September Traffic Movements Analysis
Ireland's September 2010 total IFR traffic grew by +5.8%, registering 1,615 average daily flights, compared to the -4.8% change in the year to date, while Ireland's Top 10 Airport Pairs in September 2010 showed positive growth compared to the same period last year, with the exception of two routes.
Enroute traffic movements in Irish controlled airspace for the month of September 2010 shows a considerable increase of +13.4% on comparable traffic figures for September 2009. This continues a positive trend with enroute traffic movements showing growth of +5.1% in March 2010, +1.6% in June 2010, +5.9% in July 2010 and +3.5% in August 2010.
This trend of continued growth has also been mirrored in the analysis of North Atlantic Communications flights (Europe /US Flights) , which saw growth of +1% in March, +0.8% in June, +1.3% in July, +0.8% in August and a significant growth of +7.3% in September 2010.
Both enroute overflights and North Atlantic Communications Flights could have seen strong positive growth for the first nine months of 2010, if the eruption of the Icelandic Volcano and subsequent effects had not occurred. The resulting impact on these traffic figures showed a decrease of between -10% to -15% in April and May 2010. However, as it stands, the year to date growth for enroute overflights is +0.3% and North Atlantic Communications Flights are showing a small decrease of -2.4%.
While commercial terminal traffic at the three State airports continues to decline against comparable figures in 2009, the rate of decline during 2010 has receded.
The traffic growth rates for the three State airports, in the month of September 2010, are as follows:
- Commercial terminal flights at Dublin were down by -2.1%
- Commercial terminal flights at Cork were down -8.6%
- Commercial terminal flights at Shannon were down -28.9%
However, for the nine month period, January to September 2010, compared to 2009:
- Commercial terminal flights at Dublin were down -10.4%
- Commercial terminal flights at Cork were down -9.6%
- Commercial terminal flights at Shannon were down -35.4%
The latest available "short term traffic outlook" from EUROCONTROL forecasts that total European traffic will experience a growth rate of +1.6% for 2010, with the exception of Ireland and one other European State, which were both most affected by the ash-cloud crisis. This outlook forecasts that Irelands IFR traffic for 2010 will be down by -2.7% on 2009 traffic figures.