Record month for Cork and Dublin airports marking strong Covid recovery

New year celebrations marked the busiest days for travel, with thousands of passengers travelling home after the Christmas break. 

Airports at Cork and Dublin both experienced a record-breaking month, with the two airports marking their busiest January since the pandemic.

Over 161,000 passengers travelled through Cork Airport in the first month of 2023, markings its busiest January in over six years.

Last month's passenger numbers were 12% higher than the same month in 2019, and more than double the numbers seen in January 2022, rising by 149%. 

Passenger numbers at Cork Airport are expected to grow even further in 2023, with the Daa forecasting them to increase by almost 10% to around 2.4 million. 

New year celebrations marked the busiest days for travel, with thousands of passengers travelling home after the Christmas break. 

"The busiest day at Cork Airport during the month was Tuesday, January 3 with 6,900 passengers travelling through, while the busiest day at Dublin Airport was Monday, January 2 with 88,900 passengers," said CEO of the Daa, Kenny Jacobs. 

"The most popular destination from both Cork and Dublin airports was London Heathrow. In total, 78% of flights from Cork Airport departed on time in January, while 76% were on time leaving Dublin Airport.”

Despite its increase in footfall, just under 98% of passengers across 1,267 flights who passed through Cork Airport security did so in less than 20 minutes. 

Dublin Airport had the highest number of monthly passengers ever, totalling 2.1 million people across 16,976 flights, representing a 113% increase on January 2022 figures and a 2% rise in the same month in 2019.

Overall, the total number of passengers carried across Cork and Dublin airport was 2.27 million, up from 2.15 million in January 2019 and 956,000 in January 2022.

Speaking on January's record-breaking figures, CEO of the Daa, Kenny Jacobs welcomed the volume of passengers travelling through Irish airports, saying it showed "a strong appetite" for overseas travel post-Covid.

Mr Jacobs also noted that the additional bank holiday in February along with Valentines Day and mid-term school break will mean another busy month for travel in February.