Passenger traffic through Ireland’s main airports rose by 11% in the first three months of 2026, compared with the corresponding period a year earlier, according to new data from Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO).
As the CSO noted, more than 9.1 million passengers travelled through Ireland’s five largest airports – Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Knock and Kerry – in the first quarter of this year.
Passenger numbers
“The figures show that passengers travelling to and from Ireland during January, February, and March (Q1) 2026 were up by more than 865,000 passengers (+11%) compared with Q1 2025,” commented Damien Lenihan, statistician in the Transport Section of the CSO.
“In Q1 2026, 4.5 million passengers departed from Ireland, which was almost 450,000 more passengers than in the same period in 2025. Almost 4.6 million passengers arrived in Ireland in Q1 2026, which was more than 400,000 more passengers when compared with Q1 2025.”
Flight activity also increased during the period, the CSO noted. The number of flights to and from the five main airports rose by 12% to 64,656, compared with 57,940 flights in the first quarter of 2025.
Dublin Airport remained the dominant hub in the Irish aviation sector, accounting for 84% of all flights during the quarter, with 54,494 aircraft movements. Cork Airport, the second largest, handled 4,731 flights, representing 7% of the total.
Key routes
The figures also highlighted the continued importance of key international routes. London Heathrow was the most popular destination and origin for passengers travelling through Cork and Shannon airports, while London Luton was the busiest route for both Knock and Kerry airports.
For Dublin Airport, the most popular routes were London Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol and Manchester.
“In Q1 2026, almost nine out of every ten passengers (88%) on international flights in the five main airports were travelling to or from Europe,” Lenihan added. “The two most popular countries of origin/destination were the United Kingdom and Spain. Outside of Europe, the United States of America was the most popular country of origin/destination in Q1 2026.”
Air freight volumes also recorded strong growth. The amount of cargo handled by the five airports increased by 15% year on year, rising to 50,265 tonnes in the first quarter of 2026, compared to 43,549 tonnes during the same period in 2025. Read more here.
