Plea to airport authority over passenger numbers
Dublin Airport Authority was today urged to ensure delays do not plague terminal upgrades as new figures showed passenger numbers could increase by almost a third this summer.
Amid plans for crowds of travellers to be housed in a rooftop marquee in the event of disruption to flights, Tourism Ireland claimed the airport could potentially be dealing with twice as many visitors as last year.
The all-island body revealed air capacity from continental Europe was now almost double that of last year.
Paul O’Toole, Tourism Ireland chief executive, said it was critical that the proper facilities were put in place for incoming visitors as soon as possible.
“I welcome the proposals and recent innovations regarding the short-term improvements and extension of check-in and boarding facilities for customers at Dublin Airport,” he said.
“Our hope is that the longer term developments planned for the airport will be completed without undue delay.”
The DAA is already planning for a record summer season with more than 15 million passengers expected to pass through between April and October, a 21% increase over last summer.
But new figures showed a total increase of 32% in seat capacity with Spain, Italy and France likely to bring the most visitors.
Tourism Ireland revealed that for the third consecutive summer there will be a sharp increase in direct, scheduled air capacity to and from continental Europe, with Ryanair and Aer Lingus leading the way.
The total increase of 32% includes increases of 42%, more than 7,500 seats a week, from Spain; 41%, more than 4,200, from Italy and 22%, an increase of more than 4,400, from France.
For the first time ever, 1,500 seats will also be available from the Middle East every week.
There will also be an all-time high in direct air capacity from the US with a 9% increase, while the UK sees 5% growth. The DAA said an additional 34 new routes and services together with increased aircraft capacity and frequency indicate that end-of-year passenger figures could rise by two million.
This represents an acceleration in the strong growth Dublin Airport has experienced in recent years, in which passenger traffic has grown from 13.8 million in 2000 to 18.4 million in 2005.
Tourism Ireland, an all-island body, has also set an ambitious target of €4.2bn revenue driven by 8.5 million visitors for 2006.
John O’Donoghue, Minister for Tourism, welcomed the increase in capacity and the campaign to exploit the tourism possibilities it presented.
“I welcome, in particular, the increase in direct services provided by a variety of US airlines, which represents a huge vote of confidence in the strength of the Irish tourism market,” the minister said.
Mr O’Toole added that the development of direct, convenient and competitive access to Ireland was critical to achieving tourism growth.
“For example, last year, we saw a 40% increase in direct air access from continental Europe. This helped deliver almost two million visitors, a record increase of 16% from that market, and we are predicting similar double-digit growth again this year,” he said.
