Dublin Airport

Dublin Airport Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath
File:DUBlogo.png
File:Aerfort-bac.jpg Dublin Airport Terminal 1 (background) and Terminal 2 (foreground)
IATA: DUB ICAO: EIDW
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Government of Ireland
Operator	Dublin Airport Authority
Serves	Dublin
Location	Collinstown, Fingal, Ireland
Hub for	Aer Lingus Aer Lingus Regional Air Contractors CityJet
Elevation AMSL	242 ft / 74 m
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 (2012)
Passengers 19,090,954 Passenger change 11–12 1.9% Aircraft movements 156,582 Movements change 11–12 1.4%
Source: Irish AIS Statistics

Dublin Airport, (Template:Lang-ga) (IATA: DUB, ICAO: EIDW), is an international airport serving Dublin, Ireland and is operated by the Dublin Airport Authority.

It is located 5.4 nmi (10.0 km; 6.2 mi) north of Dublin city in a once-rural area near Swords, in the county of Dublin, Ireland. In 2012, over 19 million passengers passed through the airport, making it the busiest of the state's airports by total passenger traffic, followed by Cork Airport and Shannon Airport. It also has the greatest traffic levels on the island of Ireland followed by Belfast International Airport, Cork, George Best Belfast City Airport and Shannon Airport.

It is served by buses and taxis. Plans to connect the airport to Swords and Dublin city centre via a rapid transit line (Metro North) have been postponed by the Government.

Dublin Airport is the headquarters of: Ireland's flag carrier (Aer Lingus); Europe's largest low-cost carrier (Ryanair); Ireland's regional airline (Aer Arann) and fourth airline, CityJet.

The airport has an extensive short and medium haul network, served by an array of carriers. In recent years, long haul connections to Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been launched and have proved very popular. Domestic services are offered to some regional Irish airports. There are approximately 50 daily departures from Dublin to all six London airports. Dublin is also one of only seven airports in the world to serve all six London Airports: Stansted, Luton, Gatwick, Heathrow, London City and Southend. There are over 40 daily departures to other UK Airports. There is also a reasonably sized long-haul network. Aer Lingus serves many popular US destinations, and has been able to add more thanks to the open skies deal. US legacy carriers also serve the airport from major US hubs. Etihad Airways operates a 10 times weekly service between the airport and Abu Dhabi and on 9 January 2012 Emirates began a daily direct service to Dubai.

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

The original international style passenger terminal, completed in 1940

In 1936 the Government of Ireland 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. 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.

Two of the airport's largest operators side-by-side, a Ryanair BAC 1-11 (front) and an Aer Lingus Boeing 737 (rear) in 1993

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. 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

Aer Lingus's Self check-in at Dublin Airport

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 in 2011 and 2012 the airport saw an uptick in traffic.

Long-haul traffic

The DAA (Dublin Airport Authority) 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 11 September 2001 attacks affected transatlantic traffic but this has since recovered to record levels.

In 2005 Gulf Air launched a direct route to Bahrain in the Middle East. This was followed by Aer Lingus's service to Dubai in March 2006, and Etihad Airways service to Abu Dhabi in July 2007. Despite reportedly high loads, the Gulf Air service to Bahrain was cancelled in July 2007 as part of a broad restructuring plan of the airline. This move prompted Etihad Airways to bring forward the start date of its Abu Dhabi service by a number of months, and Etihad's Dublin route has proved to be a success, with even greater frequency planned. The DAA had announced as far back as the late 1990s that it would like to add a route to East Asia; however, this has yet to materialise and Aer Lingus's poorly performing route to Dubai was dropped at the end of March 2008. However, the introduction of services to Asia remains part of Aer Lingus' long term plans. Both Etihad Airways and Emirates provide direct service to the Gulf area with routes to Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively.

In February 2010, United Arab Emirates airline Etihad Airways announced an increase in services to Dublin from Abu Dhabi which means that from 28 March 2010 twice-daily flights are available on Thursdays, Saturdays & Sundays with a once-daily service on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

In September 2010, US Airways announced that it will commence daily direct services from Dublin to Charlotte in North Carolina from May 2011. It will be a summer seasonal route running until September.

