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For more information on this release:
E-mail: transport@cso.ie Noreen Dorgan +353 21 453 5260 Brendan Curtin +353 21 453 5120
For general information on CSO statistics:
information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-7581
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Aviation Statistics

Quarter 3 2017

Number of passengers handled by main Irish airports
 20162017% change
Quarter 39,989,84510,524,500+5.4
January to September25,223,18126,562,842+5.3

Increase of 5.4% in number of passengers handled by main Irish airports in Quarter 3 2017

Figure 1: Passenger numbers handled by main Irish airports
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In the third quarter of 2017, more than 10.5 million passengers passed through the main Irish airports, an increase of 5.4% over the same period in 2016. See Table 1.

Passenger numbers increased in quarter 3 of 2017 in Cork and Dublin airports while passenger numbers decreased in Shannon, Knock and Kerry, when compared with quarter 3 of 2016. Dublin Airport accounted for 84.5% of all air passengers carried in the third quarter of 2017.

In the nine month period from January to September of 2017, 26.6 million passengers travelled through the main Irish airports, an increase of 5.3% compared with the same period in 2016.

 

The results also show that:

  • There were 73,364 flights handled by Ireland's main airports in the third quarter of 2017. Dublin accounted for 82.5% of all flights (60,552), while Cork handled 8.3% of all flights (6,059). See Table 3.
  • London-Heathrow, London-Gatwick and Amsterdam-Schiphol were the most popular routes for passengers for Dublin airport in the third quarter of 2017. For Cork airport, the top three routes were London-Heathrow, London-Stansted and Faro. 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 third quarter of 2017, 84.8% of passengers travelling on international flights in the main Irish airports were going 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 third quarter of 2017. See Table 5.
  • Ireland's main airports handled a total of 39,582 tonnes of freight in the third quarter of 2017, the vast majority (93.6%) of which was international freight. See Table 6.
Table 1: Number of passengers handled by main airports, Quarter 3 2015-2017
AirportQuarter 3January to September
201520162017% change 2016-2017 201520162017% change 2016-2017
Dublin7,621,3398,361,6028,894,064+6.419,095,31921,312,14022,649,287+6.3
Cork653,801706,690752,149+6.41,613,4841,751,6231,808,098+3.2
Shannon565,509562,727531,272-5.61,297,0801,327,3131,257,996-5.2
Knock226,306253,870244,849-3.6539,761577,306587,725+1.8
Kerry99,683104,956102,166-2.7234,798254,799259,736+1.9
Total9,166,6389,989,84510,524,500+5.4 22,780,44225,223,18126,562,842+5.3
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q3 2017 Table 1 (XLS 11KB)
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Table 2: Passenger numbers classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports
   Number
AirportQ3 2015Q3 2016Q3 2017
Arrivals   
Cork330,493357,346381,536
Dublin3,848,1524,217,7894,481,157
Kerry49,94652,63651,210
Knock113,459129,046122,722
Shannon283,388280,601262,580
Total arrivals4,625,4385,037,4185,299,205
   
Departures   
Cork323,308349,344370,613
Dublin3,773,1874,143,8134,412,907
Kerry49,73752,32050,956
Knock112,847124,824122,127
Shannon282,121282,126268,692
Total departures4,541,2004,952,4275,225,295
   
