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Ireland West Airport were delighted today, Tuesday 23rd May 2023, to welcome Ryanair’s 10 millionth passenger on flights to/from Ireland West Airport.  Grainne Rushe from Boyle, Co. Roscommon, who was travelling to Lanzarote with her partner Tadhg McKenna, was the lucky 10 millionth Ryanair passenger and to mark the occasion was presented with a pair of return flights with Ryanair and a bottle of Champagne and chocolates.

It's been 37 years since Ryanair’s first flight from then Knock Airport departed to London Luton on December 16th 1986 and at the time the west of Ireland gained its first direct link with London when the Ryanair 748 aircraft ‘The Spirit of Monsignor Horan’ landed in Knock Airport, heralding the start of scheduled services between the airport and London. Named after Monsignor James Horan, the visionary priest behind Knock Airport the 44 seat turbo-prop aircraft was formally blessed by Monsignor Horan’s successor Fr Dominick Grealy.

The first passengers to disembark that first flight in 1986 included six-year-old Davinia Paul, who was heading to Boyle in County Roscommon for Christmas. 37 years later the 10 millionth passenger to travel on a Ryanair service from the airport also happens to come from Boyle in Co. Roscommon!

Celebrating todays milestone, Joe Gilmore, Managing Director, Ireland West Airport said “We are delighted to mark yet another significant milestone in the airport’s history welcoming Ryanair’s 10 millionth passenger to the airport. It’s been a fantastic 37 years with so many great highlights and milestones achieved along the way. During this time Ryanair has continued to grow and provide critically important international access to and from the UK market and connected the West of Ireland to sun destinations in Spain and Portugal and also delivered access to European cities such as Milan, Barcelona and Cologne which have been hugely important in growing tourism numbers to the West and Northwest of Ireland. It’s remarkable that in their 37th year of operation here at the airport that it will be their busiest on record and its testament to the popularity of their destinations and their continued expansion at the airport that record numbers will travel on their services from the airport this year. I’d like to thank Ryanair’s customers and in particular the Ryanair staff here at the airport, who continue to play a very important role in helping the airport and Ryanair reach passenger milestones such as this and ensure the experience using the airport continues to be both a seamless and pleasant one. We look forward to continuing to strengthen our relationship with Ryanair and expanding our range of services with them over the coming years.”

Celebrating the milestone, Ryanair’s Head of Communications, Jade Kirwan said: ‘We are delighted to celebrate 10 million Ryanair passengers at Ireland West Airport, with our 10 millionth passenger arriving departing Ireland West Airport this morning on our popular new service to Lanzarote – just one of the 16 routes we are operating as part of our biggest ever schedule this summer. Ryanair has operated at Ireland West Airport since 1986 and our record Summer ’23 schedule will not only provide Ryanair’s West and North-West customers with an unbeatable selection of sunny hotspots and vibrant European city break destinations this Summer but will continue to promote important rural development through the support of over 580 local jobs and delivery of even greater connectivity with Europe and its millions of holidaymakers. To celebrate this phenomenal milestone, we have launched a special seat sale with fares from just €29.99 for travel until the end of Oct ’23 available now on Ryanair.com.”