Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports are anticipating a busy Easter period.
Dublin Airport
According to a statement published on DublinAirport.com, Dublin Airport is set to facilitate over 250,000 departing passengers during Easter.
The statement published on DublinAirport.com said that 500,000 individuals are set to arrive to and depart from Dublin Airport between Wednesday 12 April and Easter Monday, and that up to 50,000 individuals will be departing the airport per day during the Easter period.
Dublin Airport operator DAA is advising passengers to arrive up to three and a half before their flight, regardless of their destination, but is urging passengers who are scheduled to depart from 8.30am onwards not to arrive before 5am to ease pressure on security and allow individuals who are flying before 8.30am to progress through security, according to the statement published on DublinAirport.com, which also said that DAA said that there is not a need to arrive at the airport more than three and a half hours before a flight is due to depart, and arriving earlier than advised has been found to increase pressure at busy times in recent days and weeks.
Cork Airport
Cork Airport is ready to welcome over 60,000 passengers over the Easter period.
With the recent commencement of the 2022 summer schedule, this summer is forecast to be the busiest in three years. For April 2022, seat capacity at Cork Airport is at 101% vs April 2019.
Commenting on the Easter period passenger figures, acting managing director at Cork Airport Roy O'Driscoll said, "We are delighted that this Easter break will see such huge passenger numbers travelling to and from Cork Airport. The Easter break passenger figures are a strong testament to the tremendous work being done at Cork Airport to recover route connectivity. With the return of customer confidence in international air travel, it has been a very positive start to 2022 in which Cork Airport expects to welcome over 2 million passengers. This represents a 77% recovery on 2019 and we are committed to continuing this recovery throughout 2022 and beyond."
Cork Airport said that, with over 40 scheduled routes served by eight airlines, it is ready to welcome passengers back for the start to their summer holiday.
Passengers travelling from Cork this summer are advised to arrive at the airport between 90 and 120 minutes before their flight is due to board.
Shannon Airport
According to a statement published on the website of Shannon Airport operator Shannon Group, Shannon Airport is expecting a busy Easter period as it prepare to welcome more than 50,000 passengers from next week, which is is an 86% return on passenger numbers over the same period in 2019.
The number of passengers at Shannon Airport during this year's Easter period will the largest number of passengers for that period in more than three years, according to the statement published on ShannonGroup.ie, which included a statement from Shannon Group CEO Mary Considine, in which she said, "Traditionally the Easter break kick-starts the summer season to our popular destinations such as London, New York, Boston, Alicante, Barcelona, Palma Mallorca, and our latest service to Malta. This year, the Easter break is even more special for a lot of our passengers, as they jet off on a well-deserved holiday, some for the first time since the easing of travel restrictions. It is fantastic to see families and friends excitedly travelling overseas for a sun or city break, or to finally visit loved ones.
"We have worked hard to bring these services to our passengers and are focused on rebuilding and further growing our connectivity, broadening the options available for our passengers. Facilities such as our US Preclearance and the airport sensory room, along with the short distance from our car parks to the terminal building, compliments our latest investment in high tech security screening, and ensures the journey through Shannon Airport is as easy and hassle free as possible."
Ryanair Call To Address Dublin Airport Security Queues
Earlier this month, in a statement published on Corporate.Ryanair.com, Ryanair said that it and a number of other Irish airlines had called on the Department of Transport for an early meeting of the NATFAC (National Air Transport Facilitation Committee) to address the security queue issues at Dublin Airport.
The statement published on Corporate.Ryanair.com said that Ryanair believes that security queue issues will recur during the Easter school holidays, and that the Deptartment of Transport should hold a meeting of the NATFAC to oversee the implementation of rapid effective solutions to avoid long queues at Dublin Airport during the Easter holiday weekend.
The statement published on Corporate.Ryanair.com included a statement from a Ryanair spokesperson that said, "We are deeply disappointed the Dept of Transport, who are responsible for Dublin Airport, have rejected the request from Irish Airlines to hold an urgent NATFAC meeting. Ryanair and other Dublin Airport customers, cannot endure more weekends where thousands of customers suffer queue delays of 1 or 2 hours, causing many to miss their scheduled flights. The Dept of Transport must take responsibility for helping the DAA to solve this short term staffing problem.
"It is unacceptable that the Dept of Transport have declined this request for a meeting when urgent action is required to avoid travel chaos at Dublin Airport over the Easter school holidays.
"Ryanair calls on Transport Minister Eamonn Ryan to take some responsibility for solving this crisis and immediately hold an emergency meeting of NATFAC so that emergency measures can be implemented by the Govt to avoid huge queues and long flight delays over the Easter school holidays. There is a major short-term problem with staffing at Dublin Airport, and it is the Minister for Transport's responsibility to intervene at times of crisis such as this by calling an urgent meeting of NATFAC to agree solutions to what we hope will be these short term but unacceptable security queues at Dublin Airport."
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