Background Notes

Periodicity:

Monthly.

Scope

Overseas Travel.

Coverage

This release covers overseas travel into and out of the Republic of Ireland. Cross-border travel and domestic travel within the Republic of Ireland are excluded.

Data Collection

This release is based on administrative data provided by Irish airports and passenger data provided by the sea carrier companies operating ferries to and from Ireland.

Rounding

Individual figures have been rounded independently and the sum of the component items may therefore not necessarily add to the totals shown.

Reliability of Results 

As the statistics in this release are reproduced directly from administrative data they are considered reliable.

Comparability 

As the statistics in this release are persons arriving and departing, they are not directly comparable with the previous Overseas Travel release, which reported the number of overseas trips. In addition, the previous Overseas Travel series specifically excluded residents of Northern Ireland. No country of residence information is available for the compilation of these Air and Sea Travel statistics, so all countries of residence are necessarily included.

Coherence 

The statistics in this release are not fully coherent with separate Transport aviation and maritime statistical series published by the CSO. The Air and Sea Travel statistics exclude domestic air travel and flights to Northern Ireland. The Air and Sea Travel statistics also exclude commercial drivers on sea routes.

Definitions

(1) Arrivals

Arrivals are all people disembarking at the airports in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Knock, Shannon or Waterford or the seaports in Dublin, Dun Laoghaire, Ringaskiddy or Rosslare from destinations not on the island of Ireland. Transfer passengers are included while domestic air passengers and cruise passengers are excluded.

(2) Departures

The same definition is used for departures, but refers to people embarking for destinations not on the island of Ireland.

(3) Mode

Mode refers to the method of travel – air or sea. Air refers to all people who arrive or depart by commercial airliners (excluding the crew), while sea covers arrivals or departures by commercial passenger vessels, (excluding the crew and commercial drivers).

(4) Route

For convenience, all people arriving or departing overseas are allocated to one of four entry or exit routes. These are cross-channel (Great Britain, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands), continental (other European countries), Transatlantic (North & South America, including the Caribbean) and Other (Asia, Africa, Oceania, etc.).

(5) Country

All routes are broken down into separate countries and country groupings. These refer to the country of departure for the flight or sea crossing for an arriving person, or the country of arrival for a person who departs. The country does not refer to the country of residence or country of origin or destination for the person travelling (this information was previously published in the ‘Overseas Travel’ releases). For example, a person who flies from John F Kennedy airport (United States of America) to Heathrow (Great Britain) and then to Ireland will be counted as arriving from Great Britain, as this is where their flight to Ireland originated.

(6) Transfer Passengers

Transfer passengers or 'connecting passengers' are defined as those who make a stop at an airport without any particular purpose other than being en route to another destination.  Transfer passengers disembark from their aircraft and pass through the airport en route to their connecting flight.  The two flights must be booked on the same ticket for it to be considered a transfer. A transfer trip is a completed journey – for example a passenger who travels from London Gatwick to Dublin Airport and then on to New York (on the one ticket) is counted as two transfer passengers and one transfer trip.

There were 31,000 transfer passengers handled by Dublin Airport in December 2021. This compares to 7,000 in December 2020, an increase of 366%.

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