Irish airports handle 8.2m passengers in Q1 2025 while air freight edges up

Ireland's five main airports saw 8.2m passengers through their gates in the first quarter of 2025, down 20,000 on the same period in 2024.

Ireland's five main airports saw 8.2m passengers through their gates in the first quarter of 2025, down 20,000 on the same period in 2024.

The amount of air freight handled by the main airports rose by 1% to 43,318 tonnes in the first three months of 2025 when compared with the same period in 2024.

The number of flights to and from Irish airports in Q1 2025 was down 2% from 59,309 to 57,970 compared to 2024. Dublin handled 83% of all flights (48,351), followed by Cork with 8% of all flights (4,737).

In Q1 2025, 4.1 million passengers departed from Ireland, which was 39,000 fewer passengers than the same period in 2024.

London-Heathrow, Amsterdam-Schiphol, and Manchester were the most popular routes for passengers travelling through Dublin. The top route for both Cork and Shannon airports was Heathrow. For Knock, it was Luton, while for Kerry, it was Dublin.

"In Q1 2025, almost nine out of every 10 passengers (88%) on international flights in the five main airports were travelling to or from Europe," said CSO statistician Damien Lenihan.

"The two most popular countries of origin/destination were the United Kingdom and Spain. Outside of Europe, the United States of America was the most popular country of origin/destination in Q1 2025."