IAA figures show some recovery

FURTHER evidence of an element of recovery at Shannon has been provided by the latest statistics from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).

According to figures, commercial movements at the Clare airport were up by 5.6% in July compared to July 2012. This followed a 1% increase in the month of June compared to the same month last year.
Last week, the airport revealed there were nearly 10% more passengers in July compared to July 2012.

While the IAA figures for June and July have been moving in the right direction, they showed a very steep decline in the first five months of the year, particularly in January and February, when the year-on-year decline was 10.7% and 17% respectively.
Last week’s figures showed there were 1,944 commercial movements at Shannon in July, compared to 1,841 the previous July.

During the same month Dublin Airport saw an 8% increase and Cork a 4.4% decrease. Given the swing, the gap between Cork and Shannon was 203 movements, compared to 405 for July 2012.

Shannon Airport recently announced a 39% increase in US passenger numbers for July 2013 compared to July 2012 and the IAA said US traffic is behind the overall increase in flights in the country. “The Gathering and the signs of recovery in the US economy are spearheading significant growth in transatlantic traffic. Total flights in Irish airspace in July 2013 have increased by 3.4% when compared to July 2013, with the busiest day being July 26 with 1,829 flights in Irish airspace. This was in addition to the airport traffic, which averaged a further 655 flights daily.

“Flights on the North Atlantic, serviced by the IAA (Europe/North America) saw an increase of 2.7% in July 2013 compared to July 2012.”

The International Air Transport Association recently said that while things have been looking up lately for the industry, there are potential challenges. “The stability in the Eurozone, albeit tentative, is giving a boost to business and consumer confidence and the load factor at 81.7% shows that airlines are efficiently meeting increasing demand for travel. But there are some headwinds. Growth in the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China) economies is slowing and oil prices remain high. The industry is still on track to make $4 per passenger this year for a global net profit of $12.7 billion. But there is little margin for error and even a small change in the second half of the year could shift the outlook significantly,” said Tony Tyler, the association’s director general and CEO.