SHANNON Airport’s fortunes are soaring with end of year figures for 2014 showing a 17 per cent increase on the previous year.
In 2013, following separation from the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), Shannon ended five successive years of decline and in 2014 delivered significant growth, with passenger numbers increasing from 1.4 million to more than 1.6 million
The growth was achieved on the back of ten new destinations and 16 service enhancements overall in 2014.
The biggest growth market was in European services, where nine new destinations delivered a 70 per cent increase (from 251,813 to 427,887).
While these included a number of popular sun destinations which return for 2015, growth on European services also drew high numbers of inbound visitors, thanks to the return of links to Germany (Munich and Berlin) as well new French (Paris and Poitiers) services.
There was also 10 per cent growth across the airport’s five US services Boston, Chicago, Newark, JFK New York and Philadelphia.
Shannon’s largest overall market, the UK, saw a 5 per cent increase in 2014.
The year finished on another monthly high in December with a 7 per increase on passenger numbers compared with December 2013 and a 165 per cent increase on European services.
