Travel expert says demand for parking at Dublin Airport may 'outstrip' supply

Eoghan Corry said that more than 3,000 parking spaces have not re-opened since the start of the pandemic despite the airport’s increasing demand over the past few weeks.

“The biggest problem is that demand is going to outstrip supply for the entire summer, unless something dramatic happens,” he told Newstalk Breakfast.

“The clear reason for this is that one of the - not a Dublin Airport car park - but a private car park, QuickPark, closed during Covid and has not re-opened.

“3,500 long-term spaces have been taken out of the system - not sure how the summer demand is going to impact on the remaining spaces.

“But certainly over Easter it was panic stations, almost - that's why they closed off the online car parking.

“Dublin Airport people were saying to people ‘Use public transport, try not to use the car.’ They did quietly decide that everyone who would come that asked for a ticket at the gate would be able to do so.

“That means they were paying more, but it also meant that it got over the problem that people would arrive to park in a long-term car park in Dublin Airport and then, an hour and a half before check-in, be left with a car they didn't know what to do with. That didn't happen.”

Mr Corry said that the demand for parking at Dublin Airport is pushing prices up.

“Dublin Airport, until a few years ago, would have had a very standard parking charge.

“What they did a couple of years ago was they did exactly what airlines like Ryanair have been doing for years: dynamic pricing. They changed the prices according to peak supply and demand.

“All that has happened... is that we've hit peak demand for car park rates.

“It means that the online deals that were available were effectively cancelled in the run up to Easter.

“This is very significant for people who have been used to paying for parking, particularly in the last two years.”