A record number of passengers used Irish airports last year, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show today.
The CSO said that passenger numbers at the country's five main airports - Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Knock, and Kerry - came to 39.2 million for 2023.
This marked an increase of 20% on the numbers for 2022 and was the highest number of passengers reported since the CSO began recording the figures in 2013.
The CSO said that almost 3.3 million more passengers travelled to Ireland in 2023 when compared with 2022, and this was almost 600,000 more when compared with 2019.
Today's figures also show that the number of flights to and from Irish airports last year rose by 16% when compared with 2022 figures.
Almost 274,000 flights were handled by the country's five main airports in 2023, with Dublin handling 84% of all while Cork handled 7% of all flights.
Shannon Airport saw the sharpest growth, with passenger numbers up 33% year on year, the CSO said.
London-Heathrow, London-Gatwick, and Amsterdam-Schiphol were the most popular routes for passengers travelling through Dublin airport in 2023, today's figures show.
The top route for Cork and Shannon airports was London-Heathrow, for Knock airport it was London-Stansted, and for Kerry airport it was Dublin, they also reveal.
The CSO also said that a total of 19.6 million passengers departed from Ireland last year, which was 3.4 million more than the same period in 2022, and half a million more passengers when compared with 2019.
Meanwhile, air freight handled by Irish airports also rose last year, increasing by 6% on 2022 levels, the CSO added.
