US shopping trips boost airport numbers
Irish shoppers on pre-Christmas trips to the US have helped passenger numbers take-off at Dublin airport.
Those crossing the Atlantic to cash-in on the weak dollar increased by a third during November, with 142,000 people travelling State-side.
The figures form part of a major increase in passenger numbers, which exceeded 1.7 million in November, representing an 11% increase over the same month last year according to the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA).
The growth in numbers represents an extra 180,000 passengers or an average of over 6,000 additional passengers every day during November alone.
The huge growth of numbers at the airport means it has seen almost two million additional passengers so far this year.
More than 21.6 million have travelled through Dublin Airport from January to November, a 10% increase over the same period last year.
It is estimated that by the end of the year passenger figures will have reached over 23 million.
While numbers were up on European and domestic routes, the most dramatic spike was in the figures for US travel.
The opening of new routes to Washington and San Francisco, together with the major interest in pre-Christmas shopping trips to New York in particular, is believed to have fuelled the growth.
