The Irish Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe TD, has welcomed the increase in passenger numbers at Dublin Airport during 2014. daa announced that at the end of December 2014 passenger numbers for the year stood at 21.7 million which represents an increase of 8% over 2013.
Commenting on the passenger numbers, Minister Donohoe said: ‘These numbers confirm that the hard work of daa staff and management, the tourism agencies and Government policies, such as reducing the rate of the air travel tax to zero and retaining the reduction of VAT at 9% on tourism-related services in Budget 2015, continue to pay dividends’.
“I was particularly pleased to note that the growth in passenger numbers was not just in one particular area but rather was right across all major sectors of daa’s business, with long-haul traffic up 14%, short-haul traffic up 7% and transfer traffic up 37% over the previous year.” According to the most recent CSO statistics, there were over 7 million visits to Ireland in the first eleven months of 2014, an increase of 8.6% compared to the same period in 2013.
“After a number of disappointing years, it is good to see growth return to passenger numbers at Dublin Airport. Some incremental growth has been evident in recent years but in 2014 we can see a real consolidation of that growth, reflecting the improvements seen in the wider economy. There were 24 new routes out of Dublin last year and with 14 new services already in place for 2015, there are very good reasons to feel confident for the future of the airport as well as the tourism sector and the general benefits for Ireland”.
