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E-mail: transport@cso.ie Noreen Dorgan +353 21 453 5260 Olive Loughnane +353 21 453 5281
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information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-7581
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Aviation Statistics

Quarter 4 and Year 2019

Number of passengers handled by main Irish airports
 20182019% change
Quarter 48,419,1308,540,952+1.4
January to December36,525,28838,053,418+4.2

Increase of 4.2% in number of passengers handled by main Irish airports in 2019

Figure 1: Passenger numbers handled by main Irish airports
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In 2019, 38.1 million passengers passed through the main Irish airports, an increase of 4.2% over the previous year. See table 1.

In the fourth quarter of 2019, over 8.5 million passengers passed through the main Irish airports, an increase of 1.4% over the same period in 2018.

Passenger numbers increased in 2019 in all airports except for Shannon which decreased. It should be noted that Shannon airport is a fuel stop for many transit flights that are not included in this release. The five main airports accounted for 99.8% of all air passenger numbers while Dublin airport accounted for 85.7% of all air passengers carried in 2019. See table 2.

The results also show that:

  • More than 273,000 flights were handled by Ireland's main airports in 2019. Dublin accounted for 83.8% of all flights (229,143), while Cork handled 7.8% of all flights (21,442). See table 5.
  • London-Heathrow and London-Gatwick were the most popular routes for passengers for Dublin airport in 2019. For Cork airport, London-Heathrow and London-Stansted were the most popular routes. 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 in 2019. See tables 6A to 6E.
  • In 2019, almost nine out of every ten (86.0%) passengers travelling on international flights in the main Irish 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 2019. See table 7.
  • Ireland's main airports handled a total of 145,950 tonnes of freight in 2019, the vast majority (94.7%) of which was international freight. See table 8.
  • When seasonally adjusted, there was a quarterly decrease of 0.9% in the number of passengers that passed through the main airports in Quarter 4 of 2019 compared with Quarter 3 of 2019. See table 10.
Passenger number distribution by airport, 2019
Dublin85.7
Cork6.8
Shannon4.2
Other3.3
Passenger number distribution by airport, 2015
Dublin83.9
Cork6.9
Shannon5.5
Other3.7
Table 1: Number of passengers handled by main airports, Quarter 4 and Year 2017-2019
AirportQuarter 4January to December
201720182019% change 2018-2019 201720182019% change 2018-2019
Dublin6,805,1977,292,7127,385,982+1.329,454,47431,319,41932,676,251+4.3
Cork493,363520,533550,423+5.72,301,4502,387,8062,585,466+8.3
Shannon341,394353,012341,416-3.31,599,3901,677,6611,616,422-3.7
Knock160,780170,600180,453+5.8748,505775,063805,443+3.9
Kerry75,74482,27382,678+0.5335,480365,339369,836+1.2
Total7,876,4788,419,1308,540,952+1.4 34,439,29936,525,28838,053,418+4.2
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2019 Table 1 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 2: Total passenger numbers handled by all airports, 2015 - 2019
Airport20152016201720182019% change 2018-2019
Dublin24,962,51827,778,88829,454,47431,319,41932,676,251+4.3
Cork2,065,6782,226,2332,301,4502,387,8062,585,466+8.3
Shannon1,642,8881,674,5671,599,3901,677,6611,616,422-3.7
Knock684,671735,869748,505775,063805,443+3.9
Kerry303,039325,670335,480365,339369,836+1.2
Donegal36,55244,15646,51446,53748,542+4.3
Connemara19,75321,34516,43715,32215,382+0.4
Inishmore12,07112,6679,3358,8148,831+0.2
Waterford134,24913,511000-
Total29,761,41932,832,90634,511,58536,595,96138,126,173+4.2
1 No commercial flights since June 2016 from Waterford airport
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2019 Table 2 (XLS 11KB)
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Table 3: Passenger numbers by month handled by main airports, 2019
MonthCorkDublinKerryKnockShannonTotal
January148,9392,054,79420,82942,41387,0162,353,991
February150,4821,993,32522,23145,45682,4972,293,991
March174,8762,432,19525,54654,700100,3742,787,691
April210,5102,789,66032,17171,563128,8403,232,744
May239,0772,965,51734,21373,850160,9023,473,559
June278,9613,202,40936,15077,020178,6803,773,220
July296,8763,430,85940,68088,781183,3984,040,594
August296,7993,399,71439,61794,907187,0294,018,066
September238,5233,021,79635,72176,300166,2703,538,610
October215,4822,865,39731,79072,299138,2183,323,186
November171,6932,240,19425,15155,255104,1482,596,441
December163,2482,280,39125,73752,89999,0502,621,325
Total2,585,46632,676,251369,836805,4431,616,42238,053,418
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2019 Table 3 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 4: Passenger numbers classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports, Quarter 4 and Year 2017-2019
 Quarter 4January to December
 201720182019 201720182019
Arrivals   
Cork248,826262,153276,9431,148,7091,190,3751,290,701
Dublin3,396,6883,631,5323,681,17014,710,84315,634,25116,318,334
Kerry37,69041,11941,469166,207181,656183,484
Knock81,47286,45491,545370,695385,170399,484
Shannon170,361176,216170,815791,501833,275803,878
Total arrivals3,935,0374,197,4744,261,94217,187,95518,224,72718,995,881
       
