The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) says it plans to maximise staff resources and increase the number of security lanes open during peak times, in a plan aimed to ease delays at Dublin Airport this weekend.

The authority met the transport and Tourism Ministers, in the wake of large delays at the facility last weekend.

The short-term plan is aimed at preventing a repeat of recent delays, which saw 1,000 people miss their flight on Sunday alone. 

100 thousand passengers are expected to come and go from the airport this June Bank Holiday, twice the number of travellers that passed through last weekend.

DAA’s Media Relations Manager, Graeme McQueen, outlines the steps they plan to take, saying, “what we’ve done over the past 48 hours is look very closely at why it happened, and what we need to do for this weekend and the weeks coming up to make sure there’s no repeat of that performance.”

“In that plan we’re really looking at how we can make changes to things like the queuing system, how we can work better with airlines to make sure we get passengers in the right spots at the right time. We want to get them through check-in, we want to get them through baggage drop much easier. 

Minister of Transport Eamon Ryan and Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton have expressed deep unhappiness with the reports of excessively long queues and wait times at Dublin Airport.

The passenger experience at Dublin Airport is falling far short of the service that citizens and visitors should expect at the largest State airport.

They said that it was not satisfactory that some people, who are following daa guidelines, are turning up to the airport for check-in on time, but are still missing their flights. The situation is causing undue stress and potential cost to people, which is simply not good enough.

The DAA will communicate it’s plan within the next 24 hours, as it looks to deliver an improved passenger experience for everyone departing from Dublin Airport this weekend.

Source: FM104