This week saw Dublin Airport reveal that 2.8m passengers travelled through in October 2023, with uplifts in such traffic observed. But what about the fight with Ryanair?
Thanks to the likes of the Rugby World Cup and other events around the country and Europe, the airport did well last month.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
2.8m People Used Dublin Airport in October…
Dublin Airport provided some fast facts on the performance of passenger numbers, traffic statistics and more:
| October 2023 In Numbers | |
|---|---|
| Number of Passengers | 2.8 million |
| Transfer Passengers | 155,000 |
| Transit Passengers | 28,000 |
| Number of Flights | 22,316 |
| Through Security in <20 minutes | 98% |
| Busiest Day of Travel | Sunday October 8 |
| Busiest Destination | London Heathrow |
| Flights Departing On-Time | 64% |
| Flights Departing On-Time (First Wave) | 83% |
| Load Factor | 80% |
| Baggage Return (average time, first bag) | 18 minutes |
Commenting on this further was Kenny Jacobs, the CEO of daa, which runs Dublin Airport:
“The Ireland rugby team arrived home a few weeks earlier than we’d have hoped, but they generated a huge level of excitement and our terminals at Dublin Airport were a sea of green jerseys each weekend in the early part of October.
“The number of fans travelling to France from Dublin Airport were amongst the highest we’ve 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.”
“We’re looking forward to a busy Christmas period at Dublin Airport and 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.”
“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.”
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“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.”
“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.”
What About Flight Cuts from Airlines?
Over the Summer, Dublin Airport has been in battle with one of it’s largest operators, Ryanair, over environmental incentives & airport charges that have caused the carrier to send aircraft and routes elsewhere.
Ryanair, through CEO Michael O’Leary, said the following back in September:
“DAA has a history of mismanagement at Dublin Airport, including understaffing summer security, wasting taxpayers’ money on ill-thought-out infrastructure projects and failing to support low-cost access and sustainable growth.”
“[The DAA] already excessive charges by a ludicrous 45%”.
The daa have already denied this, with Jacobs stating that this was “disappointing” that the airline has said this.
Ryanair has been keen on criticising the way Dublin Airport has restrictions, such as dubbing the night flight restrictions as “stupid”, as well as O’Leary stating that he has “no sympathy” for airport noise in the area.
That being said, with the airport being back at pre-pandemic levels, things are on the up for the airport, with all eyes on how the planning permission to go above 32m passengers per annum will go, and whether that will allow scope for further expansion from operators going into the future.
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