Shannon records 140% increase in Euro passengers

Shannon Airport’s nine new European routes have delivered a dramatic month of growth, with a 140% increase in passenger numbers on continental services recorded last month compared to April 2013.

The airport has halted five years of passenger numbers decline in its first year as an independent entity after being separated from the State airports’ group in January of last year but April’s passenger figures are proof that 2014 will be about growth.

Boosted by a really strong Easter period, Shannon enjoyed its biggest month-over-month increase in over a decade as 31% more passengers flew through the airport in April compared to the same month last year.  The sharpest increase, not surprisingly, was recorded in passenger numbers to and from the continent, which more than doubled.

The airport had its biggest month in ten years in April in terms of route launches, with new services commenced to Munich, Paris, Faro, Warsaw, Krakow, Nice, Poitiers, Berlin, Fuerteventura (all Ryanair) and Bristol (Aer Lingus Regional).  April also saw a new Aer Lingus Malaga service kick-off, while it was also the first full month for the airline’s year-round six times weekly JFK New York service, which commenced at the end of March.

The increase in services is particularly timely with the commencement this year of the Wild Atlantic Way project, the longest defined coastal driving route in the world.  Shannon is the key gateway airport for the project as it is not alone the only airport on the west coast with services to a European hub (Heathrow), providing one-stop connectivity to an additional 170 global destinations, but it is also the only airport on the entire route, which stretches from Cork to Donegal, with transatlantic services.

Passenger numbers on European routes rose to 38,610, from 16,087 in April 2013, with UK provincial increasing by 27%, from 13,401 to 17,000. Transatlantic, meanwhile, enjoyed an 18% uplift in the month, from 20,147 to 23,852.