The Irish Aviation Authority’s (IAA) air traffic control division handled 1,175,337 flights in 2019 – 22,000 more than in 2018.
This represents a 2% increase in Irish air traffic over 2018 figures and is the highest number of flights recorded travelling safely through Irish airspace.
IAA Chief Executive, Peter Kearney said that these figures demonstrate the IAA’s strong performance in air navigation services provision and why the Authority continues to be ranked as a top performing air navigation service provider in Europe. Notwithstanding the growth in air traffic and record numbers of flights handled safely, the IAA continues to meet all of its EU regulatory requirements in key areas, underlining our continued strong safety record:
“Including the 2019 figures, the IAA has experienced a growth of almost 3% over the past 5 years. Despite this significant growth, the IAA continues to minimise air navigation delays.”
“The strong growth in air traffic handled is made possible by the continued investment in our infrastructure and people. The new IAA air traffic control tower at Dublin airport, the establishment of Aireon ALERT in the Shannon region and our ability to attract talent to the company are some of the investments that enable us to continue offering world-class service delivery to our customers.”
There were 351,731 overflight traffic movements (flights, which do not land in Ireland) – up 1.5% on 2018 movements
511,294 North Atlantic Communications flights (Europe /US Flights) handled in 2019 – a 1.2% increase on 2018 figures
State airport traffic:
Total flights handled at State airports in 2019 grew by 3.7%, with over 310,000 movements recorded, representing strong year-on-year trend of growth in State airport traffic.
Shannon airport saw a 3.3% decrease in movements in 2019
Air traffic grew by 14.6% at Cork airport
Dublin airport recorded a 2.5% increase in traffic numbers compared to 2018 figures