Dublin Airport to increase security lanes at peak times in bid to tackle queues

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) told ministers they will maximise the availability of staffing resources to combat the lengthy waiting times which saw more than 1,000 miss their flights last weekend.

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan and Minister of State with responsibility for international transport Hildegarde Naughton met with DAA CEO Dalton Phillips and senior officials this morning to dicuss the controversy around airport queuing times.

The two ministers insisted the DAA must restore confidence in Dublin Airport. Mr Phillips set out how the DAA will provide refunds for travellers who missed flights.

A statement issued by the ministers said: "The Ministers received an update from DAA on their plans to manage the passenger experience this weekend and into the summer period. DAA advised on their plan to improve queue management; maximise the availability of staffing resources; and increase the number of security lanes at peak times. DAA also updated Ministers on how they intend to compensate passengers who have missed flights.

"The DAA indicated that they are currently finalising operational arrangements. Ministers have asked that DAA clearly communicate their plan, within the next 24 hours, to deliver a satisfactory experience for passengers departing from the airport this bank holiday weekend. Ministers emphasised the importance of restoring passenger confidence in Dublin Airport.

"Ministers will continue to engage with DAA on a daily basis," it added.

It comes as it emerged that Dublin Airport will head into the busy June Bank Holiday with security staff levels at just 70pc of where they were before the pandemic in 2019.

Tensions remain high following a torrid weekend where more than 1,000 people missed flights as queues spilled out of the airport doors.

It follows weeks of problems at the airport which has blamed lack of staff, among other issues, for long delays at baggage and security queues.

Airport officials told Independent.ie that they are facing a very busy bank holiday weekend with passenger numbers approaching 95pc of pre-pandemic levels.

At the same time staffing levels are “probably still somewhere around 70pc” of what they were in 2019 according to Graeme McQueen, media manager at the airport.

He said: “The big problem at the weekend was we had staff absences that knocked us off-course early in the morning. We had to react to that and it was very hard to recover.

“Once you get behind early, the passengers don’t stop coming. We tried our best to catch up, with extended overtime, and called people in. That got us so far, it helped in the afternoon and evening certainly, but the morning was pretty tough... we’re looking at all options to make sure we don’t have a repeat of that.”