Dublin Airport

Dublin Airport Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath
IATA: DUB – ICAO: EIDW
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Government of Ireland
Operator	Dublin Airport Authority
Serves	Dublin, Ireland
Location	Collinstown, Fingal
Hub for	Aer Lingus Aer Lingus Regional Air Contractors Ryanair
Elevation AMSL	242 ft / 74 m
Coordinates	53°25′17″N 006°16′12″W / 53.42139°N 6.27000°W / 53.42139; -6.27000Coordinates: 53°25′17″N 006°16′12″W / 53.42139°N 6.27000°W / 53.42139; -6.27000
Website	dublinairport.com
Map
DUB Location within Ireland
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 10/28 2,637 8,652 Concrete 16/34 2,072 6,798 Asphalt
Statistics (2014)
Passengers 21,712,173 Passenger change 13-14 7.7% Aircraft movements 174,383 Movements change 13-14 6.5%
Source: Irish AIS[1] Passengers [2] Aircraft Movements [3]

Dublin Airport, (Irish: Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath) (IATA: DUB, ICAO: EIDW), is an international airport serving Dublin, Ireland and is operated by daa.^[4] It is located 5.4 nmi (10.0 km; 6.2 mi) north^[1] of Dublin city near Swords, in the county of Fingal. In 2014, 21.7 million passengers passed through the airport,^[2] making it the busiest of the state's airports by total passenger traffic. It also has the greatest traffic levels on the island of Ireland followed by Belfast International Airport.

The airport has an extensive short and medium haul network, served by an array of carriers as well as some intercontinental routes focused in the Middle East and North America. It serves as the headquarters of Ireland's flag carrier Aer Lingus, Ireland's regional airline Stobart Air (formerly Aer Arann) and also Europe's largest low-cost carrier Ryanair, along with Air Contractors, together with a fifth airline, CityJet, which doesn't maintain major operations here.

United States border preclearance services are available at the airport for US-bound passengers, making Dublin one of only two European airports with this facility along with Shannon.

History

The beginnings in the 1930s and early 1940s

In 1936 the Executive Council of the Irish Free State established a new civil airline, Aer Lingus, which began operating from the military aerodrome, Casement Aerodrome, at Baldonnel to the southwest of Dublin. A decision was made that a civil airport should replace Baldonnel as the city's airport. The townlands of Collinstown, Rock and Corballis in the Barony of Coolock were selected as the location for the new civil aerodrome. Collinstown's first association with aviation was as a British military air base during World War I, but that field had been unused since 1922. Construction of the new airport began in 1937. By the end of 1939 a grass airfield surface, internal roads, car parks and electrical power and lighting were set up. The inaugural flight from Dublin took place on 19 January 1940 to Liverpool. In 1940 work began on a new airport terminal building. The terminal building was designed by architect Desmond FitzGerald, brother of politician Garret FitzGerald.^[5] It opened in early 1941, with its design heavily influenced by the bridges of the luxury ocean liners of the time. The terminal was awarded the Triennial Gold Medal of the Royal Hibernian Institute of Architects and is today a listed building.

Upon the outbreak of World War II, services were severely restricted at Dublin Airport until late 1945 and the only international scheduled route operated during this time was by Aer Lingus to Liverpool (and for a period to Manchester's Barton Aerodrome). Three new concrete runways were completed by 1947.

Expanding in the 1950s

Throughout the 1950s Dublin Airport expanded with virtually uninterrupted traffic growth. Runway extensions and terminal enhancements were carried out to deal with the influx of traffic and passengers. New airlines began serving the airport also. These included British European Airways, Sabena and BKS. In 1958 a new transatlantic service was started by Aer Lingus via Shannon Airport. During the 1960s the number of scheduled carriers continued to grow and aircraft continued to evolve with technological advancement. By the close of the 1960s, a sizeable number of Boeing 737s, BAC One-Elevens, Boeing 707s, and Hawker Siddeley Tridents were using the airport on a regular basis. During 1969, it handled 1,737,151 passengers.

The advent of wide-body aircraft posed opportunities and challenges for aviation. In 1971, Aer Lingus took delivery of two new Boeing 747 aircraft; the first one arrived in March and, shortly afterwards, performed a flyover above O'Connell Street in Dublin on Saint Patrick's Day; a third Boeing 747 was delivered later that decade. To cope with this, a new passenger terminal capable of handling five million passengers per year was opened in 1972. The growth which was anticipated at the airport (and provided for through heavy investment by the airport and Aer Lingus) during the 1970s did not materialise immediately.

