ALMOST 4.5million passengers flew between Dublin and London last year, cementing its position as the world’s second-busiest international air route.
The Irish-British route proved more popular than ever, with figures revealing a rise in passenger numbers of 370,000 – a 9 per cent increase – in 2015.
As well as being the busiest route in Europe, the Dublin-London air passage was beaten only by the Hong Kong to Taipei route, which saw 5m passengers pass through in 2015.
Last year’s record performance follows the news that Dublin Airport had more passengers than ever in its overall tally, with 25m passengers passing through its gates over the past 12 months.
Manager of Dublin Airport Vincent Harrison credited the popular route between Dublin and London as the catalyst behind this.
“The number of people who travelled by air between Dublin and London last year was the equivalent of almost the entire population of the Republic of Ireland,” he said.
“That meant that every week last year 86,000 people flew between Dublin and London – that’s more than a full Croke Park stadium or an almost full Wembley Stadium flying between the two cities every seven days.”
The route was measured by passenger numbers travelling back and forth between Dublin Airport and London's five main airports - Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, London City and Luton.
