Aer Rianta has announced an increase in passenger numbers at three of Ireland's largest airports.
Over 15 million passengers passed through Dublin Airport, Shannon and Cork airports in the first nine months of the year, a rise of 3.7 per cent or 545,000 passengers on the previous year.
Dublin and Cork registered a growth in the number of passengers passing through each airport, with Dublin Airport posting an increase of 11.7 million or 5 per cent.
Some 1.5 million passed through Cork, also an increase of 5 per cent. But Shannon registered a fall of 4 per cent with 1.9 million passing through.
Aer Rianta has also announced an initiative to encourage the development of new routes from each airport. Airport charges will be waived for airlines starting new routes at each of the three airports. The airlines will not pay charges in the first year of operations.
The incentive scheme will be at Shannon and Cork airports for five years and at Dublin for three.
"The overall trend continues to be upward and this is most encouraging," Aer Rianta chief executive John Burke said.
"Aer Rianta is intent on achieving a return to growth at Shannon where the fall-off in transatlantic travel continues to have a negative impact," he said.