Queue times are under ten minutes at Dublin Airport as of 8am today, according to media relations manager for the DAA, Graeme McQueen.
Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, Mr McQueen said the advice to turn up two and a half hours before short haul flights and three and a half hours before longer journeys seemed to be helping to create a steady flow of passengers this morning.
"That is going to make a massive difference. Look we understand why people are anxious. We all saw the scenes last Sunday.
"We have got a job on our hands to win back trust. But if we stick to those times we will secure that nice flow of passengers through the terminal over the course of the weekend.
"It is a busy weekend, but the numbers are not too much higher than what we have been dealing with in May and April."
He said obviously they did not have enough staff on the roster last Sunday. However, management have been working all week to rectify the situation.
"The weekend is looking good with a full roster of staff in place. What we tried to do over the week was put in a plan B and a plan C. We now have contingency built in to the system. We fell down. We have got to make sure if anything goes wrong again that we have a plan B and plan C in place."
Kevin Cullinane, group head of communications with the DAA, said the airport has had a very busy morning. However, they don’t anticipate a repeat of the chaotic scenes of last weekend.
“The first wave of departing flights has gone away very efficiently with people heeding advice to arrive two and a half hours before a short haul flight and three and a half hours before their long haul flight.
Increased staff
Most passengers got through security today in between 30 and 45 minutes. Queue times now are less than ten minutes in both terminals one and two.
"That is as a result of the increased staff we have deployed this weekend. The extra security lanes of which we were at maximum this morning for those departing flights from six am. We will be making sure that we continue that right throughout this bank holiday weekend.”
Mr Cullinane said that they have deployed extra staff to help vulnerable passengers at the airport this weekend.
“People will see a lot of people in pink high vis vests or purple ones throughout. But particularly in the new drop-off area as you say the other side of the atrium building.
"OCS, our service provider, that provides that extra bit of assistance for any passenger who needs it there is a new reception desk there and they will help as they always do anyone who needs extra time, anyone who might need a wheelchair assistant, anyone who has any additional needs they will be helped through the new process and guided.”
Meanwhile, on Newstalk Breakfast Briefing, Air and Travel editor Eoghan Corry said hopefully staff will be able to keep control of the queues at the airport.
“The big question is how it will work over the weekend because it doesn’t take an awful lot to knock out the arrangements at Dublin Airport as it stands and what happened last Sunday, they lost control of the queues was very, very quickly.”
Mr Corry said the thinking behind the holding areas is to put people off the idea of arriving too early.
“That got a really hostile reaction on social media,” he said. “This idea of putting people in holding areas a bit like the cattle marts in the olden days when you are pushed into a side pen and left there until you are brought into play and your flight is about to leave.
“There was a very hostile reaction to it. I suspect a lot of that is just to send out the message. Do not arrive hours and hours early for your flights.”
Tents have been erected outside Terminal 1 as part of contingency plans to manage the large numbers of people travelling over the bank holiday weekend.