Continuing in the 1980s

In 1983 Aer Lingus opened its 'Aer Lingus Commuter' division which took delivery of Shorts, Saab AB, and Fokker turboprop aircraft to open regular daily domestic services to and from Ireland's smaller regional airports for the first time, as well as to serve existing routes to smaller regional airports in the United Kingdom. At various stages of its operations, flights were operated to several Irish regional airports to feed passengers into Aer Lingus's international network. These domestic destinations included Cork Airport, Shannon Airport, Kerry Airport, Galway Airport, Ireland West Airport Knock, Waterford Airport, Sligo Airport, and City of Derry Airport in Northern Ireland. Aer Lingus Commuter has since been re-absorbed into the main company. The domestic routes, with the exception of Dublin-Shannon, were taken over by Aer Arann, including the route to Derry in Northern Ireland; most of these routes have since been discontinued as the development of the motorway network in Ireland has resulted in significant reductions in travelling time by road. Aer Lingus has continued with the remaining Dublin–UK flights.

During the 1980s, major competition, especially on the Dublin–London routes, resulted in passenger numbers swelling to 5.1 million in 1989. In the same year a new 8,650 ft (2,640 m) runway and a state-of-the-art air traffic control centre were opened. Dublin Airport continued to expand rapidly in the 1990s. Pier A, which had been the first extension to the old terminal building, was significantly extended. A new Pier C, complete with air bridges, was built and as soon as this was completed, work commenced to extend it to double its capacity. The ground floor of the original terminal building was returned to passenger service after many years to provide additional departure gates. Pier D, completed in October 2007, is a dedicated low-fares boarding area and provides 14 quick turn-around stands and departure gates; these are not served by air bridges.

The Bilateral Air Transport Agreement

In 1993, a major milestone for the airport was the signing of a new United States – Ireland bilateral agreement which allowed airlines to operate some direct transatlantic services for the first time to/from Dublin Airport instead of touching down en route at Shannon Airport on the west coast of Ireland. (Shannon had once been a major transatlantic refuelling stop for pre-jet aircraft, and this agreement was designed to protect the interests of the Shannon region when modern jets no longer required a refuelling stop and Shannon saw a fall-off in traffic.) Airlines still had to provide an equal number of flights either to or through Shannon as to Dublin. A gradual further watering down of Shannon's so-called 'stopover' status came into effect in November 2006 when more direct flights to Dublin were allowed. The stopover requirement disappeared completely in 2008. At that time, airlines were allowed to fly direct to the US from Dublin without having to match these with any to/from Shannon. It was expected that this would result in a huge increase in services between Dublin and the US, and Aer Lingus has identified 16 destinations that it would like to serve directly from Dublin.

Recent history

With the success of Ireland's 'Celtic Tiger' economy, Dublin Airport saw growth in the 1990s and 2000s. This demand was driven by an increased demand for business travel to and from the country, together with an increase in inward tourism, and a surge in demand for foreign holidays and city breaks from the Irish, who became one of the wealthiest populations in the world. In January 2006, the number of trips abroad taken by the Irish outnumbered the number of inbound trips for the first time since records began. Christmas shopping weekends in New York City increased in popularity (although London is still the top destination from Dublin). A further source of demand has been for flights to holiday homes and investment properties which have been snapped up by the property-hungry Irish across southern European holiday hotspots, the emerging economies of Eastern Europe, and beyond.

Finally, the demand from Ireland's migrant workers, principally those from Eastern Europe, has resulted in a large number of new routes opening to destinations in the European Union accession states. Ireland was one of only three European Union countries (as well as the United Kingdom and Sweden) to open its borders freely to workers from the ten accession states that joined the European Union in 2004. This resulted in hundreds of thousands of people moving to Ireland from these countries since then.

The airport saw significant declines in traffic in 2009 and 2010, although since 2011 the airport has seen an increase in traffic. During 2012, this increase continued with passenger numbers growing by 1.9%. During 2013, passenger numbers at Dublin Airport were above the 20million mark for the first time since 2009 with a 5.6 increase year on year. During 2014 this positive trend continued with an 8% increase over 2013.

Long-haul traffic

The DAA has ambitious long-haul expansion plans and has successfully added new routes to North America and the Middle East in recent years. It has yet to secure a direct route to East Asia. Like most airports, the effects of the September 11, 2001 attacks affected transatlantic traffic but this has since recovered to record levels.

Dublin Airport operates Intercontinental routes to North America, Africa and the Middle East. In total, 22 Intercontinental destinations are connected directly to Dublin Airport.^[6] In 2007, Etihad Airways opened a flight between Dublin Airport and Abu Dahbi with 10 flights weekly in operation since March 2010. In addition, Emirates have operated a direct connection to Dubai since January 2012. In total, there are 17 destinations in North America connected directly to Dublin Airport by Aer Lingus, Air Canada Rouge, American Airlines, Delta and United Airlines.^[7] A new service to Ethiopia in 2015 will be the first service to Africa,^[8] excluding holiday services to Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.

