Ryanair Supports 67% Of Traffic Growth At Irish Airports After Government Scrapping Of Travel Tax St

Ryanair, Ireland's favourite airline, today (23 Oct) released traffic figures for the summer period (Apr-Sep 2014) which show that traffic growth at the main Irish airports has boomed following the decision of Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, to scrap air passenger duty on 1st April 2014.

Ryanair will single-handedly deliver 67% of all traffic growth across the main Irish airports as it rolls out new routes and additional frequencies on existing routes, with a particular focus on traffic growth at Dublin and Shannon airports, while also delivering growth at Knock Airport. The figures revealed that:

• Traffic growth at Irish airports in 2014 is expected to be 1.8m higher than last year
• Ryanair will account for 1.2m of this total increase (67%)
• In the key summer period, April to Sept, traffic at the 5 main Irish airports grew by 1.1m customers
• Ryanair accounted for 652,000 of this increase (60%)
• Dublin Airport traffic increased by 865,000. Ryanair accounted for 495,000 of this (57%)
• Ryanair contributed 153,898 of the net growth outside of Dublin (72%)
• This growth will continue and Ryanair expects to carry over 1.7m extra customers through Irish airports from 1st Apr - 31st Mar 2015
• Tourists brought to Ireland on Ryanair flights will spend over €400m in the Irish hospitality sector

Following a strong 6 month summer period, Ryanair is on track to exceed the 1m additional customers it promised to deliver at Irish airports in return for the repealing of the travel tax. Ryanair now expects to deliver over 1.7m additional customers by the end of March 2015, growing by 1.4m at Dublin and 350,000 at Shannon and Knock.

Half of the 1.7m additional customers Ryanair will deliver at Irish airports (from April 1st 2014 to March 31st 2015) will be inbound tourists. These 850,000 customers will spend on average over €460 each, (based on the latest tourism figures) which will result in a direct economic boost of almost €400m to the Irish tourism industry.

Based on ACI (Airport Council International) statistics*, Ryanair's growth of over 1.7m passengers should result in more than 1,700 on-site jobs being created at these airports, while Ryanair has also created 700 direct jobs this year for pilots, engineers and cabin crew, as well as digital and IT staff, as a result of its sustained growth.

With over 150 routes to/from Ireland, Ryanair will carry 10.8m customers through Irish airports this year and 11.6m customers in 2015. Irish consumers and visitors already choose Ryanair for the lowest fares, the widest choice of routes and our unbeatable punctuality and performance. Customers have responded very favourably to the improvements made to Ryanair's customer experience such as allocated seating, a free 2nd carry-on bag, an improved website, a new app with mobile boarding passes and Ryanair's Family Extra and Business Plus services.

Ryanair's Chief Marketing Officer, Kenny Jacobs said:

"While we welcome this substantial traffic growth at the Irish airports, Ryanair is proud to be delivering more than 67% of all traffic growth. When Minister Michael Noonan proposed to scrap the travel tax at Irish airports, Ryanair undertook that we would grow our traffic by 1m passengers. After the first 6 months of the summer season, Ryanair is already well on track to exceed these ambitious targets.

With our new winter schedule, which features exciting new destinations from Dublin and Shannon as well as increased frequencies and business type schedules from Dublin to UK and European cities, Ryanair expects to deliver more than 1.7m additional customers in total through Irish airports by the end of March 2015, growing by 1.4m at Dublin and another 350,000 at Shannon and Knock.

While this remarkable growth and success in Irish tourism will be claimed by many of the usual suspects, Ryanair, as the airline that has delivered more than 67% of this traffic growth, wishes to put on record that this tourism boom is entirely down to Minister Noonan's courageous decision to abolish the air travel tax, a decision which was opposed by many at the time.

We hope that Ireland, as a peripheral island nation, will never again impose an air travel tax on visitors, which during the 5 years following its introduction caused traffic at the 3 main Irish airports to decline by one-third, and we will continue to invest in our network and our improving customer experience, as we welcome more and more visitors to Ireland on Ryanair's low fare services."

Irish Airport Traffic April -September 2014

Irish Airport Traffic - 2014 Full Year Forecast