In September 2011, Emirates announced that from 9 January 2012 it would begin a new daily direct service to Dubai, which will be year-round and will operate from the new Terminal 2.

On 8 June 2012, United Airlines commenced a new daily service to Washington DC (Dulles), also to operate from Terminal 2.

On 24 October 2012, American Airlines announced a new year-round service to New York-JFK beginning 13 June 2013. It is the carrier's second service from the airport, with the other being its seasonal route between Dublin and Chicago O'Hare. The service operates daily during the summer season, but capacity is reduced to four weekly flights in the winter.

Aer Lingus has announced two new year round service between Dublin and San Francisco and Dublin and Toronto; these two new services will begin in April 2014. The San Francisco route will be operated by an A330-200 Aircraft and the Toronto route will be operated by a Boeing 757-200.

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 Ireland 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 Dublin Airport Authority

Main article: Dublin Airport Authority

Dublin Airport Authority headquarters at Dublin Airport

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 plc and the Cork Airport Authority have separate boards of directors and have been authorised under the Act to prepare business plans, which may in time lead to their full separation from the Dublin Airport Authority.

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 across the border in Northern Ireland, whose largest airport is less than a quarter the size of Dublin in terms of passenger numbers.

Passenger terminals

Terminal 1

Terminal 1 departures level

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, who also designed graphics for its interior, was opened to the north of terminal 1. 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 is the sole long haul operator based out of Terminal 1.

As of 2012, Terminal 1 offers free wi-fi access.

Terminal 2

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, 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. But after the opening, the project has been subject to significant criticism, as it has opened at a time when air traffic at Dublin airport has been subject to significant declines. Currently the following airlines operate from Terminal 2: Aer Lingus, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Emirates, Etihad Airways, United, and US Airways.

Safety and security

The 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 Gardai 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.

Airport developments

Capacity

View of the Airport in 2008, prior to the construction of Terminal 2

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.

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.

The greatest objections continue to come from Ryanair. 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. 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.

New runway

Main Apron seen from the air Pier C (centre, now replaced by Terminal 2) clearly visible with Cargo ramp and Ryanair Maintenance facilities.

A new runway measuring 3,110 m (10,203 ft) is planned to be built parallel to the existing runway 10/28, which opened in 1989. 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. 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. The runway was expected to cost in the region of €300 million.

In the meantime, the Authority 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.

In July 2013, the plans to develop a new runway at the airport have been shelved until after 2019. According to the Dublin Airport Authority, they are now looking at ways to continue passenger growth at the airport without the new runway. The main reason for the decision to postpone the development of the runway was the airports inability to recoup costs in light of reduced passenger numbers. If passenger numbers were to return to the levels seen in 2007, the new runway would again become viable.

"A considerable amount of time has elapsed since the preparatory studies were completed for this project, passenger traffic fell by 20 per cent and new business opportunities are emerging that need to be provided for."