Open Skies and the Shannon Stopover

In the mid twentieth century, the Irish government introduced a rule stating that all air traffic between Ireland and the United States must transit through Shannon airport. In return, the United States government placed a limit of four airports in the US that Aer Lingus could operate to. On 22 March 2007, the Open skies agreement between the US and EU was ratified. This resulted in the immediate cancellation of the long-running 'Shannon Stopover' requirement, whereby the Irish government had insisted that 50% of all transatlantic flights between Ireland and the United States must pass through Shannon Airport.

US border preclearance

Dublin Airport is one of only two airports in Europe with United States border preclearance services for US-bound passengers (the other being Shannon Airport). It allows passengers to have their paperwork dealt with before departure saving time upon arrival in the United States. Flights from Dublin and Shannon are treated as internal domestic flights in the US.

Aer Rianta and daa/Dublin Airport Authority

In October 2004, Aer Rianta (which means 'Air Ways' or 'Air Tracks' in Irish) was renamed as the Dublin Airport Authority plc, following the State Airports Act 2004. All assets and liabilities previously owned by Aer Rianta were transferred to Dublin Airport Authority. The State Airports Act 2004 also established new airport authorities at Shannon and Cork Airports. The Shannon Airport Authority and the Cork Airport Authority had separate boards of directors and were authorised under the Act to prepare business plans, which may have in time lead to their full separation from the Dublin Airport Authority. Following a decision by the Irish Government, Shannon Airport became a separate publicly owned airport on 31 December 2012.

In July 2013, the Dublin Airport Authority was officially renamed "daa" by the Irish Government. The rename was principally to remove the "Dublin" and "Authority" elements of the name which were seen to have little relevance to the overall functions of the DAA.^[9] The name change announced in July 2013 took effect on 6 November 2014.^[10]

As the largest gateway to Ireland, over 21.1 million passengers travelled through the airport in 2006, a 2.7 million (or 15%) increase over 2005. The main contributors to the growth in traffic in 2005 were the airport's routes to continental Europe (particularly Poland and the Baltic region), North America, and the Middle East. Domestic and UK traffic had showed a small decline in 2005, but grew by 25% and 4% respectively in 2006. The decline in 2005 was due to a reduction in connecting traffic between Ireland's regional airports and the UK. This was as a result of a growing direct network of routes between those airports and the UK and continental Europe, dispensing with the need to transit at Dublin. But the organic demand at Dublin resulted in a net increase in those markets in 2006. Dublin Airport also welcomes over one million passengers per annum from Northern Ireland, whose largest airport is less than a quarter the size of Dublin in terms of passenger numbers.

Passenger terminals

Terminal 1

The current Terminal 1 building originally opened in 1972, and was initially designed to handle five million passengers per year. The original design included a second pier which would have been identical to the current decagon-shaped boarding pier B, but this was never built. A car park was originally located on the upper floor of the building, and the access ramps are still in place but it was closed for security reasons in the 1970s and converted into offices. Terminal 1 has been regularly extended and improved over the last two decades. In October 2007, a new pier designed by Larry Oltmanns, while design director of the London office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill,^[11] who also designed graphics for its interior, was opened to the north of terminal 1.^[12] This pier caters for the majority of Ryanair flights. In 2009, a new extension featuring new food and retail outlets was added to the side of Terminal 1. Terminal 1 is currently home to all short haul flights, except those of Aer Lingus. Air Canada and Air Transat are the sole long haul operators based out of Terminal 1 each offering seasonal services until May 2014 when Air Canada's new low cost carrier Rouge will begin daily year round Toronto-Dublin. As of 2012, Terminal 1 offers free Wi-Fi access.^[13]

Terminal 2

Terminal 2 is a 75,000 m² (810,000 sq ft) terminal and pier (pier E) which provides 19 air bridges for aircraft and is capable of handling 15 million passengers annually, thereby allowing the airport to handle 35 million passengers a year. The project was designed by Pascall+Watson architects, and the total cost is put at €600 million. Another pier (Pier F) is planned to be built to the south of Terminal 2 when required. The majority of long-haul carriers have moved to Terminal 2,^[14] including Aer Lingus, which has relocated all its mainline operations. Terminal 2 also features the US pre-clearance immigration facility which was previously housed in Terminal 1. Construction of Terminal 2 began on 1 October 2007, and was officially opened on 19 November 2010 by the then Taoiseach Brian Cowen T.D. When the project was commissioned, it seemed like a reasonable investment.^[15] But after the opening, the project was subject to some criticism, as it had opened at a time when air traffic at Dublin airport had been subject to declines due to the economic downturn.^[16] Mainline carriers like Aer Lingus, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Emirates, Etihad Airways, United Airlines, and US Airways use Terminal 2.^[17]

Safety and security

DAA has its own branch of the Airport Police Service which is mandated to provide aviation and general policing at the airport. The Airport Police Station is centrally located on the Arrivals road between Terminals 1 and 2. The airport also has its own Airport Fire and Rescue Service which provides cover to the entire campus, its roadways and lands. The fire service responds to all aircraft incidents, domestic fires, medical emergencies and road traffic collisions.

