The country's two busiest airports - Dublin and Cork - saw more than three million passengers in October, new figures from airport operator daa show today.
Daa said that 2.8 million passengers passed through Dublin Airport last month, an increase of 4% on the same time last year, while the number of passengers using Cork Airport soared by 23% to 253,000.
The busiest day of travel at Dublin Airport last month was Sunday October 8 as thousands of Irish rugby fans made their way back from watching Ireland defeat Scotland in Paris.
While the Dublin-Paris route was busy during the month, the most popular destination in October was once again London Heathrow, with the route remaining one of the busiest in Europe.
Daa noted that 98% of passengers passed through security at Dublin airport in less than 20 minutes during the month.
Kenny Jacobs, CEO of daa, said the number of fans travelling to France from Dublin Airport were amongst the highest the airport had ever seen travelling to support Ireland at a major sporting event.
"October also saw many families escaping the miserable wet weather in Ireland with an autumn trip to the sun, with our routes to the Canaries, southern Spain and Portugal proving very popular. That's likely to continue through November and we're seeing a lot of interest in our North America routes too as people seek some Florida sunshine or early Christmas shopping in New York," he added.
Mr Jacobs said the daa was looking forward to a busy Christmas period at Dublin Airport.
"We've a firm eye on 2024 also, with discussions underway with our airline partners regarding their schedules for next spring, summer and beyond, ensuring that passenger numbers for the year will remain below the 32 million level," he added.
"Central to Dublin Airport's ability to meet the demands of passengers and our airline partners in the years ahead will be permission to grow Dublin Airport further to meet Ireland's demand for international travel. Daa will submit an application to Fingal County Council shortly to grow beyond the current 32 million cap in order to support the population increase and continue to enable new jobs growth and connectivity for Ireland," the daa CEO said.
"Until planning permission to grow beyond 32 million is granted, daa will continue to manage the passenger capacity through the terminals at Dublin Airport to ensure that current planning restrictions are not breached," he added.
On Cork Airport, Kenny Jacobs said that its route network continues to grow, and passengers have reacted well to new routes such as Barcelona El-Prat and Paris Beauvais, which started in recent days.
He noted that a significant amount of Irish rugby fans also headed to France from Cork Airport, which offered the best connectivity with the French capital that was available outside of Dublin.
