Updated at 15:51
Long queues at Dublin Airport could be seen into the summer months with many passengers experiencing disruption.
This morning, pictures on social media showed people queuing outside Terminal 1 as they arrived early for their flights.
As the Irish Examiner reports, airport operator daa said on Twitter: “Passengers were heeding our advice from very early this morning to arrive at the airport up to three and a half hours before their departure time.
“This resulted in us having to stagger the flow of passengers into the terminals which was well managed by Airport Police.”
Dublin Airport previously said it is still trying to rebound from the impact of the pandemic and blamed shortages in fully-trained staff working at the country’s busiest airport.
"Dublin Airport is going through a process at the moment where we're trying to ramp up our operation again after Covid," daa spokesperson Graeme McQueen told Newstalk.
Recruitment drive
"There's a mass recruitment drive going on at the moment in order to get more security screeners in, for example. Once they come on board that's going to make a huge difference.
Ssignificant delays were reported on Friday morning, with passengers taking up to 70 minutes to pass through security.
DAA, the airport operator, has said it is expecting between 60,000 and 80,000 passengers to travel through the airport on Saturday and Sunday.
People travelling are being asked to turn up three and a half hours before their flight due to a shortage of security staff.
However, amid the morning rush, passengers were asked to queue outside the terminals.
T1 Dublin Airport pic.twitter.com/4i3S1QRzUK
— mark keating (@markkeating2) April 9, 2022
Advertisement
In a tweet early on Saturday morning, DAA said that it was “currently filtering passengers into the terminal buildings in an orderly manner to join check in & security queues which are moving.”
We are currently filtering passengers into the terminal buildings in an orderly manner to join check in & security queues which are moving & we thank passengers for their cooperation & patience at this extremely busy time of the morning in advance of the first wave of departures.
— Dublin Airport (@DublinAirport) April 9, 2022
Advertisement
According to DAA, passengers are following advice to arrive early for fights during "this very busy Easter holiday time".
Speaking to Newstalk, DAA spokesman Graeme McQueen said the operator was recruiting about 300 new employees - but the delays will continue for several months.
"Dublin Airport is going through a process at the moment where we are trying to ramp up our operation again after Covid," Mr McQueen explained.
"There is a mass recruitment drive going on at the moment in order to get more security screeners in.
"Once they come onboard that's going to make a huge difference but for the moment people are going to have to expect longer queues and the airport is going to take longer to get through.
"That is going to remain the case through Easter, probably through May as well and into June."
On Wednesday, DAA announced a new plan to tackle delays ahead of the busy Easter break.
The plan incudes the recruitment and training of a “significant number” of additional security screening staff, deployment of a task force, a targeted communication campaign and keeping security in Terminal 1 open 24/7 to reduce the build-up of queues.
