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12th Apr 2022

Some passengers urged not to arrive at Dublin Airport terminals before 5am as fresh travel advice issued

Stephen Porzio

The airport is set to facilitate more than 250,000 departing passengers for Easter.

Dublin Airport’s operator has urged certain passengers not to arrive at its terminals before 5am as part of updated travel advice.

This comes after weeks of reports of long waits at the airport’s security, which have caused some passengers to miss their flights.

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) previously said it was taking action to address the problems while citing a number of operational issues associated with the resumption of international travel amidst the ongoing Covid pandemic.

One such highlighted issue was the recruitment, training and mandatory background checks required for all new staff working at the airport.

Images and footage shared on social media at the weekend showed large numbers lined up outside Terminal 1 on Saturday morning, though the DAA said in a statement that queues had “moved well”.

However, with the airport set to facilitate more than 250,000 departing passengers for Easter, it has since issued fresh advice.

The DAA is continuing to advise passengers that they should arrive at the airport up to three and a half hours before their flight, regardless of whether they are flying short haul or long haul.

However, it is now urging morning passengers due to fly from 8.30am onwards, not to arrive at the terminals before 5am.

The DAA said this will ease pressure on the security regime and allow passengers flying during the busy first-morning wave before 8.30am to progress through security and onto their boarding gates.

It also stated that there is no need for passengers to arrive earlier than three and a half hours and warned that arriving earlier than needed has been found to increase pressure at busy times over recent days and weeks.

On top of this, the DAA recommends that passengers check with their airline in advance of travelling to the airport about when check-in and bag drop-off opens and plan their arrival based on that information.

Where possible, passengers are also encouraged to check-in for their flight online.

“To help get passengers through security as quickly and efficiently as possible, security in Dublin Airport’s Terminal 1 remains open on a 24/7 basis, while security in Terminal 2 is open from 04.00 am each day,” the DAA said.

“Dublin Airport is currently in the process of hiring almost 300 new security screening staff to help it meet the significant increase in demand for international travel.

“Good progress is being made in that recruitment process with more than 500 candidates – from a pool of more than 4,500 applications – having been invited for an interview over the past two weeks.

“While successful candidates are trained, Garda vetted and put through compulsory security checks over the coming period – a process which takes around five to six weeks – DAA is working to ensure that it has the maximum number of security lanes open at all times in both terminals.

“A taskforce, consisting of more than 600 DAA office staff, is also being deployed in the terminals to provide additional support and customer service to passengers.”

Main image via Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

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