The director of the DAA, the quasi-government company that operates Dublin and Cork airports, has said there is a risk of a flight limit at the capital’s gateway if it cannot handle the increase in passenger numbers.
Due to staff shortages, some other airports in Europe – including Gatwick in London and Schiphol in Amsterdam – have limited the number of flights that airlines can operate during peak season.
“We are working hard to avoid the types of restrictive measures that have been put in place at many international airports in recent weeks, although risks remain, and we continue to monitor developments hourly,” DAA chief executive Dalton Philips said today.
Passengers at Dublin Airport experienced massive delays at security checkpoints last month, resulting in hundreds of flyers missing flights.
Mr Philips spoke today as the DAA released its annual report for 2021. It made a pre-exceptional loss of €103 million for the year, compared to a pre-exceptional loss of €183 million in 2020.
The CEO said the airport operator’s losses came despite more than 1,000 employees being laid off during the pandemic. The Covid crisis has caused the DAA to lose 387 million euros in the past two years.
“Dublin Airport entered 2022 with a significantly reduced staff capacity, several months before the strongest increase in air traffic in its history,” said Mr Philips.
“Despite the tremendous efforts of DAA employees, this mismatch in capacity and timing has had a deplorable impact on service and quality which is being addressed quickly but is likely to lead to tense operations during the upcoming busy summer months,” he added.
Mr Philips said the DAA will continue to hire new security officers, open more security lines and improve queue management systems at Dublin Airport.
He said wait times for most passengers are now less than 45 minutes, “but vulnerabilities remain”.
Passengers have experienced problems with baggage handling at Dublin Airport, with some having to wait hours for baggage on weekends.
Bags that were supposed to be delivered to passengers weeks and even months ago also turned out to be stranded in the baggage hall of the airport.
Baggage is not handled by the DAA, but by third parties.
Aer Lingus also canceled flights over the weekend due to the impact of Covid-related absences and air traffic control strikes in Europe. That caused chaos for passengers who had already traveled to Dublin Airport to catch their flight.
“While Dublin Airport expects to double its security screening staff to 920 in the coming weeks, challenges remain,” Philips admits.
He added: “Peak volumes after two years of domestic holidays, in addition to staffing challenges faced by the airlines and other airport partners operating at Dublin Airport in the areas of check-in, baggage handling, retail and hospitality services, are impacting the customer experience, something that [the] DAA is working hard on it in collaboration with our airline partners and airlines.”
The DAA’s revenue rose 11 percent to €387 million last year as pandemic-related restrictions began to ease and passengers were able to fly again.