The Office of the Revenue Commissioners provide a customs service to both passenger and cargo terminals, while the Department of Agriculture also has a presence in the airport. Garda Síochána (GNIB) provides an Immigration service for all international passengers arriving at the airport. The Gardaí also have a small sub-station located beside the old terminal.

Maintenance facilities

Aer Lingus, Ryanair, CityJet, Eirtech and Dublin Aerospace have aircraft maintenance hangars and facilities at Dublin Airport. In 2010 Etihad Airways announced a new maintenance hangar which will handle the Airbus A330-200 which the airline uses on their route from Dublin. In time the airline will allow other airlines to use this facility.^[18]

Airport developments

Capacity

Due to the growth experienced at Dublin Airport in recent years, the facility became congested. One part or another of the airport has been a building site for the past two decades. Despite the building works and extensions, it is widely accepted by the DAA that Terminal 1 and its infrastructure were insufficient to deal with the volume of passengers. Both the Irish Government and the DAA have come under pressure from airlines and passengers alike to once-and-for-all provide a realistic increase in capacity for the future. As a result, the DAA plan to invest €2 billion in a 10-year capital development programme to effectively double the size of the passenger facilities of Dublin Airport.^[19]

Criticism

The plans for Terminal 2 have been met with ongoing criticism from those who argued that, once built, it could not be extended to provide any additional capacity, owing to its location. A third terminal, which is in the blueprint for the future of the airport, would most likely be located between the parallel runways.^[20]

The greatest objections continue to come from Ryanair.^[21][22][23] The no-frills carrier has long lobbied for Terminal 2 to be built as a low-cost facility, and run by a competing operator. They have even offered to build and operate such a facility. However, the Irish government decided that the DAA would build T2 and that its operation would be put out to tender. In March 2010 it was decided that T2 would be operated by the DAA as the other applicants did not meet the requirements for operating the terminal.

New air traffic control complex

Planning is currently under way for a new air traffic control complex and control tower which will replace the existing structure. The new facility has been designed by Scott Tallon Walker architects. A planning application was submitted in August 2009.^[24] The new control tower will be 86.9 m (285 ft) in height. The new control tower is necessary because the construction of the future parallel runway will obstruct visibility of certain parts of the airport from the existing control tower.^[25]

New runway

A new runway measuring 3,110 m (10,203 ft) is planned to be built parallel to the existing runway 10/28, which opened on 21 June 1989.^[26] Detailed proposals and planning permission were submitted to Fingal County Council (under whose jurisdiction Dublin Airport lies) and approved in April 2006. An appeal to An Bord Pleanála (The Irish Planning Appeals Board), which determines appeals and other cases under the national planning acts, was heard in September 2006, and this resulted in the granting of permission in August 2007, with 31 planning conditions attached.

The new runway will replace runway 11/29 (which is no longer in use as a runway, and is used for aircraft parking) and will be built 1,690 m (5,545 ft) to the north of and parallel to the existing runway 10/28. The new runway will allow the airport to accommodate 30 million passengers per annum once in operation, and will be 3,110 m (10,203 ft) long.^[27] In March 2009 the DAA announced in a proposal for consultation that the new runway may be built to a length of 3,660 m (12,008 ft) following consultation with potential long-haul carriers. A runway of this length would allow direct flights from Dublin to the Far East.^[28] The runway was expected to cost in the region of €300 million.

In the meantime, the company has invested heavily in extending aprons and creating rapid exit taxiways to derive maximum efficiency from the existing main runway. Runway 11/29, the shortest and one of the oldest runways, is closed to allow overspill aircraft parking. This runway will disappear under the new parallel runway in due course.

