Dublin-London numbers show how much air travel matters

The fact that 4.5 million people – not much less than the population of the Republic – flew between Dublin and London last year seems eye-popping. It becomes even more significant when you consider that it is Europe’s busiest air route and the second busiest in the world after Hong Kong-Taipei, on which five million people travel every year.

However, when looked at another way, it is not surprising at all. The numbers simply serve to highlight the importance of air travel to this country. Ireland is an island and London is the nearest world financial and trading centre. Almost 14 million people live in its metropolitan area, close to a quarter of Britain's entire population, and it has strong links to the wider world.

This time last year, maintaining the Republic's own links with London's biggest airport, Heathrow, was the biggest flashpoint in the debate over whether the Government should sell its stake in Aer Lingus to International Consolidated Airlines' Group (IAG).

While IAG and the Government addressed those concerns and to date Aer Lingus’s new parent looks to be keeping its promises, the fact remains that air transport to both London and everywhere else is vital to the Republic. Not only that, its State-owned airports – Dublin, Cork and Shannon – are the only real means now available, to current and future administrations, of ensuring its continuing health.

A lot will be happening to those airports in 2016. Dublin broke all previous records when 25 million people travelled through there last year and must decide on whether to go through with its plans for a new runway. Cork is hoping that its first transatlantic service, to Boston, courtesy of Norwegian Air, will get off the ground in the spring and is expecting new services to come on stream. Shannon will appoint a new chief executive mid-year.

If Aer Lingus dominated the aviation headlines last year, it’s a fair bet that the three airports will be generating plenty of news in coming months.