Dublin Airport passengers up 8pc

Dublin Airport recorded an 8pc increase in passengers in March, with 1.6 million travelers passing through the country's busiest airport.
The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) said that passenger volumes to and from continental Europe rose 14pc, with more than 780,000 passengers traveling to European destinations.

The increase in passenger traffic during March was boosted by Easter. The holiday fell in April last year. The DAA said that 210,000 passengers passed through Dublin Airport between March 29 and April 1, a figure comparable with Easter 2012.

The DAA said that UK traffic remained static this March compared with March 2012, with almost 599,000 passengers flying to and from the UK in the month.

Passenger numbers to and from North America rose 8pc to just under 120,000.

The number of passengers on other international routes, which includes the Middle East and North Africa, climbed 16pc, with almost 45,000 passengers traveling in March.

The figures were published as airport industry group ACI Europe said that overall passenger traffic at Europe's airports fell 0.2pc in February compared with February 2012. It said the decline was sharpest at EU airports, which recorded an average fall of 2.8pc.

Aircraft movements for the whole of Europe fell 5.4pc, while freight plunged back into negative territory, reporting a 6.5pc decline, said ACI.

John Mulligan – 05 April 2013 Irish Independent