Passenger numbers at Dublin Airport increased by 15% to 11.5 million during the first six months of the year, according to DAA.

The airport authority said that Dublin has seen 1.5 million extra passengers so far in the first half of 2015.

Passenger traffic to and from continental Europe grew by 16% in the first six months with almost 5.9 million passengers using Dublin airport.

UK passenger traffic is up 13% with over 4.2 million passengers flying to and from 25 UK cities in the first half of the year.

DAA also said that Transatlantic traffic increased by 12%, as just over one million people travelled between Dublin and North America during the first half of the year.

This summer ten airlines are flying 328 flights to and from 11 destinations in the US and four in Canada - an average of 47 flights every day.

The number of passengers on domestic flights also grew by 19% for the first six months with almost 36,000 people taking flights within the country.

"Dublin Airport had very strong passenger growth in the first six months of 2015 increasing by over three times the European average. The outlook for the rest of the year remains positive with 2015 on course to be the busiest in the airport's history,” Dublin Airport's managing director Vincent Harrison.

He said the growth is due to 22 new routes and services starting in the first half of the year as well as additional capacity on a number on existing services.