Daa 'confident' passengers won't miss flights this weekend due to Dublin Airport delays
Passengers are being urged not to arrive five and six hours before their flight in order to avoid congestion at the airport. File Picture: Dominic McGrath/PA Wire
Passengers who are checking in a bag at Dublin Airport this weekend are asked to add an additional hour to the recommended arrival times of up to 2.5 hours for a short-haul flight and up to 3.5 hours for a long-haul trip.
Graeme McQueen, Media Relations Manager at Dublin Airport said that if passengers adhere to those travel times this bank holiday weekend they should not experience any delays or issues with their departure.
"If you are flying a short-haul flight we recommend that you arrive at the airport up to two and a half hours before your flight. If you are going on a longer haul flight then up to three and a half hours.
"The one caveat to that is that if you are checking in a bag we recommend an additional hour. If you stick to those times we are confident we can get you through in plenty of time this weekend."
Mr McQueen urged passengers not to arrive five and six hours before their flight in order to avoid congestion at the airport.
He said the Daa is putting contingency plans in place in the event of the terminals becoming too busy.
"If it does get really busy on the ramps and around the terminals we have somewhere for people to go if they are too early. That is causing a big issue at the moment. We saw that last weekend. We saw it in recent mornings.
"It is understandable. People have seen the scenes. They don't want to miss their flights. They are arriving really, really early. That is having a knock-on impact on those who are turning up at the right times.
"What we are trying to do here is to get the flow of passengers back to the way we want it so we can get people through in a nice orderly manner."
Mr McQueen added there was no need for concern about the holding zones which are being introduced this weekend.
"If we need to, at really busy times, segment people into the holding zones we will look to do that. We will either check your boarding card or your booking confirmation.
"The team will be on the floor to help people on the way. This isn't about holding people back unnecessarily. We will only do this if we have to. We are confident we can get everyone through."
Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris said the public was “getting fed up” with the situation at the airport.
“I think a lot of people in this country are getting fed up of senior management trying to blame politicians when it comes to actually doing their job. People are paid to do a service and it’s very simple job and it’s to get people on planes in time for the flight to take off.
“That's the job, not suggesting it’s not the challenging, of course it is, not just in Ireland but across Europe, we've seen the increase in the number of people through airports significantly go up.
"So you know the responsibility and the buck stops with the management at Daa and making sure that they honour their commitment.
Mr Harris welcomed the plan but cautioned there must be accountability.
“I think the plan that 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.
"It's a plan that involves proper triaging of people at the airport that has to be done, by the way in a respectful and dignified way and this idea of leaving people, particularly people with care needs older people left outside, pardon the pun, is not going to fly.
“Absolutely no one has said there are no consequences. The delivery of that plan is what government will judge them on.
"If the plan isn't delivered, will have to be consequences but right now not that's not what my constituents hoping to fly out this weekend are worried about. They just want to know they can get a flight.”
The Chair of the Tourism Recovery Taskforce, Ruth Andrews, insists that the Dublin Airport Authority (Daa) has an opportunity to “redeem” itself this weekend.
Ms Andrews, who is also the chairperson of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, said she welcomed the announcements by the Daa yesterday.
“We now have an opportunity to redeem the situation and improve the process with advanced communications which we anticipate will ensure a far better situation this weekend.
"And resolve the problems for the longer term which is going to be very important for the remainder of this year and this season, particularly given the levels of demand that have come back so strongly after two devastating years of Covid.”
Ms Andrews said it was impossible to plan for with any accuracy or to predict the level of rebound that occurred in the tourism industry particularly given the length of Irish lockdowns and the challenges of the Omnicron variant.
“Ireland had the longest lockdowns that impacted travel and tourism the most. We only had the lifting of those restrictions that impeded our businesses as late as late January and February," Ms Andrews told on RTÉ Radio 1.
"So we would only have had the confidence to actually start rebuilding our businesses really at that point.
"At that stage, it was very difficult to predict with any certainty or to scenario plan as to how Irish tourism would recover.”
Ms Andrews said the disruption at Dublin Airport last weekend “didn’t do anything for our reputation internationally”.
“Obviously we need to rebuild and get back to doing business in a professional manner as quickly as possible.
"But I suppose Dublin Airport and indeed other airports globally are very visual representations of what is happening everywhere across the supply chain in travel and tourism.
"Particularly as the demand is so strong which is fantastic. But that has given us a very short window and opportunity to rebuild our businesses and to recruit the levels of talent and teams we need to be able to deliver to our customers.”
Ms Andrews stressed that the situation in Dublin Airport was not a uniquely Irish phenomenon.
She also stated that the American travel industry was also struggling to get back to normal even with a longer lead-in period than countries such as Ireland.
“All we have to do is look at what has been happening in Manchester and Gatwick. Indeed, let’s not forget too that if you look at the likes of America for instance they were back to travelling in the middle of last year internally, particularly which is a huge market there.
"And we are still seeing airports having these difficulties right across the United States. It is not just particular to Ireland that we are in this situation.”
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil Senator Timmy Dooley has called for the CEO of the Daa Dalton Philips to be sacked.
“I think the board should be gone. They should have fired the Chief Executive a number of weeks ago. I think they should have brought in some strategic management from some other airport.
"There was a time when Aer Rianta operated, it was providing management to airports right around the world. We can’t manage our own airport right now.
"It’s an embarrassment to us. It’s an appalling situation to find ourselves.”
Mr Dooley told that there are huge questions for the board and for the chairman to answer.
“It is shambolic in the extreme that a minister has to haul the chief executive of a semi-state company before him to try to come up with a plan for next weekend.
"If this happened in a third-world country, I think questions would be asked.”
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