Departures       
Cork244,537258,380273,4801,152,7411,197,4311,294,765
Dublin3,408,5093,661,1803,704,81214,743,63115,685,16816,357,917
Kerry38,05441,15441,209169,273183,683186,352
Knock79,30884,14688,908377,810389,893405,959
Shannon171,033176,796170,601807,889844,386812,544
Total departures3,941,4414,221,6564,279,01017,251,34418,300,56119,057,537
       
All       
Cork493,363520,533550,4232,301,4502,387,8062,585,466
Dublin6,805,1977,292,7127,385,98229,454,47431,319,41932,676,251
Kerry75,74482,27382,678335,480365,339369,836
Knock160,780170,600180,453748,505775,063805,443
Shannon341,394353,012341,416 1,599,3901,677,6611,616,422
Total passengers7,876,4788,419,1308,540,952 34,439,29936,525,28838,053,418
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2019 Table 4 (XLS 13KB)
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Table 5: Number of flights classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports, Quarter 4 and Year 2019
 Quarter 4 January to December
Arrivals
Cork2,306 10,729
Dublin26,551 114,626
Kerry397 1,743
Knock722 3,174
Shannon1,446 6,568
Total arrivals31,422 136,840
   
Departures   
Cork2,295 10,713
Dublin26,505 114,517
Kerry400 1,749
Knock719 3,156
Shannon1,460 6,583
Total departures31,379 136,718
   
