The number of passengers travelling through Dublin Airport in September totalled 2.9 million, which was 11% higher than in the same month last year.

Cork Airport

Cork Airport experienced a busy September, as thousands of passengers from the South of Ireland continued to flock to sunnier climes – with very strong load factors on routes to Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands, and Italy.

Commenting on the September performance of Cork Airport, daa CEO Kenny Jacobs said:

“In September, passengers from across Munster and the South of Ireland continued to enjoy a superb airport experience and a great choice of routes from Cork Airport. Fans heading to France for the Rugby World Cup contributed to another great month in terms of passenger traffic, which was 12% higher compared with September 2022. From the beginning of September, large numbers of Irish rugby fans set off for France from Cork Airport, to Bordeaux, La Rochelle and Paris as Rugby World Cup fever began to take hold. Aer Lingus commenced a direct service to Paris Charles de Gaulle to cater for the Rugby World Cup traffic and Air France increased capacity and frequency on their services to Paris.”

“I have no doubt that October will be another busy month for Cork Airport as some new routes like Barcelona, Paris Beauvais and Fuerteventura come on stream. Towards the end of the month, thousands will jet into Cork for the annual Guinness Cork Jazz Festival, a highlight of the Cork event calendar with Cork Airport as a proud festival partner,” added Kenny Jacobs.

Passengers flying from Munster’s busiest airport enjoyed a swift, efficient security screening process in September, where 99.9% of passengers cleared security in 20 minutes or less. 

In September, Cork Airport was also listed as the “Best Performing Commercial Semi-State Body” for energy reduction by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) for the second year running. This accolade is a result of significant retrofitting of lighting systems, replacement of diesel vehicles with electric equivalents and an enhanced management of lighting and heating in the terminal building. 

Dublin Airport

At Dublin Airport, a busy September took the total number of passengers starting or finishing their journey at Ireland’s busiest airport in the four peak months of the summer season - June to September - to just over 12 million. Around 800,000 passengers transferred or transited through Dublin Airport during the four summer months, including 200,000 in September.

Once again in September, passengers enjoyed speedy processing at security screening with 97% of passengers through security in less than 20 minutes. daa’s focus on improvements in customer service and improving standards has seen it jump 20 places in the latest CXi Customer Experience rankings, which were published earlier this week. 

The busiest day of travel at Dublin Airport in September was Sunday, September 24 as thousands of happy Irish rugby fans made their way back from France. The most popular destination in the month was London Heathrow - not surprising as Dublin-London Heathrow is one of the busiest routes in Europe.

In September, carbon per passenger at Dublin Airport was 0.49kg, a reduction of -12% on 2022. This data relates to Dublin Airport’s scope 1 and 2 emissions and a rolling annual average carbon figure.

According to daa CEO Kenny Jacobs: "Our target at the start of the summer was to get 90% of departing passengers at Dublin Airport safely through security in less than 20 minutes. The phenomenal security team blew that goal out of the water by getting an impressive 98% of the 12 million passengers who travelled through Dublin Airport between the start of June and the end of September through in 20 minutes or less. Aside from security, we gave our passengers an improved experience in the terminals and I wish to thank the excellent team at Dublin airport. " 

"We want to build on this very good progress and have plans already underway to improve standards even more for passengers in the months and years ahead. Central to Dublin Airport's ability to meet the demands of passengers and our airline partners in the years ahead will be permission to grow Dublin Airport further to meet Ireland’s demand for international travel. daa will submit an application to Fingal County Council shortly to grow beyond the current 32 million cap in order to support the population increase and continue to support new jobs growth and connectivity for Ireland. 

"Until planning permission to grow beyond 32 million is granted, daa will continue to manage the passenger capacity through the terminals at Dublin Airport to ensure that current planning restrictions are not breached. daa continues to see good growth opportunities for Cork Airport, which has no restrictions, with scope for Ireland’s second most popular airport to grow to 5 million passengers per annum in the coming years and in ARI our duty-free retail business and daai our international airport operations business.”