Knock Airport Statistics

Ireland West Airport, commonly known as Knock Airport, serves as a key aviation hub for the West, Northwest and Midlands regions of Ireland. Located in County Mayo, this regional airport has shown strong resilience and growth, particularly following its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Knock Airport handles more than 800,000 passengers annually.

• The airport set a new all-time record in 2025 with 945,862 passengers, surpassing the previous record of 833,191 passengers in 2024.
• The pre-pandemic peak was in 2019 with 805,443 passengers before COVID-19 severely disrupted travel.
• Passenger numbers dropped by 82.3% to just 142,532 in 2020.
• In 2021, traffic recovered slightly to 174,027 passengers.
• Recovery accelerated in 2022 with a 307.7% surge, bringing passenger traffic to 709,540.
• In 2023, passenger traffic reached 813,266.

Domestic vs International Passengers

Ireland West Airport operates solely as an international gateway, with no scheduled domestic services recorded by Ireland’s Central Statistics Office.

• 100% of passenger traffic is international.
• No domestic routes are currently served from the airport.

Arrival vs Departure

Knock Airport maintains a near-even split between arriving and departing passengers, highlighting its role as both an outbound travel hub and inbound tourism entry point.

• The airport processed 459,283 arriving passengers in 2025.
• Departures totaled 486,579 passengers.

Only three airlines operate flights to and from Knock Airport.

• Ryanair is the dominant carrier, carrying around 90% of passengers annually and serving 17 destinations.
• The other two airlines, Aer Lingus and Ryanair UK, each serve one destination.

London dominates the airport’s route network, with three of its airports ranking in the top four.

• London routes (Stansted, Luton, Heathrow) collectively handled 413,203 passengers in 2025, representing 44% of total traffic
• Liverpool ranked third with 123,134 passengers
• Birmingham rounded out the top five with 51,802 passengers

Knock Airport earns €17-21 million in turnover each year.

• Knock airport generated €21 million in turnover in 2024.
• This represents a 10.5% increase over €19 million in 2023.
• In 2022, the turnover reached €17.6 million.

• March 23, 2006: A Boeing 737 from London Gatwick aborted its approach at 400 feet due to runway confusion. The Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System was activated.
• May 28, 2009: An air traffic controller cleared a Cessna to land on the same runway as a departing A320. The Cessna pilot executed a "land long" maneuver to avoid conflict.
• April 22, 2013: Two calibration aircraft came within 0.42 nautical miles with no vertical separation. Evasive action was required due to lack of radar data.