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Air passenger levels up 2% on pre-virus levels

Q1 saw 7.6 million passengers passed through the five main Irish airports, up 62% compared with 2022 and up 29% when compared with the same period in 2020.

CSO data shows that almost three million more passengers used Irish airports in Q1 compared with Q1 2022. 

Number of flights to and from Irish airports in Q1 2023 increased by more than 15,700 compared to the same period in 2022.

Almost 57,000 flights were handled by Ireland's five main airports in the first quarter of 2023, with Dublin handling 85% of all flights (48,515), while Cork handled 7% of all flights (3,707).

Popular routes

London-Heathrow, London-Gatwick and Amsterdam-Schiphol were the most popular routes for passengers travelling through Dublin airport in the first quarter of 2023.

The top route for Cork and Shannon airports was London-Heathrow, for Knock airport it was London-Stansted while the top route for Kerry was London-Luton.

The number of passengers arriving to or departing from Ireland in March 2023 was almost two and half times that of March 2020 and up by 2% when compared with March 2019.

Air freight handled by Irish airports in Q1 2023 was down by 2% compared with Q1 2022, however.