According to CSO quarterly statistics, close to 6.7 million passengers passed through Ireland's five primary airports during the first quarter of 2017, which is an increase of 4% on the same period last year.
County Mayo's Knock airport experienced the highest rise, with an increase of 9.1% in passenger numbers to over 134,000. A spokesman for the airport told The Irish Times that the growth can be attributed to "strong performance on existing routes, particularly on the UK business", adding that "despite Brexit concerns, our UK service is up 11% year to date."
Some 375,000 of the 735,000 passengers that passed through Knock airport in 2016 travelled to London, with the airport hoping to increase its passenger numbers to 1 million within the next 6 years by building upon a number of factors including construction workers moving between Ireland and the UK.
Aside from Knock, Dublin airport saw a passenger number increase of 4.7% while Kerry's numbers rose by 0.4%. In contrast, Shannon saw a 4% decrease with Cork airport also experiencing a decline in the number of passengers handled.