However, in December 2008, the Dublin Airport Authority announced that it would postpone the construction of the new parallel runway by three to four years, on account of the need to cut costs and predictions of falling consumer demand for air travel. This is a result of the recent global financial crisis. ^[29]

In the latest Capital Expenditure Document in 2014, it states that the runway will now only be 3,110 m (10,203 ft), not the original 3,660 m (12,008 ft) planned.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations	Terminal
Aer Lingus	Agadir, Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin-Schönefeld (ends 24 October 2015), Berlin-Tegel (begins 25 October 2015), Birmingham, Bordeaux, Boston, Brussels, Budapest, Chicago-O'Hare, Copenhagen, Düsseldorf, Faro, Frankfurt, Fuerteventura, Geneva, Gran Canaria, Hamburg, Lanzarote, Lisbon, London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow, Lyon, Madrid, Málaga, Manchester, Milan-Linate, Milan-Malpensa, Munich, New York-JFK, Nice, Orlando, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Prague, Rome-Fiumicino, San Francisco, Tenerife-South, Toulouse, Venice-Marco Polo, Vienna, Warsaw-Chopin, Zürich Summer seasonal: Athens, Bilbao, Bologna, Burgas, Catania, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Ibiza, İzmir, Marseille, Nantes (begins 6 May 2015),[30] Naples, Palma de Mallorca, Perpignan, Pula, Santiago de Compostela, Stuttgart, Verona, Washington-Dulles[30][31] Summer seasonal charter: Bodrum, Reykjavík-Keflavík Winter seasonal charter: Salzburg	2
Aer Lingus operated by Air Contractors	Toronto-Pearson Summer seasonal: New York-JFK (begins 1 June 2015) Winter seasonal: Boston	2
Aer Lingus Regional operated by Stobart Air	Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Doncaster/Sheffield (resumes 29 May 2015),[32] Donegal, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow-International, Isle of Man, Kerry, Leeds/Bradford, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne Summer seasonal: Jersey, Newquay,[33] Rennes	2
Air Canada Rouge	Toronto-Pearson	1
Air Contractors	Charter: Salzburg Summer seasonal charter: Dalaman, Dubrovnik, İzmir, Lanzarote, Palma de Mallorca, Reus, Zakynthos Winter seasonal charter: Turin	1
Air Europa	Summer seasonal charter: Tenerife-South	1
Air France operated by CityJet	Paris-Charles de Gaulle	1
Air Moldova	Chișinău	1
Air Transat	Summer seasonal: Montréal-Trudeau, Toronto-Pearson	1
American Airlines	Summer seasonal: Chicago-O'Hare, New York-JFK	2
Arkia Israel Airlines	Summer seasonal: Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion	1
Avion Express	Summer seasonal charter: Faro, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Tenerife-South	1
Blue Air	Bacău, Bucharest	1
British Airways	London-Heathrow	1
British Airways operated by BA CityFlyer	London-City Summer seasonal charter: Minorca (begins 30 May 2015)	1
CityJet	London-City	1
Delta Air Lines	New York-JFK Summer seasonal: Atlanta	2
Emirates	Dubai-International	2
Ethiopian Airlines1	Addis Ababa (begins 20 June 2015),[34] Los Angeles (begins 20 June 2015)[34]	1
Etihad Airways	Abu Dhabi	2
Europe Airpost	Summer seasonal: Halifax (begins 9 July 2015), Paris-Charles de Gaulle (begins 9 July 2015)	1
Finnair operated by Flybe Nordic	Helsinki	1
Flybe	Bournemouth (begins 18 May 2015),[35] Cardiff (begins 1 June 2015),[36] Exeter, Inverness, London-City (ends 31 May 2015),[37] Southampton Winter seasonal charter: Salzburg, Verona	1
Germanwings	Cologne/Bonn Summer seasonal: Düsseldorf	1
Germanwings operated by Eurowings	Summer seasonal: Düsseldorf	1
Iberia Express	Madrid	1
Icelandair	Summer seasonal charter: Reykjavík-Keflavík	1
Lufthansa	Frankfurt, Munich	1
Luxair	Luxembourg Summer seasonal charter: Faro	1
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Copenhagen, Oslo-Gardermoen Summer seasonal: Helsinki	1
Ryanair	Alicante, Barcelona, Basel/Mulhouse, Beauvais, Bergamo, Berlin-Schönefeld, Birmingham, Bratislava, Bremen, Bristol, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Bydgoszcz, Carcassonne, Charleroi, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gdańsk, Glasgow-International, Gran Canaria, Hahn, Katowice, Kaunas, Kraków, Lanzarote, Leeds/Bradford, Lisbon, Liverpool, Łódź, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Lublin (resumes 25 October 2015), Madrid, Málaga, Malta, Manchester, Marrakesh, Memmingen, Moss, Nantes, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nice, Poznań, Prague, Riga, Rome-Ciampino, Rzeszów, Szczecin, Tenerife-South, Vilnius, Warsaw-Modlin, Wrocław Summer seasonal: Alghero, Almería, Bari, Biarritz, Bologna, Chania, Comiso, Girona, Ibiza, La Rochelle, Murcia, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, Pisa, Poitiers (begins 17 June 2015, ends 26 June 2015), Porto, Reus, Rodez, Santander, Seville, Tallinn, Tours, Treviso, Valencia, Zadar Winter seasonal: Grenoble, Salzburg, Turin	1
S7 Airlines	Summer seasonal: Moscow-Domodedovo	1
Scandinavian Airlines	Copenhagen, Oslo-Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda Summer seasonal: Gothenburg–Landvetter[38]	1
Scandinavian Airlines operated by Blue1	Copenhagen	1
SunExpress	Summer seasonal charter: İzmir	1
Swiss International Air Lines	Geneva (begins 26 June 2015), Zürich	1
Thomson Airways	Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife-South Summer seasonal charter: Burgas, Corfu, Faro, Ibiza, Larnaca, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Rhodes, Zakynthos Winter seasonal charter: Chambéry, Innsbruck, Toulouse	1
Transavia France	Paris-Orly (begins 1 June 2015)[39]	1
Travel Service Airlines	Lanzarote Summer seasonal charter: Agadir, Faro, Heraklion, Palma de Mallorca	1
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul-Atatürk	1
United Airlines	Newark, Washington-Dulles Summer Seasonal: Chicago-O'Hare (begins 5 June 2015)[40]	2
US Airways operated by American Airlines	Philadelphia Summer seasonal: Charlotte	2
Vueling	Barcelona	1
WestJet	Summer seasonal: St. John's, Toronto-Pearson	1
WOW air	Reykjavik-Keflavík (begins 2 June 2015)[41]	1

