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Featured Photo: Donegal couple Cormac Meehan (Meehan Travel Bundoran) and his wife Maureen heading to Alicante from Ireland West Airport.
Ireland West Airport this week launched its busiest ever summer schedule, including a new service from Groningen in the Netherlands and an additional 110,000 seats added on flights to and from the airport for the summer season.
The airport will operate flights to 23 International destinations this summer and is served by four of Europe’s major international airlines: Aer Lingus, Lauda Europe, and Ryanair and will welcome Emerald Airlines to the airport this summer as the airline operating our new weekly service from Groningen.
This summer, Ryanair will operate flights to 17 destinations from the airport, increasing capacity by almost 20% on a range of services, including adding extra weekly rotations on their popular sun services to Alicante, Faro, Malaga and Palma-Majorca. The airline will add thousands of additional seats weekly on some of their UK services, with a twice-daily service on Mondays to Liverpool during the summer and extra flights on their services to Birmingham, Bristol, London Luton, London Stansted, and Edinburgh. Aer Lingus will also continue to provide a daily service to London Heathrow, providing onward and seamless connectivity to over 80 destinations worldwide.
The first quarter of 2025 was the busiest on record at Ireland West Airport, as 168,000 passengers travelled through the airport between January and March, representing a 6% increase in 2024 passenger numbers. Both Aer Lingus and Ryanair recorded their busiest-ever first quarter for passenger numbers at the airport, with Ryanair carrying 148,000 passengers during the first quarter of the year, a 6% increase on the same period in 2024, buoyed by strong demand for their Sun services, particularly to Malaga, Lanzarote, and Tenerife during the winter.
Aer Lingus recorded an 8% increase in the number of passengers using the London Heathrow service, with the service continuing to go from strength to strength.
Welcoming the launch of a record-breaking summer schedule and a strong start to 2025, Joe Gilmore, Managing Director, Ireland West Airport, commented, “The first quarter of the year has proven to be a very strong one with record numbers choosing the airport for their short breaks and sun holidays in particular. The increased numbers are a testament to the expanded route network, increased convenience, and the airport’s stress-free nature. With an extra 110,000 seats available this summer, including the flexibility now for holidaymakers to choose from 3-, 5-, 7- and 10-day sun holiday breaks to some of our most popular sun destinations, it promises to be an exciting and busy summer at the airport. Furthermore, we are delighted to welcome the commencement of a new service from Groningen in the Netherlands, starting in June with BBI Travel, which will welcome thousands of Dutch tourists directly to the West of Ireland. Overall, we have a fantastic selection of destinations this summer, and we look forward to welcoming our loyal customers and indeed new customers to experience the benefits of flying from a convenient, stress-free and customer friendly airport.”