Airlines and destinations

Aer Lingus Airbus A320 on stand

Aer Arann ATR42-300 taxis to runway 28

Europe Airpost Boeing 737-300 Landing runway 28

Lufthansa Airbus A320 on stand

US Airways Boeing 757 after take off

Ryanair Boeing 737-800 Landing runway 28

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations	Terminal
Aer Lingus	Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin-Schönefeld, 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, Nice, New York-JFK, Orlando, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Prague, Rome-Fiumicino, San Francisco (resumes 2 April 2014), Stockholm-Arlanda, Tenerife-South, Toronto-Pearson (begins 21 April 2014), Toulouse, Venice-Marco Polo, Vienna, Warsaw-Chopin, Zürich Seasonal: Agadir, Athens, Bilbao, Bologna, Burgas, Catania, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Helsinki, Ibiza, Izmir, Jersey, Kraków, Marseille, Naples, Palma de Mallorca, Perpignan, Santiago de Compostela, Stuttgart, Verona	2
Aer Lingus Regional operated by Aer Arann	Aberdeen, Birmingham, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow-International, Isle of Man, Kerry, London-Southend, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne Seasonal: Rennes	2
Air Canada Rouge	Toronto-Pearson (begins 1 May 2014)	1
Air Contractors	Salzburg Seasonal Charter: Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Heraklion, Lanzarote, Palma de Mallorca, Split , Toulouse, Zakynthos	1
Air Europa	Seasonal Charter: Tenerife-South	1
Air France operated by CityJet	London-City, Paris-Charles de Gaulle Seasonal: Brest	1
Air Lituanica operated by Small Planet Airlines	Palanga (begins 20 December 2013, ends 5 January 2014), Vilnius (begins 21 December 2013, ends 5 January 2014)	1
Air Moldova	Seasonal: Chișinău	1
Air Transat	Seasonal: Montréal-Trudeau, Toronto-Pearson	1
Albastar	Seasonal Charter: Palma de Mallorca, Reus	1
Alitalia	Seasonal Charter: Milan-Linate, Rome-Fiumicino	1
American Airlines	New York-JFK Seasonal: Chicago-O'Hare	2
Arkia Israel Airlines	Seasonal: Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion	1
Avion Express	Seasonal Charter: Faro, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Tenerife-South	1
Blue Air	Bacău (resumes 17 December 2013), Bucharest	1
British Airways	London-Heathrow	1
Croatia Airlines	Seasonal Charter: Dubrovnik	1
Delta Air Lines	New York-JFK Seasonal: Atlanta	2
Emirates	Dubai	2
Etihad Airways	Abu Dhabi	2
Flybe	Exeter, Southampton Seasonal Charter: Salzburg, Verona	1
Flybe operated by Loganair	Donegal	1
Germania	Seasonal Charter: Faro, Málaga, Menorca	1
Germanwings	Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn	1
Germanwings operated by Eurowings	Seasonal: Düsseldorf (begins 30 March 2014)	1
Iberia Express	Madrid	1
Icelandair	Seasonal Charter: Reykjavík-Keflavík	1
Jet2.com	Seasonal: Chambéry	1
Lufthansa	Frankfurt Seasonal: Munich	1
Luxair	Luxembourg (resumes 30 March 2014)	1
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo-Gardermoen	1
Onur Air	Seasonal Charter: Antalya, Bodrum, İzmir	1
Ryanair	Alicante, Barcelona, Beauvais, Bergamo, Berlin-Schönefeld, Birmingham, Bologna, Bratislava, Bremen, Bristol, Budapest, Bydgoszcz, Carcassonne, Charleroi, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gdańsk, Glasgow-Prestwick, Gran Canaria, Hahn, Katowice, Kaunas, Kraków, Lanzarote, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, Lodz, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Lublin, Madrid, Málaga, Malta, Manchester, Memmingen, Moss/Rygge, Nantes, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nottingham/East Midlands, Poznań, Riga, Rome-Ciampino, Rzeszow, Szczecin, Tallinn, Tenerife-South, Vilnius, Warsaw-Modlin, Wrocław Seasonal: Alghero, Biarritz, Girona, Grenoble, Ibiza, La Rochelle, Maastricht/Aachen, Marseille, Murcia, Nice, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, Pisa, Porto, Reus, Rodez, Salzburg, Santander, Seville, Stockholm-Skavsta, Tours, Treviso, Turin, Valencia, Zadar	1
SATA International	Funchal	1
Scandinavian Airlines	Copenhagen, Oslo-Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda	1
Scandinavian Airlines operated by Blue1	Copenhagen	1
SmartWings operated by Travel Service Airlines	Seasonal: Prague	1
Swiss International Air Lines	Zürich	1
S7 Airlines	Seasonal: Moscow-Domodedovo	1
TAROM	Bucharest	1
Thomson Airways	Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife-South (begins 1 November 2013) Seasonal: Burgas, Corfu, Faro, Ibiza (begins 28 May 2014), Innsbruck, Larnaca, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Rhodes (begins 28 May 2014), Turin, Zakynthos (resumes 27 May 2014)	1
Travel Service Airlines	Lanzarote Seasonal Charter: Agadir, Faro, Heraklion, Palma de Mallorca	1
Tunisair	Monastir	1
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul-Atatürk	1
United Airlines	Newark, Washington-Dulles	2
US Airways	Philadelphia Seasonal: Charlotte	2