^1 Ethiopian Airlines has a fuel-stop on its flights from Addis Ababa to Toronto-Pearson and Washington-Dulles via Dublin on outbound flights only due to weight restrictions on departure from ADD. The airline has no rights to transport passengers solely between DUB and IAD or YYZ and thus does not carry passengers from Dublin on these flights.

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Air France Cargo	Chicago-O'Hare, Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Bluebird Cargo	Reykjavík-Keflavik
DHL Aviation operated by EAT Leipzig	East Midlands, London-Luton
FedEx Express	Paris-Charles de Gaulle
FedEx Feeder operated by Air Contractors	Birmingham, East Midlands, Glasgow-International, London-Stansted, Manchester
TNT Airways	Birmingham, Liège, Shannon
UPS Airlines operated by Star Air (Maersk Air)	Cologne/Bonn, Shannon

Statistics

Passenger numbers

Passenger numbers at Dublin Airport increased every year during the 10 years between 1998 and 2008, by an average of 10.2% per annum from around 11.6 million to over 23.4 million. Passenger numbers fell however during the subsequent two years to around 18.4 million in 2010, with a small increase to 18.7 million in 2011^[42] and 19.1 million in 2012,^[43] then 2013 saw a significant increase of 5.6% to 20.2 million.^[44] In 2014, passenger numbers increased by almost 8% to over 21.7 million.^[45]

Year	Passengers	Passengers Change YoY %
1998	11,641,100	–
1999	12,802,031	10.0
2000	13,843,528	08.1
2001	14,333,555	03.5
2002	15,084,667	05.2
2003	15,856,084	05.1
2004	17,138,373	08.1
2005	18,450,439	07.7
2006	21,196,382	14.9
2007	23,287,438	09.9
2008	23,466,711	00.8
2009	20,503,677	12.6
2010	18,431,064	10.1
2011	18,740,593	01.7
2012	19,099,649	01.9
2013	20,166,783	05.6
2014	21,712,173	07.7 [46]
Sources: 1998–2001 – Aer Rianta[47] 2002–2005 – DAA[48] 2006–2012 – DAA[43] 2013–2014 – DAA[44]

Busiest routes

As can be seen from the list below, the top three routes from Dublin are all to London airports. As of 2013 the Dublin - London route is one of the worlds busiest international air route, with 640 weekly flights between the two cities.

50 busiest international routes at Dublin Airport (2013)

