.1
Dublin1,960,8741,836,0232,240,585 2,054,7941,993,3252,432,1952,082,4812,030,6431,026,0041.31.9-57.8
Kerry20,28021,54723,612 20,82922,23125,54621,57222,69911,4923.62.1-55.0
Knock39,77742,89948,558 42,41345,45654,70040,27245,26322,436-5.0-0.4-59.0
Shannon86,31383,898106,859 87,01682,497100,37485,97486,80043,454-1.25.2-56.7
Total 2,244,2412,120,9542,574,648 2,353,9912,293,9912,787,691 2,388,3772,344,5261,183,574 1.52.2-57.5
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q1 2020 Table 1B (XLS 11KB)
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Table 2: Passenger numbers classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports
   Number
AirportQ1 2018Q1 20191Q1 2020
Arrivals   
Cork210,571236,050200,026
Dublin3,011,2623,262,0032,594,998
Kerry32,40533,55127,256
Knock63,58168,93851,639
Shannon138,692134,862108,856
Total arrivals3,456,5113,735,4042,982,775
   
Departures   
Cork218,047238,247197,361
Dublin3,026,2203,218,3112,544,130
Kerry33,03435,05528,507
Knock67,65373,63156,332
Shannon138,378135,025107,372
Total departures3,483,3323,700,2692,933,702
   
All   
Cork428,618474,297397,387
Dublin6,037,4826,480,3145,139,128
Kerry65,43968,60655,763
Knock131,234142,569107,971
Shannon277,070269,887216,228
Total passengers6,939,8437,435,6735,916,477
1 Minor revisions to some airports
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q1 2020 Table 2 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 3A: Number of flights classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports, Quarter 1 2020
      Number
FlightsCorkDublinKerryKnockShannonTotal
Arrivals1,95421,7803625081,13325,737
Departures1,95721,7333605081,11225,670
All flights3,91143,5137221,0162,24551,407
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q1 2020 Table 3A (XLS 12KB)
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Table 3B: Number of flights classified by month handled by main airports
 2019 2020 % change 2019-2020
AirportJanFebMarQ1 JanFebMarQ1 JanFebMarQ1
Cork1,4471,3671,5464,360 1,3871,3401,1843,911 -4.1-2.0-23.4-10.3
Dublin16,45015,28817,51349,251 15,96515,22812,32043,513 -2.9-0.4-29.7-11.7
Kerry257231259747 256239227722 -0.43.5-12.4-3.3
Knock4063744401,220 3823702641,016 -5.9-1.1-40.0-16.7
Shannon8317368502,417 8087766612,245 -2.85.4-22.2-7.1
Total 19,39117,99620,60857,995 18,79817,95314,65651,407 -3.1-0.2-28.9-11.4
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q1 2020 Table 3B (XLS 11KB)
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Table 4A: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Dublin airport by number of passengers, Quarter 1 2020
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Heathrow161,047164,500325,547
London - Gatwick134,468130,603265,071
Amsterdam - Schiphol 116,590114,749231,339
Manchester103,039102,922205,961
Birmingham94,79998,158192,957
London - Stansted84,47785,021169,498
Paris - Charles De Gaulle72,12270,686142,808
Frankfurt59,94462,842122,786
Edinburgh59,34258,403117,745
New York - John F Kennedy55,33954,011109,350
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q1 2020 Table 4A (XLS 12KB)
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Table 4B: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Cork airport by number of passengers, Quarter 1 2020
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Heathrow33,66334,21567,878
London - Stansted31,00432,24663,250
Amsterdam - Schiphol 15,91916,41532,334
London - Gatwick12,28011,76724,047
Manchester9,81210,34220,154
Lanzarote9,4178,59318,010
Liverpool - John Lennon8,1718,20316,374
Paris - Charles De Gaulle7,9728,12816,100
Birmingham7,2607,82615,086
London - Luton8,0286,77114,799
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q1 2020 Table 4B (XLS 12KB)
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Table 4C: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Shannon airport by number of passengers, Quarter 1 2020
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Heathrow21,34924,09145,440
London - Stansted19,81218,47938,291
London - Gatwick10,19610,45920,655
Manchester8,3778,51516,892
Boston - Logan7,0687,55214,620
New York - John F Kennedy4,4274,6279,054
Wroclaw - Strachowice4,0183,5687,586
Krakow - Balice3,9473,6137,560
Warsaw Modlin3,9313,5667,497
Lanzarote4,0253,4687,493
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q1 2020 Table 4C (XLS 12KB)
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Table 4D: Top 5 arrivals and departures for Knock airport by number of passengers, Quarter 1 2020
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Stansted12,65115,40328,054
London - Luton9,6629,89819,560
Liverpool - John Lennon9,2679,76119,028
London - Gatwick6,2726,60812,880
East Midlands5,7706,25612,026
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q1 2020 Table 4D (XLS 12KB)
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Table 4E: Top 5 arrivals and departures for Kerry airport by number of passengers, Quarter 1 2020
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Luton9,2599,38718,646
London - Stansted7,2577,85715,114
Dublin4,3434,9149,257
Berlin - Schönefeld3,2633,2276,490
Frankfurt - Hahn2,7892,8205,609
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q1 2020 Table 4E (XLS 12KB)
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Table 5: Number of passengers classified by country of flight stage origin and destination handled by main airports, Quarter 1 2020
ContinentCountryArrivalsDeparturesTotal
EuropeAustria29,76628,58658,352
 Belgium50,00449,49599,499
 Bulgaria6,0305,86211,892
 Czech Republic18,78817,82836,616
 Denmark23,67324,61348,286
 Finland6,8877,35914,246
 France161,801158,700320,501
 Germany188,630188,174376,804
 Greece5,1024,93510,037
 Hungary28,47726,43954,916
 Iceland9,5349,86619,400
 Italy96,58991,039187,628
 Latvia16,32715,60331,930
 Lithuania18,73618,17536,911
 Netherlands141,379139,791281,170
 Norway8,3499,08317,432
 Poland109,907103,884213,791
 Portugal69,73463,243132,977
 Romania21,49320,40041,893
 Slovakia10,4029,84920,251
 Spain296,075265,288561,363
 Sweden13,40014,58727,987
 Switzerland40,44840,45880,906
 Turkey21,91219,92241,834
 UK - England1,067,9291,087,3892,155,318
 UK - Northern Ireland532-532
 UK - Scotland118,321118,544236,865
 UK - Wales8,5399,02717,566
 UK - Other3,5533,8887,441
 Total UK1,198,8741,218,8482,417,722
 Other 36,51132,96269,473
 Total Europe2,628,8282,584,9895,213,817
   
