This is what it looks like when passenger numbers at Dublin Airport are down by 99%.
The impact of lockdown in Ireland can be seen in the empty streets, the drastic reduction in traffic on roads and the closure of schools, public buildings and sporting facilities all over the country.
Nowhere is that impact more visually striking, perhaps, than at Dublin Airport, where activity has reduced to the extent that a total of 507 passengers passed through its doors on Wednesday (29 April).
According to a DAA spokesperson, there were 52 scheduled flights in total at the airport on Wednesday – 27 arrivals and 25 departures – including three from Kerry and two from Donegal.
24 of the flights were cargo flights, with many carrying PPE medical equipment and pharmaceutical products.
The vast majority of the scheduled flights were almost empty.
Currently, all flights through the airport are operated by just six airlines – Aer Lingus, Ryanair, Stobart Air, Air France, KLM, Qatar Airways – operating a very small number of services.
To put those numbers into perspective, ordinarily, approximately 100,000 passengers would pass through the doors of Dublin Airport on a single day. Typically, there would be 750 flights to more than 190 destinations in 42 countries, operated by almost 50 airlines.
But these are no ordinary times.
This week, JOE’s
Ian Boyle visited the airport and captured scenes of Ireland’s busiest transport hub having come to a virtual standstill.
More information on operations at Dublin Airport during the Covid-19 pandemic is available
here.
