Dublin Airport breaks more records in July

Dublin Airport is on track for another record year after handling almost three million passengers in July, making it the busiest month in its history.

The airport said on Tuesday that 2.94 million passed through there last month, 9 per cent more than in July 2015 and the largest number ever in its history.

The figure bringing the total for the year so far to about 16 million.Overall growth this year is running at 12 per cent and indicates that Dublin is likely to break the 25 million record set in 2015.

Business

Continental Europe accounted for more than half the airport's business last month, with 1.6 million people travelling to and from destinations there, 8 per cent more than in 2015.

Britain was next with 900,000, about 9 per cent ahead of last year.

Transatlantic traffic rose 7 per cent as more than 343,000 people travelled between Dublin and north America.

Flights to the Middle East and Africa, declined by 3 per cent, with 84,000 passengers travelling to and from these destinations in July. Domestic traffic rose 4 per cent to 8,000.

Hub

The number of passengers using Dublin as a hub to connect to another destination rose 19 per cent in the first seven months of this year, with more than 568,000 passengers connecting through there in that time.

Dublin Airport's manager, State-owned DAA, sees transfer traffic forming a greater part of its business in the future and helping to drive growth. Most of it occurs between Europe and north America.

Industry body, Airports Council International, recently named the Irish gateway as the fastest-growing major airport in Europe, with growth 13 per cent.

News of its growth comes as the airport is gearing to build a new runway at a cost of €320 million. DAA officially sought bids for the work recently.