Dublin Airport says queues moving ‘smoothly’ amid busy morning

The DAA said the new system put in place to ease large queues has been working well, with a maximum wait to get through security of under an hour at the busiest period.

The airport has come under pressure from the public and government over long queues last weekend which caused more than 1,000 passengers to miss their flights.

Ahead of the Bank Holiday weekend, the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) had said that 10% more staff were working and double the number of security lanes were open compared to last weekend.

If the plan isn’t delivered there will have to be consequences

Simon Harris

The DAA said that from 4am on Saturday there were 11 security lanes open in both Terminal 1 and 2, with a “maximum queue time of 59 mins in T1 prior to 6am and 40 mins in T2”.

Queue times at 6.30am were 30 minutes in T1 and 19 minutes in T2, it added.

Its second busy period of the day, from 3pm until 7pm, also appeared to be running efficiently.

The DAA also introduced holding areas for passengers who arrive too early for their scheduled flight.

Short-haul car parks at both terminals, as well as the area outside the terminals where passengers have been queuing, may be used from next week onward during busy periods.

“We do not envisage the need to deploy it this weekend,” the DAA said.

More than 200,000 people are expected to travel through Dublin Airport this bank holiday weekend.

Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said on Thursday that there would have to be consequences for DAA management if the scenes from last weekend are replicated in the days to come.

“I think a lot of people in this country are getting fed up of senior management hiding behind politicians when it comes to actually doing their job.

“People are paid to do services.

“I think the plan they have published looks to me to be robust, it looks to me to be sensible. But the implementation of that plan will be key.”

He continued: “If the plan isn’t delivered there will have to be consequences.”

When asked whether there should be consequences for DAA management if their plan doesn’t deliver this weekend, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said the focus was on accommodating passengers and workers’ pay.

“Serious questions need to be asked in terms of what has happened here. And serious lessons need to be learned.

“The focus has to be to ensure that Dublin Airport performs to previous standards in respect of the number and volume of passengers that they can accommodate on an ongoing basis and in terms of the treatment of its workers as well, in terms of the various pay issues.

“So that’s where the focus is now,” Mr Martin said.