Ireland West Airport sets record year in 2023

The airport's previous record was set in 2019 when 807,000 airports passed through. 

Ireland West Airport recorded its busiest ever year 2023 with 818,000 passengers travelling through, surpassing the previous record set just before the pandemic.

The airport now serves 21 international destinations which are served by three European airlines, Aer Lingus, Ryanair and Lauda Europe. It's previous record was set in 2019 when 807,000 passengers travelled through.

The UK accounted for the vast majority, 665,000, of 2023's passengers. This was boosted by a new daily service to London Heathrow with Aer Lingus, which provides onward connectivity to over 80 destinations worldwide.

Another 148,000 passengers travelled to Europe through the airport, a 7% increase on 2022 figures.

Ryanair had the busiest year for passenger numbers through the airport with over 730,000 passengers — an increase of 3% compared to 2022.

The busiest month for the airport was August with 102,000 passengers.

Arthur French, chairman of Ireland West Airport said they are “delighted” with the strong recovery in 2023 calling it a “milestone year” which included welcoming US President Joe Biden as well as the launch of new services to Lanzarote and Tenerife with Ryanair.

“We will continue to work with our stakeholders and airline partners over the next 12 months as we strive to further grow our suite of routes from the airport whilst continuing to invest in our airport transformation programme,” he said.

The airport has also completed a number of capital projects in 2023 to improve its service including the installation of a new next-generation cabin baggage screening system which is now fully operational at the airport.