Dublin Airport awarded €700k bonus for improved customer satisfaction

The award contrasts starkly with the situation 12 months ago, when the airport was hit with a net penalty of €6.7m for issues including the cleanliness of the terminal and toilets. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins 

Dublin Airport has flipped its negative rating for customer satisfaction in its terminals to secure a €700,000 bonus from the Irish Aviation Authority.

The airport received a quality-of-service bonus from the IAA — a yearly evaluation designed to incentivise the provision of high-quality passenger services — of €4.5m for 2024, tempered by a penalty of €3.8m, for a net positive award of €0.7m.

The award contrasts starkly with the situation 12 months ago, when the airport was hit with a net penalty of €6.7m for issues including the cleanliness of the terminal and toilets.

The IAA said the positive rating had resulted from the airport exceeding targets on overall satisfaction, ease of movement, and the quality of free WiFi, among others, while security queue time performance was a great deal improved from 2023.

Some negatives remained, however, such as missed targets on washroom cleanliness and transport information.

A spokesperson for airport administrator Daa said it was "delighted” with the rating, saying “everyone at Dublin Airport has been working really hard to continually raise standards”.

Regarding the issues with washroom cleanliness, the spokesperson said the criticism had been taken “on board”, adding: “We’re on it.”

The relevant penalty or bonus delivered by the IAA is offset against the maximum airport charge Daa can levy against airlines, producing a final passenger price cap of €9.54 for 2024.

Separately, airport sources have moved to dampen speculation that a newly-delivered ecological habitat, constructed as a condition of planning permission for the airport’s north runway, represents a bird-strike hazard given it is being consistently overflown by flights taking off from the same runway.

The eight-hectare site, situated roughly 6km north of the airport, was first purchased by Daa in 2017 in order to compensate ecologically for 16km worth of hedgerows displaced by the construction of the north runway.

Under the straight-out flight paths first submitted as part of that runway’s planning application in 2007, the habitat would have had no engagement with planes taking off from the airport.

However, when the runway opened in August 2022, flights were instead turned at takeoff and diverted across a number of areas in North Dublin and Meath, including the habitat constructed specifically to compensate for the runway itself.

Daa declined to comment on the matter of potential birdstrikes, though airport sources contended since most aircraft overflying the habitat are flying at roughly 3,000ft, the threat is negligible. There are examples of planes over the runway flying as low as 2,100ft, however.

“Fingal residents will soon benefit from an eight-hectare wildlife habitat, with native wildflowers, shrubs, and trees that has been created by Dublin Airport,” a spokesperson said, adding it is intended to gift the land to Fingal County Council for a nominal fee.