PASSENGER NUMBERS at Shannon airport have continued to fall sharply in 2011 and are now approaching levels not seen since the early 1990s, according to new confidential Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) figures.
In January, 92,000 passengers passed through the airport, a 37.4 per cent drop on the same month in 2010. This figure comes on top of a similarly poor performance at the airport for the full 12 months of 2010 when 1,755,900 passengers used the airport, 37.2 per cent down on the 2,794,563 passengers that used the facility in 2009.
Shannon has experienced a 52 per cent drop since its peak in 2006, when 3,639,046 passengers used the airport, and 2010 passenger numbers were similar to 1996 levels.
If the rate of decline experienced in January continues throughout 2011 then the airport will only handle 1.1 million passengers for the year, a figure not experienced in 20 years.
Such a drop in passenger numbers could translate to a loss of €25 million in revenues at the airport, based on a 2003 Aer Rianta report that found passengers at Shannon spend on average €40 (inclusive of passenger charges).
Shannon airport’s performance was significantly worse than the other two state airports controlled by the DAA, the figures show. In the 12 months to December 2010, passenger numbers at Cork Airport were down 12.4 per cent compared to 2009, while the fall at Dublin airport was 10.1 per cent. The 2010 combined total for the three DAA airports was a fall of 13.3 per cent compared to 2009.
The January 2011 figure for Cork Airport was down 11.3 per cent, while Dublin airport saw growth of 0.6 per cent. Total passenger traffic at the three airports in January 2011 was down 4.4 per cent compared to January 2010.
Transatlantic traffic was particularly poor in January, with a 6 per cent fall in Dublin and a 26 per cent fall in Shannon. Dublin also saw a fall in domestic traffic of 60 per cent but rises in London traffic (3 per cent), UK provincial traffic (8 per cent), European traffic (1 per cent) and other long haul traffic (10 per cent).
Shannon saw falls in January in London traffic (-17 per cent), UK provincial (-48 per cent), European traffic (-67 per cent) and transit traffic (-33 per cent).