Shannon Airport increased its passenger count by over 153,000 last year.
For the first time in fifteen years, passenger numbers at the Clare base surpassed 2 million, and it’s hoped the relaunch of an express bus service connecting the Airport to Galway could boost footfall again.
Shannon boosted both its arrival and departure numbers in 2024.
According to the Central Statistics Office’s latest Aviation report, both the amount of flyers taking off and touching down in Clare increased by 8%.
England was the most popular destination for flyers out of Shannon, accounting for over 391,000 passengers, this was followed by the 168,000 who flew to the United States and the 123,000 going to Spain.
In terms of inbound traffic , 400,000 passengers flew into Shannon from the UK, 167,000 touched down from the United States and just below 123,000 came from Spain.
In total, Shannon handled just over 2,050,800 passengers last year, 153,000 more than the previous year and the highest on record since 2009.
From April 29th, Bus Eireann’s expressway service connecting Galway City to Shannon Airport will return.
It will four direct routes each way, with the aim of lining up to key transatlantic flight times.
Shannon Airport Group Chief Operating Officer Ray O’Driscoll is hopeful they will see very positive results.
There was a slight drop in the freight and commercial traffic handled at Shannon last year, however.
Shannon dealt with over 16 tonnes of freight traffic over the past twelve months, with the majority of goods coming and going to Germany.
There were also just over 14,800 commercial flights facilitated at Shannon, down from 15,000 the year before, with the UK and the United States again the most popular destinations.
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