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This Summer season will be the busiest on record at Dublin Airport with
more than 15 million passengers travelling between April and October, a 21%
increase over Summer ’05. For the first time ever 2 million
passengers are expected to travel through Dublin Airport during both July and
August.
To cater for the huge increase in passenger numbers Dublin Airport is to provide a temporary passenger waiting area for contingency purposes. The marquee-type structure, which has been used similarly at other busy international airports, will be brought into operation should unforeseen events occur during the busy peak season. A variety of factors can lead to disruptions in airline schedules across the Summer period, including unavailability of charter aircraft or crews, delays at other airports or with air traffic control, or extreme weather conditions such as experienced in Florida and the Gulf of Mexico last year.
The roof area, Block A of the multi-storey car park has been identified as the most suitable location for this marquee-type structure thereby providing easy access to the terminal building.
Speaking today at a media briefing, Director of Dublin Airport, Robert Hilliard said “It is prudent for Dublin Airport to factor in additional contingency plans to allow for unforeseen events occurring during the busy peak season. Previously, the Airport had sufficient terminal capacity to cater for any disruption that might occur to airline schedules. However, with no extra terminal capacity available this Summer, the huge growth in passenger traffic suggests that any major disruption to airline schedules is likely to lead to additional congestion within the terminal building” added Mr. Hilliard.
Mr. Hilliard also said that Dublin Airport employees and airline operators
have made detailed plans for the challenge of accommodating the huge growth in
passenger volumes this summer season despite no overall increase in
capacity.
An additional
34 new routes/services together with increased aircraft capacity and frequency
indicate that end of year passenger figures could rise by an additional 2
million passengers. This represents an acceleration in the strong growth Dublin
Airport has experienced in recent years where passenger traffic has grown from
13.8 million in 2000 to 18.4 million in 2005.
A number of Summer initiatives are already underway to help alleviate congestion in the terminal building with the relocation of a number of passenger facilities on the Departures Floor. Once again, Dublin Airport will have 35 customer care employees on duty at all times in the terminal building during the Summer to help passengers on their journey.
Ends
26th April, 2006
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