Rank	Airport	Passengers Handled	% Change 2012/13
1	London Heathrow	1,663,995	05.4
2	London Gatwick	978,543	04.4
3	London Stansted	725,627	07.1
4	Paris Charles de Gaulle	631,452	03.8
5	Manchester	622,970	04.9
6	New York JFK	587,104	016.3
7	Birmingham	563,203	06.9
8	Frankfurt	510,568	01.6
9	Amsterdam	498,853	02.8
10	Malaga	440,066	01.1
11	Edinburgh	413,421	03.5
12	Faro	366,170	08.6
13	Madrid	341,825	04.8
14	Chicago O'Hare	329,249	019.1
15	London Luton	307,604	02.1
16	Barcelona	293,254	00.9
17	Bristol	290,726	03.8
18	Boston	282,978	021.3
19	Liverpool	273,972	01.3
20	Abu Dhabi	255,146	07.9
21	Copenhagen	251,614	026.5
22	Dubai	250,515	022.5
23	Lanzarote	247,857	022.5
24	Brussels National	234,819	01.5
25	Berlin Schönefeld	232,259	010.9
26	Zürich	210,492	08.0
27	Düsseldorf	196,062	03.6
28	Munich	190,234	015.8
29	Leeds Bradford	188,313	01.4
30	Paris Beauvais	181,419	02.5
31	East Midlands	179,666	00.8
32	Rome Fiumicino	174,453	04.8
33	London City	171,184	04.5
34	Alicante	167,572	01.3
35	Budapest	163,129	014.9
36	Brussels Charleroi	162,508	047.6
37	Glasgow International	141,495	02.2
38	Newcastle	140,338	09.5
39	Palma de Mallorca	138,619	03.6
40	Milan Orio al Serio	133,684	06.9
41	Glasgow Prestwick	132,198	05.9
42	Tenerife	130,355	022.6
43	Nice	128,132	04.2
44	Rome Ciampino	125,877	07.1
45	Gran Canaria	124,335	04.1
46	Istanbul Atatürk	123,107	042.1
47	Kraków	121,857	021.8
48	Atlanta	120,568	07.9
49	Philadelphia	117,056	04.6
50	Warsaw Chopin	115,694	023.0
Source: Central Statistics Office[49]

Ground transport

Dublin Airport is located just off the M1 and the M50 10 km (6.2 mi)^[1] north from the city centre and 2 km (1.2 mi) south of the town of Swords. The airport is approximately 210 kilometres (130 mi) away from both Limerick and Galway and 266 kilometres (165 mi) from Cork. Belfast is around 158 kilometres (98 mi) away. Until the Metro North rail link to Dublin city centre is completed (see below), the public transport options to the city are taxis, buses, and private transport. Passengers can however connect by bus or taxi to Dublin's railway stations.

Dublin Airport Parking

More than 22,000 public parking spaces. Largest car park in Ireland managed through an online prebooking system linked to ANPR and a DESIGNA Abacus Car Park system. All of the DAA car parks are regularly patrolled by the Airport Police Service.

• 19,300 Long term parking spaces
  • Express Red LT Car Park 8,400 spaces next to the airport, high frequency (5–8 min) shuttle bus provided by Firstgroup the parent company of Aircoach, transfer time 5 min.
  • Holiday Blue LT Car Park 8,600 spaces parallel to the main runway to the north of the airport. Shuttle bus frequency 10–15 min, transfer time 10 min.
  • Overflow Green LT Car Park. Only used in peak season.
• 2,900 short term parking spaces next to the terminal, 5 min walk to check-in.
  • Terminal 1 Car Parks
  • Short Term A, for T1 pick-up and drop off (450 spaces)
  • Short Term C, for stays of 1-7days (1445 spaces)
  • Collinstown Car Park. PRM (Blue Badge) parking (55 Spaces)
  • Terminal 2 Car Park (built 2010)
  • Single car park for Pick –up and dropoff and stays of 1-7days (950 spaces)
  • PRM (Blue Badge) parking (42 spaces)
  • Electric car charging (5 spaces)

Bus services

Dublin Airport is served by a large network of bus and coach routes, serving both the wider Dublin area and intercity links to the rest of Ireland. In Dublin city, Dublin Bus is the main provider of transport to and from the airport operating Airlink Express route 747 to the city centre terminus of Busáras and the railway stations of Dublin Connolly and Dublin Heuston. In addition, Dublin Bus runs local stopping services that serve such residential areas as Santry, Swords, Rathfarnham, Sutton, Malahide, Beaumont, Harold's Cross, Drumcondra and Portmarnock.

Aircoach offers a number of coach services from the Airport to the Dublin area, serving both the city centre and surrounding areas including Donnybrook, Leopardstown, Sandyford, Dalkey, Greystones. Bray, Blackrock, Dun Laoghaire and Sandymount amongst others. At a national level, Bus Éireann offers a large number of routes from Dublin Airport to destinations such as Galway, Wexford, Sligo, Donegal, Drogheda, Navan and Wicklow. Bus Éireann and Ulsterbus Goldline jointly offer cross-border bus services, namely X1/X2 to Belfast and 274/X33/X4 to Derry.

A number of private operators also run intercity services. Aircoach offers service to Cork and Belfast. Citylink and Gobus offer services to Galway while Eirebus and JJ Kavanagh operate regular services to Limerick, Kilkenny and Waterford.

Car rental

Car rental at Dublin Airport is serviced by all major car rental brands with Thrifty, Enterprise and Sixt car rental having desks in Terminal 1 only.

