Ireland West Airport Knock's latest travel figures reveal that a total of 629,000 passengers used the airport in 2008, up 73,000, or 13%, on the previous year. This made 2008 the busiest year ever for the Co Mayo airport.
The airport said that the current economic conditions will continue to hit travel patterns this year, but says that due to its expanded network, it still expects passenger levels to grow by a modest 1-3% in 2009.
During the year, Knock airport saw two new scheduled services to the UK, including Glasgow International airport with bmibaby and a daily service to Liverpool with Ryanair.
2009 will see a new Aer Lingus service to London Gatwick launching in April as well as new Thomas Cook tour operator brands, Sunworld and Panorama, beginning holiday charter flights to Faro in Portugal.
