This article is from page 8 of the 2011-07-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
COMMERCIAL traffic through Shannon Airport rose by 22.5 per cent last month, according to figures released by the Irish Aviation Authority.
It compares with a 3.5 per cent increase in Cork and numbers remaining static in Dublin Airport during the month of June.
There were 1,905 overflights and airport commercial movements at Shannon in June, compared with 1, 555 in June of last year.
The figures are a significant improvement on poor figures at the mid-west airport in recent months. Figures for 2010 showed that commercial traffic fell by 32.2 per cent and overall traffic at Shannon fell by 21.7 per cent.
En-route flights, which are flights transiting between Europe and North America – the majority of which do not land in Ireland – increased by 2.1 per cent, when compared to June 2010.
Spokesperson for the IAA, Lilian Cassin, said the figures are positive. “We are delighted with it. What’s more significant is the overhead flights between Europe and North America are up. That tends to be a barometer of international traffic, a barometer of how the global economy is,” she said.
She said she is hopeful that terminal traffic will increase as a followon from this.
“When the recession hit the first impact was on the en-route traffic and the terminal was after that. Hopefully this will be followed by an increase in terminal traffic,” said Ms Cassin.
According to the IAA, traffic figures for the first six months of the year are subject to distortion when compared to the first half of last year, due to the impact of the Icelandic volcanic ash crisis in April and May 2010. However, when adjustments are made to compensate for this, the en-route traffic movements for the first six months of this year show an increase of around five per cent over the same period in 2010.