11 May 2016
By Bryan T. Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Commercial air traffic at the three State airports of Cork, Dublin, and Shannon grew by a robust 9% in April 2016, when compared to 2015. Individually, the April 2016 figures for flights at the three State airports, when compared to the same month in the previous year are:
· Cork up 11.3%, with an average of 55 daily movements.
· Dublin up 9.4%, with an average of 568 daily movements.
· Shannon up 2.3%, with an average of 50 daily movements.
There was an increase of 1% in Ireland’s overflight traffic movements (flights that pass through Irish-controlled airspace but do not land) this month, with 27,274 flights. The IAA’s North Atlantic Communications flights (Europe / North America flights) saw an increase of 5.9% and 38,009 flights in April.
In total the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) safely and efficiently managed 89,379 movements in April 2016, an increase of 5.1% on the previous year.
Irish Aviation Authority supports idea of direct Cork to USA flights
Welcoming the growth at Cork and Shannon airports, Eamonn Brennan, Chief Executive of the Irish Aviation Authority said, “The choice for Irish consumers will be really expanded when Norwegian Air International (NAI) receives its approval to operate transatlantic services.”
“The opposition to the NAI permit is based on restricting consumer choice and restricting competition and is not on the grounds of safety or labour. Irish safety standards are amongst the highest in the world and only EU and US crews will be used and they will be subject to EU law.”
