Covid sees Knock down 75% in passenger numbers

The impact of Covid-19 is having a devastating effect as Ireland West Airport – immediately after a year that saw record passenger numbers.

A total of 807,000 passengers came through the facility in 2019 – the fourth consecutive year of passenger growth at the airport.

That upward momentum continued over the first two months of the year – before the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic forced the airport to close its doors on March 30.

The airport was closed for 91 days with airport staff ‘furloughed’ and all airport operations suspended during this time.

This followed the news of key airline partner, Flybe, who had been operating from the airport for over ten years, ceasing trading in early March, with the immediate loss of their longstanding and popular services to Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester.

The airport reopened for business on Wednesday July 1, but the impact of the pandemic has been far reaching both in the short and medium term.

Whilst air services have resumed with Ryanair at 40% of their planned schedule in operation, passenger numbers are significantly impacted as a result of the current travel advices in place.

Aer Lingus operations on their service to London Gatwick remain suspended with a provisional return date planned in mid-September.

All that meant that, by the end of July, passenger numbers will have declined by 350,000 compared to the same period in 2019 – and the full year forecast for 2020 will result in a 75% decline in passenger numbers to just over 200,000; a level last seen almost 20 years ago in 2001.

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