Passenger numbers using Dublin Airport last year are still just 85% of 2019 levels, new figures show today.
Just over 28.1 million passengers travelled through Dublin Airport in 2022, representing a 231% increase on 2021 numbers.
Dublin Airport noted that the revival in passenger numbers following the Covid-19 pandemic continued to accelerate as the year progressed.
Passenger levels in the final three months of 2022 totalled 7.1 million - the equivalent to 96% of numbers in the same period of 2019.
During the month of December, a total of 2.2 million passengers travelled through Dublin Airport.
This marked an increase of 1 million passengers compared to 2021 and 95% of the passenger numbers seen pre-pandemic in December 2019.
Today's figures show that just over 13 million of the passengers travelled through Dublin Airport in the five months of August, September, October, November and December - almost half of the total traffic seen during the year.
26.5 million passengers either started or ended their journey through Dublin Airport while 1.33 million of the overall number used the airport as a transfer hub last year.
When compared to 2021 figures, short-haul traffic increased by 216% to 23.9 million, while long-haul passenger numbers jumped by 366% to almost 4.2 million.
This was down 19% when compared to with 2019 passenger figures for long haul and a 14% decrease for short haul.
During 2022, passenger numbers to and from Continental Europe increased on 2021 levels by 198% to 15.9 million.
The number of passengers travelling to and from Dublin Airport and the UK decreased by 24% compared to 2019 but increased by 257% compared to 2021 to 7.8 million.
Transatlantic traffic soared by 383% compared to 2021, which was down 17% compared to 2019. Traffic to and from Continental Europe was down by 8%, while passengers travelling from Dublin Airport to and from the UK slowed by 24%.
Passenger numbers on flights to and from other international destinations, which includes flights to the Middle East, increased by 302% compared with 2021.
Meanwhile, the number of people taking domestic flights increased 237% compared to 2021 and was up by 23% when compared with 2019.
Daa's new CEO, Kenny Jacobs said that following two years of Covid disruption, 2022 was the year in which international travel came back very strong.
"When you consider that passenger numbers during the first two months of 2022 were very low due to uncertainty around the Omicron variant, the recovery in passenger numbers from March onwards was way beyond the expectations of even the most optimistic of travel forecasters," Mr Jacobs said.
But he said the resurgence in travel had posed challenges for Dublin Airport and airports all around the world.
