DUBLIN, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Ireland's largest airport, Dublin Airport, announced on Thursday that it handled a record high of 2.55 million passengers in March of 2019, which represented an 11-percent increase over the same month of last year.
Of all the passengers handled in March, passengers travelling to and from continental Europe amounted to over 1.2 million, followed by 861,000 passengers travelling to and from Britain, 285,000 passengers to and from North America, said the airport.
In the month, there were also 126,000 passengers using Dublin Airport as a gateway to connect to other destinations, 72,000 passengers travelling to and from the Middle East and Asia-Pacifi, and 8,000 passengers travelling on domestic routes, it said.
Growths were recorded in March passenger traffic to all the above-mentioned destinations except that to and from the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, which saw a year-on-year decrease of 8 percent, according to the airport.
Despite the opening of the three direct flights by China's Hainan Airlines and Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific since last June, which connect Beijing and Shenzhen to Dublin, the airport failed to comment on what roles these newly opened three flights have played in contributing to the passenger traffic to and from the Asia-Pacific region.
The number of the passengers handled by Dublin Airport in March brought its total passenger traffic in the first quarter of 2019 to more than 6.5 million, up 8 percent compared to the 2018 Q1 figure, said the airport.
Dublin Airport handled over 31.5 million passengers in 2018, making it the 13th busiest airport in Europe, according to the airport figures.
