Knock Airport in Co Mayo hopes to break passenger records for the third year in a row after reaching a new high of 834,000 in 2024, the company said on Thursday.
Known officially as Ireland West Airport, Knock now has routes to 22 international destinations and counts the Ryanair group and Aer Lingus as its main carriers.
Passenger numbers there grew 2 per cent last year to a record 834,000, beating the previous high of 817,000 in 2023.
It hopes to gain further altitude this year on the back of new routes and extra space on already popular services.
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Ryanair will boost seats by around 10 per cent on flights to popular sunspots such as Alicante, Malaga and Faro.
The Irish giant, whose subsidiary Lauda Europe also serves Knock, recorded its busiest year at the west of Ireland gateway, the airport company confirmed.
Rival Aer Lingus also carried record numbers for its operations there, recording strong growth on its London Heathrow service among others.
Most of Knock’s passengers travelled to or from Britain last year, accounting for 667,732 of the total, 1 per cent more than in 2023, the airport said.
However, those travelling between there and continental Europe rose 9 per cent to a new record of 165,500.
Holiday destinations in southern Europe, including Spain, the Canary Islands, Portugal and Italy, generated most of that business, the figures show.
August was its busiest month, with almost 90,400 passengers moving through Knock that month. The busiest day was Sunday August 18th, when 3,600 people departed or arrived. In all, Knock handled almost 6,000 flights last year.
Aided by Department of Transport funding, Ireland West Airport spent €7 million on safety, security and infrastructure in 2024. It receives money under the State’s regional airports programme.
Arthur French, chairman of Ireland West Airport, said 2024 reflected that demand “from right across the region and from overseas continues to grow”.
Meanwhile, Aer Lingus cited new research on Thursday that two out of three people plan to try new holiday destinations this year.
Loyalty programmes are also increasingly influencing travellers, with more than half of those asked saying they would factor these into their planning this year, a significant boost from just one-in-five last year.
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