IRELAND. Passenger traffic at Dublin Airport climbed by +2% year-on-year in 2012 to 19.1 million. The growth was underpinned by expansion of long-haul routes from the Irish gateway: long-haul international traffic rose by +16%, mainly to the Middle East and North America. International traffic overall (including within Europe) grew by +2% (or 420,000 passengers).
Transatlantic traffic increased by +5% as 1.6 million people travelled between Dublin and North America last year. Traffic to the Middle East and North Africa increased by +84% in 2012, as almost 480,000 people travelled on these route sectors.
Just over 10 million Dublin Airport passengers travelled on flights to and from continental Europe last year, a +2% increase on 2011. Almost 6.9 million people travelled to and from the UK, which was a decline of -1%. Domestic air travel within the state continued to decline as 63,000 people took internal flights to or from Dublin, a -49% fall on 2011.
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Dublin Airport: Passenger traffic climbed in 2012 despite the impact of recession |
As a result of the expansion of passenger numbers, DAA is paying a €1.5 million rebate in airport charges to 25 airlines that grew their business at Dublin Airport during the year.
Airlines that grew their business last year included Aer Lingus, Aer Lingus Regional, Air Canada, American Airlines, Etihad, Lufthansa, SAS and Turkish Airlines. British Airways and Emirates also launched significant new services from Dublin.
“We’re delighted that 25 airlines grew their business at Dublin Airport last year and we’re rewarding them for that growth with a €1.5 million rebate on our already highly competitive airport charges,” said DAA Strategy Director Vincent Harrison. “Despite the downturn, we have seen growth in overall passenger numbers for the second year in a row, and strong demand for long-haul travel into and out of Ireland.”
Terminal 1 handled 10.3 million passengers in 2012, while almost 8.8 million passengers used Terminal 2.
“Emirates started its new Dublin-Dubai service last January and has already introduced a larger aircraft on the route, while Etihad also grew traffic on its Dublin-Abu Dhabi service last year,” Harrison said. “While many business and leisure passengers are using these services to connect to the Far East and beyond, we have not seen any reduction in traffic to the major European hubs such as Heathrow, Paris and Amsterdam,” he added.
Dublin Airport’s long-haul market should continue to grow during 2013, according to Harrison. Etihad will add an extra +30% capacity to its Dublin-Abu Dhabi route, which is one of its top ten services, and there will also be almost +20% more seats available on transatlantic routes to and from Dublin for this summer.
“American Airlines is launching a new Dublin-JFK service this summer, Aer Lingus will have seven extra return flights per week to US destinations, while Delta is adding three extra flights per week on its daily JFK route and operating the service with a larger aircraft. United and US Airways are also expanding their schedules this year. These increases mean that Dublin Airport will have up to 112 direct flights per week to 11 North American destinations next summer.”
Dublin Airport saw 15 new routes and services launched last year, with continental Europe accounting for 11 new services. There were also new long-haul services to the Middle East and to the USA, and two short-haul new services to the UK.
Total traffic at Dublin Airport Authority’s (DAA) three airports – Dublin, Cork and Shannon – increased by +1% last year to 22.8 million, which was the second year of consecutive overall growth. As of 31 December 2012, Shannon is no longer part of the DAA.
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