Cargo

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

Destinations Map

Destinations map

Dublin Faro Lisbon Porto Madrid Santiago Santander Bilbao Seville Malaga Murcia Alicante Valencia Ibiza Palma Mahon Girona Barcelona Reus Oslo Oslo-Rygge Kristiansand Stockholm Skavsta Helsinki Tallinn Riga Vilnius Kaunas Moscow Bucharest Bacău Copenhagen Bourgas Plovdiv Dubrovnik Kerry Donegal Istanbul Izmir Antalya Dalaman Bodrum Larnaca Athens Corfu Zakynthos Heraklion Malta Budapest Catania Palermo Naples Rome-FCO Rome-CIA Pisa Alghero Bologna Turin Venice Verona Milan-MXP,LIN,BGY Geneva Zurich Paris-CDG Beauvais Rennes Nantes Tours La Rochelle Bordeaux Rodez Biarritz Pau Toulouse Carcassonne Perpignan Marseille Nice Lyon Brussels Charleroi Maastricht Eindhoven Amsterdam Vienna Bratislava Prague Gdańsk Szczecin Bydgoszcz Poznań Wrocław Rzeszów Katowice Kraków Warsaw Lodz Lublin Berlin Hamburg Munich Memmingen Stuttgart Frankfurt Hahn Cologne/Bonn Düsseldorf Salzburg Enfidha Tel Aviv Aberdeen Edinburgh Glasgow Prestwick Newcastle Leeds/Brandford Blackpool Isle of Man Manchester Liverpool East-Midlands Birmingham Cardiff Bristol Exeter SOU City Stansted Southend Luton LHR Gatwick BOH Jersey class=notpageimage| Destinations in Europe, Tunisia & Israel Fuerteventura Gran Canaria Lanzarote Tenerife-South class=notpageimage| Destinations in Canary Islands Agadir class=notpageimage| Destinations in Morocco Sharm el-Sheikh class=notpageimage| Destinations in Egypt Dubai Abu Dhabi class=notpageimage| Destinations in United Arab Emirates Boston New York-JFK Newark Chicago-O'Hare Atlanta Charlotte Philadelphia Toronto-Pearson Montréal-Trudeau Orlando San Francisco resumes 2 April 2014 Washington-Dulles class=notpageimage| Destinations in North America & Canada

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 and 19.1 million in 2012.

Dublin Airport Passenger Totals 1998–2012 (millions)

Updated: 24 April 2013

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
Sources: 1998–2001 – Aer Rianta 2002–2005 – DAA 2006–2011 – DAA

See also: List of the busiest airports in the Republic of Ireland by total passenger traffic

Busiest routes

20 busiest international routes at Dublin Airport (2012)

Rank	Airport	Passengers Handled	% Change 2011/12
1	London Heathrow	1,578,050	01.4
2	London Gatwick	937,572	01.4
3	London Stansted	677,609	07.9
4	Paris-Charles de Gaulle	608,205	00.0
5	Manchester	593,635	13.8
6	Birmingham	526,840	02.5
7	New York JFK	504,923	16.4
8	Frankfurt	502,284	14.4
9	Amsterdam	485,234	03.9
10	Malaga	435,471	02.9
11	Edinburgh	399,595	01.8
12	Faro	337,303	12.8
13	Madrid	326,231	01.2
14	Bristol	302,110	06.5
15	London Luton	301,200	07.4
16	Barcelona	290,593	04.1
17	Liverpool	277,518	10.2
18	Chicago O'Hare	276,403	08.5
19	Abu Dhabi	236,479	03.2
20	Boston	233,193	03.5
Source: Central Statistics Office

Ground transport

Outside the airport

Dublin Airport is located just off the M1 and the M50 10 km (6.2 mi) north from the city centre and 2 km (1.2 mi) south of the town of Swords.

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, 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 Belfast, Galway, Wexford, Sligo, Donegal, Drogheda, Navan and Wicklow.

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 is designed to connect with several other modes of transport.

There will 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. Journey time between the airport and St Stephen's Green will be 18 minutes.

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.

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.

See also

Airport Police (Ireland) Airport Police Service stationed in Dublin Airport

References

Rent a car from the Dublin airport Outside area pf the airport is very crowded.so book you car from the airport which save you time and money.

External links

• Dublin Airport
• Dublin Airport Authority