Traffic rose at all three State-owned airports last month

Traffic at the Republic's three State-owned airports grew in September, according to the Irish Aviation Authority.

The safety regulator and air navigation authority said on Tuesday that last month flights at Dublin Airport increased 8.6 per cent on September 2015 to 623 a day.

They rose 12.1 per cent at Cork to 58 flights a day, and by 3.3 per cent at Shannon to 61 daily movements.

Activity in Irish airspace, through which most flights across the north Atlantic travel, also grew. There were 43,959 north Atlantic flights in September, 8.8 per cent more than during the same month in 2015. Overflights, or those that do not land in this country, rose 1.4 per cent to 30,409.

Total traffic grew 5.7 per cent to 99,838 in September over the same month last year, when the figure was 94,473. The total for the first nine months of the year was 845,582 flights.

European hubs

The authority also reported that flights between Dublin and key European hubs such as Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol and Paris Charles de Gaulle all increased in September.

“The Schiphol Amsterdam-Dublin pair grew significantly, with a 57.9 per cent increase in 2015.”

Meanwhile, Shannon announced that Scandinavian Airlines plans to launch a service from the mid-western airport to Stockholm in Sweden.

The airline will fly twice a week from Shannon to the Swedish city between August and October next year.

Shannon's chief executive Matthew Thomas said t the service would allow travellers to connect to 22 destinations in Scandinavia.

“ The announcement is another first for Shannon, and a great boost for the region by one of the world’s major airlines,” said Mr Thomas.

Alan Sparling of Scandinavian Airlines said that the carrier expected strong demand for the flights.