Passenger numbers at Shannon Airport have taken off in the first half of this year.
Half-year figures for 2018, have revealed an almost 7% rise in the number of people passing through the midwest facility.
Between January and June this year, passenger numbers at Shannon Airport rose by 6.6%.
This puts the airport on track to record an almost 30% increase by the end of the year, from when it separated from the state airports’ group five years ago.
The surge across the first six months also suggests that 2018 will be Shannon’s best year as an independent airport, outside of 2014, when double digit growth was achieved.
But, like 2014, the strong performance in the first half of this year is driven by additional and improved services.
This includes a new Toronto flight with Air Canada, new services to Barcelona-Reus, Bristol and Liverpool with Ryanair and increased Manchester frequencies.
Later this year, Norwegian Air International will expand its Shannon/New York service, enhancing its transatlantic offering, which includes 6 airlines operating to 7 destinations – the highest number of services to the US/Canada in 17 years.