Pre-Flight Arrival Times Relaxed At Dublin Airport

Dublin Airport Authority (daa) has relaxed advice for passengers travelling from Dublin Airport following "significant improvement in security screening queue time".

daa is now advising passengers to arrive 2 hours in advance for a short-haul flight, and 3 hours for a long-haul flight. Passengers checking in a bag should allow additional time of up to an hour. These changes to passenger advice have been agreed in consultation with our airline partners who request that passengers make themselves aware of the check-in desk opening times for their flight and plan accordingly.

Passenger advice has remained under constant review throughout the busy summer months to ensure passengers made their flights and to avoid the need to reduce flights at Dublin Airport, a move that has been necessary at many other international airports.

The continued reduction in security processing times, aided by the ongoing recruitment of new security staff and the deployment of prudent contingency measures over the summer months, has led to an improvement in the passenger experience and should provide increased reassurance to all those travelling over the coming weeks. Since the implementation of our measures there have been no significant security challenges in June, July or August and no passengers have missed flights in these three months that heeded our advice which gives us the confidence to relax our passenger guidance at this time.

Dalton Philips, daa CEO, said: "During July – Dublin Airport's busiest month in three years – over 3 million passengers flew in and out of the airport. 99% of all passengers passed through security in under 45 minutes, while 90% of passengers queued for 30 minutes or less. In the first two weeks of August, virtually all passengers were through security screening in 30 minutes or less.

"I would like to thank and acknowledge the support of our passengers who have worked with us over recent months to navigate our way through an incredibly challenging and turbulent time for aviation in general and Dublin Airport in particular. Our team at Dublin Airport has been simply brilliant, everyone across the business has put their shoulder to the wheel through this difficult period and their cheerfulness and helpfulness has been regularly noted by our passengers."

This improved performance is the result of a continued bolstering of the security screening operation at Dublin Airport, with a concerted and ongoing recruitment drive to bring staffing levels back to 2019 levels. Since October 2021, daa has almost doubled its security screening team at Dublin Airport through the hiring of more than 350 officers. The recruitment of additional staff will continue over the weeks and months ahead.

The Defence Forces had been on standby to take up posts at vehicle check points at Dublin Airport in the event of a major COVID outbreak, though the requirement for this ultimately did not materialise. The Defence Forces are now being stood down and daa thanks the members of Óglaigh na hÉireann for their support.