The DAA has ruled out a suggestion by Limerick Chamber that certain flights could be moved to from Dublin Airport to regional airports around the country to assist with delays caused by a shortage of security staff.
Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, DAA spokesman Graeme McQueen said Dublin Airport has seen “great progress” in recent weeks, with queue times not reaching any longer than 40 minutes over the Easter break.
The DAA is now advising passengers to arrive at Dublin airport no more than an hour and a half before a short-haul flight, or no earlier than 6am if their flight is at or after 8.30am.
Mr McQueen said the DAA is making strides in relation to cutting waiting times at the airport: “The reason for cutting these times is we have seen great progress in the last couple of weeks – particularly through the very busy Easter weekend.
“We got people through really well with queue times under 30 or 40 minutes all weekend, so that was really good and we have confidence now to cut those times and just allow people to arrive that little bit later for their flight.”
Regional airports
On Tuesday, Limerick Chamber chief executive Dee Ryan called for flights to be moved away from Dublin to regional airports.
Ms Ryan told Newstalk’s The Hard Shoulder that the Government should compel the DAA to transfer flights to Shannon, Cork, Knock and Kerry airports in a bid to cut waiting times.
Mr McQueen said that if it was as easy as picking up flights and taking them to the regional airports, they would have implemented that plan.
“The fact is Dublin Airport doesn’t compete with Shannon for flights; we compete with the big cities in Europe - your Barcelona’s, your Amsterdam’s - and that will remain the case.
“Ultimately, the solution to solving our issues in Dublin Airport is what we are doing; it’s hiring more staff and improving efficiencies throughout the airport and that is what we are focused on doing.”
He added the DAA is currently in the process of hiring 300 new security screeners and has interviewed over 500 people in the last three weeks.
