Passenger numbers at Dublin airport rose by 6% to 20.2 million in 2013, figures released today showed.
The Dublin Airport Authority said this marked the third successive year of growth for the airport, the latest of which was aided greatly by the success of the Gathering.
According to the DAA there was particularly strong growth in transatlantic travel last year, which was 13% higher than in 2012. Traffic to the Middle East also grew by 13%, while the number of transfer passengers rose by 36% to almost 550,000.
On the back of such strong passenger numbers, the DAA said that it will pay a €5.6 million rebate in airport charges to a total of 40 airlines that grew Dublin Airport business in 2013 under the Growth Incentive Scheme. This scheme has been extended until 2016.
“Dublin Airport had an excellent performance last year,” said Vincent Harrison, managing director of Dublin Airport. “Passenger numbers increased across all areas of the business and Dublin Airport’s growth outperformed the European average in every month of 2013.”
Mr Harrison said the performance of the transatlantic market was particularly pleasing last year. “We saw a record 1.9 million people flying between Dublin and North America last year, as our airline customers added extra capacity to existing routes and we also saw the start of a new daily American Airlines service to JFK in New York.”
© 2014 - Hospitality Ireland Magazine by Enda Dowling
