Over 3.1 million passengers travelled to and from Dublin and Cork airports in April, according to airport operator daa.
The number of passengers travelling through Dublin Airport in April was up marginally compared to the same month last year, at just 1%.
At Cork Airport, passenger traffic was marginally down by 2% compared to April 2023.
"April was the first full month of the 2024 summer schedule and it is encouraging to see that passenger traffic was broadly in line with April last year," said Kenny Jacobs, daa CEO. "The month got off to a strong start as it coincided with the second week of the Easter school holidays."
However, he said Dublin Airport's passenger growth is being stymied by its compliance with the 32 million passenger cap.
"This means that our business and leisure passengers won't be able to connect to new destinations where we know there is proven demand for routes to destinations like Brazil, South Africa or the Far East over the next couple of years until Dublin Airport is allowed to grow again."
Mr Jaobs said airline customers won’t have an opportunity to grow, inbound tourism will suffer, and foreign direct investment and jobs will be lost.
Cork Airport is gearing up for their busiest summer in many years, with an estimated 3 million passengers expected to fly to and from the country’s second-busiest airport.
Inbound tourism from the UK and Continental Europe remains strong, according to daa, with good load factors on routes from UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.
Cork Airport has three new routes to Brussels Charleroi, Rhodes, and Zadar this summer, with TUI announcing a new service to Corfu from May next year.
