2023 was the busiest year on record at Ireland West Airport in Knock, Co Mayo with passenger numbers there increasing by 13% to 818,000 for the first time in the airport's history.
The 2023 figure surpassed the previous record of 807,000 passengers reported in 2019.
The airport now flies to 21 international destinations and is served by three of Europe's international airlines - Aer Lingus, Ryanair and Lauda Europe.
Passenger numbers on routes to and from the UK totalled 665,000 last year, boosted by the start of a new daily service to London Heathrow with Aer Lingus, which provides onward connectivity to more than 80 destinations worldwide.
Ryanair recorded its busiest ever year for passenger numbers at the airport carrying over 730,000 passengers, a 3% increase on 2022 with record numbers flying to and from Liverpool, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester in the UK.
The number of passengers travelling on services to Mainland and Continental Europe also hit a new high for the airport, with 148,000 passengers travelling to and from Alicante, Barcelona, Faro, Majorca, Malaga, Milan, Cologne, Lanzarote and Tenerife. This marked a 7% increase on the 2022 figures.
Today's figures show that August was the busiest month of the year with 102,000 passengers travelling through the airport during the month. The busiest single day of the year was also recorded in August, when over 4,500 passengers travelled through the airport on Tuesday August 29.
Over 6,000 flights departed and arrived at the airport in 2023. The airport noted that less than 10 flights were impacted as a result of adverse weather at the airport, the lowest figure on record.
Last year also saw continued investment in the Airport Transformation Programme, with a number of infrastructural projects completed during the course of 2023, including the installation of a new cabin baggage screening system which is now fully operational.
The new machines remove the need for passengers to remove laptops, phones and liquids from cabin bags and the restriction on liquids of more than 100ml no longer applies, which will further speed up the journey time through the airport.
Arthur French, Chairman of Ireland West Airport, said that 2023 was a milestone year for the airport as among other key events it hosted US President Joe Biden as he touched down at the airport on Friday April 14.
"We launched new services to both Lanzarote and Tenerife with Ryanair, and for the first time launched a new daily service with Aer Lingus, to one of Europe's major international airport hubs, London Heathrow," Mr French said.
"I wish to express our gratitude to our customers, airline and tour operator partners, stakeholders, tourism groups and Local Authority partners for their ongoing support in helping us to continue to grow passenger numbers and develop international connectivity for the region," the chairman said.
"I would also like to say a special word of thanks to the staff at the airport for their hard work and continued focus on ensuring the customer and passenger experience through the airport is both a safe and welcoming one. We will continue to work with our stakeholders and airline partners over the next 12 months as we strive to further grow our suite of routes from the airport whilst continuing to invest in our airport transformation programme," he added.
