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The number of en route traffic movements (flights which do not land in Ireland) dropped by 4% in September 2011, the first significant decrease this year, pushing en-route traffic numbers back to September 2008 levels. There was an overall reduction of 3.9% in Ireland's air traffic in September 2011 when compared to the same month in 2010, largely due to reductions in en route and internal Irish traffic.  There was an average of 1,551 daily flights during the month - the busiest day being 2^nd September with 1,780 flights.

On a cumulative basis; growth in en-route traffic movements and North Atlantic Communications flights between January 2011 and September 2011 was 5%, in both areas, however, when this growth is adjusted for the Icelandic volcanic ash crisis in 2010, the comparable growth for the nine months between January 2011 and September 2011, when compared to 2010, is adjusted downward to 1% and 1.2% respectively. 

Commercial terminal traffic for Shannon, Dublin and Cork airports dropped by 4.2% in September 2011, compared to September 2010. Individually, the September 2011 figures for the three State airports, when compared to the same month in the previous year are;

• Commercial terminal flights at Dublin were down by 5%, with an average of 443 daily commercial movements at Dublin.
• Commercial terminal flights at Cork were down 3.7%, with an average of 65 commercial daily movements at Cork.
• Commercial terminal flights at Shannon were up +1.3%, with an average of 59 commercial daily movements at Shannon.

In relation to Ireland's delays due to air traffic flow regulations only 214 aircraft were delayed between January and the end of September. Of these, 124 aircraft were delayed by 2,589 minutes (average 21 minutes) due to special events such as the US Presidential visit and the Europa League final in May, with 51 other aircraft delayed by 590 minutes (average 12 minutes) due to the weather. Ireland traditionally has one of the lowest levels of air traffic flow regulation delays in Europe.

ENDS