Dublin Airport ranked in top five “best” for delays and cancellations in Europe

Yes, really.

Dublin Airport has had an interesting year thus far, to say the least.

From chaotic scenes that led to numerous passengers missing flights to staff facing aggressive public sentiment to calls for the Defence Forces to help out to quick clarification on that particular matter to playing unavoidable host to an array of cancelled flights to denials of pandemic-era layoffs, it really has been a difficult few months.

Oh, and an increase in passenger charges is possibly on the way, too.

Perhaps the worst is over. That’s what a new study would lead one to believe, anyway. Data released by travel app Hopper Media places Dublin Airport fourth in a ‘best of’ list when it comes to the frequency of delays and cancellations throughout Europe.

According to the study, Brussels, Frankfurt and Eindhoven have reported the worst on-time performance at major European airports, with over two-thirds of flights delayed. An average of almost 8% of departing flights were cancelled at Frankfurt International Airport.

In contrast, Dublin is listed alongside Bergamo and Madrid as airports reporting less than 20% of delayed flights – 15% in Dublin’s specific case – with less than 2% cancelled on departure (1.6% for Dublin).

The data was recorded between Friday, 1 July and Sunday, 10 July.

As for the overall ‘worst’ list, two UK airports make the cut in the form of Luton and Gatwick. As noted, Brussels tops the chart with 72% of recorded delayed flights, and 2.5% in cancellations.

As is probably familiar by now, Covid-19 represents a huge determining factor, be it airports and airlines struggling to meet the surge in demand as society continues to attempt its return to normality, or a resurgence of the virus causing havoc among individual personnel.

It should be noted that the Dublin Airport Authority (daa) has been banging the drum recently for a notably improved overall service, reporting “significant improvements in passenger experience” at security screenings for the month of June.

A daa spokesperson asseted that plans in place to manage the operation over the continuing summer months are “achieving their desired result”.

You can read the full delay/cancellation study here.

Featured Imagery via Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie

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