Rail

Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) provide suburban and intercity railway services from Dublin Connolly and Dublin Heuston railway stations. There are direct regular bus services to both stations from the airport. Some city bus services serve Drumcondra suburban railway station, which is on the Connolly to Maynooth railway line while the 102 route connects Dublin Airport to Sutton DART station. Bus services to Busáras/Dublin Connolly and Dublin Heuston railway stations connect with the Luas Red Line.

Plans for rail link

For many years, it was expected that Iarnród Éireann, the state railway company, would extend the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) with a spur off the Dublin to Belfast line that would serve the airport and Swords. These plans were replaced with plans for an underground metro line, which would run from the city centre to Swords via the airport. The route for the line, Metro North, was announced on 19 October 2006 and was designed to connect with several other modes of transport. On 12 August 2011, it was announced that the Metro North plan would be deferred indefinitely due to a lack of resources to fund the project.

There were to be three stops in Dublin's city centre, allowing transfers to both Luas lines, and the proposed DART Underground. Another transfer will be possible at Drumcondra. Beyond the airport, Metro North will continue to Swords, where many airport workers live. There will be a number of park and ride stops along the route.^[50] Journey time between the airport and St Stephen's Green would be 18 minutes.

Dublin Airport City

In 2008, The Dublin Airport Authority announced plans for an ambitious development of the Dublin Airport area and surrounding environs. This ambitious project would develop a 350-acre (1.4 km²) land reserve situated to the east of Dublin Airport and will cost in the region of €4 billion. Of this 350 acres (1.4 km²), 90% is already owned by the Dublin Airport Authority, and they are confident that they will be able to purchase the remaining pockets. The development will be mainly high rise, and will be expected to be completed by 2028. There will be 600,000 m² (6,500,000 sq ft) of office space along with 40,000 m² (430,000 sq ft) of retail, hotel and conference facilities. It is expected that the journey time from office to airport will be in the region of 6 minutes.^[51]

Incidents

• On 3 February 2002, a Delta Airlines MD-11 ran off the runway upon landing. The incident was ascribed to a sudden gust of wind, with the aircraft receiving minor damage and a few minor injuries were reported. ^[52]

• On 1 April 2015, two Ryanair Boeing 737-800's collided while taxiing on the runway. FR812 to Edinburgh and FR7312 to Zadar were involved in the incident in the early morning hours. No body was injured but both planes suffered extensive damage and were put out of service. This is the second incident of its kind involving Ryanair aircraft at Dublin Airport within a year. ^[53]

See also

• Airport Police (Ireland)

References

External links

Media related to Dublin Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Dublin Airport Authority
• Current weather for EIDW at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for DUB at Aviation Safety Network

Transport in Dublin Air International airport Dublin Airport (DAA) Rail Light rail Luas: Green Line Red Line (Transdev) Rapid transit DART (Iarnród Éireann) Tram* Dublin tramways (DUTC & GNR (I)): Clontarf and Hill of Howth Tramroad Blessington and Poulaphouca Steam Tramway Dublin and Blessington Steam Tramway Hill of Howth Tramway (GNR (I)) Dublin and Lucan Steam Tramway Lucan and Leixlip Steam Tramway Heavy rail InterCity (Iarnród Éireann) Commuter (Iarnród Éireann) Road Bus Aircoach Dublin Bus Bus Éireann Bus corridors College Green Bus Corridor Quality Bus Corridor Motorways M1 M2 M3 M4 M11 M50 National primary roads N1 N2 N3 N4 N7 N11 N31 N32 National secondary roads N81 N82 Regional roads R101 R102 R103 R104 R105 R106 R107 R108 R109 R110 R111 R112 R113 R114 R115 R116 R117 R118 R119 R120 R121 R122 R123 R124 R125 R126 R127 R128 R129 R130 R131 R132 R133 R134 R135 R136 R148 R156 R403 R445 R761 R810 R817 R821 R822 R824 R825 R826 European routes E01 E20 Other Bridges and tunnels dublinbikes Dublin Port Tunnel Local roads Streets and squares (list) Water Canals Royal Canal (Waterways Ireland) Grand Canal (Waterways Ireland) Ports Dublin Port Dún Laoghaire Harbour Agencies National Roads Authority National Transport Authority Public transport operators in Dublin Railway Procurement Agency *=Tram systems no longer run. Information in parentheses shows the operator(s)

Airports in Ireland Northern Ireland Belfast City Belfast International City of Derry Smaller Enniskillen/St Angelo Newtownards Republic of Ireland Cork Donegal Dublin Kerry Knock Shannon Waterford Smaller Abbeyshrule Bantry Birr Casement/Baldonnell Connemara Galway Inishmore Kilkenny Newcastle Sligo Weston Smaller airports handling domestic, charter or private services only.