Number of Christmas passengers at Dublin airport to drop by 88%

The number of passengers travelling through Dublin Airport over the Christmas season is expected to be down by 88% compared to the same period last year.

As Covid-19 continues to have a devastating impact on traffic levels at Irish airports, an estimated 137,000 people are due to travel through the city’s airport, compared to almost 1.2 million people last year.

About 127,000 of those passengers are travelling to and from Ireland during the Christmas period, while about 10,000 people are connecting passengers who pass through Dublin Airport.

From the two-week period beginning Monday December 21 there is expected to be an average of 8,615 departing and arriving passengers every day, which compares to an average of 83,508 passengers per day over the Christmas season last year.

Siobhan O’Donnell, Dublin Airport spokeswoman, said: “Dublin Airport will be quieter this Christmas than it has been in decades.

“Typically, traffic is split evenly between arrivals and departures over the Christmas period, but this year there are expected to be slightly more departing passengers, as departures are expected to account for 52% of traffic during the period.

“The busiest day during the Christmas season is expected to be December 27.

“The traffic situation this year is more unpredictable than a normal Christmas so the final passenger number may differ from the forecast traffic levels.

“Over the Christmas period we would like to remind all passengers to comply fully with Covid-19 guidelines throughout their journey through Dublin Airport.

“Face masks should be worn when in the airport buildings, social distancing protocols should be observed and there are more than 1,000 hand sanitisers located throughout the airport campus.”

Ireland is currently following the EU traffic lights system for travel, which applies to countries in the European Union and the UK.

The Government’s current advice for travel to the 30 countries within the traffic light system is to “exercise a high degree of caution”.

“Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 restrictions, for the first time in many years Dublin Airport will be unable to host its normal Christmas music programme this year,” Ms O’Donnell added.

“Dublin Airport will close on Christmas Day – the only day on which it closes every year – however a number of staff members will remain on duty that day, including the airport’s emergency fire services and Airport Police.”

Flight operations will cease on Christmas Eve after the last flight departs to Chisinau with Air Moldova at 11.20pm and they will resume on St Stephen’s Day.

Online Editors