Irish Air Traffic Growth Bucks European Trend

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 19^th 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.

Individually, the October 2012 figures for commercial terminal flights at the three State airports, when compared to the same month in the previous year are:

• Dublin up by 10.5%, with an average of 470 daily movements;
• Cork up by 1.5%, with an average of 60 daily movements;
• Shannon down 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. Flights within Europe, and mainly domestic traffic, have continued to decrease compared to 2011 with an average decline of 2% since the beginning of the year. The traffic losses are especially visible on European local traffic, which has decreased by more than 3% since the beginning of the year at ESRA level. Continued high fuel prices are seen as a contributing factor to this decrease.