All   
Cork653,801706,690752,149
Dublin7,621,3398,361,6028,894,064
Kerry99,683104,956102,166
Knock226,306253,870244,849
Shannon565,509562,727531,272
Total passengers9,166,6389,989,84510,524,500
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q3 2017 Table 2 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 3: Number of flights classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports, Quarter 3 2017
      Number
FlightsCorkDublinKerryKnockShannonTotal
Arrivals3,03230,3194409032,03736,731
Departures3,02730,2334409062,02736,633
All flights6,05960,5528801,8094,06473,364
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q3 2017 Table 3 (XLS 11KB)
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Table 4A: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Dublin airport by number of passengers, Quarter 3 2017
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Heathrow250,188251,753501,941
London - Gatwick174,140165,615339,755
Amsterdam - Schiphol 142,908141,389284,297
Manchester123,463122,639246,102
London - Stansted121,237117,967239,204
Birmingham117,731115,886233,617
Faro111,575104,824216,399
Malaga104,493100,579205,072
Paris - Charles De Gaulle93,65992,423186,082
Madrid - Barajas85,92283,748169,670
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q3 2017 Table 4A (XLS 11KB)
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Table 4B: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Cork airport by number of passengers, Quarter 3 2017
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Heathrow59,07558,469117,544
London - Stansted48,34046,64294,982
Faro28,95727,47356,430
Malaga25,88325,01950,902
Amsterdam - Schiphol 22,78922,04144,830
London - Gatwick16,46016,26432,724
Lanzarote16,28815,60031,888
Manchester14,52414,52429,048
Palma De Mallorca14,28613,13027,416
Paris - Charles De Gaulle12,56912,85025,419
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q3 2017 Table 4B (XLS 11KB)
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Table 4C: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Shannon airport by number of passengers, Quarter 3 2017
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Heathrow37,66540,23777,902
New York - John F Kennedy27,30029,66656,966
London - Stansted25,78824,58550,373
London - Gatwick16,31616,59532,911
Boston - Logan14,25215,05229,304
Malaga13,75512,97526,730
Faro13,47912,36725,846
Newark11,57812,82824,406
Philadelphia11,07113,01924,090
Manchester8,9168,98017,896
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q3 2017 Table 4C (XLS 11KB)
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Table 4D: Top 5 arrivals and departures for Knock airport by number of passengers, Quarter 3 2017
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Stansted20,79721,95142,748
London - Luton20,24719,91140,158
London - Gatwick12,37611,56223,938
Liverpool - John Lennon10,48210,85721,339
East Midlands10,34310,34020,683
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q3 2017 Table 4D (XLS 11KB)
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Table 4E: Top 5 arrivals and departures for Kerry airport by number of passengers, Quarter 3 2017
   Number
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Luton15,72915,55531,284
London - Stansted10,99610,86521,861
Frankfurt - Hahn9,2999,01718,316
Dublin7,3278,01015,337
Alicante4,5024,5079,009
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q3 2017 Table 4E (XLS 11KB)
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Table 5: Number of passengers classified by country of flight stage origin and destination handled by main airports, Quarter 3 2017
ContinentCountryArrivalsDeparturesTotal
EuropeAustria16,50416,16632,670
 Belgium64,64962,602127,251
 Czech Republic25,53625,82051,356
 Denmark40,50638,87879,384
 France307,700298,464606,164
 Germany327,377321,299648,676
 Hungary30,83929,32260,161
 Italy243,502238,011481,513
 Latvia14,62014,67329,293
 Lithuania21,19921,08742,286
 Netherlands181,385178,566359,951
 Norway25,45523,70749,162
 Poland136,720131,029267,749
 Portugal220,786211,748432,534
 Spain760,696735,0611,495,757
 Sweden24,94525,23150,176
 Switzerland60,37960,986121,365
 Turkey34,31334,37268,685
 UK - England1,519,8661,505,0963,024,962
 UK - Northern Ireland302350652
 UK - Scotland181,379177,506358,885
 UK - Wales14,86514,63429,499
 UK - Other10,31810,06720,385
 Total UK1,726,7301,707,6533,434,383
 Other 228,146217,890446,036
 Total Europe4,491,9874,392,5658,884,552
   
North AmericaCanada91,66995,278186,947
USA556,173581,7681,137,941
Other1,4375952,032
Total North America649,279677,6411,326,920
   
AfricaTotal Africa12,55411,41723,971
   
AsiaUnited Arab Emirates104,834103,786208,620
Other17,40115,67033,071
Total Asia122,235119,456241,691
   
Other1Total other2,0452,2794,324
   
All continents2 5,278,1005,203,35810,481,458
1 Due to residual coding errors some passengers cannot be assigned a country of flight origin/destination.
2 This figure refers to international passengers only and excludes domestic passenger numbers.
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q3 2017 Table 5 (XLS 13KB)
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Table 6: Air freight classified by national and international traffic handled by main airports, Quarter 3 2017
     Tonnes
TrafficCorkDublinKnockShannonTotal
National freight traffic01,27901,2532,532
International freight traffic1434,97632,05637,049
All freight1436,25433,31039,582
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q3 2017 Table 6 (XLS 8KB)
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Table 7: Air freight classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports, Quarter 3 2017
     Tonnes
TrafficCorkDublinKnockShannonTotal
Arrivals - freight1018,66631,76620,445
Departures - freight417,58801,54419,136
All freight1436,25433,31039,582
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q3 2017 Table 7 (XLS 8KB)
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Background Notes

Introduction

Statistics on Aviation are collected under Statutory Instrument (S.I.) No. 91 of 2014 - Statistics (carriage of passengers, freight and mail by air) Order 2013.

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 2016, the top five airports represented 99.7% 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.

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 four regional airports in Ireland are Donegal, Waterford, 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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http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/as/aviationstatisticsquarter32017/

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