| Irish fly the most The
Dublin-London air route is the busiest in the European Union new figures
reveal.
The corridor between the Irish and British capitals carried more people
than all the other hundreds of routes in the 27 member states with 80
per cent of all seats filled in both directions.
And a new transport study also revealed the Irish are Europe’s
high-flyers with 92 per cent claiming to have travelled by air in what
is easily the biggest percentage in the EU by far.
Ryanair and Aer Lingus between them estimate they will carry up to 12million
Irish people into and out of the country this year.
The EU transport study also revealed that just 8 per cent of Irish people
have never travelled by air compared to the EU average of 38 per cent.
In comparison 18 per cent of Britons, 37 per cent of French, 27 per cent
of Austrians and over half of all Hungarians have never been on an airplane.
Ireland’s flyers together with 7million tourists also made Dublin
Airport the third fastest growing in the EU last year.
EU transport experts say the huge increase in the number of Irish flying
is due to the country’s rapid economic growth.
But Ryanair’s Peter Sherrard believes the increase has just as much
to do with the weather.
He said: “We found that more people book flights on a rainy summer
day in Ireland than when the weather is good.” |
