Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 February 2026
361. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Transport the number of private jet flights which landed and departed in the State from 2023 to 2025 respectively, under the 'Business Aviation' segment of the EUROCONTROL market segment rules classification, excluding military or diplomatic flights; to provide a breakdown in each year of where those flights landed and departed from, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9809/26]
View answerIn answering the Deputy’s question, it is important to first note that 'private jets' are not specifically defined in national, European or international law. The nature of ownership does not arise as a specific categorisation and therefore data is not collected specifically in relation to ‘private jets’.
The EUROCONTROL Market Segment Rules 'Business Aviation' category includes all Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) movements matching specific aircraft types listed within the business aviation rules. As such, this would incorporate 'private jet' flights alongside business/executive jet flights.
Data received from Air Nav Ireland, drawn from all flight plan information, broadly mirrors the EUROCONTROL data, but also includes additional movements conducted under Visual Flight Rules (VFR). This captures smaller aircraft flying by sight.
The table below details the total arrivals and departures for 'business aviation', by jet aircraft (excluding turboprops), for the period 2023 to 2025:
|
Year |
Arrivals |
Departures |
|
2023 |
5,890 |
5,830 |
|
2024 |
5,256 |
5,265 |
|
2025 |
5,984 |
5,951 |
Please note that AirNav Ireland has informed of the possibility for some small discrepancies in these figures for those flights that first filed operations as IFR, which then changed to VFR, or vice versa.
Further, the data in relation to where such flights departed to and arrived from is not available in the format requested. However, my officials will arrange to supply the Deputy with the raw data for their own further analysis.
