DUBLIN AIRPORT HAS seen a record number of transatlantic flights this year.

It said that transatlantic traffic at Dublin Airport will set a new record this year with more than 1.8 million passengers expected to travel on flights between North America and Dublin during 2013.

There have already been almost 1.3 million transatlantic passengers passing through the doors of the airport, a 14 per cent increase on the same period in 2012.

Transatlantic passenger numbers peaked at 1.75 million in 2008, during the country’s economic boom, but then declined to just under 1.5 million in 2010.

Dublin Airport Authority’s Strategy Director, Vincent Harrison said that the previous record for passenger numbers travelling to the United States and Canada will be “comfortably exceeded” this year.

Growth factors

Harrison said that the growth is due a number of factors, including:

• A large increase in capacity this year with available seat numbers expanding
• A new service to JFK from American Airlines
• Increased frequency on Boston and Chicago with Aer Lingus
• A larger aircraft on the US Airways’ service to Philadelphia
• The impact of a full year of United’s Washington DC service.
• The Gathering, which has given a major marketing push to Ireland in North America, and which also has been strongly supported by DAA.
• An increase in transfer business to the United States and Canada

The growth in transatlantic traffic at Dublin Airport is likely to continue next year.

“Aer Lingus will have new services to San Francisco and Toronto, and Air Canada Rouge will also be launching a new year-round service to Toronto in 2014,” noted Harrison.

This summer, Dublin Airport had 224 flights to and from North America every week, on average 32 flights per day.

The growth in transatlantic passenger numbers over the past three years coincides with a doubling of traffic on long-haul routes from Dublin to the Middle East. More than half a million passengers will travel on Etihad and Emirates flights to and from Dublin during 2014.

Helped by the growth in long-haul traffic, total passenger numbers at Dublin Airport are up by 6 per cent this year, to almost 13.7 million.

Read: Over two million passengers travelled through Dublin Airport last month>