Dublin Airport passenger numbers almost reached 32m cap in 2023

Some 31.908 million passengers passed through Dublin Airport’s terminals last year, just shy of the 32 million passenger capacity limit currently imposed on the airport by planning restrictions.

Figures released on Wednesday show that as Dublin airport neared capacity last year, Cork airport had its busiest year ever for international traffic. Some 2.8 million passengers travelled through the airport in 2023, a 25 per cent increase on 2022 levels.

Last year Dublin airport saw 241,595 flight movements, with the busiest day of the year and in the history of the airport being Sunday, July 30th, when 121,000 passengers travelled through the airport.

Kenny Jacobs, chief executive of Dublin and Cork airports operator DAA, said Dublin airport could “comfortably accommodate” 35 million passengers per year with its current infrastructure, but it faced a “period of stalled growth” under the current 32 million passenger cap.

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He said Ireland could “lose out” to other uncapped hub airports in terms of potential new jobs and connectivity until Dublin airport is allowed to operate with a higher capacity.

Last year DAA submitted an infrastructure planning application to Fingal County Council which includes an application to increase passenger capacity to 40 million per year at Dublin airport. “Until this application is approved Dublin airport’s terminals will remain capped at 32 million passengers and Ireland will continue to wave goodbye to good jobs and economic growth,” Mr Jacobs said.

In addition to the 31.908 million passengers who travelled through Dublin airport’s terminals last year, 1.08 million connecting passengers used the airport. A further group of 532,222 included transit, search-and-rescue and air ambulance passengers.

In December 2023, 2.3 million passengers travelled through Dublin airport on a total of 17,891 flights.

Meanwhile in Cork some 196,800 passengers travelled through the airport last month on 1,433 flights, a 20 per cent increase on December 2022 figures.

Regarding a “record-breaking” year for Cork airport last year, Mr Jacobs said Cork airport was the fastest growing in Ireland, and that “Cork’s strategic location is proving very attractive from a traffic development point of view”.

Strong growth in Cork airport was driven by the addition of five new summer routes and four winter routes, as well as its European hub routes to London Heathrow (Aer Lingus), Amsterdam (Aer Lingus, KLM) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (Air France).

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