The Irish Aviation Authority has reported a 14.8% increase in revenues for 2007. Revenues rose to €154.2m from €134.4m, while profits after tax increased to €14.7m from €13.7m the previous year.
The IAA is a semi-state body responsible for the provision of air traffic control services in Irish-controlled airspace and the safety regulation of Irish aircraft.
Its revenues come mainly from charging aircraft that fly in Irish airspace. The majority of these planes do not land at airports here, but instead move through Irish airspace between Europe and North America.
The IAA said that terminal commercial air traffic - planes landing or departing from either Dublin, Shannon or Cork airports - rose by 6.6% to 267,828 plane movements last year. Dublin traffic increased by 8%, while Cork rose by 5% and Shannon also rose marginally.
It added that en route traffic rose by 5.5% over 2006 figures to 310,831 movements.
The IAA's AGM heard today that the Irish aircraft register continued to grow last year with a total of 1,132 aircraft registered by December, up from 981 in 2006. The main carriers are Ryanair, with 165 aircraft, Aer Lingus (40), CityJet (30), Aer Arann (14) and Air Contractors (15).
The number of helicopters have also shown significant growth in recent years. There was a total of 162 helicopters registered by the end of 2007, up from 56 in 2000.
