AirHelp – the leading travel tech company supporting passengers with flight disruptions – has unveiled Ireland’s flight data from the summer of 2022 and 2023 to help passengers prepare for and avoid disruptions.
Data was collected from June, July and August across both years and analysed based on the destination country and the airline travelled with.
Summer air travel increased by 1 million passengers last year, from 4.7 million in 2022 to 5.7 million in 2023. Timely departures from Ireland’s airports also increased by 11% in 2023, with 66% of passengers departing on time compared to 55% in 2022.
This indicates that despite the industry managing increased demand, disruption rates are gradually improving.
Across both summers, August was the best month to fly from Ireland to avoid disruptions while June was the worst. In summer 2022, 51% of passengers flying in June departed on time, compared to 54% in July and 59% in August. Last summer, 65% of those flying in June departed on time, compared to 66% in July and 67% in August.
The UK was the most popular destination for passengers flying from Ireland across both summers, with 1.4 million and 1.8 million passengers having flights scheduled in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Last summer, Spain was the second most popular destination with 753,000 passengers, while the US took second place in 2022 with 533,000 passengers.
For destinations with more than 50,000 passengers each summer (excluding domestic flights), passengers flying to Turkey had the highest disruption rates in both 2022 (82%) and 2023 (66%). Those flying to Portugal had the lowest disruption rate at 37% in 2022, while passengers flying to the US were the least disrupted in 2023 at 21%. What’s more, the Netherlands had the highest rates of passengers facing cancellations in summer 2022 at 3.4%, compared to Canada at 1.9% last summer.
Ryanair was Ireland’s most popular carrier in both years, with 2 million and 2.6 million passengers in 2022 and 2023, respectively, and 53% and 62% of passengers departing on time. Looking at data from airlines that carried more than 50,000 passengers each summer, American Airlines was the least disrupted airline across both summers with 17% and 13% of passengers experiencing delays or cancellations in 2022 and 2023.
The most disrupted airline in summer 2022 was Air Canada with 91% of flights disrupted. Lufthansa was the most disrupted airline last summer, with 51% of passengers facing delays or cancellations. KLM-Royal Dutch Airlines had the highest cancellation rate in 2022, impacting 6.7% of its passengers, while passengers flying with British Airways faced the highest rate of cancellations last year, at 5%. Ryanair, on the other hand, had the lowest rate of flight cancellations despite being the largest carrier in Ireland, impacting only 0.08% of its passengers in summer 2022 and 0.5% last year.
AirHelp CEO, Tomasz Pawliszyn, said: “Passengers have to consider a range of factors when planning their summer holidays. The most influential consideration is usually whether a service suits their budget. We urge passengers to also look at the performance of airlines and airports when booking flights and ensure they know their air passenger rights in case of disruption. With strikes set to impact airline and airport services across Ireland and the UK this summer, including upcoming Heathrow Border Force strikes, passengers need to arrive at the airport prepared for delays or cancellations, and equipped with the knowledge of how to deal with these circumstances.”
