Dublin Airport has already welcomed more than 27 million passengers this year, two million more than last year's record-breaking total.
The milestone was achieved yesterday, as the Christmas rush began. The airport’s previous annual passenger record was 25 million passenger. The airport is closed on Christmas Day, meaning there are another 12 days of business remaining in 2016.
This Friday, December 23rd is expected to be Dublin Airport’s busiest day during the Christmas season, with almost 83,000 passengers expected to pass through the airport.
Vincent Harrison, managing director of Dublin Airport, said:
“We have had a very busy year at Dublin Airport and have been setting new passenger records every month. Dublin Airport has been the fastest-growing major airport in Europe this year, due to the introduction of 19 new routes and also additional capacity in the form of extra flights or larger aircraft on 31 of our existing routes.
"Welcoming 27 million passengers is a major milestone, which would not have been possible without our airline customers, our passengers, staff and all the other stakeholders that help Dublin Airport work on a daily basis, and I’d like to thank all of them for their support this year.”
"We’ve seen growth from the vast majority of our major airline customers during the year and also across almost all major market sectors. European, British and transatlantic passenger numbers have all experienced double digit growth so far this year. Transfer passenger numbers are also up strongly and have passed the one million mark, as more and more people are choosing to connect at Dublin Airport.”
A very strong November, traditionally one of the quieter months for aviation, also helped push the airport past its previous annual passenger record. Numbers in November were up 9% to just over two million, due to growth in almost all sectors of the business.
European traffic, which accounted for nearly half the passengers during the month, was up 9% to almost 916,000 while British traffic increased by 8% to more than 833,000. Transatlantic traffic was up 18% to almost 194,000 in November, while traffic to other destinations in Africa and the Middle East declined by just over 54,000.
