NUMEROUS destinations in Spain and Malta are proving popular with almost 40,000 people expected to travel through Shannon Airport this August Bank Holiday weekend.

The figure is indicative of the continued resurgence in airport traffic, representing 87% of the numbers that travelled for the same period in 2019.

Sunny locations like Malaga, the Canary Islands, Alicante, Barcelona and Malta are popular this weekend, while those looking for a city break are jetting off to the likes of London, Edinburgh, Budapest, and Marseille on last-minute getaways.

Shannon Airport’s Operations and Commercial Director, Niall Maloney said: “We are delighted to welcome passengers through the airport this weekend and can see the demand out there for those well-deserved breaks. This is the largest number of passengers for this period in three years.

“We are focused on making travel as easy as possible for our passengers and growing their travel options from Shannon Airport. In addition to our popular traditional routes, we have a number of new summer services this year, among these are Malta, Barcelona-Girona, Budapest, Edinburgh, and Corfu. We are also excited to welcome Vueling Airlines, a new carrier to Shannon, with their Paris service due to start in September.

“We have worked hard to bring these services to our passengers and are focused on rebuilding and broadening the options available for them.

“In addition, we have worked with the other service providers at the airport to ensure that the journey through the airport is as easy and hassle free as possible. Facilities such as our US Preclearance, the airport sensory room, along with the short distance from our car parks to the terminal building, compliments our latest investment in high tech security screening and all adds to making the journey easier.”

Passengers taking to the skies this bank holiday weekend from Shannon will experience the airport’s multi-million euro passenger screening system, which eliminates the 100 ml rule and cuts time spent through screening by half. Shannon is the first state airport in Ireland to introduce this time saving security screening system.