Passenger numbers fell to levels last seen in 1994 at Dublin Airport last year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, new figures show.
The airport had 25.5 million fewer passengers passing through it during 2020 – a fall of 78 per cent – with just 7.4 million doing so.
The year started positively with a 2 per cent rise to 4.1 million passengers for the first two months against the prior year. Between March and the end of December however, passenger numbers fell by 89 per cent to 3.3 million as Covid-related travel restrictions restricted travel.
More than 400,000 passengers used Dublin as a hub last year, which meant that just under seven million people either began or ended their journey at the airport during 2020.
Passenger numbers have continued to decline into 2021, down 90 per cent in January on the same month last year.
"Aviation was one of the sectors of the Irish economy that was hardest hit by Covid-19, and this is reflected in the passenger numbers for last year," said Dublin Airport managing director Vincent Harrison.
In 2019, Dublin Airport had flights to more than 190 destinations in 42 countries operated by almost 50 airlines. By contrast, last April there were flights to just 22 destinations in 11 countries operated by seven airlines.
