'No significant queues' in Knock amid Dublin Airport chaos

Passengers were forced to queue outside both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 for hours on Sunday, with many missing their flights as a result.

While airport bosses vowed to compensate those affected, the situation is expected to worsen as more than 100,000 passengers are due to fly out from Dublin next week.

However, it seems like the chaos has not extended to other airports around the country.

Mayo musician Robbie Harris shared a photo from inside Ireland West Airport, otherwise known as Knock Airport, which was free from queues and crowds.

In fact, the airport looked like it was completely empty going by Robbie’s tweet.

“No significant queues in Knock airport,” he wrote.

But people were quick to point out that Knock hosts far fewer flights than Dublin, with only 12 planes departing from the airport on Monday in total.

Additionally, planes flying from Knock Airport will only bring passengers to one of 12 destinations within Europe using Aer Lingus and Ryanair aircrafts. It does not currently offer any flights to other continents.

Meanwhile, Dublin Airport has 44 airlines flying to 180 destinations worldwide, making it a much busier airport.

“Great but sure only a few flights to limited destinations,” one person said.

However, others were quick to praise the independent airport and described it as “completely hassle free”.

“Best airport ever! Parking to pint in less than 10 minutes,” one person wrote under Robbie’s tweet.

Another said: “Knock is the business... Hate Dublin airport”

A third chimed in: “I drive from Waterford at times to fly from knock. I also fly from Shannon. A pleasure at both airports. Worth it for your sanity. And fares are cheaper as well.”

It comes after Transport Minister Eamon Ryan slammed the situation at Dublin Airport as “completely unacceptable”.

“The Dublin Airport Authority must pull out all the stops from today to ensure this cannot ever happen again. We will provide every reasonable assistance to support their efforts – but it is primarily a task for them,” he told Independent.ie.

He said he was disappointed at the weekend scenes at the airport after extensive efforts by his department to develop remedies with airport management over the past two months.

DAA head of communications Kevin Cullinane said they were “putting their hands up” and admitting they did not have enough resources in place.

,

He told RTÉ Radio 1: “We were trying to gear up… we were aware it was going to be a busy weekend, and next weekend is the bank holiday and will be busier.

“We’re using all available management and staff, frontline and backline, to make sure we have the optimum support.

“But clearly, this morning, it wasn’t enough. We have to put our hands up.

“It is now under control in T1, but we still have lengthy queues outside T2.”