Dublin Airport’s Busiest Summer Ever Ended With a Surprise Number

Dublin Airport handled about 3.34 million passengers in September 2026, roughly flat compared with a year earlier, according to figures released October 15. Year to date, traffic reached just under 29 million in nine months, up 4 percent on the same period of 2025.

The standout figure was transfer traffic. Connecting passengers rose 37 percent on September 2025. North American routes carried 493,000 passengers in the month, up 3 percent, while UK routes rose 2 percent. The busiest September routes were Heathrow, Amsterdam, Manchester, Málaga and Gatwick.

The airport described summer 2026 as its busiest ever, with almost 15 million passengers from late May through September. The busiest single day was Sunday, September 13, with 128,600 passengers, and 26 of September’s 30 days topped 100,000. Year to date, 186 of 273 days did so.

On infrastructure, permission for the expansion of US preclearance in Terminal 2 has already been granted. The operator, daa, plans to apply to amend it by adding a storey and making design and operational changes. Terminal 1 handled about 17.4 million passengers year to date and Terminal 2 about 11.6 million.

Sources: Routes Online, Centre for Aviation