Irish commercial aviation October traffic had a positive trajectory as the Dublin Airport Authority and Irish Aviation Authority reported a strong October performance in very challenging market conditions.
The Dublin Airport Authority announced Dublin Airport handled 1.7 million in October, a 10% increase on the same month last year ,with all market segments reporting positive traffic growth. Firstly traffic to and from continental Europe increased by 13% with more than 910,000 people travelling to European destinations during the month, traffic on domestic services increased by 8% with more than 5,000 people travelling on domestic routes during October.
Transatlantic volumes were up by 10% with more than 142,000 passengers travelling to and from North America during the month.Other international passenger traffic, which includes flights to the Middle East, increased by 79% with just under 39,000 passengers travelling this route sector in October.UK traffic recorded a 4% increase with more than 605,000 passengers travelling to and from Britain in October
In the first ten months of 2012, just 16.5 million passengers traveled through Dublin Airport an increase of 1% versus 2011.
Irish Aviation Authority Air traffic figures for October 2012 indicate that total flights in Irish airspace have increased by 0.50%, when compared to October 2011. There was an average of 1,450 daily flights during October 2012, with the busiest day being 19th October with 1,685 flights in Irish airspace.
In relation to international arrivals and departures, the commercial terminal traffic for Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports increased significantly by +6.9% in October 2012, when compared to October 2011. This growth in international arrivals and departures was largely driven by traffic increases in Dublin and Cork.
This is the third month in a row that the IAA has observed continued growth in this sector of traffic, which is primarily being driven by a significant rise in international arrivals and departures at Dublin Airport.
Commercial terminal flights at the three State airports, when compared to the same month in the previous year are:
Cork Airport: + 1.5%, with an average of 60 daily movements;
Dublin Airport: + 10.5%, with an average of 470 daily movements;
Shannon Airport: -12.9%, with an average of 50 daily movements.
There was a decrease of 2.50% in Ireland’s en-route traffic movements (flights which pass through Irish airspace but do not land) during October 2012, in comparison to October 2011. Similarly, North Atlantic Communications flights (Europe / North America) saw a decrease of 3.54% in October 2012, when compared to October 2011.
On a cumulative basis, the growth in en-route traffic movements and North Atlantic Communications flights for January to October 2012, compared to the same period last year, was +0.20% and -0.72%, respectively.
The growth in Irish air traffic goes against prevailing European trend. Eurocontrol noted in their September analysis that traffic growth in 2012 has been marked by economic weakness in the Eurozone and increasingly elsewhere.
Irish Aviation Research Institute © 12th November 2012 All Rights Reserved.