All   
Cork4,601 21,442
Dublin53,056 229,143
Kerry797 3,492
Knock1,441 6,330
Shannon2,906 13,151
Total flights62,801 273,558
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2019 Table 5 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 6A: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Dublin airport by number of passengers, Quarter 4 and Year 2019
Quarter 4January to December
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal  ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Heathrow224,108231,296455,404London - Heathrow915,063941,4121,856,475
London - Gatwick174,654165,239339,893London - Gatwick685,264663,0781,348,342
Amsterdam - Schiphol 150,638151,202301,840Amsterdam - Schiphol 607,338608,9881,216,326
Manchester132,957130,920263,877Manchester500,586503,6261,004,212
Birmingham121,453119,567241,020Birmingham472,403475,104947,507
London - Stansted114,300109,890224,190London - Stansted458,403448,817907,220
Paris - Charles De Gaulle93,59595,205188,800Frankfurt - main375,276386,543761,819
Frankfurt - main86,07194,530180,601Paris - Charles De Gaulle379,822380,511760,333
Edinburgh79,43076,735156,165Edinburgh336,896329,880666,776
New York - John F Kennedy72,73573,278146,013 Malaga327,936329,564657,500
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2019 Table 6A (XLS 12KB)
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Table 6B: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Cork airport by number of passengers, Quarter 4 and Year 2019
Quarter 4January to December
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal  ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Heathrow45,88147,00092,881London - Heathrow186,889192,257379,146
London - Stansted43,99741,92185,918London - Stansted174,007172,006346,013
Amsterdam - Schiphol 19,66220,15839,820Amsterdam - Schiphol 78,02579,300157,325
London - Gatwick15,75315,19130,944Malaga78,01177,543155,554
Paris - Charles De Gaulle13,78713,98227,769Paris - Charles De Gaulle67,90767,736135,643
Manchester13,23313,70226,935London - Gatwick63,37362,271125,644
Malaga12,97312,01624,989Faro62,68362,695125,378
Lanzarote11,33611,32022,656Manchester53,13155,394108,525
London - Luton11,2499,85721,106Lanzarote52,78052,758105,538
Birmingham9,6869,74619,432 London - Luton50,43646,68297,118
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2019 Table 6B (XLS 12KB)
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Table 6C: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Shannon airport by number of passengers, Quarter 4 and Year 2019
Quarter 4January to December
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal  ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Heathrow31,23132,64463,875London - Heathrow131,597138,359269,956
London - Stansted26,01723,76649,783London - Stansted104,05697,230201,286
London - Gatwick14,37514,35328,728New York - John F Kennedy66,62969,103135,732
Boston - Logan12,18513,21625,401London - Gatwick58,79759,140117,937
New York - John F Kennedy12,13812,83724,975Manchester43,07642,55485,630
Manchester11,28710,83222,119Boston - Logan39,68241,68781,369
Malaga6,6666,17012,836Newark33,26236,77470,036
Alicante5,3655,08810,453Malaga34,04633,94167,987
Lanzarote4,9555,29710,252Faro28,72027,78356,503
Wroclaw - Strachowice4,6995,0599,758 Lanzarote22,57322,79345,366
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2019 Table 6C (XLS 12KB)
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Table 6D: Top 10 arrivals and departures for Knock airport by number of passengers, Quarter 4 and Year 2019
Quarter 4January to December
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal  ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Stansted19,97520,06740,042London - Stansted76,43282,660159,092
London - Luton14,93414,52829,462London - Luton66,89966,253133,152
Liverpool - John Lennon11,84711,66123,508Liverpool - John Lennon43,34744,26787,614
London - Gatwick9,9099,47119,380London - Gatwick41,50240,49781,999
East Midlands8,4768,54517,021East Midlands34,93735,71170,648
Bristol5,6915,50811,199Bristol22,25322,36544,618
Manchester4,0323,9187,950Manchester18,83119,13937,970
Birmingham3,1583,0786,236Faro15,64116,32931,970
Faro3,0142,3435,357Birmingham14,86514,80529,670
Edinburgh2,4022,3484,750 Edinburgh13,17013,38826,558
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2019 Table 6D (XLS 12KB)
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Table 6E: Top 5 arrivals and departures for Kerry airport by number of passengers, Quarter 4 and Year 2019
Quarter 4January to December
 ArrivalsDeparturesTotal  ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
London - Luton13,65812,98526,643London - Luton55,23955,189110,428
London - Stansted10,82610,24721,073London - Stansted41,28540,99982,284
Dublin6,3896,94713,336Dublin27,70430,31758,021
Frankfurt -Hahn4,8035,20910,012Frankfurt -Hahn25,36925,42950,798
Berlin - Schönefeld3,9604,2408,200 Berlin - Schönefeld16,91316,66433,577
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2019 Table 6E (XLS 12KB)
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Table 7: Number of passengers classified by country of flight stage origin and destination handled by main airports, Quarter 4 and Year 2019
ContinentCountryQuarter 4January to December
ArrivalsDeparturesTotal ArrivalsDeparturesTotal
EuropeAustria28,85630,74059,596128,864129,590258,454
 Belgium67,34368,283135,626253,799253,243507,042
 Bulgaria6,1946,28612,48055,03155,435110,466
 Croatia18,10515,06433,169119,103116,254235,357
 Czech Republic27,17228,96856,140104,426107,133211,559
 Denmark34,11434,73868,852135,745137,051272,796
 Finland18,21419,82938,04357,50062,391119,891
 France214,157215,269429,4261,064,3871,067,5842,131,971
 Germany277,582290,651568,2331,256,3751,262,7842,519,159
 Greece15,04813,59628,644105,165105,005210,170
 Hungary36,58037,24473,824143,482142,439285,921
 Iceland13,17713,95927,13672,92273,781146,703
 Italy165,876161,404327,280807,358803,5591,610,917
 Latvia20,05121,29841,34973,74877,443151,191
 Lithuania21,36722,08843,45586,60388,042174,645
 Netherlands182,890183,884366,774741,535744,0181,485,553
 Norway15,98216,89232,87468,93969,756138,695
 Poland132,582139,010271,592511,945515,8971,027,842
 Portugal120,953115,276236,229682,265686,9131,369,178
 Romania26,46326,72553,188120,266117,608237,874
 Slovakia14,61815,07729,69563,74863,311127,059
 Spain450,945441,276892,2212,341,1202,335,3174,676,437
 Sweden21,29322,55843,85185,21387,731172,944
 Switzerland44,99447,66092,654224,967226,910451,877
 Turkey32,65331,76864,421138,379139,068277,447
 UK - England1,451,6301,433,8752,885,5055,828,7825,860,27411,689,056
 UK - Northern Ireland43-431,0212351,256
 UK - Scotland162,941159,054321,995689,164683,7121,372,876
 UK - Wales13,47213,17826,65057,74157,559115,300
 UK - Other5,0454,8559,90028,13728,43756,574
 Total UK1,633,1311,610,9623,244,0936,604,8456,630,21713,235,062
 Other 47,87247,45295,324214,023211,463425,486
 Total Europe3,688,2123,677,9577,366,16916,261,75316,309,94332,571,696
      
