Dublin Airport sees 231% increase in passengers in 2022

Members of the public passing through Dublin Airport last summer. Picture:Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

The number of people travelling through Dublin Airport in 2022 increased by 231% last year.

2021 saw Covid-19 restrictions put a stop to most international travel, but the removal of those restrictions last year saw passenger levels passing through the main airport in the country recover by 85% of 2019 levels.

Just over 28.1m people travelled through Dublin Airport in 2022.

According to Daa’s new CEO, Kenny Jacobs, the airport operator of Dublin Airport: "Following two years of Covid disruption, 2022 was the year in which international travel came back very strong.

"When you consider that passenger numbers during the first two months of 2022 were very low due to uncertainty around the Omicron variant, the recovery in passenger numbers from March onwards was way beyond the expectations of even the most optimistic of travel forecasters.

"This resurgence in travel has posed challenges for Dublin Airport and airports all around the world.

"I’d like to pay tribute to the incredible team there which has worked tirelessly to facilitate more than 28 million journeys over the past 12 months.

Their hard work over the Christmas period — the busiest in three years — saw 93% of passengers pass through security screening in under 20 minutes, with 99% through in under 30 minutes. 

"In the year ahead, we are determined to maintain this security performance and make further improvements to the standards at Dublin Airport so that the travelling public get the service they expect.” 

More than half of the total number of passengers travelled in the five months of August to December — just over 13m people opting to fly in that period.

Queues at Dublin Airport during the busy summer period. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Some 26.5m passengers either started or ended their journey through Dublin Airport while 1.33m of the overall number used the airport as a transfer hub last year.

When compared to 2021 figures, short-haul traffic increased by 216% to 23.9m, while long-haul passenger numbers increased 366% to almost 4.2m. 

During 2022, passenger numbers to and from Continental Europe increased on 2021 levels by 198% to 15.9m.

Passenger numbers on flights to and from other international destinations, which includes flights to the Middle East, increased by 302% compared with 2021. 

The number of people taking domestic flights increased 237% compared to 2021 and was up by 23% when compared with 2019.