Kerry Airport increases passenger numbers despite Brexit
Kerry Airport Ireland recorded a slight increase in passenger numbers on their two London routes last year despite the threat of Brexit..
Across all its routes the airport recorded a 1.2% increase with passenger numbers travelling through Farranfore reaching nearly 370,000.
Kerry Airport CEO, John Mulhern, said there was growth of 1% on their London routes in defiance of being under the “Brexit cloud” throughout the year.
Aer Lingus Regional operate a twice-daily service between Kerry and Dublin and it also recorded growth last year.
“The Berlin and Frankfurt Hahn routes continue to perform very well and we welcome Ryanair’s decision to extend the Berlin route through the summer of 2020,” Mr Mulhern said.
“This underlines the importance of Wild Atlantic Kerry as a destination for the German tourist market.
Ryanair is also increasing the frequency of its Kerry to Alicante route this summer.
Shannon Airport reported last week that the grounding of the Boeing 737-Max aircraft and a Brexit-related downturn in UK visitors resulted in a fall in passenger numbers for the first time since 2013.
“The global grounding of the Boeing 737-Max, for safety reasons, saw us lose 120,000 seats, which affected our Norwegian Airlines and Air Canada services to North America,” said Mary Considine, chief executive of Shannon Group.
According to the Irish Aviation Authority the number of flights through Shannon fell by 3.3% to 24,703. Cork Airport saw a 14.6% increase to 48,618.
