Airport queues partly due to passengers arriving ‘significantly earlier’ than flights

Long security queues at Dublin airport on Friday morning were partly as a result of passengers arriving “significantly earlier” than their flight departure times, the operator of the facility has said.

Members of the public posted images and videos of lengthy queues at Dublin Airport on social media on Friday. It came after passengers last month missed flights due to delays at security.

DAA, which operates the airport, confirmed there were some "significant waiting times" between the hours of 2.30am and 4.30am, with some passengers waiting up to 70 minutes to pass through security.

“This was partly due to a large number of passengers arriving significantly earlier than forecast, ahead of flights that were departing much later in the morning,” Graeme McQueen, media relations manager at DAA, said.

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“Queue times reduced quickly and considerably once additional security lanes were opened, as planned, to align with passengers arriving around three-and-a-half hours before their departure times.”

Mr McQueen thanked passengers for heeding its advice to arrive up to threeand-a-half hours ahead of their scheduled departure slot.

“In the days and weeks to come, adhering to this advice, rather than arriving at the airport much earlier, will help passengers get through security screening as quickly as possible,” he added.

“As the number of passengers travelling through Dublin Airport continues to increase over the coming period, DAA continues to refine and adapt its security screening operation, to ensure that all passengers can pass through security in plenty of time to make their flights.”

The recent delays at Dublin Airport have been attributed to a shortage of security staff following the collapse of international travel during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The shortage of security screening staff is the main reason for the current issues. While there have been no constraints on recruitment - more than 100 new security staff have already been recruited so far this year - DAA is re-doubling its efforts to more staff,” Mr McQueen said.

Some 250 candidates were invited for interview this week, with almost 100 of those candidates to receive employment offers.

“Bringing recruits into the operation had been delayed recently by the requirement for enhanced background checks for aviation workers which came into effect on January 1st this year. Thankfully, however, this logjam is now easing.”

DAA is also exploring other short-term options to increase security staff numbers, including identifying former security screening staff who are now in different roles in the company, and temporarily re-assigning a number of Cork-based staff to Dublin.

The company recently faced political backlash about the pay rates it was offering to prospective staff, which were in the €14-€21 per hour range.

It also emerged that it was seeking security staff to be available for 40 hours per week, while they were only being guaranteed 20 hours’ work with a minimum weekly salary of €283.