Dublin is No 1 destination for London passengers
Last year more than 4.2 million passengers flew in both directions between Dublin and the five airports: Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and London City.
Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) quizzed 128,000 passengers at the London airports and found the most popular destination for leisure travellers was Dublin.
Edinburgh, New York’s John F Kennedy, Malaga in Spain, and Amsterdam were all behind Dublin, according to the poll.
The CAA also quizzed 75,000 passengers at British airports outside London and found that Dublin was the third most important destination for business travellers.
Aviation bosses in Britain carry out the survey annually to help airlines, airports and governments better cater for air travel demand.
CAA figures also show that Ireland is second only to Spain as the most popular destination for passengers either arriving or departing at airports in Britain and the North.
Of the 121 million European Union passengers passing through British airports, about 10% were either arriving from or departing for Ireland.
Of those, 12.4 million, just under 4.27 million or a third were travelling to and from Dublin. About half of those were arriving from or heading for Heathrow while 1.02 million were travelling between Stansted and Dublin. A little less than 750,000 were on the Dublin-Gatwick route with a further 138,500 on the London City flights and 361,000 on Luton services.
Barring City airport, the London airports are also Britain’s busiest and between them handled 57.2% of the 185 million air passengers who passed through Britain last year.
Industry experts said the rise in aviation travel has been partly fuelled by low-cost airlines as well as rising disposable income in Ireland.
Ryanair, for instance, runs 20 flights a day from Dublin to Stansted, Gatwick and Luton and back.
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