February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Andrew Bushe
DUBLIN – The foot-and-mouth crisis and airline strikes led to a 3 percent drop in air traffic between Britain and Ireland during the first six months of the year.
But while British routes dropped to 3.4 passengers, Aer Rianta said overall traffic through Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports rose by 3 percent during January-June, to 8.4 million passengers.
Over 6.5 million passengers were handled at Dublin Airport, up 3 percent, with European traffic the strongest performer, up 14 percent to 2.2 million passengers.
The Dublin transatlantic market rose by 7 percent to 450,000 passengers. Domestic traffic recorded an increase of 1 percent to over 300,000 passengers.
Cork Airport handled almost 800,000 passengers for the six months, 4 percent ahead of 2000 figures.
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The European sector recorded the most significant increase at 14 percent to just over 200,000 passengers. Aer Rianta said the increase was due to growth on services to Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt as well as an increase in direct charter flights from Cork to sun destinations.
Cork-UK routes increased by 2 percent to over 400,000 passengers as a result of new routes to U.K. regions. Domestic traffic also grew by 2 percent to 148,000 passengers.
Almost 1.1 million passengers traveled through Shannon Airport, an increase of 4 percent over the same period in 2000. Overall terminal traffic grew by 10 percent with the European market increasing by 30 percent to 150,000 passengers.