Dublin Airport - An Introduction

Dublin Airport is the main port of entry and exit for people travelling by air into and out of the island of Ireland. In 2005 over 18million passengers travelled through the airport, a figure that is expected to exceed 21million passengers in 2006. The increases expected during 2006 will continue a trend of year on year increases in passenger numbers for over 20 years. The airport is four times busier than the next busiest airport on the island of Ireland.

The air traffic through Dublin Airport can best be summarised by short to medium length flights. Dublin Airport services 30 destinations in the United Kingdom and a vast number of destinations throughout Europe. These routes are mainly catered for by Aer Lingus and Ryanair. There are also numerous Trans Atlantic routes offered by Dublin Airport, mainly serviced by Aer Lingus, American Airlines and Continental Airlines.

Aer Lingus was established in 1936 by the Irish Government to be a civil airline for the nation of Ireland. The airline operated out of Baldonnell Aerodrome until the opening of Dublin Airport in 1939 with the construction of a grass runway. The first flight from Dublin Airport took place. Since then Dublin Airport expanded continuously until in 1989 Dublin Airport catered for 5.1 million people. Development of the facilities of Dublin Airport kept pace with the increase of numbers until the mid 1980s.

Today Dublin Airport is a airport under pressure with limited space and although changes have been made to cater for the increased passengers, it isn’t until the new terminal is finished that Dublin Airport will be able to cater for the numbers travelling comfortably.

The future for Dublin Airport is bright. Upgrades to the runways are planned and the construction of Terminal Two is on the cards. The new terminal will be able to cater for 15 million passengers a year, while the upgrades to the runway will mean that modern aircraft such as the a380 will be able to service the airport.

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