A final tally is expected at some point today.
A spokesperson for Dublin Airport has said that he believes over 1,000 people missed their flights yesterday due to significant queues and delays throughout the terminals.
Addressing the situation on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Kevin Cullinane, who is the head of operations for the Dublin Airport Authority (daa) offered an apology to those that were affected.
He said: “At this stage we estimate over 1,000 passengers … we will be doing a final tally with all our airline partners and customers again this morning to ascertain the final number.
“But certainly at this stage, it’s well over 1,000 passengers, and we unreservedly apologise.”
Mr Cullinane said that “absenteeism” impacted the situation yesterday, and that the airport is operating on “very fine margins”.
He added: “Yesterday morning when we opened security in terminal one and terminal two, we clearly didn’t have enough security lanes open due to resourcing challenges, and at the moment any absenteeism impacts on our ability to operate lanes.”
Due to significant queues inside the terminal for check-in, bag drop & security, passengers queueing outside the terminal may not make their flight & may need to contact their airline to rebook. We sincerely apologise for the obvious frustration and inconvenience this may cause.
— Dublin Airport (@DublinAirport) May 29, 2022
By July, an additional 370 officers are due to be added to the staff of Dublin Airport.
Today will see the Minister of State for International Travel Transport Hildegarde Naughton meet with officials from daa to discuss yesterday’s events.
According to RTÉ, extra security lanes were opened earlier this morning to deal with queues as 45,000 people are expected to depart from Dublin Airport today.
Ireland’s Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan described the situation yesterday as “completely unacceptable”.
He told Independent.ie: “The Dublin Airport Authority must pull out all the stops from today to ensure this cannot ever happen again. We will provide every reasonable assistance to support their efforts – but it is primarily a task for them.”
He also expressed his disappointment at yesterday’s scenes after he said his department made efforts to develop plans with the airport over the past few months.
Feature image: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie
