Figures Show Dip In Passenger Numbers At Shannon Airport

Photo © Pat Flynn

New figures point to descending Passenger numbers at Shannon Airport.

The latest figures from the CSO show over 341,000 passengers passed through the Mid-West facility in the last three months of last year, a drop of almost 2% on the same period in 2016.

It’s the only Irish airport to experience a drop in footfall over the same period.

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New figures from the Central Statistics Office show passenger numbers at Shannon Airport have dipped to just under 1.6 million last year, a 4.5% drop on 2015 figures.

It was the only Irish Airport to experience reduced numbers – At the same time Dublin saw growth of 6% and Kerry and Cork figures were up by 3 and 3.4% respectively.

There was an almost 2% drop in numbers in the fourth quarter of last year alone, which the airport has described as a challenging time, with reductions in seasonal services and weather challenges on account of Storm Ophelia.

But the figures don’t take the significant transit business into account, which amount to 9% of the airport’s passenger numbers.

And a spokesperson for the airport says it turned a corner at the start of this year having achieved a 5% increase passenger numbers in the first quarter alone, with continued growth forecast for the year ahead.

This year Shannon will have its largest number of US services in over 17 years, with six airlines operating to seven destinations, a new Toronto service and, in all, a total of 565,000 transatlantic passenger capacity.

There are also new services to Barcelona, Liverpool and Bristol and additional capacity on other services.