Thousands of Dublin Airport flights to be diverted over south Dublin from September onwards

Renovations to Dublin Airport are expected to affect almost 2,000 flights a month.

Thousands of flights leaving and arriving at Dublin Airport will be diverted over south Dublin late at night and in the early hours of the morning every month for more than a year from this September onwards. According to the Irish Times, around 1,800 flights a month will be diverted over south Dublin for 15 months from September 2016 while renovations are carried out on the main runway at Dublin Airport. Renovations on the runway, starting in September and involving approximately 100 contractors, will take place from 11pm to 5am, when approximately 60 ‘movements’ (take offs and landings) take place on an average night. During the renovations, there will be two alternative approaches to Dublin Airport; one that covers predominantly rural areas in Dublin and another that covers more populated areas to the south. Residents of areas such as Bray, Blackrock and Shankill, for example and Clontarf and Artane on the northside, are likely to be impacted as a result, as incoming airplanes gradually descend towards the airport. One resident in Santry, meanwhile, where aircraft will be as low as 275 metres above ground, told the Irish Times: “My house (is so close to the flight path) you can shake hands with them.”