Shannon Airport set for busiest Christmas in 14 years

More than 316,000 passengers are set to travel through Cork and Shannon Airport during the festive season

The upcoming holiday period is also expected to be the busiest in fourteen years, with the highest number of passengers set to travel through the airport since 2009.

Passenger numbers at Shannon Airport are forecasted to surge this Christmas with more than 121,000 people expected to pass through over the festive season. 

Predicted figures reflect an 18% rise when compared to the same period last year, which saw 75,000 passengers travelling through the airport. 

The upcoming holiday period is also expected to be the busiest in fourteen years, with the highest number of passengers set to travel through the airport since 2009.

Speaking on the busy season, chief executive of the Shannon Airport Group, Mary Considine said its team would be on hand to welcome those travelling through the airport, adding that they looked forward to 35 routes from Shannon for 2024, including a new daily seasonal service to New York - JFK with Delta Air Lines. 

Staff at Cork Airport are also gearing for a busy Christmas period with more than 195,000 passengers expected to pass through between now and January 10th. 

This represents a 22% increase in passenger traffic compared to the same period last year and is in line with Cork Airport’s annual passenger growth, which will see overall traffic up 22% year-on-year.

Also preparing for the festive period, Dublin Airport is expecting around 1.5m passengers across its two terminals for the festive season, with the peak travel period between December 18th and January 6th set to see more than 75,000 passengers every day.

The busiest day for travel in the run-up to Christmas is expected to be Friday, December 22 when around 102,000 passengers arrive and depart into Dublin Airport.

Dublin advises passengers on short-haul flights to arrive two hours before take-off while those on long trips should turn up three hours in advance.