Cheltenham, Six Nations, and St Patrick's festivities bring 1m passengers through Irish airports

Cork Airport is expecting 53,000 passengers over St Patrick's Day weekend.

Some 53,000 passengers are expected to travel through Cork Airport the bank holiday weekend as Irish airports heave for one of the busiest St Patrick’s festival air traffic ever.

In Cork, Friday, March 13 will be the busiest day of the weekend for arrivals. Passenger numbers have been boosted this week by the exodus of punters flying to the UK for the Cheltenham Festival.  Ryanair added additional services to Birmingham this week to cater for the increased demand. 

Cork Airport managing director Niall MacCarthy said the St Patrick's Day festivities in Ireland bring a "branding which resonates in every country without prompt".

Meanwhile Dublin Airport is experiencing its busiest period of the year so far, with more than 850,000 passengers travelling through the airport for a mixture of St Patrick’s Day celebrations, Six Nations rugby, and Cheltenham Festival.

Between Tuesday and next Wednesday March 18th, around 433,000 passengers are set to arrive at Dublin Airport, with around 418,000 departing. Up to 10,000 rugby fans are expected to arrive at Dublin Airport for the Six Nations rugby clash at Aviva Stadium on Saturday between Ireland and Scotland.

Shannon Airport going green for St Patrick's Day.

The busiest days of the period are set to be Friday March 13 and Sunday March 15 when around 116,000 passengers are forecast to travel through the airport.

Shannon Airport is set t o enjoy one of its busiest St Patrick’s Day periods in recent years, with 40,000 passengers expected through its doors. Shannon Airport director Niall Kearns said the airport has seen average passenger growth of 7% across January and February.