Air traffic to main airports falls by 21%

AIR traffic at the country’s three biggest airports fell by more than 21% in February as many airlines continue to reduce services to and from Ireland.

Figures from the Irish Aviation authority show the number of commercial flights at Dublin, Cork and Shannon – fell from 19,321 in February 2009 to 15,216 last month.

The sharp reduction in the number of commercial flights was particularly noticeable in Shannon, which recorded a 29% drop in traffic last month.

The latest IAA figures indicate that Cork which recorded a 14% fall-off in air traffic, is set to overtake Shannon as the country’s second-busiest airport.

The total number of commercial aircraft using Cork last month was 1,891 compared to 1,712 in Shannon.

Aircraft movement in Irish-controlled airspace also fell by more than 3% which is significant as the IAA depends on overflights and communications revenue for almost 80% of its income.

Separate figures published by the Dublin Airport Authority show that there was an 17% drop in air passenger traffic at Dublin Airport in January.

Just more than 1.1 million passengers passed through Dublin this January compared to more than 1.4m 12 months earlier.

Ryanair yesterday called on the Government to scrap the controversial €10 air travel tax in a bid to boost tourism and the number of air passengers travelling in and out of Ireland.

A Ryanair spokesman pointed out that the no-frills airline had managed to grow its own passenger traffic over the same period.

Ryanair claimed the latest figures for Dublin Airport, if maintained over the remainder of 2010, will see passenger figures fall to less than 17m compared to 23.5m just a few years ago.