Dublin airport bosses should reassure politicians today that they will be able to handle increased traffic over the Christmas holidays.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary predicted a severe Christmas disruption at Terminal 1 in a Dáil committee last week, but DAA says it may be up to the challenge.
Kieran O’Donnell, chairman of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications, today called for responses from the authority after major headaches for passengers earlier this year.
But the DAA’s head of communications told the Irish Independent that while demand this year will match pre-pandemic levels, airport capacity will be adequate.
Kevin Cullinane says Dublin Airport has been routinely handling 90,000 passengers a day since security lapses led to thousands of passengers missing flights in the spring and early summer.
Mr. O’Donnell has written to Catherine Gubbins, Acting Executive Director of the DAA, to inquire about Christmas security and passenger services at the airport.
O’Donnell says the concerns stem from a November 30 meeting with Ryanair representatives. “At this meeting, concern was expressed that there may be a shortage of staff, particularly security staff, in Dublin Airport for the upcoming Christmas period,” he said, reports Independent.
He said the briefing should address the DAA’s ability to meet security clearance requests for increased passenger numbers during the Dec. 15-Jan. 10 peak.
“Ryanair are projecting passenger numbers to be up by 13pc on 2019,” he said, reports Independent.
The committee seeks confirmation that the maximum number of 15 security lanes will be operational in Terminal 1 during the peak Christmas period from 5 am to 6 pm daily.
But Cullinane told the Irish Independent that demand was expected to be “on a par with the comparable period in 2019”, and not significantly higher.
He said DAA was “in constant contact with our airline partners” regarding expected passenger numbers in the coming weeks.
This passenger data was incorporated into DAA’s detailed plans “to adequately schedule resources and optimise security lane plans”.
He said this scheduling was intended to “ensure we get passengers through security screening as quickly as possible over the Christmas and New Year holiday period”, reports Independent.
The number of passengers traveling during the peak Christmas period this year (December 17 to January 4) will be around 1.5 million, according to the authority’s best estimate.
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