North AmericaCanada20,35622,42542,781
USA228,031230,712458,743
Other8333221,155
Total North America249,220253,459502,679
   
AfricaTotal Africa4,3673,9188,285
   
AsiaUnited Arab Emirates72,00766,378138,385
Other15,78012,73728,517
Total Asia87,78779,115166,902
    
Other1Total other516
     
All continents2 2,970,2072,921,4825,891,689
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.
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q1 2020 Table 5 (XLS 14KB)
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Table 6: Air freight classified by national and international traffic handled by main airports, Quarter 1 2020
     Tonnes
TrafficCorkDublinKnockShannonTotal
National freight traffic01,620-1101,730
International freight traffic2332,16033,21935,405
All freight2333,78033,33037,135
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q1 2020 Table 6 (XLS 9KB)
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Table 7: Air freight classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports, Quarter 1 2020
     Tonnes
TrafficCorkDublinKnockShannonTotal
Arrivals - freight917,71531,39719,124
Departures - freight1416,06501,93218,011
All freight2333,78033,33037,135
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q1 2020 Table 7 (XLS 8KB)
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Table 8: Seasonally adjusted number of passengers handled by main airports
AirportQ1 2019Q4 2019Q1 2020% change Q4 2019-Q1 2020
Dublin8,124,0888,078,6536,526,542-19.2
Cork636,837654,051545,941-16.5
Shannon406,097403,772349,735-13.4
Knock200,650206,169165,288-19.8
Kerry92,43593,13079,491-14.6
Total passengers9,460,1079,435,7757,666,997-18.7
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q1 2020 Table 8 (XLS 12KB)
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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. 

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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