North AmericaCanada41,93746,56888,505259,491266,636526,127
USA409,199425,420834,6191,895,6221,914,6453,810,267
Other3203796992,6633,2495,912
Total North America451,456472,367923,8232,157,7762,184,5304,342,306
      
AfricaTotal Africa5,6525,66111,31323,87324,01347,886
      
AsiaQatar16,39115,16331,55478,03269,438147,470
United Arab Emirates76,57182,655159,226331,004326,944657,948
Other4,8785,52610,40459,70859,134118,842
Total Asia97,840103,344201,184468,744455,516924,260
      
Other1Total other3365909262,5592,4805,039
      
All continents2 4,243,4964,259,9198,503,415 18,914,70518,976,48237,891,187
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 Q4 2019 Table 7 (XLS 15KB)
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Table 8: Air freight classified by national and international traffic handled by main airports, Quarter 4 and Year 2019
   Tonnes
 Quarter 4 January to December
National freight traffic
Cork0 0
Dublin1,230 4,889
Kerry0 0
Knock0 0
Shannon346 2,890
Total national freight1,576 7,779
   
International freight traffic   
Cork15 50
Dublin37,023 128,340
Kerry0 0
Knock3 12
Shannon3,257 9,769
Total international freight40,298 138,171
   
All   
Cork15 50
Dublin38,253 133,229
Kerry0 0
Knock3 12
Shannon3,603 12,658
Total freight41,874 145,950
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2019 Table 8 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 9: Air freight classified by arrivals and departures handled by main airports, Quarter 4 and Year 2019
   Tonnes
 Quarter 4 January to December
Arrival   
Cork4 13
Dublin19,947 71,358
Kerry0 0
Knock3 12
Shannon1,760 6,393
Total arrivals - freight21,714 77,776
   
Departure   
Cork11 37
Dublin18,307 61,871
Kerry0 0
Knock0 0
Shannon1,843 6,266
Total departures - freight20,161 68,174
   
All   
Cork15 50
Dublin38,253 133,229
Kerry0 0
Knock3 12
Shannon3,603 12,658
Total freight41,874 145,950
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2019 Table 9 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 10: Seasonally adjusted number of passengers handled by main airports
AirportQ4 2018Q3 2019Q4 2019% change Q3 2019-Q4 2019
Dublin8,010,7588,232,7398,125,815-1.3
Cork617,859649,525652,576+0.5
Shannon418,312397,773406,628+2.2
Knock202,859200,142213,023+6.4
Kerry92,76993,32493,306-0.0
Total passengers9,342,5579,573,5039,491,348-0.9
Open in Excel: Aviation Statistics Q4 2019 Table 10 (XLS 12KB)
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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 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.

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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http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/as/aviationstatisticsquarter4andyear2019/

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