London-Dublin air passengers surge
London-Dublin is now the world’s second-busiest international air route.
A total of 3.6 million passengers travelled between the two capitals last year - a 6.9% rise on the figure for 2012.
From the International Air Transport Association (Iata), the statistics showed that the busiest international route in 2013 was Hong Kong to Chinese Taipei on which 4.9 million travelled last year.
Other Iata statistics showed that in 2013:
- Airlines carried nearly 3.13 billion passengers – a 5.1% rise on 2012;
- The UK was the top European country in terms of passengers carried on international and domestic routes, with nearly 178 million passengers, up 3.7% on 2012;
- Asia-Pacific was the busiest region, handling just over one billion passengers, an increase of 9.3%;
- European passenger numbers rose 3.4% to just under 826 million, while North American traffic was up 0.7% at just under 819 million;
- Ranked by total scheduled passengers carried, American carrier Delta was the leading airline last year with 120.6 million passengers;
- The price of air travel in real terms fell by 7.4% compared with 2012.
