A CLARE TD has reiterated calls for Shannon Airport’s use to be increased to alleviate pressure on Dublin Airport.
Major security delays at Dublin Airport are expected to last up to ten weeks, management have stated, this will coincide with the Easter break and also the start of the busy summer season. It has resulted in passengers having to queue outside the terminal building, some having to arrive three and a half hours before their scheduled flight while others have missed out on their journeys due to the lengthy queues.
Members of the Oireachtas Transport Committee including Cathal Crowe TD (FF) met with Dublin Airport Authority’s Chief Executive Dalton Philips and his management staff last week.
Deputy Crowe outlined that daa management are experiencing “a huge impediment” when it comes to getting staff on the ground due to delays in the Garda vetting process. “I have suggested to the management that flights should be diverted to Shannon Airport, where there is plenty of additional capacity. I believe that Shannon could play a significant role in easing the problems that Dublin Airport is facing at this time.
“Shannon is a 30-minute domestic flight from Dublin Airport and a two-and-a-half-hour journey by car or bus. When someone arrives at the departure hall of Shannon Airport, they can expect to have gone through the entire security screening process, often in less than half an hour. At the moment, passengers arriving at Dublin are being advised to arrive three and a half hours before their flight time,” the Meelick native added.
Crowe concluded, “I think Shannon, and indeed other airports, can play a major role in that regard over the coming months. Dublin Airport management, in response to my proposal, emphasised that flight diversions would be a decision for individual airlines to determine and I know hope to take up the matter with the chief executives of Ryanair and Aer Lingus”.
